Are you excited about transforming your city into a sharing city starting with a resource sharing, cooperative, or commons project? Apply for a grant from Shareable today! We are offering seed grants of $500 – $1000 to help catalyze local sharing projects in low income communities, along with technical assistance, media support, and access to our network of sharing experts.
Last year, Shareable’s seed grants helped cities grow roots of transformation, like Ann Arbor Michigan. Ann Arbor hasn’t been the same since. With Shareable's support, Ann Arbor hosted it’s Sharing Summit, Ann Arbor Soup, and a bike skillsharing program. Those seeds planted a growing local movement, started by students Ryan Gourley, Izzy Morrison and Jayanthi Reddy. It’s grown to regular sharing gatherings, a second Sharing Summit, two student groups on campus, a new timebank, a sharing city map and website, swaps and much more.
Ann Arbor's new timebank
WHAT'S A SHARING PROJECT?
Here are examples of projects we’d like to support: swaps (clothing exchanges, book swaps), skill shares, cooperatives of all kinds, participatory budgeting, bike and computer kitchens, lending libraries, timebanks, free stores and free schools, public maker spaces, sharing-themed campus club, and more. But don’t let this list limit you. Be creative! We’re totally open to ideas that aren’t on the list. We’ll also consider toolkit development, trainings, networks, summits and educational events to develop project ideas, alliances and next steps for community action.
Food Justice Fridays dinner and open mike with People's Kitchen Detroit
WHY IS SHAREABLE OFFERING SEED GRANTS?
We know it’s tough to get these kinds of projects off the ground, especially in communities with fewer financial resources. Sharing projects provide the foundation for organizing local sharing movements – they address real needs in creative and fun ways, building community through reciprocity. This a key step in building the Sharing Cities Network, where cities can support each other in learning together and working collaboratively to create complete sharing cities that share everything from food to work, art to transportation, housing and finance…
Clothing swap party with Giysi Takasi in Istanbul
HOW TO APPLY
The entire application is online and takes an average of 30 minutes. The deadline is Friday, June 20th at 5pm Pacific time. We encourage applicants to work in teams, and to find additional support from other organizations. If this isn’t for you, please share this opportunity with people who you think would be interested.
Skillshare with Cleveland Timebank
WHO SHOULD APPLY
Individuals, groups, community organizations, churches, schools and businesses that are starting new projects, rooted in a local community, with broad social impact. We are encouraging applications from young adults and low income communities. Strong proposals involve the public in the projects in an integral way and help facilitate more community connection, rather than just providing services. We also prioritize projects that address practical needs and wants identified and produced in an empowered way by the community itself, instead of using an outside provider.
We do not fund pure research, advocacy or education (without practical impact), commercial endeavors that don't increase equitable access, organizational operating costs for large budget nonprofits (unless it's a new project of that organization that has not yet received substantial funding), projects that are not helping to organize one specific city, or nonpublic projects (participation strictly limited to private organizations only).
Free Store Fashion Show at Ohio Wesleyan University
Don't wait, apply now online, just takes a few minutes. Click the below button to apply.
