Wil Andruschak
‘This is just fun giving money away for awesome ideas’
What is Awesome Calgary?
The Awesome Foundation started in Boston in the summer of 2009 by a guy named Tim Wang. A bunch of people got together and said “Wouldn’t it be great if we pooled our money and gave it to the best idea every month?”
How does that work?
There are 10 trustees who each put in $100 and you get $1000 each month and give it to whomever the team decides has the best most innovative most awesome idea that month.
And they’re paying this out of their own pockets?
Yeah. And it’s not tax deductible either.
Is this a rotating team of trustees?
It’s the same people every month. I do have more than 10 people who want to be involved. There is a level of commitment. We want people to sign up to be a trustee for at least six months. Our first trustee meeting is on March 4. So we’re trying to get a level of commitment from those people at that point. I don’t have all the trustee spots filled at this time because we want to see how the team gels and see that level of commitment.
How many trustees do you have so far?
I have five confirmed so far and probably another 15 who want to be involved.
Who are the five confirmed?
I don’t have permission to use some of their names but I can tell you that Kyle Shewfelt (Olympic athlete) is involved Gena Rotstein (founder and CEO of Dexterity Consulting) and Wayne Stewart (former Shell executive and 2010 mayoral candidate) is involved too. Terry Rock from Calgary Arts Development is involved as well but only from a facilitation perspective. He’s giving us a space at CADA to have our meetings.
How did you get involved in this?
CBC was interviewing Matt Thompson from the Toronto chapter and I was driving down Bow Trail and heard the interview and thought that was awesome turned around went home and got the domain for Awesome Calgary and contacted the founders and set up the Calgary chapter.
Where are the other chapters?
There are chapters in Boston San Francisco Melbourne and Sydney Australia just got up and running. There are also chapters in Los Angeles London Berlin New York Washington D.C. It’s propagating really fast. We’re the first in Western Canada. Toronto and Ottawa have a nice little competition going between each other. I’d like to start one with Edmonton.
Do you know of any ideas from those chapters that have been big successes?
The first winner ever which was in Boston was this giant hammock that they wanted to erect in a public park and could seat about 20 people. It’s interesting stuff.
Is this a full-time gig for you now?
No this is just fun giving money away for awesome ideas.
How does someone go about pitching his or her idea?
I’m just getting some feedback from other chapters right now on the best way to accept submissions. My idea was to take a one-page submission and a video but other clubs are saying video hasn’t worked out well for them so we’ll make video optional. It’s really just a one-page pitch on what your awesome idea is how it can benefit either Calgary or Calgarians and why we should pick you. It’s kind of like a mini- Dragon’s Den .
Does Awesome Calgary retain any rights to the ideas?
Nothing. We retain submissions for use on the website to promote future awesomeness but no strings attached. The IP belongs to the submitter. If they kick-start an idea and it becomes something incredible then Awesome Calgary has no attachment to it at all.
Are you looking for specific ideas such as business pitches?
No. We don’t want to prescribe what the ideas are in any way. The trustees that I want involved come from all aspects of Calgary and all walks of life — and the same with the ideas. You want to look for things from arts science technology music theatre sports culture and any kind of odd innovation. Anything. Any crazy inspiring idea that is good for Calgary.
The trustees show up at the meeting with their $100 cash. It goes into a brown paper bag and is handed over to the winner. That’s the premise. That just enforces the no-strings-attached. We’re hoping for the trustee meeting on March 4 and submission date of March 15. We’d like to have the meeting
Is Calgary really that awesome?
Calgary is that awesome.
We talked before during the election campaign and you mentioned that you at one point had soured on Calgary. What has changed?
December 10 2009 was my surgery and diagnosis and December 10 2010 was my last day in city hall as transition manager and chief of staff (for Mayor Naheed Nenshi). Fabulous things can happen in a year. Partway through treatment I made a deal with myself “OK I’m in Calgary and there’s a reason why I’m here. I don’t know what that is but I’m going to try and make Calgary the kind of city I want to live in.”
Two weeks later I met Naheed and got involved in his campaign. It’s amazing how many things have opened up. Part of the campaign was that we shone a light on the vibrant subsurface of Calgary and there’s really a lot of cool things going on that have never been elevated to the public awareness level. Maybe they have and I just haven’t been focused there but I think Naheed and the campaign energized that whole group of people that really want to make Calgary a better place.
Do you see yourself going back into politics in any capacity?
Goodness no. I’m getting an awful lot of phone calls about that but the answer is “No.” The only way I’d get back into politics again was if Naheed was thinking about doing anything bigger. I’d only work with him.
Is Awesome Calgary a long-term project for you?
I’m committed for two years. There has been talk about setting up one per quadrant in Calgary or one per general interest group. This could grow tremendously. It’s never “Can we get enough trustees or get enough commitment.” It’s more like “This could get really big and how do we manage it when it gets that big?”
