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Mission #5 Surprise Us Find out more...

Crowdfunded micro-grant events for creative & entrepreneurial ideas (SOUP DETROIT)

This is a great way to bring any community together and to get them to collectively decide on actions they want to take place within their community to create jobs and to improve their surroundings. $5 for Soup, Salad, Bread, and a VOTE!

This is a great way to bring any community together and to get them to collectively decide on actions they want to take place within their community to create jobs and to improve their surroundings.

The event happens on a set date where people pay $5 for a soup, salad and bread. With this you also get one vote for your favorite idea pitched that night. You can choose to also pitch your idea as well, but proposals are due ahead of time. Throughout dinner you will hear ideas, and at the end, once everyone has voted, the winning concept takes home $600-900.

Check out the video, it explains a lot.

http://detroitsoup.com/

This model can be replicated in so many different ways, and changing it from a grant to an 'investment', everyone that contributes is now a stakeholder and instantly invested emotionally in the outcome of the project as well. You can scale this up, televise and make the entire city vote, or you can switch it to an online based platform, much like kickstarter. The small community scale has proven to be a great one, and if you really push that the ideas not only need to be creative, but also represent the city, and create jobs, then it really becomes interesting.

Mission #5 Surprise Us Find out more...

Comments

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Vincent Cheng

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November 23, 2011, 09:00AM

Very cool! Love how it uses food to bring the community together to share & support ideas. An idea worth spreading everywhere (to art schools, entrepreneurial meetups, co-working spaces, block parties, etc.). I'd gladly attend & chip in $5.

Thanks for sharing Narbeh! I hope you'll be back for the concepting phase, as it looks like you're already on the way to developing a great concept =)

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Gemma Bulos's reply to Vincent Cheng's comment

Gemma Bulos

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December 18, 2011, 11:33PM

I love this post! I wonder what kind of participation that the voters can have in the implementation of these community ideas? It is definitely a great way to mobilized volunteers and/or staff. Might there be some community training on 'concept to implementation and beyond?" for those who have ideas but don't know how to implement, maintain or replicate?

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Stephanie

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December 09, 2011, 01:05AM

This is so smart! I not only gives the community a voice in individual artists'/creators' work, but it gives individuals a sense of driving the community's values. Is there a path/opportunity plan for those who don't get chosen? Have you had anyone present more than once?

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Yin

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November 29, 2011, 07:34AM

Wow, self-fundraising for instant grants! I wonder what happens after dinner... Can other soup eaters join up with the project concept-er and contribute their time and skills? Could it be an organized network where community members could be exchanging and contributing labor, support, and brain power to projects which really speak to them?

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Iwona Gwozdz's reply to Vincent Cheng's comment

Iwona Gwozdz

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December 08, 2011, 04:58PM

Exactly what I was thinking. What happens after? Does the collaboration continue to help implement the project. In my experience, pitching an idea is an the easy part, implementing is the hard part. Do you have past winners coming in to report on progress? Do you have mentorships or advisors they could connect with? I applaud you for the success your soup kitchen has been. I think there is a lot of potential to take this project to another level and to help the broad community.

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Maryanna Rogers

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December 07, 2011, 07:47AM

It's interesting to consider how this idea might impact the larger Detroit community. How might increasing the size of these events or creating local branches influence the group dynamic and the quality and diversity of proposed projects?

[By the way, I may have to borrow this idea to start SF soup!]

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rachael wussow

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December 07, 2011, 02:16AM

I love how this encourages a diverse group to mobilize around something so simple. I could even see this concept to include a "pay what you can" model for lower income/homeless to have a voice at the table.

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Deepak Singh

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December 06, 2011, 11:49AM

Nice Project ... In fact this is the nice way for a social gathering as well as interest to connect with the events or a community.

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Ken Endo

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December 05, 2011, 10:41PM

great project. I always consider how we can find local entrepreneur to collaborate with and how we can find the funding resources. A crowd funding looks one great solution.

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December 05, 2011, 08:14PM

Congrats on this post being today's onsite Featured Inspiration!

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Sara Borowski

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November 30, 2011, 10:14PM

Love Detroit Soup! Great post.

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Jane Bulnes-Fowles

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November 30, 2011, 12:31AM

(before I saw yours) I also added an inspiration around micro grants (Awesome Foundation), but I particularly love that Soup gives *everyone* a vote, instead of a small group of trustees. What a great way to get even more community members involved!

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Sarah Fathallah

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November 29, 2011, 10:30AM

Oh wow, this is a great inspiration!
I really like the investment idea, I know of a German start-up that started off getting crowdfunding from Kickstarter, but every funder became automatically a shareholder of the company "in return". They're still at a very early stage in their activity but I wonder how that impacts the "funders" involvement.

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Charlotte Fliegner

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November 25, 2011, 05:06AM

totally love this post

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Meena Kadri

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November 23, 2011, 11:00PM

Participatory, empowering, inclusive – lots to love on this one! Certainly hope that you and others will be building upon this inspiration in the upcoming Concepting phase.

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