Taking food for granting

Fundraising dinners are nothing new, but a growing international network has uncovered a new way to do them. Sunday Soup offer what they call meal-based micro-grants to creative projects in their respective neighborhoods.

The concept is as cool as it is simple: a community of people gather on a regular basis to share affordable meals, and donate the proceeds to a creative project of their choice. At each Sunday Soup gathering, prospective grantees present their projects while attendees dine. Then the diners vote, and the winner gets the grant.

So far, the network has granted nearly $20,000 in 25 locales, at a rate of roughly $400 per grant. There are currently over 20 Sunday Soup groups in the US, and anyone is welcome to start their own. Why not? The worst thing that could happen is that you'd have a great meal; the best thing that could happen is wide open to possibility.

Here's a piece NPR's Marketplace did on St Louis' Sloup"