Vote for the Passion Fund People’s Choice Award Winner

In May, Linktree, in partnership with Square, launched the Passion Fund to give creators, business owners, activists, and anyone with a dream a cash investment to turn their passion into an income stream. We enlisted guidance from a very influential panel of self-made judges, including Karamo Brown, Grace Beverley, Li Jin, Lauren Weinberg, and Linktree CEO Alex Zaccaria, to help us review the applicants.

After receiving thousands of incredible submissions, we’ve narrowed down the People’s Choice nominees down to five creators—and could use your help picking a winner. You can read all the details on this page, but here is a quick TL;DR:

The Passion Fund is a global grant program designed to support creators, activists and entrepreneurs in taking their passion to the next level. This grant will disburse a total of USD$250,000 among 25 to 40 creators, artists, and entrepreneurs. Winners will be awarded a share based on the following tiers: 

• Gold: 9 x $20,000 USD
• Silver: 10 x $4,000 USD
• Bronze 10 x $1,000 USD
• People’s Choice 1 x $20,000 USD

Passion Fund applicants were judged on how well their project or idea incorporates five key values: creativity, innovation, vision, adaptability, and personality.

From the top 30 winners, Linktree shortlists five applicants for the People’s Choice Award. The objective of the People’s Choice award is to highlight some of the incredible entries as well as give the power back to the people—that’s you—to make a call on who wins. This is the one award that will be selected by the highest number of votes from the public.

Please take a moment to read about each of these inspiring creators, then vote for the People’s Choice Winner by following this link. If you really like what you see, share this page on your own social channels to give it an extra boost.

The Family Business

Crafted for the community, El Refugo is a third-generation Mexican maestro mezcalero (master mezcal maker) that considers itself “alchemists of the agave.” Noel Morales’ father and grandfather perfected the recipe, which he serves in his own restaurant in Todos Santos, and has dreams of taking the brand to another level with distribution across the world.

The Students On A Mission

Handprints e-NABLE is a student-led non-profit organization at the University of Glasgow in Scotland that produces 3D printed prosthetic hands for individuals with upper limb deficiencies, free of charge. The Passion Fund will allow them to invest in higher-quality materials and equipment and further their outreach to find more recipients and supporters.

The Country Music Star

Hayley Marsten is an alt-country singer-songwriter who made it big in 2019. After releasing her debut album, Spectacular Heartbreak, Marsten was touring across Australia until COVID hit. She spent the next year at home writing about her mental health and watching her bank account sink. Now Marsten has a new album that she would like the Passion Fund to help her release.

The Beauty Innovators

IFUKNO, YOU KNOW is an innovative online beauty retailer that emphasizes and celebrates black-owned beauty brands. Besides providing a fun, immersive shopping experience, The company strives to fight against inequality and inequity while providing a fun, immersive shopping experience where you can truly “shop black.”

The Climate Changers

Jaguar Siembra is a non-profit foundation that works with indigenous people in the “Heart Of The World”—the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. The impact community provides climate actions that restore the ecosystem, such as tree planting projects and reforestation efforts that heal the earth and preserve ancient cultures.

The People’s Choice voting is open until August 3, 2021 at 11:59pm AEST.—and every vote counts. Winners will announced on August 10, 2021. Cast your vote here!