RULES & TIMELINE

Idea Café, The Small Business Gathering Place®, is giving entrepreneurs the chance to win a cash grant and gain media exposure for their business. The Idea Café 18th Grant will award $1,000 in cash, a total of $1,500 in advertising credits and tons of free publicity to the small businesses with the most inspirational owners and most original approach.

Our previous winners have been featured in the press and on TV, so winning the Idea Cafe grant can have far-reaching benefits for your business!

WHO CAN ENTER

Anyone who currently owns a business or is planning to start one.

QUALIFICATIONS

In order to access the application form, you must be a registered "Regular" member of Idea Cafe, and not previously have received a cash grant directly from Idea Cafe. (Prior Idea Cafe grant finalists and semi-finalists are welcome to apply for this new grant.)

HOW DOES THE SMALL BUSINESS GRANT WORK?

The Grant competition consists of three phases:

Phase 1 – Entry period: Small businesses can fill out and submit their application form. All entries are subject to editorial review and approval by the Editors of Idea Cafe, to ensure they meet eligibility criteria. Submission open 3rd October 2016 and close on 9th February 2017.

Phase 2 – Semi-finalist phase: After the application period concludes on 9th February 2017, all entries will be screened for conformity to the official guidance. Incomplete entries or entries that do not comply with the rules will be disqualified. Approved entries will be posted for public voting in the semi-finalist voting round.

Phase 3 – Finalist Voting Round: The top 10 companies who received the highest number of votes will advance to the final round of this grant competition where the ultimate grant winner will be determined by the public.

PRIZE

The 18th Small Business Grant will award $1,000.00 in cash to the small business with the most inspirational owner, willing to take their business to the next level.

COMMUNITY VOTING

Vote just once per round - Each person only gets one vote - so choose carefully which company you think has the most potential and will use the money best!

Encouraging votes - It is perfectly acceptable to encourage your fans, business connections, social media followers and others to vote for you, through social media, email/mobile lists, blogs, websites, forums and other methods. In other words, it is permitted to encourage anyone to support your business with voting.

Prohibited conduct - You may not promise to pay, offer to pay, or actually pay monetary compensation in exchange for votes. Prohibited activity includes, but is not limited to, purchasing or offering to buy votes via Fiverr, AmazonTurk, job boards, buy/sell forums or similar places -- such activity is against the rules.

*All participants who break the rules will be disqualified.

MISCELLANEOUS

We reserve the right to terminate or extend the Grant at any time, without prior notice, due to unavailability of the grant website, natural disaster, or any other reason.