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Idea Cafe's Mary Marks MOM Biz Grant
The Judging Process & Criteria
First: How to Submit Your Application
For us to even include your application in the judging process for this biz grant, it (and you) must meet the following:
1. Your answers must be provided via email in one of these 3 ways:
(No others will be accepted...period.)
A. In the body of your email, or
B. Attached as a PDF (Adobe's Portable Document Format) or
C. Attached as a Microsoft Word Document
The email address to send this to is: marymarksgrant@ideacafe.com
Do not send any photos -- we don't want to be swayed by your great smile or your cute kids.
(If any applicant doesn't have email, she may have a friend email her application.)
2. Your email subject line must read:
"Application: (next type in) Your Last Name, Your First Name."
Example: Subject: Application: Smith, Suzanne
3. Your application (and all letters of references) must be received no later than midnight Pacific Time on Friday, September 14, 2001.
4. Your business idea or existing business must be one that can be run from your home, in conjunction with children. (For example, if you want to manufacture a new chemical compound to fuel space travel, we don't think that will pass as a viable home-based business!)
5. Meet all the candidate qualifications outlined in the Mary Marks Mom Biz Grant Description page.
6. Answer each of the questions outlined on the Mary Marks Mom Biz Grant Application page.
How Your Accepted Application Will Be Judged
Judging Step 1: The Idea Cafe Grant Team Review
If an application meets all the above qualifications, then the Idea Cafe Grant Team will judge it using this list of criteria below. For each question the team will award a numerical value of 7, 5, 3 or 0 (from top to bottom), depending on the quality of information and detail provided in the completed application. [Note that the "Grit" and "Reference" values are doubled! So pay particular attention to those when preparing your application.]
Good Chance of Longevity
As described by the applicant and reflected in her projections:
1. Rate this home business' prospects for success over five years:
__ Outstanding
__ Pretty good
__ Fair
__ Doubtful
Kid Proof
2. Can this business operate well despite occasional interruptions from kids?
__ No problem
__ Doable
__ Yes, but you're courting disaster
__ No Way
Solid Math
3. Are the applicant's cost and revenue projections realistic and sufficiently thorough?
__ Excellent
__ Good
__ Partial
__ Way off or incomplete
Profit
4. Can this business model bring in sufficient net revenue to meet the owner's stated income requirements?
__ Likely to exceed requirements
__ Probably will meet requirements
__ Chancy
__ Very unlikely
Delegation
5. Has the applicant worked out a way to get her kids looked after during times when kid interruptions would be detrimental to the business?
__ Yes, quite well
__ Pretty good plan
__ Only partially
__ She hasn't faced the reality of this necessity
Grit (Note, this one counts double!)
6. Does the applicant appear to be sufficiently determined AND mentally organized to implement the business objectives she has described, and to endure the inevitable ups and downs?
__ Yes, looks like she can go the distance!
__ Probably
__ Doubtful
__ No Way
The Fun Factor
7. From everything she's said, do you have the impression this applicant is creating a business that can be enjoyable for others involved (such as family, customers, vendors, employees), as well as herself?
__ Yes, her enthusiasm is infectious
__ Pretty good chance
__ Her spirit seems shakeable
__ No Way
References (Note, this one counts double!)
8. Have any references for this applicant substantiated her ability to succeed in a business, balance the demands of her business and her kids, and foster an enjoyable biz/life environment?
__ Clearly superior; among the highest number of references received, all extremely positive
__ Many references, all positive
__ Several good references
__ Very few or not positive references
Judging Step 2: The Idea Cafe Honorary Panel of Judges Review
Once all the qualifying applications have been given an overall total score, the top 25 highest-scoring applications will then be sent to our panel of honorary judges, who will then select and rank their top 6 choices. These judges will not know what scores each of the top 25 applications received in Step 1, nor will they repeat the numeric scoring system. Rather, Idea Cafe is giving them "free rein" to rely on their biz intuition, experiences and expertise to select who they feel are the top 6 applicants, then rank those 1 through 6, using the judging criteria questions only as a guide in their assessments. Judges won't be conferring with each another, and their rankings will be sent directly to Idea Cafe CEO Francie Marks Ward for the final confirmation of winners.
Meet Idea Cafe's Honorary Panel of Judges here:
Judging Step 3: Idea Cafe CEO's Confirmation of Winners
The judges will send their top six-ranked winners to Francie Marks Ward, who as CEO of Idea Cafe, will confirm the final determination of which applicants will receive the various winnings:
1st place -- $ 2,500.00 US
2nd place -- $1,000.00 US
3rd place -- $ 500.00 US
Plus, these winners, and the next three runner-ups, will also receive an Idea Cafe T-shirt, so they can run their business in style. And that's not all! Lots more people want to wish these winners success and have contributed all sorts of great prizes, so see what more the winners will win...
Step 4: Notification of Winners
Francie will then notify winners on Thursday, October 11, 2001, via email or phone. To collect their winnings, winners must email their acceptance within 5 days of notification or forfeit their winnings to the next ranked winner. All cash prizes will be completely distributed by November 11, 2001.
What You Are Agreeing To
What you agree to do if you win this grant:
If you are the 1st or 2nd place winner, you agree to email us 12 brief monthly updates on the first of each month to let us know:
1. Your business-related goals for the coming month
2. Your business-related accomplishments for the previous month
3. Business-related lessons learned or problems encountered in the previous month.
You'll email us the first of these on November 1, 2001. These monthly updates can be quite brief (minimum 50 words) and can be in list format (complete sentences are not required). But this will be a good way for us to see how you're doing, and for you to be sure you set goals and make progress.
Each of the three winners and three runner-ups agrees to provide her correct name, address, business name, and social security or other tax ID number upon request.
What you agree to by applying for this grant:
You verify that the information you or your references provide is correct, to the best of your knowledge. You also grant Idea Cafe the right to publish your name, company name, photos and what you or your references write or tell us, �Idea Cafe in any media. You understand that family (including spouse, children, parent, siblings, spouse's children/parents/siblings) of Idea Cafe staff or contractors to Idea Cafe will be disqualified.
That's All! Thanks and good luck!
Idea Cafe Grants Team
Links:
Meet Idea Cafe's Honorary Panel of Judges
Instructions for references
Questions and instructions for applicants
Back to description of Idea Cafe's Mary Marks MOM Biz Grant
See all the great gifts for winners donated by Idea Cafe Regulars
Find out how you can contribute!
Back to Idea Cafe's Small Business Grant Center home page
To see more grants--government grants, SBA, corporate, more private grants, enter Idea Cafe's Free Grant Center for Small Biz-a privilege for registered Idea Cafe Regulars only. GO!
How you can help Idea Cafe offer more grants:
1. Contribute whatever you can -- here's how!
2. Support the advertisers you see at Idea Cafe: the more response advertisers get here, the more they advertise at Idea Cafe; the more ad dollars we bring in, the more grants we can create!
3. Anything you can buy through Idea Cafe, do so. Like use this link to Amazon.com.
Remember, Idea Cafe IS a small business. We're doing our best to help other small businesses. So THANK YOU for helping us!
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