How It Works

TIMELINE

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

FAQs

CONTEST RULES

1. Eligibility
   The MyEntre.Net "Dream Big Grow Here Northeast Iowa Business Network" grant contest is open only to legal residents of the State of Iowa, of the Counties of Allamakee, Clayton, Delaware, Fayette, Howard, and Winneshiek. Must be 18 years of age or older at the time of submitting an entry. Participants must have 2 or more employees and less than 40 full time employees, exceptions will be at the discretion of the Northeast Iowa Business Network. Participants can be for-profit or not-for-profit organizations. Participants may only enter one "Dream Big Grow Here' regional contest per calendar year. Previous Dream Big Grow Here 1st place winners in the State of Iowa are not eligible to receive winning funds, but may participate.
   
   Employees of MyEntre.Net, Northeast Iowa Business Network, and the University of Northern Iowa Regional Business Center and the immediate family members of such employees (parent, child, sibling, spouse) and persons living in the same household as such employees (whether related or not) are not eligible. In addition, Partnering Sponsors, their affiliates and the immediate family members of such employees (parent, child, sibling, spouse) and persons living in the same household as such employees (whether related or not) are not eligible.  Participants may only enter one "Dream Big Grow Here' regional contest per calendar year. 
   
   The Northeast Iowa Business Network (Sponsor) reserves the right, at its sole and absolute discretion, to disqualify any individual and any or all of his/her Application(s) and/or votes deemed in Sponsor's sole and absolute discretion to be (a) tampering or attempting to tamper with the entry or voting process or the operation of the Grant Program or any Sponsor website; (b) violating the Official Application Guidelines; (c) violating the terms of service, conditions of use and/or general rules; or (d) acting in an unfair or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, harass any other person or act fraudulently in any manner. Void where prohibited.



2. Grant Program Period
   The opportunity to submit an entry in the Grant Contest begins 12:00:00 PM CDT on Monday, September 3, 2012, (the first date/time you can submit an Application) and ends 6:00:00 PM CDT on Friday, September 28, 2012. Voting will take place beginning on Monday, 12:00:00 PM CDT on October 1st, 2012, and end on Friday, October 19, 2012 at 6:00:00 PM CDT.



3. How to Apply
   To apply for the Grant Contest, visit http://www.dreambiggrowhere.com/Contest.aspx?contest=21 and follow the links and instructions to complete your entry. Submit the completed entry and it will be reviewed by contest sponsors and staff to make sure it conforms to our Nomination Guidelines (see our Nomination Guidelines listed below this Section).
   
   You will receive an email from the contest sponsor letting you know we have received your submission. Within 48 hours you will receive another email from the contest sponsor letting you know if your submission has been approved or denied.



4. Voting
   Individuals may vote for as many entries as they desire, but may only vote for each dream once per day, as defined by running every day from 12:00:00 AM until 11:59:59 PM.  To help prevent vote fraud, we have imposed a limit of 1 vote per entry, per day by computer network. Entries found in violation of the Voting rules may be terminated from the Grant Contest, and votes determined to be cast in violation of these terms will be removed. Click here for details on how the voting system works. Visitors will be required to use their personal Facebook accounts to vote.  If a user who wishes to vote does not have a Facebook account, they are able to create one for free here: https://www.facebook.com/.  No data collected from Facebook will be used outside of voting verification, and voters will have the option whether or not to share their vote with their Facebook friends.



5. Nomination Guidelines:
   • The nomination must be in English.
   • The Nomination cannot include matter that infringes or violates the rights of another, living or deceased including but not limited to promotion, privacy or academic property rights;
   • The Nomination cannot belittle any brand names or trademarks;
   • The Nomination cannot belittle any parties involved or affiliated with the promotion and administration of this promotion including but not limited to Sponsor and administrators;
   • The Nomination cannot contain any matter that is obscene, hateful, distasteful, offensive, malicious, tortuous or libelous;
   • The Nomination cannot contain matter that encourages or promotes racist attitudes, hatred, harm or intolerance towards any individual or group or that encourages or promotes prejudice based upon gender, sex, ethnicity, disability, religion, national origin, age or sexual orientation ; and
   • The Nomination must contain material appropriate for publication in an open forum (as determined by Sponsor and administrators ). For example, inappropriate material would include but not be limited to material relating to unlawful activities, property damage or threats thereof, profanity, threats of physical violence or material that is in violation of the laws and/or regulations in any jurisdiction where Nomination is created.



6. Release
   By Participating in and/or accepting a Dream Big Grow Here Norheast Iowa Grant, you thereby release Sponsor, administrators, the State of Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa, as well as their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, distributors, promotion agency and Dream Big Grow Here Northeast Iowa Grant Suppliers and each of their respective parent companies and organizations, and each such entity’s/company’s/organization’s employees, directors, officers and agents from and against any claim or cause of action, including but not limited to damage to or loss of property, personal injury or death, through participation in the promotion or receipt or use or misuse of any Dream Big Grow Here Grant.
   
   
7. General Conditions
   Sponsor reserves the right to terminate, suspend and/or adjust the promotion or any part of it, if any fraud, technical failures or any other factor impairs the integrity or proper functioning of the promotion, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. Sponsors may take all necessary steps to verify information related to claims made by entrants.  If terminated, Sponsor, in its sole discretion may determine the Dream Big Grow Here Grant recipients from among all non-suspect, eligible Nominations received up to time of such action using the judging procedure as outlined above. At the Sponsor’s sole discretion, Sponsor reserves the right to prohibit and ban any individual it finds to be tampering with or altering the Nomination process or the operation of the promotion or to be acting in violation of the official rules or of those of any other promotion or in any unfair or disruptive manner, and void all associated nomination(s). Any attempt by any person to intentionally undermine the legitimate operation of the Promotion may be a violation of criminal and/or civil laws, and if such attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages and other remedies (including attorney fees) from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. Sponsor’s failure to enforce any term of these official rules shall not constitute a waiver of that rule or condition.
   
   
8. Limitations of Liability
   Through submitting an application for a Dream Big Grow Here Grant, Participants agree that:
   • Any and all claims, disputes and causes of action because of or connected with their application, the grant program and/or any grant will be resolved individually without remedy to any form of class action;
   • Any and all claims, judgments and awards will be limited to actual third-party, out-of-pocket costs sustained but in no event will attorney’s fees be awarded or recoverable;
   • Under no circumstances will participants be allowed to obtain any award for, and participants knowingly and expressly waive all rights to seek, punitive, incidental, consequential, or special damages, lost profits and/or any other damages;
   • They permanently waive any right to seek injunctive or equitable reprieve; and
   • They release and hold harmless the State of Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa, Sponsor, all affiliated parties, and all of their employees and agents from any and all claims that any commercial, advertising, presentation, web content or any other material produced, presented, and/or prepared by or on behalf of Sponsor infringes the rights of participant as contained in any application or otherwise.
     
     
9. Winners
   Dream Big Grow Here Northeast Iowa Business Network grant contest winners will be awarded funds upon submission of receipts showing funds were used towards an existing business. Funds may be applied in any manner that is consistent with business ideas presented in the application process.  Repeat winners of past Dream Big Grow Here contests are not eligible to be awarded funds, but may participate.  The three businesses with the most votes and a wild card selection as determined by the Northeast Iowa Business Network will compete in a "playoff" scenario where each business will present their dream to a panel of judges as determined by the Northeast Iowa Business Network.
   
   A General Timeline is as Follows:
   October 19th - Voting Ends
   By October 31st - Committee Will Choose One (1) Wildcard Business Entry to Pitch
   November to December - Business Counselor will work with the Selected Four (4) Businesses
   January 17th - Committee Hosts Pitch-off and will Select a Final Winner at the NICC Dairy Center
   from 10 am to 1 pm
   
   Dream Big Grow Here finalists and winners will be required to do an interview with the staff from MyEntre.Net for promotional purposes of the site and the Contest. Contest winners and finalists may also be asked to write blogs on our site. These blogs may contain information regarding the Dreamer's business lesson learned, their successes and failures, advice to other entrepreneurs, and plans for the future. You may also agree to be a MyEntre.Net Webinar presenter covering the same basic topics as the blog.