How It Works



TIMELINE

Submit Your Dream:
October 21st - November 8th, 2013

Entries will be taken on October 21st, 2013 starting at 8:00 AM CDT until November 8th, 2013 at 5:00 PM CDT
Post Dreams:
As Dreams are Approved they will be posted. 

Staff will post dreams that comply with our Rules and Regulations.
Vote:
November 11th - November 25th, 2013

Voting will take place starting on October 7th, 2013 at 8:00 AM CDT and will end at 5:00 PM CDT on October 11th, 2013.
Pitch Off:
December 10, 2013

The top four dreams receiving the most popular votes* and one to four additional wildcard selections from the regional host will pitch their business to a panel of experts on December 10th at 5:30 at Modern Woodmen Park's Skydeck. 

*In the event one of the top 4 businesses in the popular vote contest isn’t able to participate in the “Quad Cities Pitch-Off” the next place winner in votes will advance, etc. in that order.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

FAQs

CONTEST RULES

Eligibility
The MyEntre.Net “Quad Cities 2013” Grant Contest is open only to legal residents of the State of Iowa or Illinois, of the Counties of Clinton IA, Scott IA, Muscatine IA, Cedar IA, Mercer IL, Rock Island IL, and Whiteside IL, 18 years of age or older, at the time of submitting an entry.

Businesses can be pre-start up or existing business not exceeding 99 full time employees. Participants must be for-profit organizations.  The business needs to provide value added production or services from a location in Clinton IA, Scott IA, Muscatine IA, Cedar IA, Mercer IL, Rock Island IL, and Whiteside IL counties.  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.  For questions about the contest please contact Anne Spoden or by phone at 563-823-2659.

The top 4 businesses receiving the most popular votes* at the end of online voting will advance to the “Quad Cities Pitch-Off”. One to four additional wild card picks will be made to complete the field of 5-8. Each of the businesses at the Pitch-Off will be given 10 minutes to pitch their business to a panel of business experts who will determine the $5,000 winner.  The panel will base the $5,000 award on the following:  1) business’ potential for wealth generation 2) business/marketing plan 3) potential for future job creation 4) economic diversity and 5) business’ plans to use the $5,000 prize.

The individual registering the pre start up or existing business for the popular vote contest will be the person responsible for delivering the “Pitch-Off” presentation and must be an active member of the business.  No stand-in presenter allowed.

Quad Cities Pitch Off Date and Location: December 10th from 5:30 until 8:00 pm (central) at the Modern Woodmen Park's Skydeck.

Note: The individual registering MUST be present at the pitch off to be eligible to compete for the $5,000 prize.

**Illinois contestants are eligible to compete for the regional prize. An Iowa pitch-off finalist will be chosen to represent the Quad Cities in the Iowa statewide contest. **

Employees of MyEntre.Net, Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce, 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. Previous “Dream Big Grow Here” 1st Place Winners in the State of Iowa are not eligible. 

The Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce (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. 
  1. Grant Program Period
    The opportunity to submit an entry in the Grant Contest begins 8:00 AM CDT on October 21st, 2013 (the first date/time you can submit an Application) and ends 5:00 PM CDT on November 8th, 2013. Voting will take place beginning on November 11th at 8:00 CDT and ending on November 25th, 2013 at 5:00 PM CDT.
  2. How to Apply
    To apply for the Grant Contest visit http://www.dreambiggrowhere.com/SubmitDream.aspx and follow the links and instructions to complete your entry. Submit the completed entry and it will be reviewed by the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce 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 staff letting you know we have received your submission. Within 48 hours you will receive another email from the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce letting you know if your submission has been approved or denied.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.”

  5. Release
    By Participating in and/or accepting a Dream Big Grow Here Quad Cities 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 Quad Cities 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 Quad Cities Grant.

  6. 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 Quad Cities 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.

  7. Limitations of Liability
    Through submitting an application for a Dream Big Grow Here Quad Cities 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.

  8. Top Five Dreams and Pitch-Off Winner
    Dream Big Grow Here Quad Cities Grant Contest finalists and winners will be required to do an interview with the staff from www.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.  Regional winners will automatically become eligible to compete for a larger cash prize at the statewide Dream Big Grow Here contest.