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Cross is hoping that part of that opportunity may be found in Fund St. Louis, a nonprofit he quietly founded on Mother’s Day of last year and has been working on ever since. The crowd-funding platform is presently donation-based though he is open to other possibilities as the details of the JOBS Act shake out. His big push for publicity is set for next month.

“We said let’s take social media and these funding fundamentals and mix it with pride in St. Louis and try to get these people to really get some economic stimulus going in the city,” he said. “It could be done in a different way than relying on the RCGA to land a big employer. It was more from the bootstraps figuring it out for ourselves.”

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The text below is from the offices of Polsinelli Shughart

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act has passed Congress and is on its way to being signed into law by President Obama. In only a few weeks’ time, Congress made several important changes to the federal securities laws to aid small businesses.

Key provisions of the new Act include:

• Relaxing federal securities regulation for businesses that qualify as “emerging growth companies”
• Allowing public solicitation in certain exempt private offerings under Rule 506 of Regulation D
• Creating a new crowdfunding exemption from federal securities laws to aid private businesses raising capital
• Raising the limit on exempt small offerings under Regulation A to $50 million
• Raising the threshold for companies with broadly held equity securities from registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act)

Several stand-alone securities law reform proposals originated in the House this session, enjoying varying degrees of success. As we previously discussed, House leadership bundled many of these proposals in late February and placed them on the fast track as H.R. 3606, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. In March, both the House and Senate quickly passed the JOBS Act. The Senate version differed slightly from the House version, and on March 27th the House agreed to the Senate’s version.

Emerging Growth Companies

The Act creates a new class of reporting company called an “emerging growth company.” To qualify, an already registered reporting company must have gross revenues for its last fiscal year under $1 billion. Qualifying companies receive several breaks, much like existing “smaller reporting companies,” including:

• Exemption from pay-versus-performance disclosures in proxy statements
• Exemption from say-on-pay and golden parachute votes by shareholders
• Relaxed disclosure of financial information
• Possible exemptions from new accounting standards
• Relaxed executive compensation disclosures
• Exemption from public accountant reports on internal financial controls
• Provisions designed to facilitate public offerings, including confidential SEC reviews of draft registration statements.

The help afforded to these companies may not stop there. In addition to the Act’s changes, the SEC must study its registration rules for ways to simplify the stock offering registration process for emerging growth companies.

General Solicitation in Private Offerings

Many companies raise capital without registering their offerings with the SEC. This is accomplished primarily through private offerings under the exemption in Rule 506 of Regulation D. Recent SEC analysis estimates at least $905 billion was offered under Regulation D in 2010. An underpinning of Regulation D has been its prohibition on general solicitation and mandate that issuers have pre-existing relationships with investors in these offerings.

In a groundbreaking change to the private market for securities, the Act directs the SEC to allow general solicitation and advertising in exempt private offerings made under SEC Rule 506, so long as sales are made only to accredited investors. Similarly, the Act directs the SEC to permit general solicitation and advertising in sales of securities pursuant to SEC Rule 144A to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding started as an approach based in social media converting the traditional local fundraising efforts led by charitable organizations, creative ventures and even political campaigns to widespread online campaigns. Numerous crowdfunding sites have popped up offering venues for fund-seekers to post projects in need of a pre-determined amount of funding. Capital is typically pledged by funders in exchange for personal satisfaction and/or tangible rewards. The entrepreneurs’ offer of equity in exchange for financing has not survived in the crowdfunding phenomena primarily because in such cases the crowdfunding model constitutes a general solicitation and offer to sell a security when an equity interest is offered in exchange for funds. The Act changes that by creating a new crowdfunding exemption from registration for securities offerings.

In a 12-month period, a company may sell up to $1 million in securities through an intermediary, such as a registered broker or qualified funding portal, to the public without registering the offering. Investors participating in the offering are limited in how much they can invest per company in a twelve-month period, based on their income and net worth. Investors who annually earn less than $100,000 or have a net worth below $100,000 are limited to the greater of $2,000 or 5 percent of the investor’s annual income or net worth. Investors who annually earn at least $100,000 or have a net worth of at least $100,000 are limited to 10 percent of the investor’s annual income or net worth, not to exceed $100,000. The method for calculating annual income is unspecified. Net worth is to be calculated under new SEC rules consistent with the net worth calculation for accredited investors, as recently revised by the Dodd-Frank Act.

The exemption is not without catches though. Both companies and intermediaries they use must meet a number of requirements. Specifically, intermediaries must:

• Register with the SEC as a broker or “funding portal,” a new defined term
• Register with applicable self-regulatory organizations (SROs)
• Provide disclosures to be set by the SEC in a future rulemaking
• Ensure investors review investor-education information to be established by the SEC, affirm that the investor could lose the investment and can bear a total loss, and answer questions demonstrating an understanding of the investing risk associated with small issuers, potential illiquidity of the securities, and any other topics set by the SEC
• Take precautions to be set by the SEC to reduce fraud, including running background checks on the issuer’s directors, officers, and stockholders holding 20% or more of the issuer’s shares
• Provide to the SEC and potential investors at least 21 days before a sale disclosures from the issuer set by the Act
• Ensure that proceeds are delivered to the issuer only after a target set by the issuer is met and allow investors to back out as rules to be made by the SEC allow
• Follow new SEC rules to ensure investors are not exceeding the limits set by the exemption
• Protect investor privacy, as required by new SEC rules
• Not compensate promoters, finders, or lead generators
• Not allow persons associated with the intermediary to have a financial interest in any issuer using the intermediary
• Comply with any other rules the SEC determines necessary.

As may be evident, the Act gives the SEC broad discretion to regulate this exemption, so there is considerable uncertainty in its exact form. Polsinelli Shughart will be monitoring opportunities for our startup and entrepreneurial clients as the SEC implements the crowdfunding exemption.

Registration Exemption for Small Offerings

The Act effectively raises the threshold for offerings under Regulation A (the SEC’s abbreviated registration for small offerings) from $5 million in a twelve-month period to $50 million during that period.

Registration Exemption for Parties Involved in Private Offerings

The Act also amends § 4 of the Securities Act of 1933 to exempt the following persons involved in Rule 506 offerings from registration as broker-dealers: private offering platform providers, offerors and associates who co-invest in their offerings, and offerors and associates who provide ancillary services such as due diligence and standardized documents. To be eligible, the exempt person or associate may not receive a commission, may not hold customer funds or securities, and may not be subject to a statutory disqualification for wrongdoing under the Exchange Act.

Polsinelli Shughart will be reviewing new opportunities these changes create for our clients.

Company Registration Threshold

In addition to requiring companies to register their securities offerings with the SEC absent an applicable exemption, the federal securities laws require companies of a certain size to register with the SEC. Registration triggers significant reporting obligations and costs to newly public companies under Section 13 of the Exchange Act.

To relieve growing businesses from the costly burden resulting from these reporting requirements, the Act raises the size threshold above which issuers must register with the SEC under the Exchange Act. The new thresholds are $10 million in assets (formerly $1 million) and either 2,000 shareholders or 500 persons who are not accredited investors (formerly 500 shareholders). These thresholds exclude employees who are shareholders through their participation in an employee stock plan.

I have a recording studio. I am a professional R&B singer from St. Louis, MO. I realize that most of our youth is influenced by this negative music of today. So what my studio does is teach kids how to write music, learn how to record properly, and at the end of every week, they have to write and record about what they learned throughout the week. But I’m not doing good and launching the studio because I don’t have the funds to fix up the building, get computers for the kids to research on, and things like that. So I beg you for your help. I have gotten everything jump started with my own money, but I just really need some additional help. Thank You.

Success Factors:

My business will still bring in and be open to regular artists, such as Nelly, Nikko Smith, (Ozzie Smith’s son), Aloha, (from American Idol) who are all good friends of mine, but artists like them would still pay a fee to record.

How We Plan To Use The Money We Raise:

The money would go straight to fixing the building and buying the equipment for the studio. Basically everything I need for the kids . Thank you.  Please help me, I’m doing all this by myself. I really need help. Thank you again.  Carl Brown.

If Successfully Funded We Offer Our Donors:

A great outcome with the business.

How We Will Give Back to the Community:

By helping these kids stay off the streets, teaching them the good points of music, letting them know its not about guns, dope, & gangs!! Giving them a way out. And I will be partnering with local schools to try to do some after school type of program. Thank you

S.H.E.R.A.H. Innerprises is a business in the St. Louis area that originated from a women’s empowerment organization entitled S.H.E.R.A.H. (Sisters Helping Each other Reach A Higher Height). S.H.E.R.A.H.’s mission is to empower ourselves as women to assist in the rebuilding of our community. We originally started offering sister circles, healing tea parties, pampering parties, youth programs and more.

Throughout our seven year run in the St. Louis area we were confronted with the same issues. Women lacked adequate resources needed to sustain themselves and their families. We also noticed how creative and talented these women were. In an effort to provide viable opportunities for these women, S.H.E.R.A.H. Innerprises was formed.

S.H.E.R.A.H. Innerprises is a global business that will produce healing teas, soaps, body butters, cultural jewelry, empowerment workbooks and journals. We will also create healing retreats and empowerment circles. We currently have a television show that is a platform for women to express their ideas, businesses and community work. S.H.E.R.A.H. TV will continue to be a reliable platform for women to share and grow.

Aside from the body products, workbooks and retreats, we also host an Annual “From Sisters to Goddesses Conference” that exists to provide a scholarship to a female high school senior from North St. Louis. The conference also provides the women with information needed to become entrepreneurs, better wives, mothers and advocates of the community.

S.H.E.RA.H. Innerprises seeks support from Fund St. Louis to help with start-up cost for S.H.E.R.A.H. Tea. The tea will be designed to help build the immune system and provide womb support to women.

Success Factors:

S.H.E.R.A.H. Innerprises will be successful because we have been in the community for the past seven years servicing women through a very grassroots movement. With support and funding from supporters of Fund St. Louis, we can establish ourselves as a permanent entity in the St. Louis area and provide jobs for the women who seek and qualify. Women all over the world are becoming more intuned with the innate abilities to lead, heal and transform and many are realizing that the change begins with self. S.H.E.R.A.H. Innerprises will offer a plethora of products and events that will help them in their transitions. Through the empowerment of women, we stand to have happier family structures which will result in healthier communities.

The S.H.E.R.A.H. tea will be a success because not only will it be tasty it will provide a number of health benefits and we plan to work with some of the best marketing companies in the city.

How We Plan To Use The Money We Raise:

S.H.E.R.A.H. Innerprises will use the money to develop, produce and market our new S.H.E.R.A.H. Tea.

If Successfully Funded We Offer Our Donors:

$1 – $20

• A personally signed thank you card
• A free subscription to S.H.E.R.A.H. MAG

$21 – $50

• All of the Above
• A S.H.E.R.A.H. tote bag

$51- $75

• All of the Above
• Two tickets to the next S.H.E.R.A.H. event

$76- $100

• All of the above
• A piece of one of a kind cultural jewelry designed by a S.H.E.R.A.H. member

$101- $250

• All of the above
• Box of S.H.E.R.A.H. Tea

How We Will Give Back to the Community:

S.H.E.R.A.H. will give back to the community by using yearly proceeds from the Tea toward the scholarship that is given to female high school seniors in the North St. Louis community at our annual “From Sisters to Goddesses Conference.”

MoPACE is a trade association forming to launch property assessed clean energy
funding (PACE) activities in Missouri. PACE is the 2010 legislated, revenue neutral,positive cash flow financing mechanism for commercial energy efficiency and alternative energy improvements for property owners.
MoPACE provides outreach, networking and branding for “best practice” practitioners.

Success Factors:

MoPACE, the association, helps standardize a new industry model, and provide access, visibility, network and connection opportunities for customers, service providers, and funding resources. It levels the field and reads the playbook to insure credibility for the marketplace, and helps motivate penetration.

How We Plan To Use The Money We Raise:

1. Legal and accounting due diligence 25%
2. Public outreach tools and activities 25%
3. 2012 statewide PACE conference launch 50%

Balance of 2012 budget earned from sponsorships, memberships and conference attendance in May 2012

If Successfully Funded We Offer Our Donors:

1. 25:1 “social benefit” rate of return:
2. $200,000 association stewards $5,000,000 in energy improvements (EE) by second year, and growing.
3. Buy-in by stakeholders accomplished in 2011.
4. Enabling funding legislation passed in 2010.

In these post rebate/credit years, this is a novel revenue neutral, positive cash flow EE funding vehicle that is our best promise for exciting the market.

How We Will Give Back to the Community:

Energy load reductions in the hundreds of thousands of M Btus by second year, carbon reduction 1st year, next coal fired plant obsolete by 5th year.  This will also serve as a practical guide for residential PACE in 2014.

Sugar Ink specializes in decorative homemade sugar cookies & edible images customized for every special occasion! Every cookie is fresh baked with the best ingredients and decorated with royal icing. Cookies can be decorated also with an edible logo for a unique corportate gift! I am trying to open a retail location at the Meadows in Lake St Louis. This outside mall in St. Charles County doesn’t have a place to grab a snack, beverage or a place to relax. Sugar Ink at the Meadows will offer sweets, treats, gelato and a variety of beverages. In order for me to keep my lease down to a reasonable rate, I have to do the buildout and the start up costs are very expensive. I am seeking funds to help with the costs to open my retail store.

Success Factors:

The location I will open my business is The Meadows at Lake St Louis. Currently, there is no store in the mall offering sweets, treats, gelato and beverages. There isn’t even a store to just relax for a moment in between shopping. This is a huge advantage for my business! I have no competition and the employees of the mall are wanting my business! I have interview many store/mall employees and they are begging me to open. Also, there are many major corporations in the area and I believe my logo cookies will be a huge hit for corporate gifts. Sugar Ink will also be successful because I am passionate about my cookies, take pride in my work and deliver outstanding customer service. Being in retail and management for over twenty years, I have tons of experience.

How We Plan To Use The Money We Raise:

My start up costs associated with build out for the space and also to purchase appliances/equipment for the business.

If Successfully Funded We Offer Our Donors:

I can offer 50% discounts to donors or gift cards for future purchases.

How We Will Give Back to the Community:

I would like to work with the school district to hire troubled teens or teenage moms. Because I will be a small business, I can work around their schedule and be a mentor to them. I was a teenage mom myself and I always worked hard to support my son. I believe I can help teenagers by teaching them a great work ethic so they do not depend on the government for assistance. I would also like to donate any food that has not been sold to a food pantry at the end of the week. Thank you!

It’s a webshow combination of interviews with local mothers of multiples (triplets or higher) and a sitcom.  Each ep will have a theme. It will be both educational for moms and entertaining.  This funding will help me produce a pilot to present to potential advertisers.

Success Factors:

Although it will be aimed at mothers of multiples, it will be informative for all moms.  I am a mother of 4yr old triplets so I have hands on experience in the subject matter as well as connections to the many organizations, support groups and communities of parents of multiples in order to gain viewers. I will target advertising from companies that sell baby products as well as childrens products.

Give Back to the Community:

It will bring a steady ongoing production to the St. Louis area.  I am hoping to gain enough publicity and viewership to be able to bring other productions to St. Louis and make this a viable secondary market for Hollywood productions in order to give our local film/tv production people more jobs.

I have been in the construction business for 7-1/2 years working with other construction companies and have extensive knowledge in this area. I am trying to get my company started but am having difficulty in getting some of the necessary tools needed such as:  a Dump trailer, an Enclosed tool trailer, a newer pickup (for professionalism appearance) to move trailers. I also looking to have my insurance upgraded. I would like to hire between 10-12 individuals to get the necessary crews going. I am mainly interested in a loan or grant-to be repaid when soluable- of no more than $15,000.00 but would only like this as a limit if needed. I am only purchasing one item as needed then will try to repay immediately if possible.

Success Factors:

I am patient in my planning as to not be too big too quickly, and only want to expand slowly with a crew or two only the first year and to expand slowly after I can keep these employed with no break in sight. If a backlog occurs then expand partially. I only want quality people that do quality work and are respectful to those around them. I try to make the worker happy through pay based on work completion time frames with quality as the finishing factor.

Give Back to the Community:

I plan on this through hiring poeple from the St. Louis metro area community to perform work in this same area. This helps to keep local money local, as well as improving the values of the local homes. If I can help in other ways then I will try to in any way that Fund St. Louis sees fit. Either through charitable donations or through working with Habitat for Humanity to build housing for the area homeless, buy supplying labor and available materials.

Green Bean will be designing, building and operating a fast-casual retail food operation serving specialty and design-your-own salads and wraps, located in the Central West End area of St. Louis, an area heavily populated and visited by students and employees of Washington University in St. Louis and St. Louis University, the medical centers associated with those institutions, and employees of businesses that are located around those institutions.

In addition to providing healthier options in St. Louis, our goal is to support local agriculture by purchasing the majority of our produce and food supplies from local farmers. Additionally, we plan to maintain a “green” environment by only using recycled and compostable supplies. The ultimate goal of green bean is to promote healthier eating habits while minimizing our environmental impact.

Success Factors:

In the past few years, there has been a nationwide shift towards maintaining healthy lifestyles through exercise and healthy food options. Many organic supermarkets have spread in communities throughout the United States and restaurants are starting to offer healthier choices for customers. The following business plan describes the need for and design of a new, fast casual establishment in the St. Louis, MO area. This establishment will differ from other fast-casual restaurants, as it will provide salads and salad wraps; a healthy alternative to other, already existing, fast-food choices. The customer will have the choice of selecting from the menu of prefixed salads or mixing their own custom salad to their liking. There are currently no restaurant with an identical mission and product, and we hope to stand out as a new and exciting concept in the midwest.

How We Will Give Back to the Community:

Green Bean intends and hopes to be more than a restaurant in many ways. Of course, we will create jobs in the community, but we also hope to spread our mission and our ideals throughout the community in a very inclusive way. First, we hope to help encourage healthy eating and sustainable living, a concept that is new but rapidly growing in St. Louis. In addition, we hope to truly enter the community and become an integral and influential part of it. We plan to do this by holding events that go far beyond a typical restaurant. To encourage healthy activity, we plan to have free walks for those who do not like to exercise alone. We plan in the future to offer activities like free boot camps and yoga, and to sponsor other healthy activities in the city. We hope that our mission and our community outreach will help educate members of the community and encourage new ways of thinking and acting.

I would like to go into ran down communities and purchase propety from the city fix up the properties and provide housing for the following individuals: Homeless/fostered teens turning 18 who have been released, Indivduals who lost their home due to lost of job/forclosure and low income families.

Success Factors:

By purchasing the property from the city at a very low price this will allow room for low rental rates. The individuals all qualify for some sort of Government Assistance.

How We Will Give Back to the Community:

This will bring the value of the current homes up, it will also eliminate the amount of violence and drug traffic that accrue in the neighbor hood due to vacant buildings were most drug sales take place. The neighborhood would be know for begin family orientate. Example: Most homeowners over 60 have seen their neighborhood go from good bad to worst by rebuilding the community you rebuild hope their will be no doubt in their mind that they have been forgotten.