I'm in the middle of developing a concept that I - and a partner -
have beeen working on (part time)for four years.  I have quit my job
and am deveoting full energies to this. I'd like to know where I might
find investors or venture capitalists/philanthropists that might be
interested in the idea to want to help launch it fully.  It is a
concept that has two sides/prongs to it.  One is a consulting division
and the other division produces original scripts. Both divisions
should feed into or support the other.

<Venture capitalists offer investment in companies from amounts of
$100,000 and expect to earn on average an annual return of 25% from
their investment.

Vfinance has a database of 15 venture capitalist and their
requirements and funding capabilities. It is free to search their
database. The venture capitalists in their database offer investment
ranging from $250.000 up to $10 million. They also offer a service of
matching you with an investor at a cost of $2.50 per contact.

Venture Capitalist.com provides a searchable database where you can
match your needs to an investor. It also enables you to list your
details so that potential investors can find you.

The Angels Forum offers initial investment from $100,000 to $750,000
and has in the past invested up to $3 million in a single company.

Next Wave Stocks has a directory of angel investment with links to
individual angel websites.>


<Additional links:>

<Vfinance.com>
<http://www.vfinance.com/home.asp?ToolPage=vencaentire.asp&Tracker=>

<Abbycon.com – directory of venture capitalists.>
<http://www.abbycon.com/financial/VentureCapitalists.htm>

<Directory of venture capitalists.>
<http://www.abrexa.co.uk/Business_and_Economy/Financial_Services/Venture_Capital/>

<Venture capitalist.com>
<http://www.venture-capitalist.com/>

<International angel Investors.>
<http://angelinvestors.infopoint.com/membership.html>

<Angel Directory.>
<http://www.nextwavestocks.com/angeldirectory.html>

<Angels Forum.>
<http://www.angelsforum.com/>

<Advice on approaching venture capitalists.>
<http://www.bcentral.co.uk/finance/start/nongovernmentfaq/What_are_venture_capitalists_and_how_can_they_help__my_business.asp>

<Venture capital.>
<http://www.businesslink.org/cgi-bin/bv1/index.jsp?urlid=5&PCOID=-9028&ACOID=-8874&obsParam=14%7c1073821979%23null%23topic%23null%23topic>


<Search strategy:>

<venture capitalists directory>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=venture+capitalists&as_q=directory>

<"venture capitalist" -"venture –captialists">
<://www.google.com/search?as_q=&num=10&hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=%22venture+capitalist%22&as_oq=&as_eq=%22venture+captialists%22&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=images>

<"angel investors">
<://www.google.com/search?q=%22angel+investors%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&as_qdr=all&start=10&sa=N>


<Hope this helps.>

---

Request for Answer Clarification by moeiii-ga on 29 Oct 2002 10:42 PST

Before I rate the answer, I wonder if I can get more specificity on
what was given? Meaning, the concept I'm working on is actually alive
- we have two active consulting contracts - but the research answer
for financing needs to be slanted towards the category the question is
in - arts & entertainment.  Specifically the JOMA Arts Group is an
arts management consulting and commercial theatrical producing entity.

---

Clarification of Answer by belindalevez-ga on 04 Nov 2002 00:43 PST

<Learning lab is a guide to resources for funding and managing arts
organisations. It contains details of funding guides, funding
directories, surveys and reports. Also included is information about
marketing and collaboration. Links to sources of funding are provided.

Researching philanthropy is a searchable database of philanthropy
literature.  If you click on the link to top funders you will find a
list of 100 of the largest U.S. grant making foundations.

The pauper provides links to arts support organisations in lots of
categories.

Philanthropy news digest provides contact information for fundraising
consultants.

Focus on arts funding has links to major sources of arts funding. 

Cultural funding – federal opportunities, details funding that is
available from government departments for arts and cultural projects.
If you click on federal programs you will get a list of government
departments providing funding. Clicking on each department in the list
will give you details of the funding programs.>


<Additional links:>

<Learning lab.>
<http://fdncenter.org/learn/topical/arts.html>

<Researching philanthropy.>
<http://lnps.fdncenter.org/>

<The pauper.>
<http://www.thepauper.com/Links/default.asp>

<Philanthropy news digest.>
<http://fdncenter.org/pnd/>

<Focus on arts funding.>
<http://fdncenter.org/focus/arts/>

<Cultural funding – federal opportunities.>
<http://63.169.191.195:591/federal-opportunities02/a-types.html>


<Search strategy:>

<"arts funding">
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22arts+funding%22>

<"arts funding" scripts>
<://www.google.com/search?q=%22arts+funding%22+scripts&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1>

Dear Moeii-ga,

Firstly, there are numerous venture capital sources you can look up on
the internet but before you look to approach any, ensure they are in
fact venture capital companies that finance this type of project ie:
have they done it before? Without knowing what country you reside, i
suggest type in Google venture capital associations, businesses and
that should be a good start.

Secondly, an idea is not enough - you require proof that you can in
fact translate this 'idea' into a commercial entity with minimum risk.
Investors will look for proof of past achievments in this area or at
least something tangible to show that the type of project that will be
delivered and then how will this make money for the investor.
Remember, no investor will give you money out of the goodness of their
heart - they require a commercial payback at some point in time.

I trust this gives you some brief insight into the process of raising
money for business ideas. It is naturally more complicated but
completing a professional business plan is a good start. Feel free to
email me direct for further detail.

Regards,
Bluesky