Members of Christian Financial Credit Union will get the chanceto pitch their business ideas through a new contest.

The $248 million CU in Roseville, Mich. has launched CU@Soup, aprogram that allows members to share their business plans withother members. The budding entrepreneurs will put together a five-to 10-page business plan, including information on what theirproduct or service will be, what makes it unique, expenseprojections, what market area the business will serve, who thecustomers will be and how the business will be promoted.

Up to four members will be selected to present at the dinner.Each member who attends the dinner will pay $5 in exchange for ameal and voting privileges. At the end, attendees will vote ontheir favorite concept. The winner will receive the pool of fundscollected at the dinner as a micro grant.

“Start-up entrepreneurs often find themselves struggling to findthe resources they need to take their concept from idea toimplementation,” said Lauren Vance, vice president of strategicdevelopment and product delivery at Christian Financial. “We wantto be a resource to our members and help connect them with thefunding they need, even early on in the development of theirbusiness.”

In addition to the dinner opportunity, Christian Financial haspartnered with the Roseville Entrepreneurial Development Initiativeto expose members who are interested in doing business in Rosevilleto an even bigger opportunity.

Plans submitted for CU@Soup will also be reviewed foreligibility to receive larger grant dollars through REDI, as wellas small business loan funding from Christian Financial. Thecombination in funding between REDI and Christian Financial couldmean as much as $38,000 per business based on meeting eligibilityrequirements, according to the CU.