Nominations are a key piece in the Micro-Grants system on Society6. Every grant ends up with a finalist pool based on nominations from other members. Whoever is giving the grant MUST select the winner of the grant from this list of finalists. It definitely helps your chances of being selected by the grant giver if you have a solid number of nominations. It's not a popularity contest but a way to involve the community in the process and try to keep the Micro-grants system fair and manageable.