1. Eligibility

The Competition Sponsor welcomes applications from lead organizations that are: US-based, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations (subject to limitations described in 2. Ineligible persons or entities below) or entities that have a recognized legal existence and structure under applicable law (State, Federal or Country); in good standing in the jurisdiction under which they are organized; and have operating budgets of at least $1 million.

All potential applicants are strongly advised to review and complete the Economic Opportunity Challenge Organizational Readiness Tool in order to confirm eligibility and fit for the Competition. Applicants who are not able to respond affirmatively to the questions listed within the tool are not likely to move on to Evaluation Panel review.

Lead organizations are welcome to partner with for-profit companies, foundations, schools, colleges and universities, government agencies, individuals, and other entities in order to implement the initiative.

2. Ineligible persons or entities

The following persons and organizations are not eligible to apply for the Economic Opportunity Challenge: organizations with budgets of less than $1 million; individuals; for-profit entities; government agencies; Doctoral Universities, Master’s Colleges and Universities, and Baccalaureate Colleges (please note: public community colleges ARE eligible to apply); and organizations that are not based in the United States or the United States Territories. Such ineligible persons or entities may, however, act as a partner to any team that is led by a Primary Organization that meets the above eligibility criteria.

Employees of the Competition Sponsor, Lever for Change, RAMPIT, The Common Pool, LLC, and any of their subsidiaries and affiliates, and immediate family members (spouse, parent, child, sibling and their respective spouses, regardless of where they live) or persons living in the same households of such employees, are not eligible.          

3. Guidance Related to Non-Charitable Applicants 

Grant funds will be awarded only to 501(c)(3) organizations and will be used solely for charitable purposes and cannot result in private benefit to other people, organizations, or entities other than incidental benefit that is a necessary byproduct of the accomplishment of the charitable purpose.

4. Financial and Organizational Capacity

All applicants must demonstrate their financial and organizational capacity to carry out the proposed project and to appropriately manage any Award.

5. Treatment and Use of Intellectual Property

Each application should reflect the anticipated ownership, use, and licensing of any intellectual property. You represent and warrant that your Entry is an original work created solely by You, that You own all Intellectual Property in and to the Entry, and that no other party has any right, title, claim or interest in the Entry, except as expressly identified by You to us in writing in Your application. You retain all right, title and interest in any inventions, software or work of authorship You invent or create. The ownership and use of intellectual property arising from this competition remains with You.

6. Prohibited Use of Award Funds

Award funds must be used for the project for which they are awarded, and may not be used: 

• For non-charitable purposes;
• To carry on propaganda or otherwise to attempt to influence legislation within the meaning of Code Section 4945(d)(1);
• To influence the outcome of any specific public election, or to carry on, directly or indirectly, any voter registration drive within the meaning of Code Section 4945(d)(2);
• To make a grant to any individual for travel, study, or other similar purposes, or to make a grant to any organization, except in compliance with the provisions of Sections 4945(g) or (h), as the case may be; or
• For the creation of any endowment or for the aggregation of philanthropic capital by organizations that regrant to nonprofit organizations.

Advocacy cannot be the primary purpose of the project, but a modest percentage of the project budget - up to 20% - may be allocated to advocacy work.

7. Grant Agreement

The successful Finalists and/or Winner will be expected to enter into a grant agreement with the Competition Sponsor, containing key terms and conditions which are separate from these RULES and TERMS posted on this Website for this Competition.

Before any offer of a grant agreement is made, organizations proposing to work together must demonstrate through a fully-executed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or other similar agreement, executed by all parties, that a single eligible entity or organization will serve as the grantee and will have direction, control, and supervision of the proposed project and management of all grant funds and reporting requirements. NOTE: Each grant agreement governing the use of Awards may vary, depending on the nature of the project and the organization receiving the Award.

8. Reporting

Any Grantee who enters into a separate grant agreement to receive funding will be required to report progress towards milestones and other goals. Those reporting requirements may vary, based on the organization and the project. However, it is likely that a minimum of one financial report per year and one narrative report per year will be required.

9. Other Rules

9.1 Your application must be in English.

9.2 You must complete registration to participate in the Competition. Individuals representing an applicable organization must be 18 years of age or older at the time of entry to participate.

9.3 Your Entry should meet the application requirements stipulated on this website. You are required to register in advance of any deadlines for the submission of an Entry, and You must comply with all other deadlines posted on this website. Your Entry may not, in the sole and unfettered discretion of Competition Sponsor and/or RAMPIT, contain obscene, provocative, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate content. Competition Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, modify or suspend Competition in whole or in part without liability to You. Competition Sponsor and/or RAMPIT also reserve the right to disqualify You from participating. 

9.4 By participating in the Economic Opportunity Challenge, You represent, warrant, and agree that:

1. You are the sole author, creator, and owner of the Entry;
2. the Entry is not the subject of any actual or threatened litigation or claim;
3. the Entry does not and will not violate or infringe upon the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, publicity rights, or other legal rights of any third party;
4. the Entry does not and will not contain any harmful computer code (sometimes referred to as "malware," "viruses" or "worms"); and
5. the Entry, and Your use of the Entry, does not and will not violate any applicable laws or regulations, including, without limitation, applicable export control laws and regulations of the United States and other jurisdictions. If the Entry includes any third party works (such as third party content or open source code), You must provide the Competition Sponsor with all appropriate licenses and releases for such third party works. In the event You cannot provide all such required licenses and releases, the Competition Sponsor reserves the right, in the Competition Sponsor's sole discretion, to disqualify the applicable Entry.

9.5 You may participate by registering, but You may not register more than one true and uniform identity; multiple registrations for a participant using multiple identities are not allowed. Competition Sponsor, Lever for Change, and/or RAMPIT reserve the right to disqualify any Entry made by a participant violating this limitation, regardless of whether all of the respective parties had knowledge of such violation. Each registrant may submit at most one Entry.

9.6 The application requirements for your Entry are clearly described on this website. Your Entry will be assessed initially by five reviewers, who will be assigned to score your Entry either randomly or after considering any potential conflicts of interest, using the scoring rubric and any other judging criteria that are also described on this website. In cases where a Judge indicates any potential conflict of interest, the Entry will be assigned to another Judge. Those Judges, each of whom is named on this website, will be responsible for scoring your Entry. The judging criteria are to be applied in the sole discretion of the Judges. By participating in the Economic Opportunity Challenge, You acknowledge and agree to be bound by the assessments of the Judges and final decision of the Sponsor.

9.7 Once a rank order of Entries has been calculated, up to five (5) top Competitors will be named as Finalists. Of these Finalists, one (1) Competitor will receive an award of $10 million and the remaining Finalists will each receive an award of $100,000. The Competition Sponsor will review and discuss the top Entries and will determine any Finalists and/or Winners, using criteria that may incorporate considerations beyond the judges’ reviews.

If a Finalist is unable to fully participate in the next phase of the Competition, then they may forfeit their designation as a Finalist, and the next Competitor in the rank order of Entries may be named a Finalist in their place. Final determination of Finalists and Winner rests with the Competition Sponsor.

9.8 While RAMPIT, LLC (“RAMPIT”) is providing an online platform for your participation, RAMPIT is not responsible for the payment of any Award(s). Payment of any Award(s) is the sole responsibility of the Competition Sponsor and its designees, and under the TERMS, each participant has agreed to look solely to the Competition Sponsor for the payment of any Award. 

9.9 By submitting your Entry, you agree to release, discharge and hold harmless the Competition Sponsor, Lever for Change, The Common Pool, LLC, and RAMPIT and their partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies, agents and their employees, officers, directors and representatives from any Loss arising out of your participation in Competition and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any Award(s). Neither the Competition Sponsor, Lever for Change, The Common Pool, LLC, nor RAMPIT assume responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, or delay in operation or transmission; communications line failure; theft or destruction of or unauthorized access to Competition entries or entry forms; or alteration of entries or entry forms. Neither the Competition Sponsor, Lever for Change, The Common Pool, LLC, nor RAMPIT are responsible for any problems with or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or any website, human errors of any kind, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to competitors’ or any other persons’ computers related to or resulting from participation, uploading or downloading of any materials related to this Competition. In the event of a dispute about the identity of any Competitor, an online registration will be declared as if made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry.

9.10 THIS COMPETITION IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. Competitors agree that this Competition shall be subject to and governed by the laws of the United States of America and the forum of any dispute shall be in the courts of the United States of America. 

9.11 If for any reason the Competition is not capable of running as planned, due to infection by computer virus, bugs, worms, Trojan horses, denial of service, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes beyond the control of RAMPIT that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Competition, RAMPIT reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual(s) who tamper with the process, and/or to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Competition. If Competition Sponsor and/or RAMPIT terminates the Competition, it will not retain any rights in the submitted Entries.

9.12 The Competition Sponsor reserves the right in their sole discretion to disqualify any Competitor who is found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Economic Opportunity Challenge, to be acting in violation of these RULES or the TERMS, or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with the intent to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the Economic Opportunity Challenge, or to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person.

9.13 Entry into the Economic Opportunity Challenge does not constitute entry into any other Lever for Change competition, RAMPIT competition, or promotion that may be offered by the Competition Sponsor and/or its affiliates.

9.14 Competition Sponsor and/or RAMPIT reserve the right to disqualify any participant who violates these RULES, the TERMS and any standards of behavior expressed or implied in them.

9.15 The names of the Finalists and Winner will be posted on this website for such period of time as the Competition Sponsor deems reasonable.

You may contact us with any questions or comments about these RULES. Please enter Economic Opportunity Challenge in the subject line of your email. You may reach us at: [email protected].