Challenge Rules
Overview
Organizations may join together as a coalition to submit a single application subject to these Rules. However, Awards to coalitions must be distributed to a single legal entity that will have legal responsibility for executing the coalition’s proposal in accordance with the terms of their grant agreement.
Additional Requirements
- Your Entry must be submitted in English.
- All applicants must register for the Challenge prior to applying. Please note that the Challenge application window closed at 7pm ET on August 15, 2023.
- All Entries must comply with these Rules and be submitted in accordance with any deadlines listed on this Website.
- Your Entry may not contain obscene, defamatory, or illegal content. The Challenge Partners reserve the right to disqualify any Entries that they determine, in their sole discretion, violate this provision.
- All Entries must have a charitable purpose, as defined in Section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code of the United States of America. In order for a project to be charitable under U.S. law, it must (i) have a broad social purpose and benefit and (ii) not result in financial gain to any individual or any non-charitable entity that is more than “incidental and tenuous” to the related social impact. You can read more about the second requirement here.
- All Entries should reflect the anticipated ownership, use, and/or licensing of any intellectual property resulting from the Challenge or any Challenge Award. To meet the second requirement for charitability above, grant agreements between data.org and any Challenge Awardees that are not 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations may include stipulations relating to such intellectual property. The nature of any such stipulations will be flexible and will consider your project’s unique structure and goals.
- Challenge Awards may not be used for projects that attempt to: (a) influence the outcome of any domestic or foreign election for public office; (b) support lobbying or other attempts to influence local, state, federal or foreign legislation; (c) conduct any “lobbying activity” as that term is defined under the Lobbying Disclosure Act; or (e) otherwise violate any legal restriction applicable to nonprofit organizations exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), including any federal, state, local or foreign rule or regulation pertaining to advocacy, lobbying, political activity or government ethics.
Selection Criteria and Process
Phase 1:
Upon submitting Your Entry, the Entry will be subject to an administrative review to ensure compliance with these Rules. Qualified Entries will then be judged based on the following criteria:
- Digital Inclusion
- Public Good
- Localism and IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and access)
- Responsible Use
- Originality
- Feasibility
- Technical Relevance
- Organizational Capacity
- Network / Ecosystem
- Technical Considerations
- Scalability
Phase 2 (finalists):
Informed by this Phase 1 assessment, an estimated 20-25 Entrants will be invited to advance to Phase 2 of the Challenge, which will involve submitting additional documents and an interview. The Selection Committee will review and discuss the top Entries and will select up to five final Awardees. By participating in the Challenge, you agree to be bound by the final decision of the Challenge judges.
Responsible AI
Our Design Philosophy
A foundational objective of the Challenge is to ensure that AI responsibly serves the public good. The Challenge Design Philosophy outlines the key considerations used to guide the application design and selection judging processes of the Challenge.