❗Please note that applications must be submitted no later than March 31, 2024.
Application Period
- Application Open: November 1, 2023 at 9am EST
- Application Close: March 31, 2024 at 6pm EST
- Review Period: April 1 - 30, 2024
- Announcement: May 1, 2024
General
The JobTest.org Entrepreneurial Vision Grant (the “Program”) is sponsored and administered by Realign, Inc. (JobTest.org). (“Sponsor”). By entering this Program, entrants agree to abide by these Official Rules and the Sponsor’s determinations regarding the Program, which are final and binding.
Note: The Program is subject to federal, state, and local laws and is void where prohibited. There is no purchase necessary or other cost to enter the Program or win a Grant.
Eligibility
Applicants can be either Individual or Business. To qualify for participation in the Program, applicants must satisfy the following conditions:
Individual Criteria:
- Aspiring or current entrepreneurs (referred to as “Officer”) in key leadership positions (such as Founder, President, CEO, CFO, COO, or an equivalent role) in businesses aligned with the Program's goals.
- Must be a legal resident of the U.S., including all 50 states, D.C., or Puerto Rico.
- Must be at least eighteen (18) years of age, with exceptions for Alabama and Nebraska residents who must be at least nineteen (19) years of age.
Business Criteria:
- Must be for-profit entities based and registered in the U.S. (referred to as “Entrant”), including all 50 states, D.C., or Puerto Rico.
- Must be at least fifty-one-percent (51%+) owned and operated by an entrepreneur(s).
- Must not exceed a workforce of twenty-five (25) employees.
- Must have reported less than $7 million in annual revenue for the year of 2022.
- Demonstrated need for funding.
Potential winners will undergo a verification process conducted by the Sponsor, which may necessitate the completion of related documentation to confirm eligibility.
Entry Process
- To enter the Program, applicants must complete all sections of the online application form, which consists of a series of questions about the Entrant and the Officer.
- All entries must be received by 6pm EST on March 31, 2024 to be eligible.
- Limit: One Entry per Entrant per Officer. Multiple entries received for any Entrant or Officer after the first Entry received from that Entrant or Officer will be void.
Entry Qualifications
Sponsors may disqualify any Entry that, as adjudged in Sponsors’ sole discretion:
- contains any material that is indecent, obscene, hateful, discriminatory; defamatory, slanderous, libelous, unlawful, or otherwise inappropriate;
- is submitted in bad faith, is inappropriate, or otherwise violates these Terms and Conditions;
- is submitted by an Entrant or Officer who is ineligible or noncompliant with these Terms and Conditions; and/or,
- is submitted by any person who tampers with or abuses any aspect of the Program or the JobTest.org website, who acts in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, who violates these Official Rules, or about whom a background check provides unsatisfactory results.
If there is a dispute about who submitted an Entry, the authorized account holder of the email address used to register will be deemed to be the Officer and the business identified in the Entry will be deemed the Entrant for the Program. The “authorized account holder” is the natural person assigned an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted address. The Officer may be required to show proof of being the authorized account holder.
Other Entry Terms
- Once an Entry is submitted, it becomes final and unalterable. The Sponsor bears no liability for Entries that are delayed, incomplete, or fail to be received, acknowledged, or accepted for any reason. While Entrants maintain all rights to their products or services, including intellectual property rights, Entries must not reveal any confidential information or trade secrets belonging to the Entrant or any third party. All information provided by Entrants will be considered non-confidential by the Sponsor.
- By participating in the Program and submitting an Entry, Entrants grant the Sponsors and Realign, Inc. (jobtest.org) a royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive license. This license permits the use, reproduction, modification, publication, creation of derivative works, and display of the Entry's information, in whole or part. It also allows for integration into other works in any form, media, or technology, existing or future. The purpose of this license is broad, encompassing promotional and marketing uses, and includes displaying the Entry on www.jobtest.org and other JobTest.org-branded digital platforms.
- However, there is no guarantee from the Released Parties (defined elsewhere) that any Entry will be utilized as outlined in this license. Furthermore, the Released Parties are not liable for any unauthorized third-party use of any Entry.
Review Criteria and Selection of Grant Recipients
Entries will be reviewed by the Sponsor and/or their designated agencies (“Panel”) based on the following criteria (“Grant Recipient Review Criteria”):
- Clarity and feasibility of plan for proposed use of funds
- Demonstrated need for funds
Sponsor will award the Grant (defined below) to the Entrant whose Entry receives the highest cumulative score (the “Grant Recipients”). The number of Grant Recipients will be 1. If there are less than 1 eligible grantee in a given period, the grant will be distributed in the following application period.
Grant Recipients will be notified by email or phone in accordance with the timeline posted at the beginning of these Terms and Conditions.
Additional Terms:
- The Sponsor and their appointed agencies have the authority to conduct short interviews with Entrants and may request additional materials related to their Entries. The Sponsor has the discretion to refrain from awarding any grants if no suitable Entries are received. The Sponsor will not disclose any details of their deliberations on individual Entries to either Entrants or the public.
- The Sponsor may choose to highlight certain Entries on their social media pages and other channels during or after the Contest Period, at their discretion. Being featured as such does not relate to the Review Criteria and does not ensure being chosen as a Grant Recipient.
- In case of a tie, the tie-breaker will be the highest score in the initial review criterion. If needed, subsequent criteria will be used in order to resolve the tie. The Panel's decisions are final and are made at their absolute and sole discretion.
- Grant Recipients must complete and return a set of documents - an affidavit of eligibility, a liability release, and a publicity release where legal - to the Sponsor within 48 hours of notification. Failure to locate a potential Grant Recipient, lack of response within 48 hours after notification, rejection of the grant, or failure to complete the required documents in time will result in forfeiture of the grant. In such cases, the grant may be given to an alternate recipient, chosen from the remaining eligible Entries with the next highest rank.
Summary of Grants
- Grant Recipients will be awarded a $2,500 (USD) unrestricted grant, intended for the benefit of their business. Additionally, they may be acknowledged on JobTest.org platforms.
- The grants are provided "as is," without any form of warranty or guarantee from the Sponsor, whether expressed or implied. The Sponsor retains the right to replace any grant (or part of it) with items of equal or greater value if the original grant cannot be awarded for any reason.
- Grant Recipients must bear all applicable federal, state, and local taxes, along with any other costs and expenses related to the acceptance and use of the grant not covered in the Official Rules.
- The Released Parties disclaim all warranties, whether express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, regarding any grants awarded in the Program.
Odds of Winning
The odds of being awarded a grant will depend on the number of eligible Entries received during the Program Period.
General Conditions
Each Entrant and Officer agrees to release, indemnify, and hold harmless the Sponsors, Realign, Inc. (Jobtest.org), and their related entities, including their parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, and funding partners, as well as their shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, and representatives (collectively referred to as the “Released Parties”). This release covers all potential liabilities, losses, injuries (including death), and damages to property or persons that might arise, in whole or part, directly or indirectly, from participating in the Program or any related activities, or from the acceptance, possession, use, or misuse of any grant.
The Released Parties are not responsible for:
- Entries that are lost, late, incomplete, damaged, inaccurate, stolen, delayed, misdirected, undelivered, or garbled;
- Issues related to network, server, Internet Service Provider, website, or other connections; availability or accessibility problems; miscommunications; or computer, satellite, telephone, or cable transmission failures; lines or technical failures; or jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions, or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures, or difficulties;
- Errors of any kind, whether human, mechanical, electronic, computer, network, typographical, printing, or otherwise, related to or in connection with the Program, including issues in administering the Program, processing or reviewing Entries, or announcing Grant Recipients;
- Incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by site users, tampering, hacking, or by any equipment or programming associated with or used in the Program;
- Injury or damage to participants' or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participating in the Program or downloading materials from or using the Sponsor’s website or other platforms.
- If the Program is compromised by a virus, worms, bugs, unauthorized human intervention, or other causes that corrupt or impair its administration, security, fairness, or proper play, or the submission of Entries, the Sponsor may suspend, modify, or terminate the Program. If terminated, the Sponsor may, at its discretion, select Grant Recipients from all eligible, non-suspect Entries received prior to the Program's compromise.
For clarity in these Official Rules, "Including" means "including but not limited to," and "Sponsor’s determination" or "Sponsor’s consent" implies such decisions made at the Sponsor’s sole discretion.
The Sponsor reserves the right to modify these Official Rules to better achieve the Program's purpose, as judged in the Sponsor’s discretion, without liability or obligation to the Sponsor. Any changes to the Official Rules will be announced on the Program's official site and within these Terms and Conditions.
Publicity
Participation in the Program grants the Sponsor and their designees the right to use the names and content submitted by each Entrant and Officer for advertising, publicity, and promotional purposes across all media, including the internet, globally, and in perpetuity. This is without compensation (unless legally required) or additional consents from the Entrant, Officer, or third parties, and does not require prior notice, approval, or inspection. Entrants and Officers are obliged to provide specific consent for these uses upon the Sponsor's request. Entrants and Officers cannot independently or through third parties release any publicity or other materials about their participation in the Program without the Sponsor's consent.
Government Law
The laws of Delaware govern all aspects and queries regarding these Terms and Conditions, as well as the rights and obligations of Entrants or Sponsors in connection with the Program. This applies irrespective of any otherwise applicable choice-of-law principles.
Arbitration
Unless prohibited by law, any disputes related to the Program or these Terms and Conditions must be resolved individually and exclusively through final and binding arbitration, conducted by a single arbitrator under the rules of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”). The arbitration will occur in the state where the Entrant's principal business is located. Claims cannot be arbitrated or disputed on a class or representative basis. Only individual claims of the Sponsors or Entrants can be decided, and the arbitrator cannot consolidate or join the claims of others who may be similarly situated. Entrants, Officers, and Sponsors waive any right to a jury trial for resolving disputes arising from or related to the Program or these Terms and Conditions. However, if the dispute amount is within the jurisdictional maximum of the small claims court in the state where the Entrant’s principal business is located, the Entrant may opt for small claims court instead of arbitration or another court.
Use of Data
By taking part in the Program, every Entrant and Officer acknowledges that the Sponsor will gather private or personal information provided in their Entry (termed “Private Information”). The Sponsor is authorized to collect and utilize this Private Information for the execution of this Program and as permitted within these Official Rules. The Sponsor may also use the Private Information in line with its own Privacy Policy for related purposes.
