Questions & Answers

In March 2026, McElhattan Foundation launched the Zero Electrocution Challenge seeking to catalyze and amplify bold ideas to eliminate life-threatening tasks that lead to fatal workplace electrocution, while increasing enterprise profitability and productivity. Up to two Winners will each be awarded up to $1 million.

Please contact us with any challenge-related questions, requests for help with accessibility and special accommodations, and technical support.  

Once you have registered and throughout the challenge, we will send important notifications to the email address associated with your account, as well as the primary and secondary contacts listed on your registration form. There are three important steps you can take to make sure these messages are received promptly: 

1. Add our email address to your contacts. 
2. Whitelist our email address. Here are instructions to add to your whitelist in most major email providers. 
3. Update your registration form right away if one of your contacts changes. If you need to make a contact change after the application window has closed, please email us, and we will assist you. 

The Zero Electrocution Challenge requires each applicant to identify a Lead Organization who will assume responsibility for the receipt and management of any award.  

The following organizations are eligible to apply:  

• An entity based in the United States and/or US territories under section 501(c)(3) and 509(a)(1) or (2) of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) that has received a tax determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). 
• A private foundation based in the United States and/or US territories under section 501(c)(3) of the IRC that has received a tax determination letter from the IRS. 
• A fiscally-sponsored nonprofit organization. 
• A tribal government or tribal-owned enterprise. 
• An educational entity, public college, junior college, or university that is either (i) recognized by the IRS as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or (ii) a governmental entity or instrumentality eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions under Section 170(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code.
• A PreK-12 public, private, or charter school. 
• A for-profit corporation organized under the laws of a State (or territory) in the United States. 
• A benefit corporation, flexible purpose entity, or similar "hybrid" entity organized under the laws of a State (or territory) in the United States. 
• A limited liability company or partnership organized under the laws of a State (or territory) in the United States. 

Review the Rules for a complete set of eligibility requirements.

The following are not eligible to participate or apply as a Lead Organization, participant, partner or other collaborator:

• An individual outside the age of consent to enter into a legally binding agreement under applicable law;  
• A person whose participation has been permanently suspended or terminated under Section 4 of the Terms;  
• A person who resides in or is a citizen of countries that are prohibited by law, regulation (including United States or other applicable export laws and regulations), treaty or administrative act from entering into trade relations (including export of technology) with the United States or its citizens;  
• Subject to sanctions; or,  
• In breach of any anti-corruption and/or sanctions, laws, and requirements applicable to You or your activities.

Review the Rules for a complete set of eligibility requirements.  

Eligible Lead Organizations are welcome to collaborate with nonprofit organizations, companies, foundations, schools, colleges and universities, government agencies, individuals, and other entities (either U.S.-based or non-U.S.-based) in order to implement the project.

Organizations proposing to work together may be asked to demonstrate through a fully-executed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or other similar agreement, executed by all parties, that all parties have agreed that a single eligible entity or organization (i.e. the Lead Organization) will serve as the Winner and will have direction, control, and supervision of the proposed project and management of all Award funds and be responsible for all reporting requirements.

While MOUs will not be collected in the application, MOUs may be requested from teams that are selected as Finalists.

‍

The Zero Electrocution Challenge invites proposals for innovative solutions that aim to eliminate fatal electrocution on the job, advance enterprise productivity and profitability, and meet the four criteria outlined in the scoring rubric:

• Effective: Can the approach eliminate life-threatening tasks that lead to fatal electrocution on the job, while keeping profitability and productivity? Will the solution be cost-efficient, business-friendly, and ready to implement within the project period?
• Game-Changing: Will the solution accelerate the elimination of fatal electrocution on the job and result in other compelling benefits? Is it grounded in a truly original concept, or does it propose new ways to bolster or adapt existing practices?
• Feasible: Are there practical plans and budget to mitigate risk and succeed? Does the team have the expertise, buy-in, and resources required to reasonably develop an industry-facing, effective, and adoptable solution during the project period?
• Scalable: Can the approach be replicated and/or scaled to contexts identified in the proposal? Can the team reliably and effectively adapt the solution to decrease and eventually eliminate fatal electrocution in a wide range of workplaces and industries?

Solutions at any stage are eligible to apply. The scoring rubric considers evidence of effectiveness and feasibility, regardless of stage. If you do not have evidence of impact of your own solution, you should be able to point to research-backed practices on which your solution is based, or analogous solutions achieving meaningful impact that you think your solution may similarly achieve. Be sure to review the scoring rubric to understand how applications will be evaluated.

We encourage you to first assess your fit and eligibility for the Zero Electrocution Challenge, then register no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, to participate. Registration is required and is a simple two-step process. First, create a username and password then check your inbox to confirm your registration. Next, complete the online registration form. Once you are registered, submit your application online no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Time on Thursday, July 16, 2026.

You may only complete one submission as the Lead Organization except as described below. An organization can serve as a partner on a team for multiple applications provided that each application proposes a separate, distinct solution. This means each project can only be submitted once, and we leave it up to each team to designate their eligible Lead Organization. 

Regional or location-specific branches of larger organizations, as well as departments, schools, and nonprofits within or based in a college/university, can each register and submit separately as the Lead Organization on one application. Participants may list both the parent organization and the specific applicant/project in the Lead Organization field on the registration form, such as College/Department (Parent organization) or Parent Organization – Project Name.

In all circumstances described above, the proposed projects must be separate and distinct. There should be no overlap in team members. The intent of the policy is to ensure that any team is concentrating their best effort into a single application. We encourage teams to select a single project that best represents your organization's ability to deliver a solution that meets the scoring criteria.

Review the Rules for more information.

Each application must include a brief video of no more than 90 seconds that showcases your project. This DOES NOT need to be a professionally produced video – a video shot on a smartphone is acceptable. The quality of your video will not impact the outcome of your proposal.

The following are instructions for recording and uploading your video on YouTube:

1. Record a video using your smartphone’s camera app
2. Download and open the YouTube app
3. Sign-in or create an account on YouTube  
4. In YouTube, select “Create” > “Upload a Video”
5. Select your video and press “Next”
6. Set your video’s visibility to “Unlisted,” which will allow only those with the URL link to view your video (do not set to private or public)
7. Select “Upload Video”
8. Check to make sure embedding is turned on.

For more information about video guidelines, review the submission requirements. If you need technical support, you can email us. 

Yes, you may update the registration form until the application deadline at 5:00 PM Eastern Time on Thursday, July 16, 2026. From the Submissions tab of the platform, you can select Registration Form to update this information.

Your submission may be shared with five of your fellow applicants as part of Peer-to-Peer Review, five Evaluation Panel members, the Selection Committee, and the ZERO 2050 team during the evaluation process.

Portions of your applications may be published online and may be shared with the general public to promote your proposal or to highlight results. Those portions may include, but are not limited to: Lead Organization, Lead Organization Website, Solution Title, Solution Statement, Executive Summary, Video Pitch, and Solution Description.

McElhattan Foundation has compiled data about fatal workplace electrocution. We encourage participants to review these resources as you prepare your application.