Rules

Thank you for your interest in ZERO 2050 (the “Competition”). The Competition is sponsored by the McElhattan Foundation (the “Competition Sponsor") with program and platform support provided by Carrot. Please know that by participating in this Competition and in accordance with these Rules you are eligible to receive various forms of recognition and a possible Award from the Competition Sponsor of up to $1 million as the Winner. The Rules governing this Competition (“RULES") are stated here as an extension of the Terms & Conditions (“TERMS") for use of this website. The full TERMS are available for your review by accessing them on this Website. The RULES constitute “Competition Terms and Conditions" under Clause 2.3 of the TERMS. Capitalized words used but not defined in the RULES have meanings given to them in the TERMS. Further, any language contained on this website, including but not limited to these RULES, are also an extension of the TERMS, and therefore You are required to read and understand the entirety of the Website content before proceeding.

Please read these RULES and the TERMS carefully, as they describe the conditions under which you are allowed to participate. As you participate, you may periodically be asked to recognize your acceptance of these RULES and the TERMS by clicking “accept" at various pages on this website, but by continuing any use of this website you expressly consent to all of these RULES and the TERMS.

SUBMISSION OF AN ENTRY INTO THIS COMPETITION CONSTITUTES FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL AGREEMENT TO AND ACCEPTANCE OF THESE RULES AND THE TERMS.

NO PURCHASE OR MONETARY PAYMENT IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO RECEIVE AN AWARD. NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT WILL INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF RECEIVING AN AWARD. The selection of award recipients is based on merit, as determined by a peer review and juried process, and is not determined by a random drawing or any other element of chance.

‍

1. Eligibility

ZERO 2050 welcomes applications from nonprofit and for-profit entities located within the United States and U.S. territories. All Entries must be actually received by Carrot and Competition Sponsor on or before 5:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time on Thursday, July 16, 2026, when the COMPETITION ends. Each Competitor must identify a Lead Organization as the recognized agency in the execution of any proposed project contained in an Entry. The Lead Organization will assume responsibility for the receipt and management of any Award funds from the Competition Sponsor and will maintain those fiduciary duties in close coordination with any partner organization(s). The purpose of including a Lead Organization is to ensure that there is sufficient administrative support and management for the use of any Award funds and not to disintermediate the role of any partner(s) who are essential to the implementation of any proposed project contained in any Entry.  

Eligibility related to any Lead Organization by type are as follows: 

• 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.

An organization can submit only one application as the Lead Organization. Eligible 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) to develop the solution. An organization can also serve as a partner on a team for multiple applications provided that each application proposes a separate, distinct solution.

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 as long as the proposed solutions are 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.

The Competition Sponsor reserves the right to reject an Entry if, in the Competition Sponsor's sole discretion, the laws of the governing jurisdiction applicable to ZERO 2050 would prohibit or limit the Competition Sponsor from proceeding with the Competition as intended or if the Competition Sponsor determines, in its sole discretion, that the consideration or making of any Award would impose additional administrative, tax, operational, or legal burdens on the Competition Sponsor.

Participation is open to eligible Lead Organizations as defined herein, and all proposed projects must serve and impact communities within the United States and U.S. territories. This Competition is void where prohibited.

An organization can submit only one application as the Lead Organization except as described above. In addition, no Lead Organization may receive more than one Award in the same Competition cycle.

‍

2. Ineligible persons or entities

The following are not eligible to apply as a Lead Organization for ZERO 2050:

• Individuals
• Entities based out of the United States or US territories
• Individuals that include employees of Competition Sponsor, Carrot, 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 to participate.
• Government agencies, including United Nations agencies, inter-governmental bodies, and regional cooperation agencies.

While this list of organization types are not eligible to apply as Lead Organization, they may serve as partners on an application.

The following are not eligible to participate or apply as a Lead Organization, Competitor, 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.

‍

3. Collaborations

Eligible 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.

‍

4. Geographic Eligibility

All proposed projects must serve and impact communities and beneficiaries located within the United States and US territories.

‍

5. Financial & Organizational Capacity

All Applicants must demonstrate the financial capacity of any Lead Organization that may be the recipient of any Award in order to carry out any project and to appropriately manage any Award.

‍

6. Prohibited Use of Award Funds

Award funds must be used for the project for which they are intended and may be dispersed to partners for project-related purposes. Award funds may not be used:

• For non-charitable purposes;
• To influence the outcome of any specific public election or to carry on, directly or indirectly, any voter registration drive (within the meaning of United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) section 4945(d)(2));
• To carry on propaganda or otherwise to attempt to influence legislation within the meaning of Code Section 4945(d)(1);
• To distribute funds to any organization not related to the proposal;
• To distribute, transfer, or otherwise pay funds, directly or indirectly, to any organization, entity, or person that is organized under the laws of, headquartered or with a primary place of business in, or 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;
• To distribute, transfer, or otherwise pay funds, directly or indirectly, to any organization, entity, or person that is subject to sanctions, or in breach of any applicable anti-corruption or other laws or requirements;
• To make an award to any organization not identified in the proposal, to make an award to any individual for travel, study, or other similar purposes, or to make an award to any organization, except in compliance with the provisions of Sections 4945(g) or (h), as the case may be;
• For the creation of any endowment or for the aggregation of philanthropic capital by organizations that regrant to nonprofit organizations;
• For the creation of a venture capital fund, or pooled funds to invest in or distribute to for-profit organizations;
• For loans or microloans to individuals, nonprofit, or for-profit entities;
• To fund general operating support for the Lead Organization and/or any partners;
• To fund political organizations (501(c)(4) organizations and 527s);
• For government services.

‍

7. Indirect Costs

While general operating support is not allowed, applicants may have overhead costs that are not directly attributable to the proposed project but are necessary for implementation. The Competition Sponsor reserves the right to review and adjust the amounts allocated for indirect expenses. The Competition Sponsor will consider paying for reasonable indirect costs specified in an application. Ensure that any indirect costs are accounted for in your budget in the application. Any portion of salaries and other similar costs that will be allocated directly to implementation of the proposed solution are eligible expenses and can be their own line items.

‍

8. Guidance Related to Non-Charitable Applicants

Award funds will be used solely for charitable purposes and will not 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.

‍

9. Treatment & Use of Intellectual Property

Each Application should reflect the anticipated ownership, use, and licensing of any intellectual property; the use and licensing of intellectual property of the winning Entry will be subject to the terms of an agreement with the Competition Sponsor. 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 and the ownership and use of intellectual property arising from this Competition remains with You, subject as may be set forth in the agreement with the Competition Sponsor.

‍

10. Award Agreement

Any Winner shall enter into a direct and separate award 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.

Awards are expressly conditioned on compliance with the award agreement’s use-of-funds provisions, including any indirect cost limitations and reporting obligations referenced in these RULES and incorporated by reference.

NOTE: Each agreement governing the use of Awards may vary, depending on the nature of the project, the organization receiving the Award, and the Competition Sponsor.

‍

11. Reporting

Any Winner who enters into a separate 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, and will be determined by the Competition Sponsor. However, it is likely necessary that a minimum of one financial report per year and one narrative report per year may be required.

‍

12. Other Rules

12.1 Your application must be in English.

12.2 You must be eligible to register on the Website in accordance with the Terms and complete registration to participate in the Competition. You and all organizations, collaborators, partners, and other participants performing work or services under your Entry cannot reside in nor be governed by countries that are prohibited by law, regulation (including United States or other applicable export and/or sanctions laws and regulations), treaty or administrative act from entering into trade relations (including transmission of funds, and/or export of technology) with the United States of America or its citizens.

12.3 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 Carrot, 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 Carrot also reserves the right to disqualify You from participating. Entries and Competition materials are subject to validation by the Competition Sponsor. Entries will be void if late, nonconforming (missing information), plagiarized, illegal, mutilated, tampered with, or illegible. Neither Competition Sponsor, Carrot, nor their respective affiliates, parent companies, subsidiaries, contractors, and agents will be responsible for late, lost, illegal, damaged or corrupted data, misdirected, or illegible Entries.

12.4 By participating in ZERO 2050, 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. Entries, or portions thereof, that do not address the Competition topic(s) or criteria set forth in the Competition Information may be scored adversely or deemed nonresponsive in the discretion of the Competition Sponsor and Judges. Without limiting the above, acceptance of entries is at the sole discretion of Competition Sponsor. If Competition Sponsor believes that any Entry submitted is in contravention of Sections 1-8 and/or 12, Clause 3.10 of the Terms, or otherwise in breach of these Rules or the Terms, it may refuse to accept such Entry.

12.5 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 and/or Carrot 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 only submit one Entry. For the avoidance of doubt, no Lead Organization may receive more than one Award in the same Competition cycle.

12.6 Upon submitting Your Entry, the Entry will be subjected to an Administrative Review, to ensure compliance with all of the requirements. Qualified Entries will then be distributed to other registrants during a Peer-to-Peer assessment of those Entries. If Your Entry qualifies for Peer-to-Peer review, You will be required to assess at least five (5) other Entries. If You do not complete those assessments, using the tools and process described on this Website, Your participation may be terminated. Based on normalized scores from each Peer-to-Peer review, a rank order of the Entries will be populated. The top-scoring Entries will advance to the next phase of review.

12.7 The top-scoring Entries as determined by the Peer-to-Peer Review will advance to an Evaluation Panel review. The Evaluation Panel consists of experts who are identified on this Website. Each of the top-scoring Entries will be assessed by five Evaluation Panel members, who will be assigned to score these Entries either randomly or after considering any potential conflicts of interest, using the scoring rubric that is described on this Website. In cases where a Judge indicates any potential conflict of interest, the Entry will be assigned to another Judge. Based on normalized scores from each Evaluation Panel review, a rank order of the Entries will be populated.

12.8 Once a rank order of Entries has been calculated, the top-scoring Entries will be reviewed by the Competition Sponsor and Selection Committee with consideration given to diversity of solutions, geography, feasibility, and other criteria that may incorporate considerations beyond the Judges’ reviews. The Competition Sponsor is permitted to communicate with Competitors solely for the purposes of carrying out due diligence for evaluating Your Entry and assigning a score during the review process, but those Judges are not required to contact any Competitor. Up to five (5) Competitors will be named as Finalists. Of these Finalists, up to two (2) Competitors will each receive an award of $1 million. Awards and other amounts disbursed hereunder are not transferable. No substitution will be allowed. The decision of the Judges is final. Competition Sponsor reserves the right to withhold or revoke an Award if an Entry is found to have been plagiarized, if the Entry otherwise does not meet the criteria set forth in these rules, and/or if any Competitor, Lead Organization, collaborator, partner, or other participating team member is determined to be ineligible. By participating in ZERO 2050, You acknowledge and agree to be bound by the final decision of the Judges with respect to selection of Finalists and Winners and/or Competition Sponsor with respect to the administration of the Competition and Award amounts (if any).

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 Winners rests with the Competition Sponsor.

12.9 While Carrot is providing an online platform for your participation, Carrot is not responsible for the payment of any Award(s). Payment of any Award(s) is the sole responsibility of the McElhattan Foundation and its designees, and under the Terms each participant has agreed to look solely to the McElhattan Foundation, as the Competition Sponsor, for the payment of any Award.

12.10 By submitting your Entry, you agree to release, discharge and hold harmless the Competition Sponsor, Affiliated Persons, and Carrot 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 nor Carrot nor Affiliated Persons 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 Competition Sponsor nor Carrot nor Affiliated Persons 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. An Entry is deemed received when recognized and recorded by normal operation of Carrot’s systems.

12.11 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. Any arbitration between You and Carrot or Competition Sponsor or an Affiliated Person will be governed by the Commercial Dispute Resolution Procedures and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes (collectively, “AAA Rules") of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA"), as modified by the TERMS, and will be administered by the AAA. The AAA Rules and filing forms are available online at www.adr.org, by calling the AAA at 1-800-778-7879.

12.12 If for any reason 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 Carrot that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Competition, Carrot 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 Carrot terminates the Competition, it will not retain any rights in the submitted Entries.

12.13 Without limiting any other claims or damages that may be available to Competition Sponsor, Competition Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any Competitor who is found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of ZERO 2050, to be acting in violation of these Rules, or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with the intent to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of ZERO 2050, or to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person. Prohibited conduct that could lead to disqualification includes, without limitation, creating multiple accounts or coordinated identities to inflate peer-review scoring, reverse-engineering or interfering with scoring normalization, or otherwise attempting to manipulate rank order, panel assignments, or outcome determinations.

12.14 Entry into ZERO 2050 does not constitute entry into any other McElhattan Foundation competition or program, Carrot competition or program, or promotion that may be offered by the Competition Sponsor and/or its affiliates.

12.15 McElhattan Foundation and/or Carrot reserves the right to disqualify any participant who violates these RULES, the TERMS and any standards of behavior expressed or implied in them.

12.16 The names of the Finalists and/or Winners will be posted on this website for such period of time as the Competition Sponsor deems reasonable. Posted lists of Finalists and Winners may include but are not limited to: Lead Organization, Lead Organization Website, Solution Title, Solution Statement, Executive Summary, Video Pitch, and Solution Description.

12.17 All Awards are subject to verification by Carrot and the Competition Sponsor. The Competition Sponsor does not guarantee that a winning Entry will be selected and reserves the right to reject all Entries, not select any Winner and/or Finalist from the Entries, not select any Winner of the Competition, and not award any Award.

12.18 Competition Sponsor may, in its absolute discretion, terminate or suspend any organization’s participation at any time and without notice if it believes that such organization and/or its representatives and participants in the Competition:

1. have breached these Rules, the Terms, or any other applicable terms and conditions;
2. have acted in a way which is unlawful, or which may create liability for Competition Sponsor;
3. has provided information that Competition Sponsor or Carrot is unable to verify;
4. have acted or represented such organization in any way that Carrot or the Competition Sponsor deems that your termination is necessary.

12.19 If Competition Sponsor terminates Your participation, Competition Sponsor may in its absolute discretion withdraw or terminate your Entry and any judging or other consideration of an Entry submitted or made by You. If Competition Sponsor terminates Your participation in the Competition, Competition Sponsor may, at its sole discretion, immediately withdraw Your Entries, which will have no further force or effect from the date on which Your participation was terminated.

12.20 Subject to Clause 12.19, if Competition Sponsor suspends Your participation, any Entries submitted or made by You may be suspended for the period in which Your participation is suspended. Neither Competition Sponsor, nor Carrot, shall be responsible or liable for delays or missed deadlines or other timelines in the Competition caused by such a suspension.

12.21 If Your participation is terminated, either by You or by Competition Sponsor:

1. You are no longer authorized to participate in the Competition; and
2. all restrictions imposed on You, licenses granted by or to You, and all indemnities, disclaimers, and limitations of liability set out in the Terms, including Sections 10 (Limitation of Liability) and 11 (Indemnities), will survive, along with Sections 13 (Intellectual Property), 15 (Arbitration) and 17 (Miscellaneous).

12.22 Competition Sponsor, Carrot, their respective affiliates, parent companies, subsidiaries, contractors, and agents are not responsible for typographical, printing, or other inadvertent errors in these rules or in other materials relating to this Competition, and such materials relating to this Competition containing such errors shall be void.

12.23 All notices, requests, demands, consents, approvals, offers, agreements or other communications regarding the Competition given by You to Competition Sponsor must be sent via email to Competition Sponsor at questions@zero2050.org.

‍

Contact Information

You may contact us with any questions or comments about these RULES. You may reach us at: questions@zero2050.org.