Rules

Thank you for your interest in the Building the Future Workforce Challenge. The Competition is administered by Carrot and funded through a grant from Caterpillar Inc. 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 of up to $1 million. 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 PAYMENT IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO RECEIVE AN AWARD.

1. Eligibility

Each Applicant must identify a Lead Organization as the recognized agency in the execution of any proposed activities associated with the award. The Lead Organization will assume responsibility for the receipt and management of any Award funds from the Competition and will maintain those fiduciary duties in close coordination with any affiliated 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 affiliate(s) who are essential to the implementation of any proposed project contained in any Entry.

Lead Organizations must propose to implement their proposed solutions within the continental United States, Brazil, India, and Mexico.

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

• A non-profit entity or private foundation under section 501(c)(3), 501(c)(6), and/or 509(a)(1) or (2) of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) that has received a tax determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”).
• An entity organized under the laws of a foreign jurisdiction which has received a tax determination letter from the IRS or has been determined to be the equivalent of a section 501(c)(3) and 509(a)(1) or (2) entity by NGO Source for which an equivalency determination has not expired and would be in effect or could be extended through the date of the project to be supported.
• An entity that is recognized under the law of the applicable jurisdiction as a non-governmental organization, an educational organization, a charitable organization, a social welfare organization, a not-for-profit organization, or similar-type entity that is not a for-profit organization or government agency.
• 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. Note: If awarded, solutions led by educational entities should implement their proposed solution at more than one school and should not be limited to serving only that Lead Organization.
• A for-profit entity, limited liability company or partnership organized under the laws of a State (or territory) in the United States or organized and in good standing under the laws of the local jurisdiction in which it operates.
• A benefit corporation, flexible purpose entity, or similar "hybrid" entity organized under the laws of a State (or territory) in the United States.

Eligible organizations are welcome to collaborate with non-profit organizations, companies, foundations, schools, colleges and universities, government agencies, trade associations, Chambers of Commerce, individuals, and other entities to develop the solution.

An organization can submit only one application as the Lead Organization. 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 non-profits 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 little to 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.

Carrot reserves the right to reject an Entry if, in Carrot's sole discretion, the laws of the governing jurisdiction applicable to Building the Future Workforce Challenge would prohibit or limit the Competition from proceeding as intended or if the Competition Funder or Carrot determine, in their sole discretion, that the consideration or making of any Award would impose additional administrative, tax, operational, or legal burdens on Carrot and/or the Competition Funder.

2. Ineligible persons or entities

The following are not eligible to apply as a Lead Organization for the Building the Future Workforce Challenge:

• Government entities, including non-501(c)(3) preK-12 education entities, tribal governments, United Nations agencies, inter-governmental bodies, and regional cooperation agencies.
• Current Caterpillar Foundation or Caterpillar Inc. Social Impact Fund awardees.
• Individuals, including employees of Competition Funder, 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.

While this list of organization types are not eligible to apply as Lead Organization, they may serve as partners on an application. NOTE: Past Caterpillar Foundation or Social Impact Fund awardees are eligible to serve as a Lead Organization and/or as part of a team. See section 3. Collaborations for more information.

3. Collaborations

Eligible Lead Organizations are welcome to collaborate with non-profit organizations, for-profit companies, foundations, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, government agencies, individuals, and other entities in order to implement the Project.

Past Caterpillar Foundation or Caterpillar Inc. Social Impact Fund awardees are eligible to serve as part of a team and may receive sub-awards from the eligible Lead Organization if it sees fit. Current Caterpillar Foundation or Caterpillar Inc. Social Impact Fund awardees are not eligible to participate.

Organizations proposing to work together must 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 Awardee and will have direction, control, and supervision of the proposed project and management of all grant funds and be responsible for all reporting requirements.

While MOUs will not be collected in the application, MOUs are required for teams that are selected as Awardees.

Funds may be subgranted from a Lead Organization to other partners to implement the proposed solution, and not for general funds used for broader purposes.

4. Geographic Eligibility

All proposed projects must serve and impact communities and Caterpillar facilities located within the United States, Brazil, India, and Mexico.

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. Ineligible Project Types

The following project types are not eligible:

• Traditional education or credentialing, including degree programs, accredited certifications, or standalone curriculum development
• Academic research without a clear pathway to real world testing, deployment, and scale
• HR systems or enterprise infrastructure, such as applicant tracking, payroll, HRIS, or performance management tools
• Recruitment marketing or employer branding, including job boards or awareness-only initiatives without a skills development component
• Policy advocacy or regulatory reform efforts
• One-off pilots or bespoke implementations that lack a credible plan for replication or global scalability
• Low-tech or manual service models that are not enabled by digital, AI, or platform-based solutions
• White-collar or knowledge worker only solutions not applicable to industrial or frontline workforces
• Physical infrastructure or capital projects, including construction of facilities or equipment purchases without a learning or workforce-enablement layer

7. 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 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;
• For the creation of any endowment or for the aggregation of philanthropic capital by organizations that regrant to non-profit 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, non-profit, 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.

Should we find that an Awardee has violated the use of award funds, Awardees will be required to return the previously paid award funds.

8. Indirect Costs

While general operating support is not allowed, we recognize applicants may have overhead costs that are not directly attributable to the proposed project but are necessary for implementation. We will consider paying for these indirect costs up to a maximum of 20% of direct project or activity costs within the $1 million award limit. 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.

9. Guidance Related to Non-Charitable Applicants

Grant 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.

10. 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 may be subject to the terms of an agreement with the Competition Funder. 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 an agreement with the Competition Funder.

11. Award Agreement

Any Awardee shall enter into a direct and separate award agreement for the purposes of testing, evaluating, monitoring and/or assessing the feasibility, viability or implementation potential of the Awardee’s Entry or any proposed plans described therein. Such award agreement shall describe the role of the Competition Funder in connection with the testing, monitoring, evaluation, review and/or oversight of the implementation of any proposed plans in any Entry from an Awardee and will contain key terms and conditions which are separate from these RULES and TERMS posted on this website for this Competition.

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

12. Reporting

Any Awardee who receives funding will be required to report progress towards milestones and other goals to the Competition Funder. Those reporting requirements may vary, based on the organization and the project and will be communicated to the Awardee by Carrot or the Competition Funder. However, it is likely necessary that a minimum of one financial report per year and one narrative report per year may be required.

13. Other Rules

13.1 Your application must be in English.

13.2 You must complete registration to participate in the Competition. You cannot reside in nor be governed by 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 of America or its citizens.

13.3 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 Carrot, contain obscene, provocative, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate content. Carrot reserves the right to cancel, modify or suspend Competition in whole or in part without liability to You. Carrot also reserves the right to disqualify You from participating.

13.4 By participating in the Building the Future Workforce 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 Carrot with all appropriate licenses and releases for such third party works. In the event You cannot provide all such required licenses and releases, Carrot reserves the right, in Carrot’s sole discretion, to disqualify the applicable Entry.

13.5 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. Carrot reserves 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.

13.6 The application requirements for your Entry are clearly described on this website. Your Entry will be assessed initially by five Judges, who will be assigned either randomly or after considering any potential conflicts of interest to score your Entry 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. Judges will be responsible for scoring your Entry.

13.7 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.

13.8 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 either randomly or after considering any potential conflicts of interest to score these Entries 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.

13.9 Once a rank order of Entries has been calculated in late Fall 2026, up to five Awardees will be announced in early 2027. The top-scoring Entries will be reviewed by the Selection Committee with consideration given to the variety of solutions, feasibility, and other criteria that may incorporate considerations beyond the Judges’ reviews. The Selection Committee Judges are 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 individual. By participating in Building the Future Workforce Challenge, You acknowledge and agree to be bound by the final decision of the Competition.

13.10 By submitting your Entry, you agree to release, discharge and hold harmless the Competition Funder, 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 Funder 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 Funder 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.

13.11 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 Funder 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.

13.12 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 Carrot terminates the Competition, it will not retain any rights in the submitted Entries.

13.13 Carrot 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 Building the Future Workforce Challenge, 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 Building the Future Workforce Challenge, or to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person.

13.14 Entry into Building the Future Workforce Challenge does not constitute entry into any other competition or program or promotion that may be offered by Carrot, the Competition Funder and/or their affiliates.

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

13.16 The names of the Awardees will be posted on this website for such period of time as Carrot deems reasonable.

‍

Contact Information

You may contact Carrot with any questions or comments about these RULES. You may reach us at: buildingthefuture@carrot.net.