Rules

COMMUNITY CHANGEMAKERS GRANT TERMS AND CONDITIONS

INTRODUCTION

These Terms and Conditions (the “Terms”) apply to the Community Changemakers Grant (the “Grant”) created from a partnership between First Book (the “Partner”) and Ashoka (collectively the “Grantors”), funded through the Time for Change initiative. 

 

DEFINITIONS  

“You” refers to any individual that makes an eligible submission representing a Team applying for the Grant through the Service (see “Service” below). Within these Terms, "You” may also be referred to as “Applicant” or “Participant”. 

“Grant” refers to the total sum of funds awarded to each Team selected for participation in the Community Changemakers Grant Program. 

“Community Changemakers Grant Program” refers to both the Grant within these Terms and the professional development provided to selected teams. "Community Changemakers Action Grant Program” may also be referred to as “Grant Program” or the “Program.” 

“Grant Selection Committee” refers to the individuals selected, in the sole discretion of the Grantors, to judge the Entries, which may include Grantors’ employees or members of their larger networks or others who are not employed by or otherwise affiliated with the Grantors. 

“Applicant Information” refers to Personal Data and Sensitive Personal Data contained in an Applicant’s Entry or in a prospective Applicant’s proposed entry through the Service. 

“Entry” refers to any eligible submission made by an Applicant through the Service that contains relevant information, including Personal Data or Sensitive Personal Data, for the purposes of participating in the Grant. 

“Personal Data” refers to any information that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person, including but not limited to the following categories of information: name, address, email address, age, social media handle, photographs, and contact information; organization (including the organization’s name, website, phone number, and address), fields of work, languages, and location; username and password; the results of any questionnaires that you respond to; and your personal interests. 

“Sensitive Personal Data” refers to Personal Data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics, health and disability information, immigration / refugee status and information regarding a person’s sex life or sexual orientation and how they gender identify. 

“Service” refers to the Community Changemakers Grant, https://my.reviewr.com/site/community-changemakers-grant, hosted by Reviewr, and affiliated websites or services that are used and operated for the purpose of executing or administering the Program. 

“Fiscal Sponsor” refers to either (i) a legal entity that has itself received and maintains 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service throughout the entire Grant Program (including, as applicable, the receipt of grant funds) or (ii) holds a formalized, written fiscal- sponsorship arrangement with a legal entity that has received and maintains 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service throughout the entire Grant Program (including, as applicable, the receipt of grant funds) (“Fiscal Sponsor”) 

 

DATA PROTECTION 

The information You submit through the Service will be held, used, and disclosed to others. When You submit Applicant Information to the Service, You are directing and consenting to it being submitted to each of the Grantors (the administrators of the Program as well as other programs), and Reviewr (the host of the Service), for each of their use pursuant to their own privacy policy. Applicant Information will be accessible by Ashoka and First Book and the host of the Service (Reviewr).   

Please take note that in order to participate in the Grant the following information may be disclosed to other Grant Applicants and the general audience:  

• Your username (which may be your full name if You elected to use it to create your username); 
• Profile photo, if any; 
• City and state; 
• Application title; 
• Description of the project; 
• Sector, theme or focus of the project; 
• Stage of the project; 
• Presentation video, if any. 

As You move forward in the Grant application and navigate in the Service, You may also generate and disclose the following information: 

Video, photographs and audio recordings of your participation in other Ashoka or First Book events. 

Exclusively in the review phase, in order to evaluate your Entry, the Grant Selection Committee will have access to all the information described above.  

If You are part of a selected team, You may also be required to provide further private details on your project or organization, as well as Bank account information. None of this information will ever be disclosed by the Grantors, with the exception of the third-party service provider that will execute the disbursement or if required to comply with the law. You are responsible for the accuracy of all the information You provide and the Grantors are not liable for any errors made by You in this regard. 

For additional information about the collection, use and disclosure of Applicant Information, please see the policies, disclosures, and term of use of the organizations who receive, use and share Applicant Information: 

First Book’s Privacy Policy: https://firstbook.org/about/privacy-compliance-policies/. 

Ashoka’s Privacy Policy: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/ashokas-privacy-policy; Terms of Use: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/ashokas-terms-service.   

Reviewr Terms and Conditions at  https://my.reviewr.com/terms_conditions. 

Each of the Grantors may share your information with its third-party service providers exclusively for purposes related to the Grant You applied to, or as otherwise provided in the Grantors’ posted privacy policy.  

To the extent permitted by applicable law, under your consent, Ashoka and First Book may use your information to send You communications related to the Grant (including future year’s programs or related alumni events), Ashoka and/or First Book initiatives similar to the Program and other related content. Each Grantor seeks to use reasonable measures to protect the Applicant Information within its own organization. Neither is responsible for the acts or omissions of the other, nor of Reviewr or of any other third party. 

Applicant Information will be held and processed by the Grantors during the duration of the Program and may be retained by the Grantors for a period of up to 7 years or as required under applicable laws. Applicants can request access to, modification of, or deletion of any of their Applicant Information, to the extent permissible under applicable data protection laws, by contacting the Grantors via email at privacy@ashoka.org, help@firstbook.org, and changemakercommunity@ashoka.org.  

 

PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS AND AGREEMENTS

Team eligibility: Applicants must demonstrate that their organization(s) primarily serve young people from low-income communities as determined by their qualification as one of the below: 

• Title I eligible school at which at least 40% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch 
• School District at which at least 40% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch 
• Library with an E-Rate of 90  
• Head Start Program 
• Auxiliary program serving a Title I eligible school at which at least 40% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch 
• USDA Federal Nutrition Program  
• Indian Education Program Beneficiary   
• Federally qualified health centers  
• Military base school or military family support program 

Teams serving young people within a two-hour drive of Washington, DC and Chicago, IL are eligible to apply. Teams located in Baltimore City are eligible to apply and must be able to participate in an in-person session to take place in the Washington metro area.

Participant teams applying must be composed of a minimum of 3 people and up to 10 people. Applicants must be residents of the United States or U.S. Territories.  

Teams can apply as a school team, school district team, or a community team:   

Requirements for School Team applicants: 

• At least 2 team members must be working within the classroom the majority of their time (over 50% of their time).   
• The remaining team members may be in-classroom educators or different stakeholders in the school community, such as: 
  • Administrators   
  • Parents   
  • Classified employees   
  • Students (student attendance is not required for the in-person training, but please keep in mind that a chaperone will be required for anyone under 18 years old to attend.)   

Requirements for District Team applicants:  

• At least 2 team members must be working within the classroom the majority of their time (over 50% of their time).   
• The majority of the team members must be from or serving Title 1 schools (they do not have to be educators).   
• The remaining team members may be different stakeholders in the school community, such as: 
  • Administrators   
  • Parents   
  • Classified employees   
  • Students (student attendance is not required for the in-person training, but please keep in mind that a chaperone will be required for anyone under 18 years old to attend.)   

Requirements for Community Team applicants:   

• Team members can be different stakeholders in the community, but a majority of the team must be community members that interact with young people in low-income families at the core of their work, voluntary or professional. (i.e.: Boys and Girls Clubs, church youth group, etc.)   
• Young people (attendance of a young person is not required for the in-person training, but please keep in mind that a chaperone will be required for anyone under 18 years old to attend.)   

Employees of Ashoka, First Book and Audemars Piguet (the funding partner) or any of their respective affiliates, and their family members and persons living in the same households of such employees are not eligible to apply.   

Applications: Applicants can submit new or existing ideas to implement during the 2025-2026 school year. If submitting an existing idea, there must be an innovative or new aspect that the grant will fund.  Ideas submitted must be for supporting students in the K-12 range, primarily those from low-income communities and/or attending Title 1-eligible, Tribal, or Military Base schools. All proposals must demonstrate how young people will be meaningfully involved in shaping, designing, and carrying out the project. Successful applications will center youth voices and leadership, ensuring that young people are active partners—not just participants—in the work.  

Applications must be submitted in English. Limit one entry per team.  

Capacity building: One or more members per Applicant team must attend virtual workshops and support sessions, held approximately once per month between August 2025 and April 2026. Sessions include, but may not be limited to, group trainings and individual team sessions.   

At least three members and a maximum of five members of each winning team must be available to participate in one of the in-person workshops to be held in the Washington, DC or Chicago, IL metropolitan areas. In the event that circumstances necessitate canceling an in-person event, a virtual event will be held in its place. 

Monitoring and evaluation: Applicant(s) and their team agree to participate in periodic surveys, focus groups, and other monitoring activities to track the progress of their work. 

By submitting an Entry, the Applicant agrees to be bound by these Terms and by the decisions of the Grantors, which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to the Grant. Grants are awarded in the sole discretion of the Grantors and without warranty of any kind from the Grantors or any of their affiliated companies, express or implied, without limitation, except where this would be contrary to applicable law or regulation.  

To the extent permitted by law, each Applicant agrees to hold the Grantors, their subsidiaries, parents, affiliates, agents, directors, officers, employees, representatives and assigns harmless from any injury, damage, expense, or loss caused or claimed to be caused by participation in the Grant Program or use or acceptance of any grant awarded, except to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of a Grantor. The Grantors are not responsible for any typographical or other error in the printing or posting of any materials related to the Grant and/or Grant Program, in the administration of the Grant and/or Grant Program or in any announcement relating to the Grant and/or Grant Program.  

An Applicant may be prohibited from participating in the Program if, in the Grantors’ sole discretion, they reasonably believe that the Applicant has attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of the Program, including by cheating, deception or other unfair practices or annoys, abuses, threatens or harasses any other Applicants, Grantors, or their employees, agents or associated parties. 

 

GRANT AWARDS

Grant awards: Eight (8) Grant recipients will each receive a $10,000 grant to fund or contribute toward funding the implementation of a changemaking idea that will have a positive impact in a school, school district, or community, that is focused on youth-driven change. Grant awards will be disbursed in two equal tranches: $5,000 on or about December 2025 and $5,000 on or about March 2026. 

Grants will be awarded to each winning Applicant’s Organization or, if the Organization is not a tax-exempt legal entity, to its Fiscal Sponsor (defined above) for the benefit of the Organization, but in no case to the individual Participant in his or her individual capacity. All taxes in connection with receipt of a grant will be the responsibility of the recipient Organization or Fiscal Sponsor, as applicable. No Applicant will receive a grant for personal use.  

The Applicants agree upon receipt of the Grant to use the funds exclusively to support the furtherance of the winning Entry and the purpose of the initiative as outlined in the Entry only. The Applicants agree to regular and appropriate monitoring and evaluation by the Grantors, as well as to provide progress reports as may be required by the Grantors. 

The Grantors expressly reserve the right to make any changes to the Awards details described above in their sole and absolute discretion. 

 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY   

Applicants who submit an Entry that contains the Applicant’s intellectual property retain their individual rights to their work and any derivative works. 

By submitting an Entry, You certify and warrant that your Entry is original and that You are the sole and exclusive owner and right holder of the submitted Entry and that You have the right to submit the Entry for the Program. Further, You agree not to submit any Entry that (1) infringes any third-party proprietary, intellectual property, industrial property, personal rights or other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or confidentiality obligation; or (2) otherwise violates applicable law in any jurisdiction in the world.  

By submitting copyrighted material, You certify that You have obtained the necessary permissions from the copyright owner in writing.  You assume responsibility for any associated penalties and costs incurred as a result of a copyright violation related to this material. 

Nothing in these Terms shall be considered or is intended to confer or transfer to a party any ownership right or interest in any intellectual property (such as trademark, design, symbol, etc.) of another party.  

 

COMMUNICATIONS RIGHTS  

These Terms grant the Grantors the right to share your Entry information (including without limitation your name, likeness, and the name and details of your project) that was submitted for public view with journalists, via social media, on Grantors’ website, or in Grantors’ publications. The Grantors may use, reproduce, distribute, transcribe, translate, promote, broadcast, exhibit, publicly display material You have provided or made available for public use in your Entry.  

Winning Applicants and Teams agree to sign Media Releases and participate in interviews, submit photos of their project(s) in action, coordinate testimonials from students—with all appropriate guardian permissions—and to be filmed or photographed throughout the Grant Program.  

 

JURISDICTION  

These Terms are subject to change at any time in the sole discretion of the Program Partners; any change will be published on https://my.reviewr.com/site/community-changemakers-grant. The terms and administration of the Program will be governed by the laws of United States and the relevant court of Virginia shall have jurisdiction. 

NO RECOURSE TO JUDICIAL OR OTHER PROCEDURES: To the extent permitted by law, the rights to litigate, to seek injunctive relief or to make any other recourse to judicial or any other procedure in regard to the judgment of the Selection Committee are hereby excluded, and each Applicant expressly waives any and all such rights.