OFFICIAL TERMS & RULES

1. GENERAL.

• #SUPPORTSMALLBIZ Grant presented by Small Business Majority and powered by Support Latino Business (“Contest”) is administered by Small Business Majority and Sponsored by Support Latino Business (“Sponsor”).
• By entering this contest, you agree to be bound by these Official Rules and Sponsor’s determinations regarding the contest, which are final and binding.
• The contest is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and are void where prohibited.
• There is no purchase necessary or other costs to enter or win the contest.

2. ELIGIBILITY.

• To be eligible to enter a business in the contest, you (“Officer”) must be all of the following as of the first day of the Contest Periods (defined below): (a) business must be in good standing and following all applicable laws and regulations, (b) at least 18 years of age, and (c) a Latino founder with at least 50% ownership of the business who is authorized to legally bind the business with respect to the contest, (d) EIN holders are able to apply.
• To be eligible to participate in the contest, the business (“Entrant”) must meet all of the following criteria as of the first day of the Contest Periods: each Entrant (a) must have its principal place of business in the United States, (b) must not be engaged in illegal, potentially illegal, or illegitimate activities as adjudged in Sponsor’s determination, (c) may be a business entity legally permissible in the United States, (d) must have been in business for a least one full year, and (e) a part of the SLB Directory network, and (f) join the Small Business Majority mailing list.
• The potential winners are subject to verification of eligibility by the Sponsor, which may include a background check and completing associated documentation.

3. CONTEST PERIODS.

• Applications for the #SUPPORTSMALLBIZ Grant presented by Small Business Majority and powered by Support Latino Business opens Thursday, September 14, 2023, at 12:00 AM Pacific Time and closes Thursday, September 28, 2023, at 11:59 PM Pacific Time (the “Contest Period”).
• The Sponsor’s computer is the official timekeeper for all matters related to the contest.
• The Sponsor reserves the right to shorten or lengthen the Contest Period based on need and availability of funds.

4. HOW TO ENTER.

• To enter the contest, each Officer must clearly and concisely complete all sections of the online application, which consists of a series of questions about the Entrant and the Officer, by taking these steps: during the Contest Periods,
  • (1) Become part of the Support Latino Business network by creating your own Support Latino Business Directory listing profile for free at https://supportlatino.biz/add-listing/
  • (2)Complete and submit the grant application form listed on https://supportlatino.biz/supportsmallbiz-grant/ (“Entry”).
  • The full list of Entry questions can be found in the application form.
• All entries must be received by 11:59 PM Pacific Time, September 28, 2023, to be eligible.
• Limit: One entry per Entrant and Officer. Multiple entries received for any Entrant or Officer after the first entry received from that Entrant or Officer is void.

5. ENTRY QUALIFICATIONS.

• Sponsor may disqualify any Entry that, as adjudged in Sponsor’s determination:
  • 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 Official Rules;
  • is submitted by an Entrant or Officer who is ineligible or non-compliant with these Official Rules;
  • is submitted by any person who tampers with or abuses any aspect of the contest or the Support Latino Business 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 contest. 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.

6. OTHER ENTRY TERMS.

• After an Entry has been submitted, it cannot be modified in any way and the Sponsor is not responsible for any delayed Entry, incomplete Entry, or Entry not received, recognized, or accepted for any reason.
• Entrant retains all rights in and to its product or service, including all intellectual property rights, but no Entry may disclose any information confidential to or any trade secret of the Entrant or any third party. The Sponsor and Administrator will treat all information disclosed by Entrant as non-confidential.
• By submitting an Entry to the contest, each Entrant hereby grants Sponsor and Administrator on behalf of Entrant and Officer a royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, global, nonexclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, create derivative works from, and display the information in the Entry, in whole or in part, and to incorporate it into other works, in any form, media, or technology, now known or later developed, for any purpose including for promotional and marketing purposes, including on Support Latino Business-branded websites or social platforms.
• The Released Parties do not guarantee that any Entry will be used as described in the preceding license.
• The Released Parties are not responsible for any unauthorized use by third parties of any Entry.

7. SELECTION OF GRANT WINNERS.

Entries will be judged by Small Business Majority and Support Latino Business directors based on the following (“Initial Judging Criteria”):

• Quality and substantiveness of Entrant’s answers
• Clarity of Finalist’s “pitch” for grant funding
• Context and specificity of Finalist’s business journey and future goals

The four Entrants that submitted the Entry receiving the highest cumulative score will be deemed the “#SUPPORTSMALLBIZ Grant presented by Small Business Majority and powered by Support Latino Business awardees”. 

Additional Rules

• Sponsor may, in Sponsor’s determination, conduct a brief interview with any Entrant and request an Entrant to submit additional materials relating to their Entry if the Sponsor determines that that step is necessary to fairly judge the Entry.
• If during any judging there is a tie, the tie will be broken based on the highest score in the first judging criterion, continuing thereafter to each judging criterion in order as needed to break the tie.
• The Sponsor’s or the Panel’s decision, as the case may be, is final and not open to a dispute of any kind.
• Each grant winner may be required to execute and return to Sponsor an affidavit of eligibility, liability release, and, where lawful, a publicity release (collectively, the “Release”), within forty-eight hours after the Sponsor’s notification.
• If a potential grant winner cannot be located or does not respond within forty-eight hours after the Sponsor’s notification, or the potential grant winner rejects the grant or fails to complete the Release within the allotted time period, the grant will be forfeited and awarded to an alternate winner, who is the Entrant with the next highest ranked Entry from among all remaining eligible Entries.
• The Sponsor will award all grants. If a grant cannot be awarded to any potential Grant Winner, property of equal or greater value will be provided to an alternate winner.

8. SUMMARY OF GRANTS.

• Four (4) grant awardee will receive a $2,500 award
• Each grant awardee will receive recognition on Small Business Majority, and Support Latino Business platforms
• Each awardee is responsible for all applicable federal, state, and local taxes, if any, as well as any other costs and expenses associated with grant acceptance and use not specified in these Official Rules.
• The Released Parties make no warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to any grant awarded in the contest.
• Grant awardee will also be required to provide their W9

9. ODDS OF WINNING. The odds of being awarded a grant will depend on the number of eligible Entries received during the Contest Period.

10. GENERAL CONDITIONS.

• Each Entrant and Officer will release, discharge, and hold harmless Sponsor and its parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, and promotion agencies, and funding partners, and the shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, and representatives of each of the foregoing (collectively, the “Released Parties”), from any and all injuries, liability, losses, and damages of any kind to persons, including death or property damage resulting, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from the Entrant’s or the Officer’s participation in the contest or any contest-related activity or the acceptance, possession, use, or misuse of any grant.
• Liability Limitation. The Released Parties are not responsible for:
  • lost, late, incomplete, damaged, inaccurate, stolen, delayed, misdirected, undelivered, or garbled Entries;
  • lost, interrupted or unavailable network, server, Internet Service Provider, website, or other connections, availability or accessibility or miscommunications or failed computer, satellite, telephone or cable transmissions, lines, or technical failure or jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures or difficulties, or other errors or difficulties of any kind whether human, mechanical, electronic, computer, network, typographical, printing or otherwise relating to or in connection with the contest, including errors or difficulties that may occur in connection with the administration of the contest, the processing or judging of Entries, or the announcement of the Winners;
  • any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by site users, tampering, hacking, or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the contest;
  • injury or damage to any person’s computer related to or resulting from participating in this contest or downloading materials from or use of Sponsor’s website or other platforms.
• Contest compromised if any portion of the contest is compromised by a virus, worms, bugs, non-authorized human intervention, or other causes that, in Sponsor’s determination, corrupt or impair the contest administration, security, fairness, or proper play, or submission of Entries, Sponsor may suspend, modify, or terminate the contest and, if terminated, at its discretion, select the Winners from all eligible, nonsuspect Entries received prior to the contest compromise using the judging procedure outlined above.
• In these Official rules: “Including” means including but not limited to. “Sponsor’s determination” or “Sponsor’s consent” means Sponsor’s determination or Sponsor’s consent, in either case, in its sole discretion.
• Contest Changes. Sponsor reserves the right to modify these Official Rules in order to better achieve the contest purpose as adjudged in Sponsor’s determination, without liability or obligation to Sponsor. The Sponsor will give notice of Official Rule modifications on the contest official site and in these Official Rules.
• Contest

11. PUBLICITY.

• By entering and participating in the contest, each Entrant and Officer permits the use of Entrant’s and Officers names and submitted content for programming, advertising, publicity, and promotional purposes in all media, now known or later created, worldwide and on the Internet, and in perpetuity by Sponsor, Administrator and its designees, without compensation (unless prohibited by law) or additional consents from Entrant or Officer or any third party and without prior notice, approval, or inspection.
• Each Entrant and Officer will execute specific consent to the uses described in the previous sentence at Sponsor’s request.
• No Entrant or Officer may release on their own or through a third party any publicity or other materials regarding their participation in the contest, without Sponsor’s consent.

12. GOVERNING LAW. Texas law governs all issues and questions concerning these Official Rules and Entrant’s or Sponsor’s rights and obligations in connection with the contest, and that law applies regardless of any choice-of-law principles otherwise applicable.

13. ARBITRATION.

• Except where prohibited by law, the parties must resolve any dispute arising out of or relating to the contest or these Official Rules individually and exclusively by final and binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and conducted before a single arbitrator under AAA’s applicable arbitration rules.
• The arbitration must be held at a location in the state in which the Business’s principal place of business is located.
• There shall be no authority for any claims to be arbitrated (or otherwise disputed) on a class or representative basis; arbitration can decide only Sponsor’s or your individual claims and the arbitrator may not consolidate or join the claims of other persons or parties who may be similarly situated.
• Entrant, Officer, and Sponsor each specifically waive any right to a jury trial related to the resolution of any dispute arising out of or relating to the contest or these Official Rules.
• Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these Official Rules, if the amount in a dispute arising out of or relating to the contest or these Official Rules is less than the jurisdictional maximum of a small claims court applicable in the state in the Business’s principal place of business is located, an Entrant may bring an action in the small claims court for the dispute, which will be in lieu of arbitration or action in any other court.

14. USE OF DATA.

• By participating in the contest, each Entrant and Officer acknowledges that Sponsor will collect private or personal data about the Entrant and the Officer that is submitted in the Entry (the “Private Information”).
• Sponsor may collect and use the Private Information for purposes of this contest and as authorized under these Official Rules.
• Involved parties may use awardee data for internal and external messaging and promotion?

15. Sponsor’s CONTACT INFORMATION.

Small Business Majority,

• 1015 15th Street NW, Suite 450 Washington DC 20005, ssbgrant@smallbusinessmajority.org

Support Latino Business, Inc.

• 411 West Monroe Street, Austin, TX 78704
• team@supportlatino.biz