Terms & Conditions

INTRODUCTION  

These Terms and Conditions (the “Terms”) apply to the Green Changemaker Challenge (the “Challenge”) created from a partnership between HSBC (the “Partner”) and Ashoka (collectively the “Challenge Partners”). 

 

DEFINITIONS  

“You” refers to any individual that makes an eligible submission through the Service with the intention of participating in the Challenge. Within these Terms, "You” may also be referred to as “Applicant” or “Participant”. 

“Challenge Jury” refers to the individuals selected, in the sole discretion of the Challenge Partners, to judge the Entries, which may include Challenge Partner employees or members of their larger networks or others who are not employed by or otherwise affiliated with the Challenge Partners. 

“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 Challenge. 

“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 Green Changemaker Challenge, Challenge Entry Form hosted by Wazoku, and affiliated websites or services that are used and operated for the purpose of executing or administering the Program. 

 

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 HSBC (the sponsor of the Program), Ashoka (the administrator of the Program as well as other programs), and Wazoku (the host of the Service), for each of their use pursuant to their own privacy policy. Applicant Information will be accessible by Ashoka, HSBC and the host of the Service (Wazoku).   

Please take note that in order to participate in the Challenge the following information will be disclosed to other Challenge 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; 

• City and state; 

• Project title; 

• Cover image for your project; 

• Description of the project; 

• Sector, theme or focus of the project; 

• Stage of the project; 

• Presentation video 

As You move forward in the Challenge and navigate in the Challenge Platform, You may also generate and disclose the following information: 

• Participation in other communities at changemakers.com that You are a member of; 

• Video, photographs and audio recordings of your participation in Challenge events. 

You may also be required to provide further private details on your project or organization, as well as Bank account information, in case You are one of the Challenge winners. None of this information will ever be disclosed by the Challenge Partners, 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 Challenge Partners are not liable for any errors made by You in this regard. 

Exclusively in the review phase, in order to evaluate your Entry, the Challenge Jury for all review phases and the peers joining community review activities will have access to all the information described above. 

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: 

Ashoka’s Changemakers’ Privacy Policy at https://www.changemakers.com/privacy-policy and Terms of Use at https://www.changemakers.com/terms-service and Wazoku Privacy Policy at https://www.wazoku.com/privacy-policy/ and Terms of Use at https://www.wazoku.com/terms-of-use/. 

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

To the extent permitted by applicable law, under your consent, Ashoka may use your information to send you communications related to the Challenge (including future year’s programs or related alumni events), Ashoka initiatives similar to the Program and other related content. If you explicitly choose so, HSBC or its third-party service providers acting on its behalf, may also contact You, after the Challenge, to notify You of future opportunities offered by HSBC. Each Challenge Partner 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 Wazoku or of any other third party. 

Applicant Information will be held and processed by the Program Partners during the duration of the Program and may be retained by the Program Partners 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 Ashoka via email at [email protected] and [email protected].

 

PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS AND AGREEMENTS  

Participant must be above 18 years of age when applying and is a resident of one of these countries Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Vietnam. Entries must be submitted in the English language and an Applicant is not allowed to submit more than one application. 

Employees of HSBC, advertising agencies, promotion agencies and other service providers for this Challenge, their immediate family members (spouse, parent, child, sibling, regardless of where they reside) are not eligible​​. Partners or past HSBC challenge winners or initiatives that are already financed or supported by HSBC, its affiliates, subsidiaries or joint ventures are also not eligible​​.  

By submitting an Entry, the Applicant agrees to be bound by these Terms and by the decisions of the Challenge Partners, which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to the Challenge. Prizes are awarded in the sole discretion of the Challenge Partners and without warranty of any kind from the Challenge Partners 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 Challenge Partners, 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 Challenge or use or acceptance of any prize awarded, except to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of a Challenge Partner. The Challenge Partners are not responsible for any typographical or other error in the printing or posting of any materials related to the Challenge, in the administration of the Challenge or in any announcement relating to the Challenge.  

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

 

CHALLENGE PRIZE 

The value of each winner’s prize will then depend on its various merits and needs and will be determined at the sole discretion of the Challenge Jury. Each of the winners of the Challenge will receive an investment, which may be up to $25000 as a prize as described below. 

Early Entry Prize: All Participants with eligible Entries submitted by March 29th will automatically be considered for an Early Entry Prize, and will receive Ashoka’s feedback on how to improve their application before the end of the overall Challenge application deadline on April 26th. Three (3) Participants from this group will be selected by the Program Partners to receive a $1,500 Early Entry Prize each. 

Green Changemaker Prize: Up to twelve (12) final winners will receive a minimum of $15,000 each with at least 2 from the below 4 geographical groups: Africa & Middle East, South and East Asia, Europe & Oceania, and Americas & the Caribbeans.

The top (4) performing applicant from each geographical group has a chance to win up to $25,000. 

Up to twenty-five (25) finalists will have their application reviewed by a panel of judges​. When picking the winners, we commit to having representation from all 3 focus areas across our winners. ​ 

 

1. ​ Creating inclusive pathways for people to contribute​ 

2. Turning data and information into stories that spark action​ 

3. Creating structures of support for climate innovators​ 

​ 

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

The receipt of the prizes may be subject to different taxes, such as income tax, social security, and indirect taxes, depending on the winner’s country of tax residence and the country where the Challenge is implemented. It is the winner’s responsibility to comply with all applicable laws, including tax laws. In this respect, the prizes granted as gross amount, and any applicable tax will be due and payable by the winner, except if the applicable law explicitly provides for the liability of the donor. 

The winner(s) agree(s) upon receipt of the prize 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 winner(s) agree(s) to regular and appropriate monitoring and evaluations by the Challenge Partners, as well as to provide progress reports as may be required by the Challenge Partners. 

 

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 Program Partners 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 Program Partners’ website, or in Program Partners’ publications. The Program Partners may use, reproduce, distribute, transcribe, translate, promote, broadcast, exhibit, publicly display material You have provided or made available for public use in your Entry.  

 

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://www.changemakers.com/challenge/green-changemakers. 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 Awards Jury are hereby excluded, and each Applicant expressly waives any and all such rights.