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Terms & Conditions

The 2009 Microsoft-TechSoup "Show Your Impact!" Contest

Sponsored by TechSoup Global, (A CompuMentor Project), 435 Brannan St., Suite 100, San Francisco, CA 94107 and Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052 (jointly, "Sponsors").

1. Contest Schedule.
Contest submission opens May 11, 2009 at 12:00:01 a.m. Pacific Time (PT) and ends May 29, 2009 at 11:59:59 p.m. PT. All submissions must be received by the Contest submission end date and time.
2. Submission Procedure.
Visit the Contest home page at www.showyourimpact.org/microsoft to enter your submission.
(a) Submission Form.
Complete the contest submission form with all required information. Select the category of your submission (for complete description of categories, see section 5(a) below). NOTE: Your organization’s contact person must be an authorized representative of your organization who has all right, power and authority to bind the organization to these Official Rules for purposes of this Contest.
(b) Impact Story.
In the indicated field, please input a detailed impact story of no more than 7000 characters (including spaces) describing how your organization has used Microsoft technologies in innovative ways to maximize or expand the impact you are having on your community. Among other points, your impact story should demonstrate how Microsoft technologies have contributed to what you have achieved in at least two of the following areas:
  1. Increased number of clients, served or recruited
  2. Increased range of clients, members or volunteers served or recruited
  3. Enabled new services, campaigns or programs
  4. Enhanced quality or impact of service, campaigns or programs
  5. Increased reach or impact of services, campaigns or programs as a result of more effective marketing fundraising or educational outreach
  6. Anything else you think will convince us of the impact your organization has been able to achieve

Please explain in specific detail how your impact has been achieved.

(c) Supporting Work.
 
You may upload files or provide links to works that help explain or illustrate the impact you have described in your impact story. See section 4 below for specific guidelines for supporting works.
(d) Consent to Official Rules.
 
Check the box indicating that you (on behalf of yourself and the organization) have read, fully understand and agree to the Official Rules. If this box is not checked, submission will NOT be accepted.
3. Eligibility.

Submissions must be made by organizations that have received Microsoft product donations via www.techsoup.org (TechSoup’s donation web site) or www.techsoupcanada.ca (TechSoup Canada’s donation web site) and have been determined by TechSoup in its sole discretion to have qualified for such donation on or before May 11, 2009. Submitting organizations must qualify for tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the (U.S.) Internal Revenue Code; or be a charity registered with the Canada Revenue Agency or a federal nonprofit corporation (which is located and operating outside of Quebec Province); or be a public library in the United States or Canada. Charities, nonprofits, and libraries in the Canadian province of Quebec and the states of Maryland, North Dakota and Vermont are not eligible.

Organizations that advocate, support or practice (or, in the sole discretion of Sponsors, are believed to advocate/support/practice) discrimination based on age, ethnicity, gender, national origin, disability, race, size, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status are NOT eligible.

The contact person (i.e., authorized representative) for the submitting organization must be 21 years of age or older and a legal resident of the United States (excluding Maryland, North Dakota and Vermont) or Canada (excluding Quebec Province) as of May 11, 2009. All other persons/entities are NOT eligible to participate in the Contest or win a prize.

4. Submission Restrictions.
 
(a) In General.
 

Limit one submission (online submission form, impact story and supporting work(s)) per organization. Impact story and supporting work(s) must be solely the original work of organization. Do not copy the work of any other person or entity. This includes both impact story content and any creative work included in the supporting work(s). Impact stories and/or supporting works deemed by Sponsors in their sole discretion as inappropriate, objectionable or unfit for publication or that Sponsors determine in their sole discretion are not in compliance with these Official Rules will be disqualified. Impact stories may only be included in the indicated field on submission form; attachments or other forms of submission of the impact stories are not permitted.

Supporting works may be submitted via upload through the online submission form or a link may be provided to works that are already available and viewable online. Supporting works to be uploaded through the submission page cannot exceed the maximum allowable file size of 20 megabytes per file. Uploaded files must be one of the following file types: .doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx, .pdf, .jpg, .gif, .swf, .mov, .wmv, .avi, mp4, or MP3.

The online form, impact story and supporting work must all be submitted by the end of the submission period. Organizations entering this contest may edit their submissions during the submission period through the Contest website, however once the submission period has ended no further editing will be permitted. Partial submissions will not be accepted.

(b) Third Party Rights.
Do not reference or identify any person, entity or property in your impact story or supporting work unless your organization has received that person’s/entity’s permission in writing. Sponsors may require proof of written permission as a prerequisite to award of prize, and the inability to produce the proof of written permission within 2 months of the Sponsors’ request may result in disqualification.
(c) Grant of Rights to Sponsors.
In entering a submission, your organization grants the contest Sponsors a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable license and right to use, perform, exhibit, reproduce, distribute, and/otherwise exploit the impact story and/or supporting work(s) in any manner and in any media now known or hereafter devised. Sponsors may, but are under no obligation to, post the winning impact stories and/or supporting works on the Contest web site. As set forth above, the organization’s contact person (on behalf of and the submitting organization) understands that the organization will not receive any compensation (other than prize) and releases and agrees to hold harmless Sponsors from any liability in conjunction therewith.
5. Winner Determination.
(a) Categories.
The contest submissions may be entered in one of three categories (as identified on submission form). The categories and their definitions are:
  1. Stable and Secure Technology: When it comes to technology, many nonprofit organizations need and want technology that can help them achieve stability. It plays a very important role as the foundation or platform for additional technology usage. Without this stable foundation in place, it is difficult to take on more complex or impactful technology initiatives. Technologies at this level are about organizational and operational efficiency and might include things like new hardware, networking, maintenance, and the basic technology platforms one needs to get one’s job done, such as e-mail and internet connectivity. These types of technologies are often referred to as "infrastructure."
  2. Optimize Mission Delivery: Technology solutions that optimize mission delivery and increase the effectiveness of an organization. At this level, one is taking advantage of a stable infrastructure to greatly increase effectiveness by integrating technology into service delivery and/or programs. The kinds of technologies that help one do this might include things like donor or client databases, interactive web sites, and electronic communications like e-newsletters. Using technology at this level helps one enhance the quality of services, run more effective programs, and expand an organization’s reach.
  3. Transformations to Maximize Impact: Technologies that have been used to fundamentally transform the way you do business and maximize your impact. These may include innovative tools themselves or the innovative use of existing technology tools, and they allow delivery of a service or program in a new or different way that would not be possible otherwise. They may help reach an entirely new audience. They create a fundamental change in the way you pursue your mission and have far-reaching impact on a community or sector. Technologies one might find in the ‘transform and maximize impact’ area include handheld devices for data.
(b) Judging.
The judging of submissions will be conducted in two rounds.

The panel’s judging criteria will be based on the demonstrated-impact as conveyed in the impact story and any supporting work(s). Impact stories will be evaluated based on how well they convey the impact and benefit that Microsoft technologies have had on the organization, its mission and/or its constituency.

 

The winning organizations will be notified by e-mail and/or phone by June 26, 2009.

  1. The first round of judging will be performed by a community consisting of, but not limited to, any individual from a Microsoft donation recipient organization, TechSoup or Microsoft, and any of those individuals’ friends, family or contacts. This first round of judging will open for participation on May 30, 2009 and will close on June 10, 2009. This community will select the top 10% from each category to move onto the final round of judging.
  2. The second round of judging will be conducted by a panel of judges from TechSoup and Microsoft which will select one prize winner in each of the three categories outlined in Section 5(a) above.
6. Prizes.

Three prizes of $5,000 plus $25,000 in donated Microsoft product will be awarded to one submitting organization in each of the three categories.

If the distribution and quality of entries among the three categories results in the Sponsors’ determination of an inequitable result in its sole discretion, the Sponsors reserve the right to eliminate categories and reassign the entries and reallocate grants to the remaining categories as appropriate. The organization’s contact person individually will have no right to the prize. No prize transfer will be permitted. There will be no prize substitution except at Sponsor’s sole discretion due to prize unavailability for any reason and only then for prize of comparable value. Any taxes on prizes are the sole responsibility of winning organizations.

7. Conditions of Participation.
 
(a) Agreement to Rules/Releases.

The organization’s contact person (on behalf of him/herself and his/her organization) agrees to (i) abide by and be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsors and the judges, which are final and binding in all respects; (ii) release, indemnify and hold harmless Sponsors, judges, their respective parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, agencies and the directors, officers, agents, shareholders, representatives and employees of any of the above entities, from any and all liability associated with participation in the Contest and receipt, acceptance, possession or use/misuse of prize; (iii) if organization wins a prize, by accepting prize on behalf of organization, to grant Sponsors and their designees the right to print, publish, broadcast and use, worldwide in any media now known or hereafter developed, including but not limited to the world wide web, at any time or times, the name of the winning organization and other identifying information concerning the organization for advertising, trade and promotional purposes without additional compensation, and without review, approval or further notice.

As part of the prize notification, the winning organizations will be asked to sign an affidavit of eligibility, a liability release and a publicity release (where legal). Refusal to sign these documents or failure to sign them within 15 days of notification may result in the forfeiture of the prize and the selection of an alternate winner at the discretion of the Sponsors.

(b) Limitations of Liability.
Sponsors will not be responsible or liable for: (i) lost, late, incomplete, damaged, misdirected or illegible impact stories, supporting works or entries; or for any computer, telephone, cable, satellite, network, electronic or Internet hardware or software malfunctions, failures, connections, availability or garbled or jumbled transmissions, service provider/Internet/web site/use net accessibility or availability, traffic congestion or unauthorized human intervention; (ii) any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by web site users or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest or for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to any web site; (iii) injury or damage to participating organization’s or any other person’s computer (or information/data stored thereon) related to or resulting from participating in this Contest or downloading/uploading materials from/to any web site. If, for any reason, the Contest (or any part thereof) is not capable of running as planned by reason of infection by computer virus, worms, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes beyond the control of Sponsors which, in the sole opinion of Sponsors, could corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the Contest (or any part thereof), Sponsors reserve the right at their sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest and select the winning organizations in a manner which is fair, equitable and in accordance with these Official Rules, as determined by Sponsors in their sole discretion. Notice of such action by Sponsors will be posted on www.showyourimpact.org/microsoft.
(c) Grounds for/Effect of Disqualification.
Sponsors reserve the right, at their sole discretion, to disqualify any organization they find, in their sole discretion, not to be in full compliance with these Official Rules, to be ineligible to participate in the Contest, to be tampering with the submission process, the operation of the Contest or any web site. Disqualification will result in submission entered by the disqualified party being rejected without further review or notice, and Sponsors reserve the right to take any other actions against such disqualified party and/or other persons/entities as Sponsors deem necessary and appropriate in their sole discretion so as to protect their rights.
8. Dispute Resolution/Governing Law/Waiver of Jury Trial.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, by participating in the Contest, contact person (on behalf of him/herself and his/her organization) agrees that: (a) any action at law or in equity arising out of or relating to these Official Rules or the rights and obligations of any entrant and/or Sponsors shall be filed exclusively in the courts of San Francisco County, State of California and contact person (on behalf of him/herself and his/her organization) hereby consents and submits to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of such courts for the purposes of litigating any such action, and any right to a trial by jury and a trial by jury is hereby waived, (b) any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or connected with these Official Rules, and/or the rights and obligations of any contact person, organization and/or Sponsors shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and (c) any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with participating in this Contest but in no event attorneys' fees; and (d) under no circumstances will any contact person/organization be permitted to obtain awards for and hereby waives all rights to claim punitive, exemplary, special, incidental, indirect and consequential damages and any other damages (whether due to negligence or otherwise), other than for actual out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of any contact person/organization and/or Sponsors shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California without giving effect or regard to any principles or doctrines of conflicts of law/choice of law of the State of California or of any other jurisdiction.
9. Winners List.
Names of winning organizations will be posted on www.showyourimpact.org/microsoft on June 26, 2009.