We’re thrilled by the quality of ideas in the first round of the Pepsi Refresh Project, which have come from every state in the U.S., across all grant levels and categories. You sent us so many wonderful projects that will clearly move your communities forward. In the past week, every submission was reviewed for adherence with the Official Application Guidelines. We made our best judgment in applying the rules in each case, and every single project was reviewed multiple times to ensure consistency and fairness.
In this first round, we’ve learned a lot, and this feedback will make the Refresh Project stronger in the months ahead. The biggest challenges we faced were with projects that did not provide clear details on execution or public benefit, or had third party logo issues, or described a project with an international element. We’ve gathered below our top ten lessons from this first round of review, and we hope you find this helpful as you prepare your submissions for the months to come.
1. Projects with clear, tangible goals stood out. The best ideas articulated an unmet need, described a clear plan for addressing that need, and showed specific public-benefit outcomes to happen in the next year. Some submissions were denied due to lack of detail in the budget (e.g. ‘$250k to plant trees’) or lack of clarity on how the project would be executed.
2. International activity. There were a number of great ideas for projects with an international element, but the Pepsi Refresh Project is currently limited to projects based in the U.S., with grant money spent in the U.S. and of benefit to communities here.
3. Logos in images or videos. Third party logos or unlicensed images are not allowed in video submissions. In cases where applications contained a clear logo or unlicensed image, the application was denied. This was really difficult, as some great projects were denied in this first round due to third party logo use. Please be advised that, due to legal restrictions, any project videos or images that contain third party logos or unlicensed images will not be accepted.
4. Music & video length. If you choose to have music in the video portion of your application, then you should only use music from our list of Creative Commons-approved tracks: www.good.is/cctracks. If you use other music in the video portion of your application, your entry may not be accepted. As per the rules, videos should not exceed 3 minutes in length.
5. Public benefit. Projects must have a clear public benefit, and cannot be of benefit only to one or several individuals. The panel screened projects that could not clearly articulate public-benefit outcomes in the next year, as well as projects that were clearly intended for private benefit only (as in “help me pay for my house”). In cases where your submission requires grant money for salary or overhead, you should stipulate why this is necessary and how the project will be of public benefit. Preferably, salary costs should be less than 50% of the grant amount, unless there is a clear and compelling reason for a larger allocation.
6. $250k grants. More applications were submitted at this level than any other grant level. The Refresh Project only makes two grants available each month at the $250k level, while ten grants are available at each of the other grant levels. If you apply for the $250k grant, please be sure to provide budget details and a clear plan for how you will create public-benefit results in the next year. You must be able to demonstrate a capacity to execute a project of this magnitude.
7. Individuals applying as businesses or non-profit organizations. Many individuals indicated that they wanted to start non-profits or businesses with a Refresh grant. If you are starting an organization, we encourage you to apply as an individual rather than as a for-profit or non-profit entity.
8. Religious or political advocacy. As the official guidelines specify, please be sure your idea does not directly involve political or religious advocacy. We accepted a number of great ideas from religious groups that articulated a clear public benefit and did not involve religious advocacy; those that specified advocacy were screened out.
9. Inventions. If you have an idea for an invention, you must provide enough detail to show how you can create a clear public benefit from your invention in the next 12 months, and you should include specific milestones in your application.
10. Non-profit affiliations. If your idea requires the support of a local government, non-profit or business, please specify whether they’ve agreed to collaborate with you in the event that your project receives a grant.
For those of you whose projects were not accepted, we encourage you to re-apply in future rounds, and please be sure to revise your submission so that it observes all of the Official Application Guidelines.
The first round of projects are now open to a public vote, and it will be up to America to choose the best ideas to move the world forward. Good luck!
—The Pepsi Refresh Team
