The Next Stop grant: official rules

NO PURCHASE, TOUR, OR MEMBERSHIP IS NECESSARY TO APPLY OR TO BE SELECTED. THIS IS A JUDGED PROGRAM, NOT A GAME OF CHANCE. NO DRAWING OF ANY KIND WILL BE HELD AT ANY STAGE. THE RECIPIENT WILL BE SELECTED BY A PANEL OF JUDGES ON THE PUBLISHED CRITERIA SET OUT IN SECTION 7. THE SELECTED RECIPIENT MUST ATTEND THE CHAMBLEE LAUNCH PARTY ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2026 TO RECEIVE THE AWARD. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. OPEN ONLY TO ELIGIBLE BUSINESSES LOCATED IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA.

1. Sponsor and administrator

The Next Stop Grant (the “Program”) is sponsored and administered by Saltbox Inc., 169 Madison Ave 2041 New York, NY 10016 (“Saltbox”). The Program relates to the Saltbox location at 5315 Peachtree Blvd, Chamblee, GA 30341 (“Saltbox Atlanta, Chamblee”).

2. No chance, no purchase, no membership required

The Program is a judged competition. The recipient is selected on the merits of the application, evaluated against the criteria in Section 7 by the judges named in Section 8. No element of the Program is determined by chance, and no drawing of any kind will be held at any stage.

No purchase, payment, fee, tour, visit, or membership is required to apply or to be selected, and none will improve an application’s evaluation. Whether an applicant tours Saltbox Atlanta, Chamblee, or expresses interest in a membership, will have no effect on the evaluation of that application.

Receiving the award does require the recipient to enter into a Saltbox membership agreement, as set out in Section 11, because the award is a credit against membership fees. That requirement applies only after selection and is not a condition of applying or of being selected.

3. Eligibility

To be eligible, an applicant must, as of Monday, August 31, 2026:

1. be a business entity or sole proprietorship operating in the State of Georgia, with a Georgia business address;
2. make, sell, store, or ship physical products, or perform project work requiring warehouse and loading dock space;
3. have been operating for at least six (6) months;
4. be represented by an individual who is eighteen (18) years of age or older and authorized to act on behalf of the business; and
5. not be a warehousing, self-storage, third-party logistics, or co-warehousing provider, or otherwise a competitor of Saltbox.

Employees, officers, and directors of Saltbox, the judges of the Program, and the immediate family members and members of the same household of any of them are not eligible.

Saltbox will determine eligibility by applying the criteria in this Section uniformly to all applications. Eligibility is not determined by, and will not be affected by, an applicant’s intent to become a member, ability to pay for a membership, current business size, or revenue.

Void outside the State of Georgia and where prohibited by law.

4. Application period

Applications open at 9:00 AM Eastern Time on Monday, August 31, 2026 and close at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Monday, September 28, 2026 (the “Application Period”). Applications submitted outside the Application Period will not be considered. Saltbox’s clock is the official timekeeper for the Program.

5. How to apply

Complete the free application form at saltbox.com/chamblee-next-stop-grant during the Application Period. There is no fee, and no purchase, tour, or membership is required.

Limit one (1) application per business. If a business submits more than one application, only the first complete application received will be considered.

Applications submitted by automated means, submitted by a third party on the applicant’s behalf without authorization, or submitted by any method other than the official form are void. Saltbox is not responsible for applications that are lost, late, incomplete, misdirected, or not received for any reason.

The application includes an optional photograph upload. Submitting a photograph is not required to apply, is not scored, and will not affect the evaluation of an application.

6. Screening for eligibility

Each application will be reviewed against the eligibility criteria in Section 3 and marked eligible or ineligible, with the reason recorded. Applications determined to be ineligible will not be scored. Saltbox may verify any statement made in an application, including by reference to the Georgia Secretary of State business search, the applicant’s website, or the applicant’s public social media presence.

7. How the recipient is selected

All eligible applications will be evaluated by the judges named in Section 8 against the following criteria and weights, each scored from 1 to 5 by each judge:

Scores are averaged across the judges and weighted as set out above to produce a weighted total out of 5. Judging will take place from Tuesday, September 29, 2026 through Thursday, October 1, 2026.

Three (3) finalists will be selected on weighted total and announced publicly on or about Friday, October 2, 2026. One (1) recipient will be selected from among the three finalists on weighted total and announced on Wednesday, October 7, 2026.

Tiebreaker. In the event of a tie in weighted total, the applicant with the higher Need and impact score will prevail. If that is also tied, the applicant with the higher Fit score will prevail. If that is also tied, the judges will decide by majority vote and the vote will be recorded.

The following are not criteria and will not be considered: the quality of an applicant’s writing, the appeal of an applicant’s brand or product, an applicant’s likelihood of becoming a Saltbox member, and an applicant’s ability to pay for a membership.

All decisions of the judges are final and binding.

8. Judges

The judging panel consists of:

• Shelly Densler, Location Manager, Saltbox Atlanta, Chamblee
• Monica Barker, Grant Manager, Saltbox
• Ashley Wright, Community Growth Manager, Saltbox

Any judge with a personal, familial, or financial relationship to an applicant will recuse from evaluating that application, and the remaining judges’ scores will be used for that application. Each recusal will be recorded.

9. Finalist notification and verification

Finalists will be notified privately by email and telephone on or about Thursday, October 1, 2026, and will be asked to keep their finalist status confidential until the public announcement on Friday, October 2, 2026.

A finalist who cannot be reached after reasonable attempts, is found to be ineligible, or declines, will not be eligible to receive the award. In that event, the award will be made to the next highest-scoring eligible applicant, who must satisfy the same conditions. The published finalist list will not change.

10. Attendance at the Chamblee launch party

The recipient will be announced at the Chamblee launch party at Saltbox Atlanta, Chamblee on Wednesday, October 7, 2026. The selected recipient must attend that event in person to receive the award. All three finalists are invited to attend, and each finalist is required to acknowledge this condition at the time of application.

Attendance is a condition of receiving the award only. It is not an eligibility criterion under Section 3, it is not a scored criterion under Section 7, and it will not be considered by the judges in selecting finalists or the recipient.

If the selected recipient does not attend the event, the award will be made to the next highest-scoring finalist who is present.

A finalist who knows they cannot attend should notify Saltbox as soon as possible at marketing@saltbox.com.

11. The award

One (1) award will be made: a credit of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) to be applied against membership fees for an extra-small warehouse suite membership, approximately 100 square feet, at Saltbox Atlanta, Chamblee. Approximate retail value: $5,000.00.

The award is a noncash account credit. It has no cash value, will not be paid in cash, and may not be redeemed for cash, transferred, assigned, or sold. It may be applied only at Saltbox Atlanta, Chamblee, and only to the suite size stated above.

To use the award, the recipient must enter into a Saltbox membership agreement for a warehouse suite at Saltbox Atlanta, Chamblee, and commence that membership on or before November 1, 2026. The credit will then be applied against monthly membership fees until exhausted. Any unused balance expires on December 31, 2027.

Suite availability is not guaranteed, and the award does not reserve or hold any specific suite. If the recipient is already a Saltbox member at Saltbox Atlanta, Chamblee, the credit will be applied to that existing membership.

The award may not be combined with any other offer, discount, promotion, credit, or concession, whether published or individually negotiated. If the recipient is eligible for another offer or discount on the same membership, the recipient may use either the award or that offer, but not both. Saltbox will apply whichever the recipient elects at the time the membership agreement is signed.

No substitution is permitted except by Saltbox, which may substitute an award of equal or greater value if the stated award becomes unavailable.

Forfeiture upon termination of membership. The award has no value independent of an active membership at Saltbox Atlanta, Chamblee. If the recipient does not commence a membership on or before November 1, 2026, the award is forfeited in full. If the recipient’s membership terminates for any reason before the credit is exhausted, including voluntary cancellation, non-renewal, transfer to another Saltbox location, or termination by Saltbox for breach or nonpayment, any unused balance is forfeited as of the effective date of termination. Forfeited amounts will not be refunded, paid in cash or cash equivalent, extended, reissued, reinstated upon any later membership, or applied to any other account, membership, or Saltbox location. No portion of the credit survives termination of the membership.

Non-transferability. The award is personal to the recipient and to the legal entity named in the recipient’s application. It may not be sold, assigned, transferred, pledged, gifted, or otherwise conveyed to any other person or entity, in whole or in part, whether voluntarily, by operation of law, or otherwise. This restriction applies to any transfer arising from a merger, acquisition, sale of all or substantially all assets, change of control, corporate reorganization, or the formation of a successor or affiliated entity. The membership agreement required above must be signed by the same legal entity named in the recipient’s application. If it is not, the award is void and any unused balance is forfeited. Any attempted assignment is void and has no effect.

12. Taxes

The award is taxable income to the recipient. Because the award is a noncash credit against membership fees, no amount will be withheld, and the recipient is solely responsible for all federal, state, and local taxes arising from the award.

The value of the award exceeds the applicable information-reporting threshold. Saltbox will report the value of the award to the Internal Revenue Service on IRS Form 1099-MISC for the calendar year in which the credit is issued and will furnish a copy to the recipient. Reporting is based on the aggregate value of all awards and payments Saltbox makes to the recipient during that calendar year.

Before the award is issued, the recipient must provide Saltbox with a completed and signed IRS Form W-9 bearing the legal name and taxpayer identification number of the entity named in the recipient's application. The recipient must return the completed Form W-9 within ten (10) business days of the announcement on Wednesday, October 7, 2026. A recipient who does not do so forfeits the award, and the award will be made to the next highest-scoring finalist, subject to the same conditions.

Saltbox does not provide tax advice. Applicants and the recipient should consult their own tax advisor regarding the treatment of the award.

13. Use of application content

Applicants may consent, by checking the separate box provided on the application form, to Saltbox’s use of the text of their application and any photograph they submit for advertising, promotional, and editorial purposes in any medium, worldwide, in perpetuity, without further compensation or notice.

That consent is optional. It is not required to apply, and it is not required to be selected as a finalist or as the recipient.

By checking that box, the applicant represents that they own or have the right to grant these rights in the submitted material, that any person shown in a submitted photograph has consented to its use, and that the material does not infringe any third party’s rights.

Saltbox will not publish the application text or photographs of any applicant who has not checked that box.

14. Publicity

Except where prohibited, acceptance of the award constitutes the recipient’s consent to Saltbox’s use of the recipient’s name, business name, city and state, voice, photograph, and likeness for advertising and promotional purposes in any medium, worldwide, in perpetuity, without further compensation.

Finalists consent to the same use of their name, business name, city and state, photograph, likeness, and recorded statements in connection with the announcement of finalists. Each finalist will sign a photograph and video release before any such material is created.

15. General conditions

By applying, each applicant agrees to be bound by these Official Rules and by the decisions of Saltbox and the judges, which are final and binding.

Saltbox may disqualify any applicant it reasonably believes has provided false information, tampered with the application process, or acted in violation of these Rules.

Saltbox may cancel, suspend, or modify the Program if fraud, technical failure, or any other cause beyond its reasonable control impairs its integrity, in which case Saltbox may make the award from among all eligible applications received up to the point of impairment.

16. Release and limitation of liability

By applying, each applicant releases Saltbox and its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents, and the judges of the Program, from any liability for any injury, loss, or damage arising from or in connection with the Program, the Chamblee launch party, or the acceptance, use, or misuse of the award.

17. Platform disclaimer

The Program is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with, Meta Platforms, Inc., Google LLC, TikTok, LinkedIn, or any other platform on which it may be promoted. Applicants release each such platform from all liability in connection with the Program.

18. Disputes and governing law

The Program and these Rules are governed by the laws of the State of Georgia, without regard to conflict of law principles. Each applicant consents to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in DeKalb County, Georgia.

19. Privacy

Information collected from applicants is subject to Saltbox’s Privacy Policy at saltbox.com/privacy-policy. Consent to receive marketing email is collected separately and optionally on the application form and is not a condition of applying or of being selected.

20. Recipient announcement and copy of these rules

The name of the recipient will be shared via email within five (5) business days of Wednesday, October 7, 2026.

For a copy of these Official Rules or the name of the recipient, write to marketing@saltbox.com.

These Official Rules were published on September 1, 2026 and apply as published. Saltbox retains the rules as published, the scoring sheets, the recusal log, the eligibility determinations, and the panel notes for a period of two (2) years.