Terms of Use

1. What Onward Is, and Isn't

Onward is an informational directory and networking resource. It is not a referral service, an endorsement or review platform, a broker, an employment service, or a source of legal, financial, accounting, tax, insurance, real estate or other professional advice.

Onward does not collect or process donations or payments. Gifts, sponsorships and purchases happen directly between you and the nonprofit or business, off Onward. Onward is not a charity, and nothing on Onward is tax advice: whether a gift is tax-deductible is between you, the nonprofit and your tax advisor.

2. Businesses, Professionals and Other Members Are Independent

Each business, professional, nonprofit and person on Onward is an independent third party and is solely responsible for its own profile, qualifications, licenses, credentials, products, services, events and other information. Unless we say otherwise in writing, Onward does not verify those things.

Being listed on Onward, or shown on a nonprofit's page, is not an endorsement, recommendation, certification, sponsorship, approval or guarantee by Onward or by any nonprofit. You are solely responsible for evaluating and choosing anyone you work with, hire or give to.

Onward does not create a partnership, joint venture, agency, referral, fundraising, charitable sales promotion or commercial co-venture relationship between Onward and anyone. A business that runs a give-back promotion or event for a nonprofit is responsible for complying with any laws that apply to it, including charitable solicitation and commercial co-venturer laws.

3. Your Account

• You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority where you live) to create an account. When you join, you confirm this by ticking the box at sign-up, and we keep a record of when you agreed.
• Give accurate information and keep it up to date. Keep your password private; you're responsible for what happens under your account.
• Acting for an organization. You can create or manage pages for a nonprofit, business, company or other organization, and switch between them. When you do, you confirm you're authorized to act for that organization and to accept these Terms on its behalf, and the organization is bound by them too. Onward may review new organization pages, check them against public records such as the IRS's list of tax-exempt organizations, and decline or remove them.
• Owners and admins. A page's owner controls the page and who else can manage it. Owners and admins are responsible for what they and their team post and do on that page.
• Claiming a page. If someone created or claimed a page for your organization without authority, email us. We may transfer, merge or remove pages to resolve who rightfully controls them, using our reasonable judgment.
• You can delete your account at any time by emailing us.

4. Gifts, Hours and Other Records

Volunteer hours are self-reported by the people who log them. Gifts you log show as verified only after the nonprofit confirms them, or after Onward reviews a receipt. Event results, sponsorships and give-back totals are reported by the people involved. Please log only what really happened. Nonprofits can dispute or decline entries, and we may remove entries that look inaccurate.

Onward shows these records to celebrate giving. They are not official receipts or acknowledgments for tax purposes.

5. Events, RSVPs and Volunteering

Events and volunteer shifts are organized by the nonprofit or business that hosts them, not by Onward. The host is responsible for the event, its safety, any waivers it needs, and how it uses the guest list. Anyone can RSVP or sign up with a name and email, and the host receives what you share. If the host shows who's going, you can choose to keep your name off the public list.

6. Your Content

You keep ownership of what you post: profile details, photos, logos, posts, comments and messages ("your content"). You give Onward a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to host, display, copy and share your content on Onward, in Onward emails, on Onward pages embedded on nonprofits' websites, and to promote Onward, for as long as it's on Onward and for a reasonable time after you remove it. You confirm you have the rights to everything you post.

If a nonprofit or business asks us to stop using its name or logo, we'll remove it.

7. Rules for Using Onward

Our Community Guidelines explain, in plain language, how we expect everyone on Onward to act, and are part of these Terms. In particular, don't:

• post anything false, misleading, unlawful, hateful, harassing, sexually explicit or that infringes someone else's rights;
• attack people because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or serious illness (slurs, dehumanizing language, threats, harassment, or calls for violence or exclusion), or create, support or praise a page for a hate group or violent organization, meaning one whose core purpose is attacking people for those characteristics. Holding or advocating for beliefs, religious teachings or positions on public issues, including ones others disagree with, is not by itself a violation, and organizations may set their own faith- or membership-based rules;
• pretend to be someone else, or claim a page or affiliation you don't have;
• log gifts, hours or results that didn't happen;
• send spam, or use Onward's invitations or messages for unrelated marketing;
• collect other members' information to use outside Onward without their permission;
• scrape, overload, probe or break Onward's security, or get around limits we set.

Onward and the nonprofits on it may approve, decline, hide or remove any profile, listing, post or record, at any time, including when someone's conduct or association with Onward could harm Onward or a nonprofit.

Onward is a privately owned website. Having an account, a page or a listing on Onward is a privilege we offer, not a right. We decide, in our sole discretion, who may join, what appears on Onward and who may stay, and we may refuse, remove or suspend any person, organization, page or content, with or without notice, for any reason the law allows, including conduct off Onward that we reasonably believe conflicts with these Terms or our Community Guidelines.

8. Emails

We email you about your account and the things you do on Onward, such as gifts to confirm, requests, approvals, messages and tags. You can choose which of these you get in Email settings or from the link in any email. Sign-in links and confirmations of something you just did can't be turned off.

9. Onward's Property and Feedback

Onward owns the Onward site, software, design, name and logo. Except for the right to use Onward under these Terms, you get no rights in them. If you send us suggestions or feedback, we may use them without any obligation to you.

Onward is in beta: we're building it with our first members, so features may change, move or be removed at any time, and things may occasionally not work as expected.

10. Ending Your Use

You can stop using Onward at any time. We may suspend or end your access, or remove your pages, at any time and in our sole discretion, including if you break these Terms or the Community Guidelines or if we need to protect Onward or its members. Sections 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14 continue to apply after that.

11. No Warranties

Onward is provided "as is" and "as available." To the fullest extent the law allows, Onward disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement and the accuracy of information on Onward.

12. Limits on Liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Onward's total liability to you for anything arising out of or relating to Onward or these Terms will not exceed one hundred dollars ($100). Onward will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary or punitive damages, or for the acts, content, events, products or services of any member, business, professional or nonprofit.

You agree to cover Onward's reasonable losses and costs from claims by others that arise from your content or your breach of these Terms.

13. Disputes and Governing Law

If you have a concern or claim about Onward, please email us at hello@giveonward.org first and give us 30 days to try to resolve it informally. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Minnesota, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute that isn't resolved informally will be handled only in the state or federal courts located in Hennepin County, Minnesota, and you and Onward agree to those courts' jurisdiction.

14. Changes and the Whole Agreement

Changes. We may update these Terms as Onward grows. For significant changes, we'll let members know by email or on Onward at least 15 days before they take effect, and may ask you to agree again. Using Onward after the change takes effect means you accept the new Terms.

The whole agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy and any written agreement you or your organization signs with Onward (such as a platform license or sponsorship agreement) are the full agreement between us. If a signed agreement conflicts with these Terms, the signed agreement controls for that organization. If part of these Terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies, and not enforcing a term right away doesn't waive it. You can't transfer your rights under these Terms without our consent; we may transfer ours as part of a merger, sale or reorganization.