Terms of Service - 2017

Please read these Terms carefully before using the Website. By using the Website (whether as a Participant or a Candidate, which are collectively referred to in these Terms as “users”), you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms.  If you do not agree to these Terms, do not access the Website.

Overview.  The Website is a crowd-voting site where individuals (“Participants”) vote among persons and entities (collectively, “Candidates”) proposing solutions to global commons problems in order to select recipients to receive the Participants’ combined money and time.  Voting takes place in a series of time-bounded voting periods.  Together, a series of multiple voting periods comprises a “Round,” and each Round results in one Candidate chosen to receive the contributions of the Participants in that Round based on the number of votes garnered in the Round’s voting periods.  

How it Works.  Any person aged 18 or older, and anyone aged 16 or 17 with parental consent, can be a Participant.  To be eligible to participate in a Round, a Participant creates an account on the Website and submits his or her payment information and identifies a preferred contribution amount, subject to a $3.00 minimum.  The Participant is then eligible to vote in each voting period of that Round.  At the conclusion of a Round, the Candidate garnering the most votes in the Round’s voting periods (the “Awardee Candidate”) receives, in the form of an unrestricted gift, the funds contributed by all Participants in that Round, less service fees as described below and less 10% divided evenly between seven runners up. In the event of a tie in voting, the winner will be the Candidate with the highest number of endorsements (i.e., expressions of support enumerated on each Candidate's web page) from Participants. In the event of a tie in number of endorsements, the winner will be drawn randomly.

Platform.  The Website is a technology platform through which Candidates seek funds and support from Participants.  The owner of the Website, Shared Nation LLC (“Shared Nation”), is not an affiliate, agent or representative of, or consultant to, any Candidate, does not solicit charitable donations on behalf of any Candidate, and does not advise on or create content on behalf of any Candidate.  Shared Nation does not endorse any particular Candidate or project submitted for consideration.  Shared Nation cannot and does not verify information submitted by Candidates regarding their operations or the projects and solutions submitted for consideration, and Shared Nation makes no representations regarding, and disclaims all liability with respect to, any of the foregoing.  Shared Nation does not represent or warrant that an Awardee Candidate will use any dollars received in the manner described in its submission to the Website, or that a given project or solution will achieve any particular result.  Candidates are not required to be tax-exempt organizations in order to be considered in a Round, and Participants’ contributions are not tax-deductible.

Payments; Refunds.   Although a Participant submits payment information at the commencement of a Round, the Participant’s payment method is not charged until the conclusion of the Round, at which time the Website’s payment processor will debit the Participant’s payment method for the Participant’s designated contribution amount and transmit contributions to the account designated by the Awardee Candidate.  

At any time prior to the closing of a Round a Participant may request and receive cancellation of the Participant’s commitment by emailing team@sharednation.org.  Upon the closing of a Round, a Participant’s commitment is no longer subject to cancellation and the Participant’s payment method will be charged.  

Voting in each voting period of a Round is encouraged but not required, and a Participant’s payment method will be charged upon the closing of a Round whether or not the Participant actually voted in any voting period of that Round.  If an Awardee Candidate declines to accept the funds contributed by Participants in a Round, Shared Nation reserves the right to award the funds to a runner-up. If runners up decline to accept funds Shared Nation reserves the right to evenly redistribute funds to others runners up

Service Fees.  Candidates are not charged a fee to join a Round.  The Awardee Candidate in a Round receives the contributions of all Participants in the Round, less a portion of each Participant’s contribution that covers (i) Shared Nation’s service fee and (ii) the Website’s payment processor’s service fee. The current amount of the Shared Nation service fee will be 2%; the processor service fee will be 4.9% (cumulative). Service fees may change from time to time, effective upon the posting of an updated fee schedule on the Website.  By using the Website, Participants and Candidates acknowledge and agree to the then-current service fees and to any and all applicable terms and conditions set forth by our payment processor(s), including Stripe’s, available at https://stripe.com/us/legal, and Celery’s, available at https://www.trycelery.com/terms.

Additional Candidate Terms.  The terms in this “Additional Candidate Terms” section apply to Candidates submitting projects and solutions for consideration on the Website.  A Candidate’s use of the Website is subject to all of the provisions of these Terms and Conditions of Use.  By using the Website, a Candidate represents and warrants that (i) all information posted on the Website by the Candidate (including descriptions of the Candidate, its operations, and its project or solution) will be complete, accurate, and not misleading; (ii) any contributions received as a result of the Candidate’s use of the Website will be used solely as described by the Candidate on the Website; and (iii) the Candidate complies with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations applicable to it, its business, and its project or solution, including those relating to charitable solicitation.  A Candidate’s use of the Website involves that Candidate’s seeking funds and support directly from Participants.  Each Candidate acknowledges and agrees that Shared Nation does not solicit charitable donations on behalf of any Candidate, does not advise on or create content on behalf of any Candidate, and is not a professional fundraising consultant, fundraising counsel, commercial fundraiser, or professional solicitor, and each Candidate agrees it will make no representations to any person to the contrary.  Many states impose charitable fund solicitation laws applicable to direct and indirect charitable solicitation activities in those states, and each Candidate is solely responsible for compliance with any such laws applicable to its operations, including its use of the Website.   A user may not be both a Candidate and a Participant in the same Round.

The Awardee Candidate in a Round will be based the number of votes garnered in the Round’s voting periods.  Candidates acknowledge that (i) participation in a Round does not guarantee that a Candidate will be the Awardee Candidate in that Round, and (ii) the amount of contributions received by the Awardee Candidate in a Round is dependent upon the number of Participants choosing to participate in the Round and the amount of contributions they make, and an Awardee Candidate is not entitled to any particular amount or minimum amount of contributions.  Awardee Candidates receive Participant contributions in the form of unrestricted gifts, and a Candidate is solely responsible for all tax compliance associated with the receipt of contributions.   Shared Nation reserves the right to award the funds to a runner-up Candidate in the event that an Awardee Candidate declines to accept the funds contributed by Participants in a Round, or if for any other reason Shared Nation determines, in its sole discretion, that such action is warranted.  

Privacy.  Use of the Website is governed by Shared Nation’s Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference into these Terms.

Intellectual Property Rights.  The Website and its content, features and functionality are owned by Shared Nation, Candidates, and/or their respective licensors, and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws.  Any unauthorized use of the Website or any content thereon (including the logo of Shared Nation or any Candidate) (collectively, “Content”) may violate copyright laws, trademark laws or other laws, rules and regulations.  All rights to the Website and Content not expressly granted herein are reserved by and to the respective owners of such Content.  Users agree not to modify, copy, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based on the Website or any Content, in whole or in part.  Users retain ownership of their respective User Communications (as defined below), but grant to Shared Nation, its affiliates and designees, an unlimited, perpetual, transferable, fully paid up, royalty-free, irrevocable, worldwide license to use their User Communications in all media for Shared Nation’s business purposes, without the need for any acknowledgment, compensation or attribution.  Moreover, Shared Nation and its affiliates and designees are free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in any User Communication for any purpose whatsoever, including developing, marketing, and providing products and services.  

User Communications.  The Website enables users to post comments and (in the case of Candidates) project descriptions on the Website (collectively, “User Communications”).  A user alone is responsible for that user’s User Communications.  Shared Nation does not endorse or compensate for User Communications submitted by any Website user.  Consistent with Shared Nation’s Privacy Policy, User Communications will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary.  Accordingly, no user should post, upload, submit or share any User Communications the user wishes to be kept confidential or for which the user expects compensation, acknowledgment, or attribution.  Although Shared Nation has no obligation to do so, it may monitor messages and content posted by users and reserves the right to delete content that violates these Terms.  A user that believes a User Communication or other content violates these Terms should contact team@sharednation.org immediately so that Shared Nation can be made aware and consider necessary actions regarding content removal.

Prohibited Uses.  A user may use the Website only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms and the terms and conditions of the Website’s payment processor(s).  By using the Website, a user agrees not to use, encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to use the Website for any illegal, harmful or offensive use, or to transmit, store, display, distribute or otherwise make available content that is illegal, harmful, or offensive.  Shared Nation may terminate or restrict a user’s use of the Website (including removal of User Communications), in whole or in part, if it determines the user is violating these Terms or applicable law, or if it deems the user’s conduct to be harmful to Shared Nation or others.  Prohibited uses include the following: use the Website in any way that violates any applicable laws or regulations; for the purpose of exploiting, harming or attempting to exploit or harm minors in any way; to transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional material; to impersonate or attempt to impersonate Shared Nation, its employees or any other person or entity or engaging in other deceptive practices; to engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of the Website; use any robot, spider or other automatic device, process or means to access the Website for any purpose; introduce any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic bombs or other malicious material; use the Website or any Content to develop a database or other information resource in any media (print, electronic, or otherwise, now existing or developed in the future) for sale to, distribution to, display to, or use by others; create aggregations, compilations or derivative works based on the Website or Content; or otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website.  

Indemnity.  Each Participant and Candidate agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Shared Nation, its affiliates, licensors and service providers, and its and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, suppliers, successors and assigns, from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses or fees (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to such user’s use of the Website or violation of these Terms, including, but not limited to, such user’s use of any Content or information obtained from the Website.

Disclaimer of Warranty.  The Website’s services are provided on an “as-is” and “as-available” basis without any warranties, express or implied, including without limitation implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement or course of performance.  Each user uses the Website at the user’s own risk.

Governing Law.  All matters relating to the Website and these Terms and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York.  By accessing or using the Website, a user consents and submits to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in New York.  A printed version of these Terms will be admissible in judicial and administrative proceedings based upon or relating to these Terms to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.

Enforceability; Non-Waiver

If any provision of these Terms conflicts with applicable law or if any provision is held invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, then such provision will be deemed to be restated to reflect as nearly as possible our original intentions, and the remainder of this Privacy Policy will remain in full force and effect.  Any failure by Shared Nation to insist upon or enforce strict performance of any provision of these Terms, or to exercise any right under these Terms, will not be construed as a waiver or relinquishment of its right to assert or rely upon any such provision or right in that or any other instance; rather, the same will remain in full force and effect.

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