Wegenfund Terms of Service

Our terms of service describe what Wegenfund does for you and the charities, businesses and individuals you support, and what we require of you as a user.

  • “Wegenfund” or “us” or “we” refer to the owner of the website, wegenfund.com
  • “Website” or “platform” refers to https://www.wegenfund.com and associated services;
  • “You” and “your” refers to each user or viewer of the Website, including donors, charities and fundraisers.
  • “ACSO” or “Authority” refers to The Authority for Civil Society Organisations;
  • “Charity”, “NGO” or “CSO” refers to a charitable organisation registered with ACSO, or an organisation of a similar status exempt from registration;
  • “Business” refers to any type of company, legally registered in Ethiopia, including, but not limited to, Sole Proprietors, Partnerships, PLCs and Share Companies;
  • “Cause” or “cause” refers to a fundraising campaign for charitable purposes.
  • “Project” or “project” refers to a crowdfunding campaign for businesses.
  • “Beneficiary” or “recipient” refers to a person, Charity or Business for whose benefit a Cause/Project is started;
These terms of service apply in Ethiopia where Wegenfund operates.

Terms of Service

These terms of service govern your use of the Website and its associated services. Please read these Terms carefully. Your use of the Website and/or and its associated services constitutes your consent to these Terms.

We may update these Terms from time to time. It is your responsibility to review these Terms whenever you access the Website. The latest version of these Terms will govern any future usage by you of the Website and its associated services. The date on which these Terms were last updated is stated at the end of this document.

About the Beneficiaries, Causes and Projects featured on the Website:

The Website and its associated services allow you to contribute to any Cause or Project listed on the Website. Every Beneficiary of a Cause/Project featured has an agreement with Wegenfund authorising Wegenfund to collect donations/contributions on its behalf. Causes/Projects are listed on this Website at Wegenfund's discretion; however, we are not responsible for the contents of them. A Charity, Business or Individual must ensure that it has the appropriate authorisation, permit or licence to operate legally in Ethiopia and to fundraise or crowdfund from the public as required by the Federal Republic of Ethiopia.

Contributions and Donations

Wegenfund will process your contribution/donation via the payment method chosen at the time of donating.

NOTE: all payments on Wegenfund are non-refundable. If we make an exception to this rule, subject to the payment method used supporting this, it will be at our sole discretion. If a case arises where we are unable to transfer raised funds to a Charity/Business (e.g. it ceases to operate for any reason) we will reallocate any outstanding funds to a similar Cause or Project of our choosing.

Use of your Contributions/Donations

Wegenfund does not represent or warrant that your contributions/donations will be used for any particular purpose and shall not be responsible for any dissatisfaction you may have regarding a Beneficiary's use of any contributin you may make through the Website or its associated services or websites powered by us or for any misuse or non-use of such contributions by a beneficiary of a Cause/Project. After contributions/donations are made, all further dealings are solely between you and the Beneficiary.

Wegenfund shall not be responsible for ensuring that funds are earmarked for a particular purpose. For example, we can not enforce that a Charity uses funds raised for a particual Cause only for the reasons specified in the Cause. If you want a donation/contribution to be used for a specific purpose, contact the Beneficiary and make your contribution directly to them.

Wegenfund (or the financial partners we work with) will verify the identity of a Wegenfund Beneficiary and undertake any other necessary checks before any funds raised are transferred to the Beneficiary. Usually, this is done at the time of registration, but we reserve the right to undertake checks at any time we deem necessary. Wegenfund shall have no liability to donors/supporters whatsoever for any use or misuse of donations made to a Wegenfund Cause/Project. The Cause/Project page may state that Beneficiaries will use contributions/donations only for specific purposes, but Wegenfund cannot guarantee that they will use them for such purpose. If you have any doubts as to how the money will be spent you should contact the Beneficiary which you donating to. It is your sole responsibility, as a user of the Website, to ensure that the Beneficiary of a Cause/Project on Wegenfund is one that you wish to support.

Wegenfund fees

Normally, an adminstrative and transaction fee of 2.75% will be charged per Cause donation or 5% per Project contribution. However, we may run promotions from time to time which means there will be a lower fee for the duration of the promotion.

Unauthorised contributions or donations

When you make a contribution or donation, the transaction is final and not disputable unless unauthorised use of your payment card or other payment method is proved. If you become aware of fraudulent use of your card, or if it is lost or stolen, you must notify your card provider in accordance with its reporting rules. Similarly, if you experience any issues of this nature when using another payment method, such as PayPal, you should contact the provider of that payment method for assistance.

Wegenfund will never email or phone you and ask you to provide any of your payment details.

Protecting your account

When you register with Wegenfund and choose a password to protect your secure account, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password to prevent others gaining access to your personal information. If you become aware of any unauthorised use of your account, we recommend that you change your password immediately and contact us using one of the methods set out on the Contact Us page.

Information

Wegenfund is not an accounting, taxation or financial advisor, and you should not rely on information given on the Website or its associated services to determine any consequences of making a Cause donation or Project contribution.

Privacy

Wegenfund's Privacy Policy forms part of these Terms. By agreeing to these Terms, you also give your consent to the way we handle your personal information under that Policy. Read our Privacy Policy.

User conduct

You must at all times use the Website and its associated services in a responsible and legal manner and ensure that the content you provide does not breach any intellectual property rights of a third party or breach any right or duty owed to a third party.

You must not upload offensive, obscene, racist, defamatory, misleading, deceptive or otherwise inappropriate content, including photographs, on to the Website or its associated services. Wegenfund does not actively edit the Website but reserves the right to remove or edit any content posted on the Website or its associated services at its sole discretion and without notice, regardless of whether or not it is, in the opinion of any third party, offensive, obscene, racist, defamatory, misleading, deceptive or otherwise inappropriate. If you notice any such content, please email us at support@wegenfund.com.

If you create a Cause or Project page on Wegenfund, you must ensure that any information you provide to the public is accurate and not misleading. It is your responsibility to ensure that the content you are uploading to the page (“Content”), including pictures, photographs and any videos, is your original work and/or you have the right and/or licence necessary to upload it and it is not copyright-protected. If it is copyright-protected, you must obtain the copyright owner's written consent to use it. Wegenfund reserves the right to remove any pictures, photographs, videos or copy from Wegenfund pages at its sole discretion and without notice if their copyright status is in any doubt. If you suspect a breach of copyright on the Website, please email us at support@wegenfund.com. Please note that by submitting and posting Content to the Website, you grant to Wegenfund a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive license to use, modify, reproduce, publish, broadcast, display and distribute the Content in any format, using any medium, for the purpose of promoting Wegenfund or a Cause/Project, or for any other purpose that we deem appropriate.

You must not misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any other person or organisation.

  • You must not use the Website to send junk email or “spam” to people who do not wish to receive email from you. If you create a Cause/Project on Wegenfund, donors maybe given the option to share their contact details with you for the purposes of thanking them for their donations or contributions. You must only use donor contact details for this purpose and you must not use this information for sending unsolicited direct marketing to these individuals or otherwise using this information in violation of any applicable laws, including any data protection regulations
  • You must not use the Website to conduct, display or forward surveys, pyramid schemes or chain letters.
  • You must not use the Website to conduct, display or forward raffles, lotteries or contests.
  • You must not interfere with, or disrupt, the service or services or networks connected to the service or introduce any computer virus (including any variant or similar malicious code or instructions) to the Wegenfund systems.
  • You must not attempt to modify, adapt, translate, sell, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of the site or any other website.
  • You must not attempt to bypass the network firewall.
  • You must not use any part of the site which you are not authorized to use or devise ways to circumvent security in order to access part of the site which you are not authorized to access (includes scanning networks with intent to breach and/or evaluate security, whether or not the intrusion results in access).
  • You must not use or attempt to use the site for any unlawful, criminal, or negligent purposes (includes password cracking, social engineering, denial-of-service attacks, harmful and malicious destruction of data, and intentional invasion of privacy).
  • You must not disclose any information relating to any donor except with the consent of the donor or as permitted by applicable local laws.
Wegenfund reserves the right to cancel your access and delete any Wegenfund page without notice in the event you fail to follow any of the above rules. Wegenfund may also suspend or delete a Wegenfund page if the relevant Cause or Project is no longer receiving donations via Wegenfund or is no longer active.

Building a Wegenfund page in aid of a Beneficiary in no way implies Wegenfund's or the Beneficiary's endorsement of your fundraising activity. Prior to commencing a fundraising activity, it is your responsibility to ensure that the Beneficiary has no objection to the nature of the proposed activity. Wegenfund reserves the right, at its absolute discretion and without notice, to cancel your page at the request of the Beneficiary if the Beneficiary, in its absolute discretion, deems your fundraising activity inappropriate or unnecessarily dangerous.

Links

The Website and its associated services contain links to other websites, including the websites of Beneficiaries. Inclusion of a link to another website does not imply endorsement of its content or opinions. Your relationship and any direct transactions with other people, Charities or Businesses are your own responsibility.

Partner Services

Wegenfund may from time to time select partners offering relevant information and services that we believe will enhance the Website. Whilst we will do our best to select reputable partners, we are not responsible for any of the information or services offered by them, and if you choose to use their services, you do so at your own risk.

Trademarks

The names Wegenfund, wegenfund.com, the Wegenfund logo and any other product and service names that we may present on the Website or its associated services from time to time may not be used in connection with any product or service that is not Wegenfund's, nor in any manner that is likely to cause confusion, or in any way that may disparage or discredit Wegenfund. Other trademarks, service marks or logos that appear on the Website or its associated services, in particular (but not exclusively) those of member Charities and Businesses, or other organisations, are the property of their respective owners and are likely to be registered trademarks and subject to restrictions as to their use. They must not be used without the express permission of both Wegenfund and the trademark owner.

Copyright

All content on the Website and its associated services is owned by Wegenfund, our member Charities and Businesses, and is protected by the applicable intellectual property and proprietary rights and laws. You may copy content for your own personal, non-commercial use provided you do not alter it or remove any copyright, trade mark or other proprietary notice, and that your usage complies with any requests you may receive from any person with rights in that content. No other use of the Website's and its associated services' content is permitted without the express prior permission of Wegenfund, and, where applicable, the copyright holder.

Prohibition on data extraction and distribution

By visiting or using the Website or any of its associated services, you agree not to (and not to use any tool, program, script, browser extension or other technique, including bots, robots, spiders and scrapers and any similar tools or methods, in order to): (i) copy (except as authorised by these Terms), mirror, frame, index, scrape, mine or otherwise gather or extract any of the content or data from the Website or its associated services; or (ii) sell or distribute any data which is gathered or extracted in breach of these Terms, or which is based on or derived from any such data. Wegenfund may take any measures it sees fit to block access to the Website and its associated services where it believes that these Terms have been or will be breached. You agree that you will not take any steps to try to circumvent these measures and that you will not take any steps to mask your IP address. You acknowledge and agree that where there is any actual or threatened breach of these Terms, damages may be an inadequate remedy and Wegenfund shall be entitled, without prejudice to any other rights and remedies it may have, to seek an injunction or any other equitable relief for such breach. Wegenfund may also request that you destroy any data you have gathered or extracted in breach of these Terms and you agree that you will comply with such request promptly and certify the same.

Inquiries and permission requests may be sent to support@wegenfund.com.

Changes to the service

Wegenfund reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue all or any part of the Website and its associated services at any time with or without notice. All new features, services or software applications shall be subject to these Terms.

Failure to comply with these Terms

In the event that you fail to comply with these Terms, Wegenfund reserves the right at its sole discretion to immediately and without notice suspend or permanently deny your access to all or part of the Website and associated services.

Termination

You may discontinue use of the Website and associated services at any time. These Terms will continue to apply to your past use.

Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability

You agree that your use of the Website and its associated services is on an "as is" and "as available" basis and that your use of the Website and its associated services is at your sole risk. Wegenfund does not warrant or guarantee continuous uninterrupted or secure access to our services and operation of the Website and associated services may be interfered with by numerous factors outside of our control. On that basis, except as expressly set out in these Terms and except for the rights, guarantees and remedies which cannot be excluded, Wegenfund does not provide other conditions, guarantees, warranties or terms in relation to the Website or its associated services, to the extent permissible by law. Wegenfund shall undertake general maintenance and upkeep of the Website from time to time. During these periods, the Website and its associated services may not be available for use. In exceptional circumstances, the Website and associated services may also become unavailable at other times.

If found liable, Wegenfund shall only be liable under these Terms for direct losses which are reasonably foreseeable and caused by Wegenfund’s uncured material breach of these Terms or Wegenfund’s negligence. Wegenfund's total liability to you arising under or in connection with these Terms, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, shall in no circumstances exceed the total sum of the donations you have made using the Website in the preceding 12-month period, ending on the date the circumstances giving rise to Wegenfund's liability arose.

In no event shall Wegenfund be liable for losses relating to any business of yours or lost or corrupt data, loss of profits, loss of contracts, loss of business opportunity, loss of sales, loss of revenue, loss of goodwill, loss of any software or data, loss of bargain, loss of opportunity, loss of use of computer equipment, loss of or waste of management or other staff time, even if Wegenfund has been advised of the possibility of such damages. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE TO THE ALLOCATION OF RISK SET FORTH HEREIN.

Nothing in these Terms excludes any statutory rights which may apply to your use of the Website and associated services which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified by contract.