Last Updated Oct 2024
Terms Of Service
1. About these terms
These terms form the agreement between you and Software Genesis Group Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 12273882), whose registered office is Suite 115, Devonshire House, Manor Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire WD6 1QQ, trading as GardenOfLove (“we”, “us”, “our”).
They apply when you create an account on the GardenOfLove website or apps (the “Platform”). By ticking the box at sign-up, you agree to these terms. Please also read our Privacy Policy, Cookies Policy and Community Guidelines, which explain how we use your data and what behaviour we expect.
If you are using GardenOfLove on behalf of a charity or other organisation, you confirm that you are authorised to accept these terms on its behalf. Sections marked “For organisations” apply only to organisation accounts.
Key definitions
2. Who can use GardenOfLove
• Individuals must be at least 18 years old and live in the United Kingdom. When you sign up, you must confirm that you are 18 or over by ticking a declaration.
• NPOs must be charities registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Before an NPO can use organisation features, we verify the identity of the person setting up the account and check the organisation’s details against the Charity Commission register.
• You must not use GardenOfLove if a court order or law prevents you from doing so.
3. Your account
Please give accurate information when you sign up and keep it up to date. Keep your password safe and do not share your account. You are responsible for activity on your account unless it results from someone accessing it without your permission and you were not at fault. Tell us straight away at uk.connect@gardenoflove.net if you think your account has been used without permission.
4. Using the Platform kindly and lawfully
GardenOfLove exists to grow kindness, so we ask everyone to follow our Community Guidelines. In particular, you must not:
• post anything illegal, or anything that harasses, threatens, abuses or discriminates against others;
• share false or misleading information, or impersonate anyone;
• post other people’s personal information without their permission;
• infringe anyone’s copyright, trade marks or other rights;
• use the Platform for fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing or to break sanctions;
• send spam, use bots or automated tools, or interfere with the Platform’s security or operation;
• try to access parts of the Platform you are not allowed to, or copy or reverse-engineer our software, except where the law allows;
• use GardenOfLove to promote a business or sell products, except as allowed for NPOs.
5. Gardens, posts and votes
You can create and join Gardens, post concerns, vote, comment and share Updates. Content you post can be seen by other users according to your settings and the Garden’s settings. Garden creators may set rules for their Garden, as long as these follow these terms and our Community Guidelines.
6. Your content
This licence ends when you delete the content or close your account, except where your content has been shared by others, where we must keep it by law, or for the short time it takes to remove it from our backups.
You confirm that you have the right to post your content, including permission from anyone who appears in it.
7. Donations and fundraising
GardenOfLove provides the Platform that connects donors with Campaigns. We are not a charity, and we do not hold donations: they are processed by our payment provider, Stripe, and paid to the Campaign’s organiser.
7.2 What we check
• NPOs: we verify the identity of the person setting up the account, check the NPO against the Charity Commission register and confirm its Stripe account status before it can run Campaigns.
• Individual fundraisers: we verify identity and bank account details through Stripe.
We do not check every statement made in a Campaign, and we cannot guarantee how a fundraiser will use donations. Organisers are responsible for using donations as described. If you think a Campaign is misleading or fraudulent, please report it using the Report button.
7.3 Fees and tips
GardenOfLove charges no platform fee on donations, and it is free to create an account or a Campaign. Stripe’s payment processing charges are deducted from each donation, as shown before you donate.
When you donate, you may choose to add an optional Tip to support GardenOfLove. Tips are never required and are never pre-selected: the Tip amount starts at zero, and any Tip you choose is shown clearly before you pay. Tips are not donations to the Campaign and are not refundable once paid, except as set out in 7.4.
7.4 Refunds
Donations are generally non-refundable once made. We will help arrange a refund where:
• a payment was taken in error or more than once;
• a Campaign is found to be fraudulent; or
• the organiser agrees to refund you.
If you dispute a payment with your card provider, Stripe’s dispute process will apply. This does not affect your legal rights.
7.5 Tax and Gift Aid
Donors are responsible for their own tax affairs. If you are a UK taxpayer, the charity you donate to may be able to claim Gift Aid on your donation. Gift Aid is claimed by the charity, not by GardenOfLove, and the charity is responsible for its Gift Aid claims, declarations and records. Organisers are responsible for any tax, reporting and regulatory obligations relating to the donations they receive.
7.6 For organisations: Campaign rules
NPOs and fundraisers must:
• only run Campaigns that are lawful and within their charitable purposes;
• describe Campaigns accurately and keep donors informed through Updates;
• use donations only for the stated purpose, and contact donors if that becomes impossible;
• not offer goods or services in exchange for donations;
• comply with fundraising law and the Code of Fundraising Practice, where it applies;
• handle donor data lawfully, as a separate controller, as explained in our Privacy Policy;
• cooperate with any investigation by us or by the authorities.
8. Volunteering
9. Safety, reporting and moderation
If we find that content or behaviour breaks these terms or our Community Guidelines, we may remove content, limit features, or suspend or close an account. We will usually tell you what we have done and why, unless the law or safety concerns prevent it.
Appeals and complaints: if you disagree with a moderation decision, or want to complain about how we have handled a report, email uk.connect@gardenoflove.net with “Appeal” in the subject line. A person will review it and reply within 14 days.
10. Copyright and other rights
If you believe content on GardenOfLove infringes your copyright or other rights, email uk.connect@gardenoflove.net with: your contact details; the work or right concerned; where the content appears on the Platform; and a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorised. We will review it and remove the content where appropriate.
The GardenOfLove name, logo and design are owned by Software Genesis Group Ltd. Please do not use them without our permission.
11. Changes to the Platform
We are always improving GardenOfLove, so features may change. If we make a change that significantly affects your use of the Platform, we will tell you in advance where we reasonably can.
12. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms, for example to reflect new features or changes in the law. If the changes are significant, we will tell you at least 30 days before they take effect. If you do not agree, you can close your account before then. Changes required urgently by law or for safety may take effect sooner.
13. Ending your account
You can close your account at any time in your settings or by emailing us.
We may suspend or close your account if you seriously or repeatedly break these terms, if we must do so by law, or to protect other users. Where reasonable, we will give you notice and a chance to respond first. You can appeal as described in section 9.
When an account closes, we will deal with your data as set out in our Privacy Policy.
14. Our responsibility to you
We will provide the Platform with reasonable care and skill. Like any online service, it may sometimes be unavailable or contain errors, and we will work to fix problems promptly.
For individuals: we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking these terms or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for loss that was not foreseeable, for business losses, or for the actions of other users, fundraisers or organisations. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law. Your legal rights as a consumer are not affected.
For organisations: to the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profits, revenue or goodwill, and our total liability to an organisation in any 12-month period is limited to £1,000, or the total Tips received in connection with that organisation’s Campaigns in that period, whichever is greater.
15. For organisations: indemnity
Organisations agree to cover reasonable losses and costs we incur as a result of the organisation’s breach of these terms, its Campaigns, or its unlawful use of donor or volunteer data.
16. Disputes and governing law
If you have a problem, please contact us first at uk.connect@gardenoflove.net and we will try to resolve it quickly.
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you are an individual, you can bring legal proceedings in the courts of England and Wales, or, if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, in the courts of your home nation. Organisations agree that the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.
17. General
• If any part of these terms is found to be invalid, the rest will still apply.
• If we delay enforcing these terms, we can still enforce them later.
• We may transfer this agreement to another organisation that takes over GardenOfLove, and we will tell you if this happens. Your rights under these terms will not be reduced.
• You may not transfer your account or this agreement to anyone else.
• No one other than you and us has any rights under these terms.
18. Contact us
Software Genesis Group Ltd, trading as GardenOfLove
Suite 115, Devonshire House, Manor Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire WD6 1QQ
Email: uk.connect@gardenoflove.net
Company number: 12273882