Water.org Terms of Use Agreement (Last Updated May 18, 2010)
Welcome to Water.org, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (together with its officers, directors, agents, employees, partners and their respective affiliates, collectively, “Water.org”). This Terms of Use (“Agreement”) is a contract between you (“you”) and Water.org and governs all transactions between you and Water.org, as well as your use of Water.org websites (the “Website”) and all Water.org services. By using the Website, you agree to be bound by this Agreement, whether or not you become a donor, participate in Water.org programming (the “Program”) or otherwise use the Website (in each such capacity, a “User”). If you wish to become a donor, participate in the Program or otherwise become a User of the Website, you must read all of the terms and conditions in, and linked to, this Agreement (including the Privacy Policy). If you do not agree with all of these terms and conditions, please do not participate in the Program or use this Website.
This Agreement supersedes any previous Agreement to which you and Water.org may have been bound. This Agreement may be modified by Water.org in its sole discretion from time to time and such modifications shall automatically become part of this Agreement and shall be effective once posted by Water.org on the Website. Your participation in the Program and use of the Website will be subject to any such modifications. You should review the Website and this Agreement from time to time for any modifications.
This Agreement will be binding on, inure to the benefit of and be enforceable against the parties and their respective successors and assigns. Neither the course of conduct between parties nor trade practice shall act to modify any provision of the Agreement. All rights not expressly granted herein are hereby reserved. Headings are for reference purposes only and in no way define, limit, construe or describe the scope or extent of such section.
You may receive a written copy of this Agreement by emailing us at: info@Water.org, Subject: Water.org Terms of Use Agreement.
1. Participation in the Water.org Programs.
Water.org manages the Website, which among other things ascribes you and other donors as supporters of a particular village or slum block. The number of donors ascribed to a particular village is a function of the amount of the individual donations and the estimated cost of providing safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to that village or slum block (“Services”). However, earmarking and tracking every single donation would not only increase administrative costs, but could also significantly increase the time and cost to provide these Services to a village or slum. Consequently, Water.org or its local partners often choose to prefund a village or slum in anticipation of future funding.
By participating in the Program or otherwise using this Website, you hereby acknowledge and agree that:
(a) any charitable gift in cash or in-kind (the “Donation”) is explicitly provided as an unrestricted gift and Water.org makes no representation, warranty, covenant or guarantee that a User Donation will be used for any particular geographic region, project, community, village, or person, and
(b) without notice to User, some, part, or all of any Donation may be used for administrative, governance and program activities including, but not limited to: (i) new partner certification, (ii) partner development, (iii) community mobilization, education, training, and management, (iv) hygiene education and sanitation construction, (v) construction of water facilities, (vi) project monitoring and evaluation, and (vii) general program and informational outreach or any other activity consistent with the mission of the organization.
2. Restrictions on Use.
Except as otherwise indicated elsewhere any person is hereby authorized to view, copy, print or distribute a particular portion, graphics, audio and/or video materials, photograph, text, file or other documents related to this or any other Water.org Website (”Materials”), subject to the following conditions:
a) The Materials may only be stored, distributed or otherwise used for lawful, informational, non-commercial purposes relating to providing humanitarian relief and development programs. This means that the following, without limitation, are among the prohibited uses of the Materials: using Materials for advertising purposes, implying that Water.org endorses or uses certain products or services, or directly or indirectly publishing the Materials, rewriting them for broadcast or publication or redistributing the Materials in any medium.
b) Any copy of Materials or portion thereof must include the Water.org copyright notice above; except to the extent that another notice is posted on this Website in connection with certain Materials used, then such Materials shall bear that author attribution, trademark legend or copyright notice.
c) You shall not post or transmit through this website any information or documents that violate or infringe in any way upon the rights of others, that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, vulgar, obscene, profane or otherwise objectionable, that encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, that gives rise to civil liability or that otherwise might violate any law.
d) Water.org reserves the right to revoke this authorization at any time, and any use of this Website shall be discontinued immediately upon notice from the Water.org.
e) Water.org may, from time to time, change or discontinue any aspect or feature of this Website, including, but not limited to, Materials, content, hours of availability, and equipment needed for access or use.
f) You are responsible for obtaining and maintaining all telephone, computer hardware and other equipment needed for access to and use of this Website, and all charges related thereto.
g) Information obtained through the Website shall not be used to disparage Water.org or its activities.
3. Submissions
a) All remarks, suggestions, ideas, graphics, or other information communicated to Water.org through this site (collective, the “Submission”) will forever be the property of Water.org. Water.org will not be required to treat any Submission as confidential, will not be liable for incorporating any Submission into ideas for its business (including without limitation, product, service or advertising ideas) and will not incur any liability as a result of any similarities to a Submission that may appear in future Water.org operations. Water.org will be entitled to use the Submission for any commercial or other purpose whatsoever, without compensation to you or any other person sending the Submission. You acknowledge that you are responsible for whatever material you submit, and you, not Water.org, have full responsibility for the message, including its legality, reliability, appropriateness, originality, and copyright. By submitting material to any public area of this Website, you automatically grant or warrant that the owner of such material has expressly granted Water.org the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate and distribute such material (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed for the full term of any copyright that may exist in such material. You also permit any other user to access, view, store or reproduce the material for that other user’s use.
b) This Website contains copyrighted material, trademarks and other proprietary information, including, but not limited to, text, software, photos, video, graphics, music and sounds belonging to Water.org or to certain contributors to this Website. Water.org owns a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such content, as well as in the content original to Water.org. You acknowledge that you acquire no ownership rights by downloading copyrighted material. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, make any changes in or deletion of author attribution, trademark legend or copyright notice or in any way exploit any of the content, in whole or in part, relating to the Website, except as expressly stated herein.
c) You shall not upload, post or otherwise make available on the Website any material protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right without the express permission of the owner of the copyright, trademark or other proprietary right and the burden of determining that any material is not protected by copyright rests with you. You shall be solely responsible for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyrights, proprietary rights, or any other harm resulting from such a submission. In addition you agree that
d) User understands that Water.org identifies domestic and international organizations (each, a “Field Partner” and, collectively, “Field Partners”) that work in communities in need which will assist in collecting stories, news, photos and project information (collectively “Field Reports”) for Website and for Water.org. By using Website you and Water.org (a) expressly disclaim any responsibility for the collection, selection, accuracy, timeliness of Field Reports and any rights implied or otherwise from the collection of Field Reports, and (2) that you shall hold Water.org harmless from, any and all liabilities with respect to, or resulting from such Field Reports as used with Website.
4. Liability
a) You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Water.org, Water.org International, their affiliates, their respective directors, officers, employees, agents, third party content providers or licensors (collectively, ” Water.org Entities”) from and against all claims, losses and expenses of any nature, including, but not limited to, lost profits, direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and disbursements, arising out of the use of this Website by you. No Water.org Entities shall be liable for any claims, losses of any nature, including without limitation, claims relating to any defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct. You expressly agree that use of this Website is at your sole risk, and that the provisions of this section apply to all content on this Website.
b) The Materials are provided “AS IS” and without warranties of any kind either expressed or implied to the fullest extent permissible pursuant to applicable law. Water.org disclaims all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Water.org does not warrant or make any representations regarding the use of, or the result of the use of, the Material or this Website including, without limitation, its authenticity, omissions, completeness, accuracy, reliability, interruption, defect, deletion, sequence, delay in operation or transmission, line failure, the content of any information, service, or merchandise provided through this Website, the use or the inability to use the Material or this site, the correction of defects in Materials or on this Website, whether this site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses, communication line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of records or other harmful components.
c) The limitation of liability set forth herein also applies to third party content on this Website. In certain cases, Water.org is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and users. Accordingly, Water.org has no more editorial control over such content than does a public library, bookstore, or newsstand. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including information providers, or any other user of this Website, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of Water.org. Under no circumstances will Water.org have any responsibility for any loss or damage relating to this information or your reliance on it. It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through this Website. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
d) The foregoing limitation shall apply even if there is negligence on the part of Water.org Entities or an authorized Water.org representative has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or both.
e) Information on this Website, or the websites of any of the Water.org’s related, affiliated or subsidiary entities, is provided with the understanding that Water.org Entities are not rendering professional advice or recommendations. You should not rely on any information on these pages to replace consultations with qualified professionals to meet your individual needs.
f) This Website may be linked to other sites which are not maintained by Water.org. Water.org is not responsible for the content of those sites. The inclusion of any link to such sites does not imply endorsement by the Water.org of the sites. Water.org makes no representations whatsoever about any other website which you may access through this one.
5. Employment at Water.org.
Water.org is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse work force. To be considered for a position at Water.org, you must contact the Water.org Human Resources Department and submit an application to pursuant to Water.org’s employment policies.
6. Water.org Water Programs.
This Website is distributed internationally and may contain references to Water.org services and programs that are not in your country. These references do not imply that Water.org intends to announce or provide the programs or services in your country. All questions about Water.org activities in your country should be directed to Water.org’s International Programs Office. We also recommend that you sign-up for our Partner eNews to receive the most up-to-date information regarding Water.org’s programs or services.
7. Monitoring.
Water.org shall have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor the content of this Website, including chat rooms and forums, to determine compliance with this Agreement and any operating rules established by Water.org or to satisfy any law, regulation or authorized government request. Water.org shall have the right in its sole discretion to edit, refuse to post or remove any material submitted to or posted on this Website. Without limiting the foregoing, Water.org shall have the right to remove any material that Water.org, in its sole discretion, finds to be in violation of the provisions hereof or otherwise objectionable. Possible evidence of use of this site for illegal purposes will be provided to law enforcement authorities.
8. Termination.
This Agreement will remain in full force and effect while you use the Website, any Water.org services, or participate in the Program in any form, notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, this Agreement will remain in effect after your participation in the Program is terminated. Whether or not you are and remain eligible to participate in the Program, use the Website or any Water.org services, may be determined by Water.org in its sole and absolute discretion. You may terminate your participation and status as a User at any time and for any reason by destroying any Materials that are in your possession. Water.org may also terminate your participation in the Program and status as a User at any time and for any reason. Upon receipt of notice, you agree not to use the Website any further and destroy all Materials in your possession. In no event shall donations be refundable upon termination of this Agreement.
9. Trademark Information.
The marks Water.org, WaterCredit Initiative, Water for Live events, and certain other trademarks, trade names or logos relating thereto, are registered in the United States and, to the extent used outside the United States, in other countries. All rights reserved. Other trademarks or trade names displayed on this site or through links to other sites are the property of the respective trademark owners.
10. Miscellaneous
a) This Agreement and any operating rules for Water.org established by Water.org constitute the entire agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersede all previous written or oral agreements between the parties with respect to such subject matter.
b) This Agreement shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of North Carolina United States of America, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. If any part of these Terms and Conditions is unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that part will be deemed severable and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.
c) Water.org can revise these Terms and Conditions at any time. Such changes, modifications, additions or deletions shall be effective immediately upon notice thereof, which may be given by any means including, but not limited to, posting on this Website, or by electronic or conventional mail, or by any other means by which the Website user obtains notice thereof. Any use of this Website by you after such notice shall be deemed to constitute your acceptance of such changes, modifications or additions. No waiver by either party of any breach or default hereunder shall be deemed to be a waiver of any preceding or subsequent breach or default.
d) The section headings used herein are for convenience only and shall not be given any legal import.
e) The provisions contained herein for the benefit of Water.org, its subsidiaries, affiliates and partners and each shall have the right to assert and enforce such provisions directly or on its own behalf.
11. Federal and State Compliance
The information at www.water.org describes many of Water.org’s activities, though not all. Contributions are used to support Water.org’s programs worldwide, wherever Water.org determines the need is greatest. Donor contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law, and donors receive no goods or services in return for their donations unless their acknowledgement so specifies. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained online, by calling Water.org at 1-913-312-8600, or by writing directly to Water.org, PO Box 22680, Kansas City, MO 64113-0680. If you are a resident of the following states, you may obtain information by contacting: FLORIDA: A copy of the official registration and financial information may be obtained from the Division of Consumer Services by calling 1-800-435-7352, toll-free within the State. FL Registration #: CH9648. MARYLAND: Copies of documents and information submitted by Water.org are available for the cost of copies and postage from the Secretary of State, Statehouse, Annapolis, MD 21401, 1-800-825-4510. MICHIGAN: Water.org’s Michigan license number is MICS 27234. NEW JERSEY: Information filed with the Attorney General concerning this charitable solicitation may be obtained from the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey by calling 973-504-6215. NEW YORK: New York residents may obtain a copy of Water.org’s annual report by writing to the Office of the Attorney General, Department of Law, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271. NORTH CAROLINA: Financial information about Water.org and a copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 888-830-4989. PENNSYLVANIA: The official registration and financial information of Water.org may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement. VIRGINIA: A financial statement for the most recent fiscal year is available upon request from the Division of Consumer Services, PO Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209, 1-804-786-1343. WASHINGTON: You may obtain additional financial disclosure information by contacting the Secretary of State at 1-800-332-GIVE. WEST VIRGINIA: West Virginia residents may obtain a summary of the registration and financial documents from the Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305. REGISTRATION WITHIN A STATE AGENCY DOES NOT CONSTITUTE OR IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL OR RECOMMENDATION BY THAT STATE.
