Terms and conditions

1. Thanks for using BackaBuddy

Welcome to BackaBuddy and thank you for using this website (the Site). We are BackaBuddy NPC (registration number 2015/313483/08, and together with our parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, representatives, consultants, employees, officers, and directors — collectively, BackaBuddy, we, or us). By using the Site and our services (together with the Site, the Services), you agree to these contractual rules (the Terms). Please also go and see our Privacy and Cookies Policies (which you’re also agreeing to by using the Services).

Sometimes we might change these Terms. We’ll do our best to notify you personally of any changes (if we have your details), but in any event, we will also inform our community of these changes by posting a notice on the Site.

BackaBuddy is only for your personal, non-commercial use. BackaBuddy is for online fundraisers (referred to here as campaigns) that collect monetary donations only. Requests for donations in kind or the offer of rewards for donations are not permitted on the site.

2. Registration of a campaign for a charity, a campaign for an individual need, or registration of a charity

If you’d like to create a campaign to raise funds for a charity, you can do so here. If you’d like to register your charitable organisation, please do so here. To create a campaign to raise funds for a person - not for a registered charity - please complete and submit this form. You can also browse BackaBuddy without registering for an account. If you do plan to register, however, the information you give us must be complete, and up-to-date. We reserve the right to cancel your campaign or charity registration if you don’t comply with any of these Terms.

Please remember that if you do choose to register for any of the above, you are responsible for all the activity on your account, and for keeping your password confidential. If you become aware that your account has been used without your permission, you must report it to us here.

To register as a charity, you must be at least 18 years old. A campaign for a charity or for an individual can be created by a minor, but funds will only be transferred to a bank account of is held by an individual that is over the age of 18.

BackaBuddy does not guarantee that a Campaign or a Charity will obtain a certain amount of Donations or any Donations at all. We do not personally endorse any Campaign, Campaign Organiser or Charity or initiate campaigns ourselves. We expressly disclaim any liability or responsibility for the success of any Campaign, or the outcome of any fundraising purpose.

If you choose to contribute to a campaign or cause, you as the donor must make the final determination as to the value and appropriateness of contributing to any Campaign, Campaign Organiser or Charity.

3. Please don’t do the following

By using this site, you agree that you will not engage in posting:

• Content that is harmful to others or may cause reputational harm (this includes posting discriminatory comments, comments which are inappropriate or profane, including but not limited to the distribution of child pornography, comments which constitute hate speech or content that is designed to abuse, stalk, harass or physically threaten other people);
• Content that violates any intellectual property laws, including content that is protected by copyright or a patent;
• Content that is misleading, false, or intentionally inaccurate.
• Information that is fraudulent in nature;
• Banking details of the beneficiary or campaign creator on a campaign page, charity profile page, or anywhere on the BackaBuddy site.
• Content that is illegal, and violates any domestic or international law or content which breaches a legal duty that you owe to other people;
• Content which is designed as spam or any other unsolicited mass mailing activity that is distributed without the consent of the recipients; and
• Content which in any way threatens the security of the BackaBuddy network or one of its users’ computers, including the distribution of malware, viruses, Trojan horses, or any other harmful piece of software.
• Campaign content that contains the offer of any contest, competition giveaway, sweepstakes, offering monetary or other rewards for donations,
• Annuities, investments, equity or lottery contracts, off-shore banking or similar transactions, money service businesses (including currency exchanges, check cashing or the like), pyramid schemes, “get rich quick schemes” (i.e., Investment opportunities or other services that promise high rewards), network marketing and referral marketing programs, debt collection or crypto-currencies;
• Credit repair or debt settlement services.
• Details of a pending or current legal case.

Please refrain from participating in the following activities:

• Disseminating other people’s private information – when you use the Services — whether as a contributor or charity — you will receive certain information regarding other users of the site, such as their names and their email addresses. Please keep this information private, and use it solely for the purposes of participating in the BackaBuddy projects. Do not share or distribute any user information without their permission;
• Interfering with the working of BackaBuddy – you may not engage in any activity that interferes with the proper working of the Site or the Services;
• Bypassing any security – you may not bypass any of the security measures that BackaBuddy has put into place to restrict access to certain sections of the site or circumvent any of the security measures that have been put into place by BackaBuddy;
• Attempting to obtain personal information of BackaBuddy or its users – you may not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any data, password, or any other restricted information which belongs to BackaBuddy, its affiliates, or any user of its site; and
• Putting strain on BackaBuddy’s infrastructure – you may not engage in any activity that places a disproportionately large load on the infrastructure of BackaBuddy or its affiliates.

4. Contract between Charity and Contributor

BackaBuddy provides a funding platform for charities and charitable projects. When someone publishes a charitable project on BackaBuddy, they invite other people to form a legal contract with them. Anyone who contributes to a charity (a donor) is accepting the charity’s offer and forming that contract.

BackaBuddy is not a part of this contract — the contract is a direct legal agreement between charities and their contributors. Here are the terms that govern that agreement:

• When a project is successfully funded, the charity must use the funds for the purpose advertised. Once a charity has done this, it has satisfied its obligation to its contributors.
• Throughout the process, charities owe their contributors a high standard of effort, honesty, transparency and a commitment to achieving the advertised goals of that charity.
• Contributors must understand that there could be delays in a charity achieving what it has set out to do.
• A donation is an irrevocable and unconditional act and, once a donation has been made using the Services, the contributor is not entitled to a refund unless the relevant charity agrees to the refund and special arrangements are made directly with the charity. Once a charity has refunded the contributor it has no further obligation to that contributor, and no further agreement exists between the two parties.           
• BackaBuddy is not responsible for the fulfilment of the promises made by charities.
• If charities are unable to satisfy the terms of their agreement, they may be subject to legal action by contributors.
• When donating to a campaign for a charity, the charity will receive certain information such as donor names and email addresses. It is the charity’s responsibility to keep this information private and use it solely for the purposes of participating in the BackaBuddy projects. Do not share or distribute any user information without their permission.
• When creating a campaign for a charity, the charity will receive certain information such as champion names and email addresses. It is the charity’s responsibility to keep this information private and use it solely for the purposes of participating in the BackaBuddy projects. Do not share or distribute any user information without their permission.

5. Contract between beneficiaries of individual campaigns and Contributor

Individual campaigns are fundraisers for a person or group that is/are not affiliated with a registered charity.

While every effort will be taken to ‘vet’ campaigns for individuals, BackaBuddy ultimately cannot warrant that your donations will be used for any particular purpose and shall not be responsible for any dissatisfaction you may have regarding the recipient individual's use of any donation you may make through the website or for any misuse or non-use of such donations by the recipient individual cause.

After donations are made, all further dealings are solely between the donor and such recipient.

BackaBuddy shall have no liability to donors whatsoever for any use or misuse of donations made to a BackaBuddy Crowdfunding page. The BackaBuddy Crowdfunding page may state that they will use donations only for specific purposes, but BackaBuddy cannot guarantee that they will use it for such a purpose.

It is your sole responsibility, as a user of the site, to ensure that the cause stated to be supported on a relevant BackaBuddy page is one that you wish to support.

6. FICA Legislation Requirements

All transactions using PayPal (greater than or equal to) ≥R20 000 will need to be verified in accordance with FICA regulations and the South African Law.

Our finance team will be in touch to request the following:

• Copy of Identity document or passport.
• Proof of residential address in your country of permanent residence.
• Confirmation that it was indeed you, who made this donation.
• Confirmation that we may proceed in remitting your donation to the supported campaign

7. Vetting Individual Campaigns

Individual campaigns are not automatically created or accommodated on the platform. Each campaign will be reviewed based on the content provided by this submission form.

Campaign Organizers must register using their true identities, including their name and any image or video purporting to depict the Campaign Organizer or the beneficiary of such campaign.

BackaBuddy takes the integrity of individual campaigns seriously and will endeavour to ensure there is sufficient evidence for the legitimacy of campaign content. To this end, there are criteria in place that need to be met before a campaign is activated on the platform, and funds are paid out.

We reserve the right to decline campaigns based on the following criteria:

• Insufficient supporting information and/or campaign copy. This includes but is not limited to a lack of appropriate contactable references or supporting documentation that can be used to verify the campaign ‘cause’ at any stage of the process.
• Monetary targets that are not proportionate to the cause as stated in the campaign copy
• Campaigns that are raising funds for investment, speculation, or gambling.
• Campaigns that offer rewards or entry into a competition/raffle
• Campaigns that display inappropriate images or images subject to copyright
• Campaigns that aim to fund or form political parties, are political party affiliated or promote a political agenda.

BackaBuddy offers campaign creators the option of BackaBuddy administering the campaign.  “Administered Campaigns” or “BackaBuddy Assisted” means paying part or all of the funds eligible for payout to a vendor/organisation/company/professional directly upon presentation of invoices or similar transaction proof, instead of paying funds directly to the bank account of the individual campaign creator or beneficiary. Although it is not essential, having funds paid directly to a vendor or institution is almost always preferred by donors. BackaBuddy reserves the right to convert any individual campaign to an Administered Campaign.

If during the course of your Administered Campaign you would prefer that the funds be paid out directly to yourself or the beneficiary, BackaBuddy is required to send an email to your donors to confirm if they are happy to have the funds redirected or if they would prefer a refund.  (Please refer to our section on refunds).

8. What we do and don’t do

• Responsibility for using donation money as advertised rests entirely with the charity or campaign creator.
• We charge our fees before putting funds into a charity’s account. We (and our payment partners) will subtract fees and banking charges before transmitting the proceeds of a campaign.
• We don’t verify the identity of the charities on the Site or whether charities are using monies received for a legitimate purpose – this is your responsibility as a contributor!
• We don’t independently verify whether the charities hosted on the Site have section 18A status in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1962. This is something that contributors are responsible for checking with a charity before donating. As such, BackaBuddy does not guarantee that donations to charities will be tax-deductible.
• If you are a charity or campaign creator, don’t assume that you’ll be able to immediately collect your funding and don’t take any actions in reliance on collecting any donations until the money is put into your account.
• We don’t become involved in disputes between users, or between users and any third party relating to the use of the Services. BackaBuddy will, however, investigate charity profiles or campaigns should we receive 2 or more complaints in writing about the charity or campaign.
•  BackaBuddy doesn’t endorse any content that users submit to the Site.
• The Site may contain links to other websites (which we do not necessarily endorse). When you access these websites, you do so at your own risk.

9. Our Fees/Administrative Costs

All donations made through BackaBuddy are managed by The BackaBuddy Foundation (Reg No. 2015/313483/08)

It is free to setup a campaign. Fee’s are only charged on funds raised.

Fee Structure:

1. Our Platform fee. + 2. Payment Processing fee (3rd Party)

1. 1. Platform Fee: BackaBuddy
      • Registered Charities / Non Profit Organisations
        • 0% platform fee.  Donors can choose to leave a tip for our services.
      • Individual Fundraisers
        • 7% (+VAT). Donors are given the option to cover this fee. NB. 75% of donors cover this fee 
           

   2. Payment Processing Fee: 3rd Party

      • African Payment Processing fees: as of the 22nd March 2022
        
        

        Electronic Funds Transfer EFT	R12
        Instant EFT	3.5%
        Debit/Credit Card South Africa	3.9%
        SnapScan	3.9%

        
         
      • International Payment Processing fees:
         
        

        International Credit Card (PayPal)	$0.3 + 5.5%
        PayPal	$0.3 + 5.5%
        PayPal is a high-cost payment portal but is a trusted international payment channel. The 5.5% is made of two fees,The PayPal fee directly and the local SA PayPal banking partner's fee

         

9.1 Normal Funds Payout: Monthly on 10th of the month.

Donations received from the 1st – 30th of each month are paid out to the respective organisations on the 10th of the following month. In order to safeguard all our campaign creators against possible fraud and unexpected donation reversals, donations are temporarily reserved in our BackaBuddy non-profit bank account for a period of 7 days until they have cleared. 

9.2 Urgent Funds Payout:

On request.: If you are in urgent need of receiving your funds before our normal monthly payout. Contact our verification and payout team at [email protected] and we will expedite it for you.

Thank you for considering BackaBuddy as your fundraising platform. We’re here for you.

10. Intellectual Property

As a charity, you own your ideas and the content that you post on your fundraising page. This means that you are solely responsible for the content that appears on your page. BackaBuddy will not be liable for any mistakes or omissions that appear on your page. You are also responsible for ensuring that the content that you post does not violate any of the rights of third parties, or any copyright. You will be responsible for paying any royalties that become owing due to the content posted on your page.

BackaBuddy does not become the owner of the content that you post on your page. However, BackaBuddy does require some control over your content in order to perform the Services. Once you post information on your page, you grant BackaBuddy a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, continuous and royalty-free right to use, reproduce, display and distribute the content that you post. BackaBuddy is also entitled to modify, delete, translate or reformat the content that is posted on your page.

The Services are legally protected by copyright, intellectual property rights and other rights and laws. You are obliged to respect BackaBuddy’s protections at all times. Content that appears on the BackaBuddy site, whether its own content or content generated by its users, may be used and reproduced by you for personal use only. You may not use any content that appears on the BackaBuddy site for commercial gain, without prior permission from the relevant copyright holder.

“BackaBuddy”, “Back-a-Buddy”, “Backabuddy.com”, “Backabuddy” and the Backabuddy logo are protected under trademark registration and any unauthorised use of these marks is prohibited. Copyright subsists in all of the material on this website and, other than in respect of the content that you post on your page, all copyright vests in Easygiving (Proprietary) Limited, trading as BackaBuddy.

BackaBuddy’s intellectual property policy is informed by the Trade Marks Act 194 of 1993 and the Copyright Act 98 of 1978. We reserve the right to delete all content that infringes the provisions of these two Acts.

11. Our Rights

BackaBuddy reserves the right:

• To make changes to the Site and Services without notice or liability.
• To decide who’s eligible to use BackaBuddy. We can cancel accounts, decline to offer our Services and can change our eligibility criteria at any time. If anything relating to our Site is prohibited by law where you live, then we revoke your right to use BackaBuddy in that jurisdiction;
• in the event that any system or programme maintenance of any sort is required, to suspend services until such time as these have been completed;
• To cancel any pledge to any project, at any time and for any reason; and
• To reject, cancel, interrupt, remove, or suspend any project at any time and for any reason.
• To redistribute funds that have not been claimed, or are untraceable, after a 12 month period, to be used to further the charitable aims of BackaBuddy.
• To retain all interest received from funds held until payout.

BackaBuddy reserves the right to refund donors for any reason. Such reason may include any, but not exclusively, of the following:

• When BackaBuddy has been instructed by the charity or the campaign creator.
• When the campaign cannot be verified satisfactorily.

All refunds will be processed on the 3rd and the 17th of the month or the closest working day to those dates. Refunds may be processed on other days subject to express approval by a Director of BackaBuddy.

All bank/payment/transaction fees associated with a donation will be held by BackaBuddy when the refund is processed.

If there are any queries on a particular campaign with regards to the fees being held by BackaBuddy, that query must be sent in writing to [email protected] this case BackaBuddy will evaluate case by case basis if the refund should include bank/payment/transaction fees.

The following are exceptions to our standard refund terms:

1. In the case of a recurring donation processed by BackaBuddy when it should not have been, then BackaBuddy will refund the donation amount inclusive of bank/payment/transaction fees.
2. When refunds are processed via PayPal the full donation amount will be refunded.

BackaBuddy will make contact with the donors via email to notify them of the pending refund and to request banking details, or alternatively propose to the donor other options for how the donated funds should be allocated.

BackaBuddy is not liable for any damages as a result of any of these actions, and it is our policy not to comment on the reasons for any such action.

Furthermore, if you are a charity and we have already deposited funds into your account and a donation is subsequently reversed by one of our payment partners (for example, in the case of a charge-back) then we are entitled to claim the reversed amount back from you for a reasonable period after the reversal/charge-back.

12. Disclaimer, Indemnity and Limitation of Liability

You use the Services solely at your own risk. They are provided to you without warranty of any kind, whether express or implied.

If you do something that results in us getting sued, or if you break any of the promises you make in these Terms, you hereby indemnify us and agree to defend and hold us harmless from all liabilities, claims, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and other legal costs) that arise from or relate to your use or misuse of the Services.

In no event will BackaBuddy (or our directors, employees, partners, suppliers, or content providers) be liable for damages of any kind, including but not limited to damages (i) resulting from your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Services; (ii) for any lost profits, data loss, or cost of procurement of substitute goods or services; or (iii) for any conduct or content of any third party on or in connection with the Site (including hackers or employees/agents of Backabuddy acting beyond the scope of their authority). In no event shall our liability for direct damages be in excess of (in the aggregate) one thousand Rand.  

By using the Services, you release BackaBuddy from claims, damages, and demands of every kind — known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed — arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and the Services.

13. Dispute Resolution and Governing Law

In the event that you have any complaints or believe that we have caused you any loss or harm, please contact us (using the contact details provided here) first before resorting to legal action.

In the unfortunate situation where legal action does arise, these Terms (and all other rules, policies, or guidelines incorporated by reference) will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of South Africa, and you consent and submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of South Africa, Western Cape Division, Cape Town in any dispute arising from or in connection with these Terms.

14. Legal and Regulation Restrictions

Due to legal and regulatory constraints, PayPal is unable to process payments for crowdfunding in Hong Kong, crowdfunding for political fundraising in Russia, and campaigns related to Sanctions Jurisdictions (Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine).
BackaBuddy is not allowed to use PayPal as a payment method for customers/campaign owners/beneficiaries who are domiciled in or reside in the abovementioned Sanctioned Jurisdictions and Hong Kong, and BackaBuddy is not allowed to use PayPal as a payment method for campaigns benefiting the Sanctioned Jurisdictions, or crowdfunding in Hong Kong and political-related causes in Russia.

15. The Boilerplates

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and BackaBuddy with regard to the Services. Neither you nor BackaBuddy will have any claim or right of action arising from any undertaking, representation or warranty not included in these Terms.

No agreement to vary, add to or cancel these Terms as they specifically apply to you will be of any force or effect unless recorded in writing (which doesn’t include email) and signed by or on behalf of both you and BackaBuddy.

If any provision of these Terms is rendered void, illegal or unenforceable under any law of any jurisdiction (provided the provision isn’t vital to the proper understanding of these Terms), the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions should not in any way be affected and the legality, validity and unenforceability of such provision under the law of any other jurisdiction are not in any way affected or impaired.

These Terms are personal to you and you can’t cede any rights that you may have against us, or delegate any obligations you owe to us unless you have our prior written consent. There may, however, be circumstances where we need to cede our rights against you or delegate our obligations owed to you to third parties (for example, if we undergo a corporate restructure). These Terms constitute your prior consent to such cession and delegation. If we do cede our rights or delegate our obligations, we do undertake to notify you of this by email, or by posting a notice on the Site. 

Well done and thanks for reading these Terms…and welcome to BackaBuddy!