Terms of Service

Last Updated: 22 January 2024

Terms of Service

We, Voluntech Pty Ltd Pty Ltd (ACN 623 358 663) trading as Worthy (and its successors and assignees) (“Voluntech”, “we”, “our” or “us”). We own and operate this online platform (Platform), which is available at: https://www.worthycause.com.au and may be available through other addresses or channels including any mobile application.

The Platform connects charities (Charity), volunteers (Volunteer), and companies or other entities (Businesses) who are interested in connecting with each other and searching for opportunities to collaborate.

Authorised Users: Charities and Businesses may authorise their employees, agents or contractors to access and use the Platform on their behalf (Authorised User). Charities and Businesses acknowledge and agree to be responsible for their Authorised Users’ use (including negligent use) of the Platform.

Acceptance

By accessing and/or using our Platform, you; each Volunteer, Charity, and Business using our Platform (referred to as you or a User ) (1) warrant to us that you have reviewed the Terms of Use, these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy (available on the Platform) ( Terms ), with your parent or legal guardian (if you are under 18 years of age), and you understand them; (2) warrant to us that you have the legal capacity to enter into a legally binding agreement with us or (if you are under 18 years of age) you have your parent’s or legal guardian’s permission to access and use the Platform and they have agreed to the Terms on your behalf; (3) agree to use the Platform in accordance with the Terms; and (4) if you are a Business or Charity, you warrant to us that any Authorised Users have:

(a) your prior consent and authority to use and access the Platform on your behalf; and

(b) read and agree to comply with these Terms.

Please read these Terms carefully as they govern and apply to any and all use of the Platform. We may, at any time and at our discretion, vary these Terms by publishing the varied terms on our Platform. By continuing to use the Platform, you accept the Terms as they apply from time to time. We recommend you check our Platform regularly to ensure you are aware of our current Terms. If you do not agree to the Terms, please immediately cease using and delete our Platform.

Platform Summary

(a) The Platform provides an introductory service for Charities, Businesses and Volunteers to connect and collaborate, including by providing a directory of registered charities, charitable events and volunteering opportunities.

(b) Charities: A Charity may use the Platform to:

• create a charity page, outlining information about the Charity, including but not limited to the Charity’s purposes, events, locations, ambassadors and sponsors (if relevant) (Charity Page);

• find and connect with other Charities;

• find and connect with Businesses;

• create and manage tasks and roles for Volunteers, including the duration, skills and certifications required, location and any other relevant information to the opportunity (Volunteering Opportunities);

• leave reviews, ratings and feedback on Volunteers;

• invite volunteers to join the Charity’s network.

• create a Volunteer profile and track their philanthropy;

• if they are employees of a Business, associate their Volunteer profile and/or Volunteering Opportunities with that Business;

• browse Charity Pages for information about a Charity and to discover information about any Volunteering Opportunities;

• connect with Charities on the Platform and receive notifications about that Charity’s activities;

• search and find Volunteering Opportunities based on skills, location and other filters as may be added to the Platform from time to time;

• record Volunteering Opportunities completed, including the number of hours contributed to a Charity;

• print a transcript with their contributions to date.

(d) Businesses: Businesses may use the Platform to:

• nominate its employees as Volunteers and verify any Volunteers that have associated their profile with the Business;

• connect with Charities;

• find out about Volunteering Opportunities, Charities and charitable events;

• do other things offered on the Platform as it is updated from time to time.

(e) Communications: Volunteers and Businesses may contact a Charity using the contact details found on a Charity’s Charity Page or through the Platform’s messaging service. Users can use the Platform’s messaging function to message other Users, including bilaterally within the same organisation and creating group messages with other Users. You are responsible for ensuring your use, and where applicable your Authorised Users’ use, of the messaging functions in accordance with these Terms and any other applicable laws.

Acknowledgment

You understand and agree that:

(a) the Platform is an online introductory platform only, and that our responsibilities are limited to facilitating the User functionality availability of the Platform.

(b) We are not an employment agency or labour hire business, Charities and Businesses are not our partners or agents and Volunteers are not our employees or contractors.

(c) We are not a party to any agreement entered into between a Charity and a Volunteer or Business. We have no control over the conduct of Charities, Volunteers, Businesses or any other Users of the Platform.

(d) Charities are responsible for ensuring (without limitation) that Volunteers have the required certification, checking identification and determining the suitability of a Volunteer for a Volunteering Opportunity. Volunteers are responsible for determining that a Volunteering Opportunity fits their skill set and experiences.

(e) We accept no liability for any aspect of the Volunteer, Business, and Charity interaction, including but not limited to the description of Volunteering Opportunities offered, any communications on or outside the Platform, the performance of any services by Volunteers or a Charity’s occupational health and safety obligations towards Volunteers when performing volunteering services at the Charity’s premises or at a location determined by the Charity.

Registration and Profiles

(a) You may browse and view the Platform as an unregistered user of the Platform. You must register on the Platform and create an account (Account) to access some features on the Platform. Charities must register for an Account in order to create a Charity Page. We will request charity registration information before registering an Account for a Charity.

(b) You must, and where applicable, you must ensure your Authorised Users, provide basic information when registering for an Account including name, name of the Business or Charity (as applicable), email address, and location and we will provide you with a username and password, or such other details as we may reasonably request from time to time.

(c) Charities: When registering an Account for a Charity, we will ask for details of the Charity’s Australian Business Number and authority to fundraise or similar information if the Charity is registered overseas.

(d) Volunteers: For Volunteers, once a Volunteer has created an Account, their account information will be used to create a profile which may then be curated (Profile).

(e) Businesses: For Businesses, we will ask for evidence including the registered company number, officer details and such other information as may be reasonably required to register. If you wish to connect Volunteers as employees of your Business, we may require further information to verify this employment relationship.

(f) You must, and where applicable, you must ensure your Authorised Users, provide accurate, current and complete information during the registration process and you must update such information to keep it accurate, current and complete. Australian Charities must immediately notify us if their registration with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission or not-for-profit status changes, lapses, is revoked or is not renewed, or if you are a Charity registered overseas, you must tell us if your Charity’s registration or not-for-profit status lapses, is revoked or is not renewed in the Charity’s country of establishment.

(g) You, and where applicable, you must ensure any Authorised Users, are responsible for keeping your Account and in the case of Volunteers; Profile details, username and password confidential and you will be liable for all activity on your Account, whether or not you authorised such activities or actions.

(h) You will immediately notify us of any unauthorised use of your Account or Authorised User’s breach of these Terms.

(i) At our sole discretion, we may refuse to allow any person, Business or Charity to register or create an Account.

Reviews

(a) The Platform provides functionality for Charities to review a specific Volunteer or all Volunteers on a Volunteering Opportunity and provide feedback on the volunteering services performed by a Volunteer or several Volunteers for the Charity (Review).

(b) Reviews of any Volunteer will be placed on that Volunteer’s Profile. Reviews can be viewed by any User and will remain viewable until the relevant Volunteer’s Account or Profile is removed or terminated. If you believe a Review infringes your legal rights, you must notify us immediately.

(d) If we consider that a Review is untrue, unfair, inaccurate, offensive or inappropriate, we may delete the Review, contact the Charity regarding the Review, or ban the Charity from posting the Review. We do not undertake to review each Review made by a Charity.

(e) No review of or comment on, or failure to review or comment on a Review by us will (1) relieve a Charity from, or alter, affect, or reduce, the obligations and liabilities of a Charity under these Terms or otherwise at law; (2) constitute any representation by us that the Review is true, fair accurate or complies with law; or (3) prejudice the rights against our rights under these Terms or otherwise at law.

(f) To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for the content of any Reviews.

(g) Volunteers and Businesses may print a transcript setting out the volunteering services they have completed including any Reviews given by Charities.

Fees and Payments

(a) Unless otherwise agreed between the parties, it is free to register an Account on the Platform. There is no charge for a Volunteer to create a Profile, or for other Users to review content on the Platform, including Charity Pages.

(b) Where fees are applicable, these will be set out on the Platform or otherwise communicated to you. Any payments will be made through our third party payment processor, or by any other payment method advised by us and set out on the Platform.

(c) We may change the fee and payment terms applying to the Platform at our sole discretion and any change is effective immediately upon us publishing the change on the Platform, or otherwise communicating such change to you, and will apply to any use of the Platform following the change.

Licence to use our Platform

We grant you a non-exclusive, royalty-free, revocable, worldwide, non-transferable licence, including the right to sublicense to Authorised Users, to use our Platform in accordance with these Terms (Licence). All other uses are prohibited without our prior written consent.

You must, and you must ensure your Authorised Users, use the Platform in accordance with the Terms of Use which are available on our website.

Prohibited conduct

In consideration for the Licence granted to you, you must not, and you must ensure any Authorised Users, do, or attempt to do, anything that is unlawful; anything prohibited by any laws or regulations which apply to our Platform or which apply to you or your use of our Platform; anything which we would consider inappropriate; or anything which might bring us or our Platform into disrepute, including (without limitation):

(a) anything that would constitute a breach of an individual’s privacy (including soliciting personal information from any person or uploading private or personal information without an individual's consent), or any other legal rights;

(b) using our Platform to defame, harass, threaten, menace, offend or impersonate any person or other entity;

(d) tampering with or modifying our Platform, knowingly transmitting viruses or other disabling features, or damaging or interfering with our Platform, including (without limitation) using trojan horses, viruses or piracy or programming routines that may damage or interfere with our Platform;

(e) anything that might violate any local, state, national or other law or regulation or any order of a court in Australia, including the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) or Australian charity law including the Charities Act 2013 (Cth) and in addition for Charities registered or operating overseas, any local, state, national or other law or regulation or any order of a court in a country where that Charity is registered or is operating;

(f) organising or sponsoring any event via the Platform that might violate any local, state, national or other law or regulation or any order of a court or bring us or our Platform into disrepute;

(g) as a Charity, using the Platform to find Volunteers to perform volunteer work where work should be performed by an employee of the Charity;

(h) as a Charity, representing or stating that the Charity has deductible gift recipient status in Australia if the Charity does not in fact have deductible gift recipient status in Australia;

(i) for an Australian Charity, registering for an Account on the Platform without being registered or having a current registration with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission or equivalent not- for-profit status with an Australian state or territory regulator and for Charities registered overseas, registering for an Account without being registered or having current registration in that Charity’s country of establishment;

(j) as a Volunteer or Business, making any offers to Charities to perform volunteering services when she or he does not possess appropriate qualifications, or misrepresenting her or his skill set, identity or any other information to a Charity;

(k) as a Volunteer or Business, if you submit any questions to a Charity or comment publicly on a Charity’s event page, limiting your comments to discussing that Charity’s event and leaving no comment which is defamatory, derogatory or obscene;

(l) as a Charity, if you write any Reviews or provide any feedback about a Volunteer on the Platform, ensuring your Reviews do not make any comment which is defamatory, derogatory, inappropriate or obscene;

(m) using our Platform to send unsolicited email messages; or

(n) facilitating or assisting a third party to do any of the above acts.

You, or Authorised Users, may share and embed links from our Platform on third-party websites, however:

(a) You must not, and must ensure any Authorised Users do not, represent yourself as being in any way connected with Voluntech or any business conducted by Voluntech or having any relationship of employment, trust, agency, partnership or joint venture without obtaining our prior written consent, which may be withheld at our absolute discretion;

(b) We reserve the right to remove or request the removal of any such links at our sole discretion.

Exclusion of competitors

You are prohibited from using our Platform, including the data, information and materials available on it or obtained through accessing or using it (Content), in any way that competes with our business. If you breach this term, we will hold you responsible for any loss, damage or expense, howsoever arising, whether direct or indirect and/or whether present, unascertained, future or contingent (Liability) we suffer, and hold you accountable for any profits that you may make from non-permitted use.

Information

You acknowledge and agree that the Content is not comprehensive and is for general information purposes only. It does not take into account your specific needs, objectives or circumstances, and is not advice. While we use reasonable attempts to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the Content, we make no representation or warranty regarding it, to the extent permitted by law. The Content is subject to change without notice. However, we do not undertake to keep our Platform up-to-date and we are not liable if any Content is inaccurate or out- of-date.

Intellectual Property rights

You, and you must ensure any Authorised Users, acknowledge and agree that unless otherwise indicated, we own or licence all rights, title and interest (including intellectual property rights) in our Platform and all of the Content. Anything in these Terms, your use of our Platform and your use of and access to any Content does not grant or transfer to you, or any Authorised Users, any rights, title or interest in relation to our Platform or the Content.

You must not, and you must ensure any Authorised Users must not, without the prior written consent of ourselves or the owner of the Content (as applicable):

(a) copy or use, in whole or in part, the Platform or any Content for any purpose;

(b) reproduce, retransmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish, broadcast or circulate any Content to any third party; or

(1) altering or modifying any of the Content; (2) causing any of the Content to be framed or embedded in another website; or (3) creating derivative works from the Content.

User Content

You may be permitted to post, upload, publish, submit or transmit relevant information and content, including Reviews (User Content) on our Platform. By making available any User Content on or through our Platform, you grant to us a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free licence to use the User Content, with the right to use, view, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, communicate, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, or otherwise exploit such User Content on, through, or by means of our Platform.

You agree that you are solely responsible for all User Content that you, or any of your Authorised Users, make available on or through our Platform. You represent and warrant that:

(a) you are either the sole and exclusive owner of all User Content or you have all rights, licences, consents and releases that are necessary to grant to us the rights in such User Content as contemplated by these Terms; and

(b) neither the User Content nor the posting, uploading, publication, submission or transmission of the User Content or our use of the User Content on, through or by means of our Platform will contain abusive, homophobic, defamatory, hateful, discriminatory or racist language, harass, bully or intimidate any person, infringe, misappropriate or violate a third party’s intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or result in the violation of any applicable law or regulation.

We do not endorse or approve and are not responsible for any User Content. We may, at any time at our sole discretion, remove any User Content. Any failure by us to remove any User Content does not constitute any approval of the User Content or representation that the User Content is true, fair, accurate, complies with any applicable law or regulation or is otherwise inappropriate.

Privacy Policy: We process and store your information (including User Content) in accordance with our Privacy Policy. By using the Platform, you consent to such processing and you warrant that all information you provide is accurate.

Third party sites: Our Platform may contain links to websites operated by third parties. Unless expressly stated otherwise, we do not control, endorse or approve and are not responsible for the content on those websites. You should make your own investigations with respect to the suitability of those websites.

Discontinuance: We may, at any time and without notice to you, discontinue our Platform, in whole or in part. We may also exclude any person from using our Platform, at any time at our sole discretion. We are not responsible for any Liability you may suffer arising from or in connection with any such discontinuance or exclusion.

Consumer Guarantees

(a) Certain legislation including the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), and similar consumer protection laws and regulations may confer you with rights, warranties, guarantees and remedies relating to our provision of our services which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified (Statutory Rights).

(b) Nothing in these Terms excludes your Statutory Rights as a consumer under the ACL.

Warranties, disclaimers and indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, we make no representations or warranties about our Platform, the Content, Charities, Businesses, Volunteers, Profiles and Charity Pages including (without limitation) that:

(a) they are complete, accurate, reliable, up-to-date and suitable for any particular purpose;

(b) access will be uninterrupted, error-free and free from viruses;

(d) Volunteers will find desirable Volunteering Opportunities;

(e) Charities will find Volunteers to perform volunteering services; or

(f) any volunteering services performed by a Volunteer are of a particular standard.

You, and any Authorised Users, read, use, and act on our Platform and the Content at your own risk. Limitation of liability: Despite anything to the contrary, to the maximum extent permitted by law:

(a) our maximum aggregate Liability arising from or in connection with these Terms (including the services we provide and/or the subject matter of these Terms) will be limited to, and must not exceed $100; and

(b) we will not be liable to you, or any of your Authorised Users, for any loss of profit (including anticipated profit), loss of benefit (including anticipated benefit), loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of goodwill, loss of opportunity, loss of savings (including anticipated savings), loss of reputation, loss of use and/or loss or corruption of data, whether under statute, contract, equity, tort (including negligence), indemnity or otherwise.

(c) Despite anything to the contrary, to the maximum extent permitted by law, we will have no Liability, and you release and discharge us from all Liability, arising from or in connection with any:

(1) event or circumstance beyond our reasonable control;

(2) acts or omissions of you, your Authorised Users or your employees, agents, or contractors (Personnel);

(3) any defect, error, omission, lack of functionality or suitability (or the absence of, or reduction in, any anticipated result, outcome or benefit), inaccessibility of, interruption or outage with respect to the Platform;

(4) use of the Platform and/or Content;

(5) interaction you, or your Authorised Users or Personnel, have with other users whether in person or online;

(6) Content which is incorrect, incomplete or out-of-date; or

(7) breach of these Terms or any law.

(d) You agree that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, these Terms exclude all terms, conditions and warranties implied by statute, in fact or on any other basis, except to the extent such terms, conditions and warranties are fully expressed in these Terms.

(e) This clause will survive the termination or expiry of these Terms.

Indemnity: To the maximum extent permitted by law, you must indemnify us, and hold us harmless, against any Liability suffered by us arising from or in connection with your use, or any of your Authorised User’s or Personnel’s use, of our Platform or any breach of these Terms or any applicable laws by you. This indemnity is a continuing obligation, independent from the other obligations under these Terms, and continues after these Terms end. It is not necessary for us to suffer or incur any Liability before enforcing a right of indemnity under these Terms.

Termination and Disputes

(a) You may cancel your Account and terminate these Terms at any time by sending us an email to the address at the end of these Terms. You, or an Authorised User, can also deactivate your Account at any time via the Platform.

(b) We may terminate these Terms for convenience at any time by giving you 30 days’ notice via email to the email address in your Account.

(c) At our sole discretion, we may suspend your Account or terminate these Terms immediately without notice if (i) you are, or an Authorised User is, in breach of these Terms, any applicable laws, regulations or third party rights, (ii) as a Volunteer you have received poor Reviews or we have received complaints about you or (iii) as a Charity we discover that you are not a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for- profits Commission, or for Charities operating or registered overseas, that the Charity is not registered or does not have a current registration with the relevant regulator in that Charity’s country of establishment or we have received complaints about you from Volunteers.

(d) Disputes: In the event of any dispute arising from, or in connection with, these Terms ( Dispute ), the party claiming there is a Dispute must give written notice to the other party setting out the details of the Dispute and proposing a resolution. Within 7 days after receiving the notice, the parties must meet at least once to attempt to resolve the Dispute or agree on the method of resolving the Dispute by other means, in good faith. All aspects of every such conference, except the fact of the occurrence of the conference, will be privileged. If the parties do not resolve the Dispute or (if the Dispute is not resolved) agree on an alternate method to resolve the Dispute, within 21 days after receipt of the notice, the Dispute may be referred by either party (by notice in writing to the other party) to litigation.

Severance

If a provision of these Terms is held to be void, invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision must be read down as narrowly as necessary to allow it to be valid or enforceable. If it is not possible to read down a provision (in whole or in part), that provision (or that part of that provision) is severed from these Terms without affecting the validity or enforceability of the remainder of that provision or the other provisions in these Terms.

Jurisdiction

Your use of our Platform and these Terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales. You irrevocably and unconditionally submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts operating in New South Wales and any courts entitled to hear appeals from those courts and waive any right to object to proceedings being brought in those courts.

Our Platform may be accessed throughout Australia and overseas. We make no representation that our Platform complies with the laws (including intellectual property laws) of any country outside Australia. If you access our Platform from outside Australia, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for complying with the laws of the jurisdiction where you access our Platform.

Electronic Transactions

You acknowledge and agree that by clicking on any button labelled “Submit”, “Order”, “I Accept”, “I Agree” or such similar links as may be used by us on the Platform (or otherwise) to accept these Terms, you are agreeing to and intend to be legally bound by that electronic signature and are entering into a legally binding agreement.

For any questions and notices, please contact us at:

Voluntech Pty Ltd ACN 623 358 663 trading as Worthy

Email: mail@worthycause.com.au

Last updated: 22 January 2024

‍