Terms Of Use

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE
BACKGROUND
theafj.org is a registered Website (referred to as the “Website” or “Site”) owned and operated by The American Friends of Jamaica, Inc. (“TheAFJ”).
TheAFJ  is a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting Jamaican charitable organizations and social initiatives working to improve the lives of Jamaicans through systemic development in the areas of education, health care and economic development.

DEFINITIONS
The term “TheAFJ” or “us” or “we” or “our” refers to The American Friends of Jamaica, Inc.. The term “you” or “your” refers to the user or viewer of the Website. Words denoting one gender include all other genders. In these Terms, we refer to those raising funds as “Projects” and to their fundraising campaigns as “Campaigns.” We refer to those contributing funds as “Donors” and to the funds they contribute as “Donations.” Projects, Donors and other visitors to the website are referred to collectively as “Users’. We refer to “Portal as the page which lays out options for Donors to make donor directed contributions to specific Projects in Jamaica and where Donors can access information about these Projects.

TERMS OF WEBSITE USE
This terms of use (together with the documents referred to in it) outlines the terms of use on which you may make use of the Website in any capacity. Use of our Site includes accessing, browsing, transacting business, using or registering to use our Site; whether or not you participate by providing a donation or otherwise use the Website (in each such capacity, a “User”).
If you wish to become a Donor or otherwise become a User of the Website, you must comply with all the terms and conditions herein and all terms and conditions referred to in this Agreement.
Please read these terms of use carefully before you start to use our Site, as these will apply to your use of our Site. We recommend that you print a copy of this for future reference.
By using our Site, you confirm that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to be bound by and comply with them and any other document incorporated by reference.
If you do not agree to these terms of use, you must not use our Site.

CHANGES TO THESE TERMS
We may revise these terms of use at any time by amending this page.
Please check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we made, as they are binding on you.

CHANGES TO OUR SITE
We may update our Site from time to time, and may change the content at any time. However, please note that any of the content on our Site may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update it.
We do not guarantee that our Site, or any content on it, will be free from errors or omissions.

ACCESSING OUR SITE
We do not guarantee that our Site, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted.
Access to our Site is permitted on a temporary basis. We may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of our Site without notice.   We will not be liable to you if for any reason our Site is unavailable at any time or for any period.
You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to our Site.

YOUR ACCOUNT AND PASSWORD
USER ACCOUNTS
All information submitted in connection with a User account on the Services (each, a “User Account”) must be accurate and truthful.
Each User also agrees to provide additional information TheAFJ may reasonably request and to answer truthfully and completely any questions TheAFJ might ask you in order to verify such User’s identity.
If you are provided with a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party.
We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.
If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your user identification code or password, you must promptly notify us info@theafj.org.

LICENCE TO USERS
TheAFJ grants each User a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Services subject to such User’s eligibility and continued compliance with the Terms.

HOW IT WORKS
TheAFJ includes online donations in its fundraising activities. In addition to its general fundraising activities, TheAFJ has developed a Portal to highlight several important charitable organizations and/or Projects in Jamaica and has developed a portal to facilitate donor directed giving to these Projects. In this manner, people and entities in Jamaica can seek to raise funds and Donors can contribute to Projects.
In the event that any Project offers Perks in connection with donations, TheAFJ does not represent that that Projects will deliver such Perks. TheAFJ does conduct due diligence on the organizations represented and has a Program Analyst who visits each Project at least once per year, however TheAFJ does not represent that Donations to Projects will be used as described. Users use the Services at their own risk.

PROHIBITED PROJECTS
Projects are not permitted to raise funds for illegal activities, to cause harm to people or property, or to scam others. TheAFJ can unilaterally determine if a Project is eligible for participation in the Portal.
Users must comply with all applicable laws, regulations and industry benchmarks in connection with their Projects, including the use of Donations.
Projects shall not make any false or misleading statements.

COMMUNITY GUIDELINES
TheAFJ is not a place for hatred, abuse, discrimination, disrespect, profanity, meanness, harassment, or spam.  Accordingly, you covenant not to:
• use the Services to promote violence, degradation, subjugation, discrimination or hatred against individuals or groups based on race, ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity;
• post images or videos that are sexually explicit or post links to sites that contain sexually explicit material or show people or animals being hurt or degraded;
• spam the comments sections or other Users with offers of goods and services or inappropriate messages;
• engage in any activity that interferes with or disrupts the proper working of the Services or any activities conducted on the Services; or
• take any action that imposes, in TheAFJ’s sole discretion, an unreasonable load on TheAFJ’s infrastructure.
• represent products created by others as your own creation, or act as a reseller of other’s products.
TheAFJ reserves the right to remove Projects and terminate User Accounts for such activities.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
SHARING YOUR INFORMATION
You agree that the TheAFJ and the owners of the theafj.org website will own and possess the data that you provide in connection with your donation. TheAFJ and the owner of the Website agree that they will not disclose or sell your personal information to third parties.
You acknowledge, consent and agree that TheAFJ and the Owner of the Website may, at its sole discretion and to the extent permitted by law, access, read, preserve and disclose your account information, usage history and submitted content in order to: (a) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request; (b) respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third parties, including intellectual property rights; (c) enforce this Agreement and investigate potential violations thereof; (d) detect, prevent, or otherwise counter fraud, security, or technical issues; (e) respond to your requests for customer service; or (f) protect the rights, property or safety of the Website, TheAFJ, its users and the general public.
By default, you may receive periodic newsletter emails from the TheAFJ or the owners of the Website. The frequency of these newsletters may vary. You can choose not to receive these newsletters through a preference on the Website.
Save and except as provided herein, TheAFJ will not disclose your personally identifiable activity to any third party without your consent. TheAFJ reserves the right to record and display projects details, testimonials and the like on the Website and display the general regions where project beneficiaries are located.

BETA SERVICES
We sometimes release products and features that we are still testing and evaluating. Those have been marked beta, preview, early access, or evaluation (or with words or phrases with similar meanings) and may not be as reliable as other services on the Site.

OUR INFORMATION
The Site is protected by copyright, trademark, and other New York, United States and foreign laws. These Terms do not grant you any right, title or interest in the Site, others’ content in the Site, TheAFJ and/or TheAFJ trademarks, logos and other brand features.

THEAFJ’S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
You acknowledge that TheAFJ’s service provided hereunder, including but not limited to the content of this Website, text, graphics, links, buttons, logos, and images, as well as all other copyrights, trademarks, service marks, logos, and product and service names are owned exclusively by TheAFJ (“theafj.org Intellectual Property”).
You agree not to display, use, copy, or modify theafj.org Intellectual Property in any manner, without written authorization. You are authorized solely to view and retain a copy of the pages of this Website for your own personal, non-commercial use.
You further agree not to: (a) use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated device to access the Website or (b) remove or alter any author, trademark or other proprietary notice or legend displayed on this Website (or printed pages thereof).
Any use, copying or reproduction of TheAFJ’s trademarks or logos contained in this site, without prior written permission of the TheAFJ is strictly prohibited.
TheAFJ is not responsible, and shall have no liability, for any incorrect or inaccurate Content posted on the Website or any liability, cost or expense you may incur in connection with the Program, whether caused by any User, TheAFJ’s Officers, Projects or other person or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Program. TheAFJ is not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any User of the Website or any other person.
TheAFJ cannot always foresee or anticipate technical or other difficulties. These difficulties may result as a loss of data or personalization settings, or other service interruptions. For this reason, you agree that access to the Website is provided as is without any warranties of any kind. TheAFJ does not assume responsibility for timeliness, errors or inaccuracies, deletion or failure to store any User data, communications or personalized settings. You agree that you assume the risk for use of the on-line application service on this Website. TheAFJ shall not be liable for any special, direct, incidental or consequential damages.
We welcome feedback, and note that we may use comments or suggestions without any obligation to you.

COPYRIGHT
We respect the intellectual property of others and ask that you comply with the Copyright Act, the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2015 No.13, and any other amendment thereto, and any law in your jurisdiction governing intellectual property rights.
We reserve the right to delete or disable content alleged to be infringing and terminate accounts of repeat infringers of the intellectual property rights of others.

PROHIBITED VISUAL ELEMENTS IN CAMPAIGN IMAGES
Project Owners are not permitted to do any of the following with Campaign images:
• incorporate theafj.org ’s intellectual property, colors and branding elements, including but not limited to trademarks, logos, colored frames, borders or badges without written authorization;
• include any visual element that could be interpreted to have been produced by TheAFJ, including but not limited to banners, progress bars or funding statistics;
• include any visual element that communicates endorsement by TheAFJ without written authorization.

DISPUTES BETWEEN PROJECTS AND DONORS
Projects are legally bound to perform on any promise and/or commitment to Donors.
TheAFJ does not recognize any third party and/or agency affiliated with the Campaign as a Campaign Owner.
If a Project is unable to perform on any promise and/or commitment to Donors as a result of a force majeure or any reason beyond the control of the Project, the Project will work with the Donors to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution, which may include the issuance of a refund of Donations by the Project.
TheAFJ is under no obligation to become involved in disputes between Projects and Donors, or Users and any third party.
In addition, TheAFJ is under no obligation to become involved in disputes regarding the determination of the rightful Project owner associated with a Campaign, and will not be obligated to make any changes to Project’s accounts or transfer of ownership.
In the event of any dispute, such as a Project’s alleged failure to comply with the Terms of the Campaign, TheAFJ may provide the Project’s contact information to the Donor so that the two parties may resolve their dispute.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND AGREEMENT OF DONORS
TheAFJ will endeavor to vet Projects and use reasonable efforts within the limits of its resources, to post Projects for Donors donation which have the requisite management and institutional support to ensure that the Donors donation are used as intended and that the Project will benefit the intended beneficiaries. Notwithstanding, TheAFJ acknowledges and recognizes that not all Projects featured on the Website will succeed due to inadequate funding.
Donors are solely responsible for asking questions and investigating Projects and Campaigns to the extent they feel is necessary before making a Donation. All Donations are made voluntarily and at the sole discretion and risk of the Donor. TheAFJ does not guarantee that Donations will be used as promised, or that the Campaign will achieve its goals. TheAFJ does not endorse, guarantee, make representations, or provide warranties for or about the quality, safety, morality or legality of any Campaign, or Donation, or the truth or accuracy of User Content posted on the Services.
Donors will receive a tax receipt for online donations made to Projects. Donors are responsible for the determination of their own eligibility to use such receipt. TheAFJ is a US 501 (c) (3) organization.

SERVICE FEES
We do not charge Service fees to Donors. Unless otherwise expressly indicated on the Services, we do charge our Service fees to Projects as a portion of the Donations they raise (the “Service Fees”).
By using the Services Users agree to our Service Fees listed in Schedule 1 of this Agreement.
Changes to Service Fees are effective after we post notice of the changes on the Services. Updated Service Fees are applied to Campaigns launched after the notice is posted.

TAXES
Taxing authorities may classify funds raised on the Services as taxable income to the Projects and any beneficiary who will receive funds directly from the applicable Campaign. TheAFJ will ask for the tax reference number (TRN) of Project Owners and any beneficiaries so that we may report taxable income to the relevant taxing authorities.
TheAFJ will provide Projects with a tax document if required by the relevant tax authorities.

COMMUNICATION
Subject to applicable laws, communications may be posted on this Website, or another website disclosed to Donors, or sent to the e-mail address provided by them.
All communications will be deemed to have been received by a Donor immediately after the TheAFJ sends it to the donor by e-mail or posts the communication on the Website, whether or not the donor has received the e-mail, retrieved or read the communication from the Website. A communication by e-mail is considered to be sent at the time that it is directed by the sender’s e-mail server to the e-mail address provided by the intended recipient. A communication posted to a Website is considered to be sent at the time it is publicly available.
Each Donor hereby agrees that these are reasonable procedures for sending and receiving communications and accepts such procedures of communication.

SECURITY PROCEDURES
Access to theafj.org and your ability to initiate Donations will be verified based on security procedures that are offered as part of the Service.
You also agree to update and upgrade your Internet browser software on a regular basis as such updates or upgrades may become available from time to time. You acknowledge and agree that this security procedure is commercially reasonable.

CONFIDENTIALITY OF SECURITY PROCEDURES
In the event that TheAFJ implements a password procedure, you agree not to divulge your password or user ID to any other person, and you agree not to use another person’s password or user ID.
If, notwithstanding the foregoing prohibition, you give your password to another person or persons, you will be deemed to have authorized them to use your password and Account for any and all purposes, without limitation.
You agree that TheAFJ will not have any responsibility or liability to you or any other person for any loss or damage which you or anyone else may suffer if you disclose your password to any other person, including any loss or damage arising out of the disclosure of this information by the recipient to another person.

THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES, ADVERTISERS OR SERVICES
The Services may contain links to third-party websites, advertisers, or services that are not owned or controlled by TheAFJ. Access to or use of third-party sites or services are at each User’s own risk. Except as otherwise expressly provided herein, TheAFJ is not responsible for any loss or damage of any sort relating to User dealings with these third-party sites or services.
We encourage Users to be aware of when they leave the Services, and to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of any third-party website or service that they visit.

RESPONSIBILITIES, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES
DONORS’ COMMITMENT
To participate in the donating of funds to the TheAFJ and to Projects on the theafj.org Website you must provide complete and correct information about yourself sufficient to verify your identity. Such information must include, at a minimum, your name, address and email address.
TheAFJ reserves the right to accept or reject your request to participate in the Donation Program.
You represent and warrant that all information you provide to theafj.org or TheAFJ including but not limited to information about yourself, your source of funds, will be complete and accurate in all respects. TheAFJ will be entitled to rely on any such information, and you agree to update your personal information if it changes. TheAFJ also reserves the right to take steps to verify the information you provide. Your ability to use or otherwise participate in the Donation Program may be terminated and any pending transactions may be cancelled if you provide false information. In addition, you may be subject to civil and criminal penalties.
In the event that you provide incorrect banking information you may be required to pay a fee to cover bank charges incurred as a result of the error and you may also be required to submit to TheAFJ, documentation to verify your bank account number.
If any false, inaccurate or incomplete information is provided by you to TheAFJ or if TheAFJ has reasonable grounds to suspect that the information is untrue or incomplete TheAFJ has the right to suspend or cancel your access to the Program.
Neither TheAFJ nor the owners or operators of theafj.org Website will be liable for any loss, damage or injury arising from your failure to provide accurate information.

ELIGIBLE DONORS
A Donor must be at least 18 years of age or a legally constituted body such as a corporation, and is able to form legally binding contracts under applicable laws.
They must have a valid postal /mailing address and an active e-mail address and a valid credit card or debit card.  Please note that the mailing addresses must match the billing address for credit cards, debit cards and/or deposit accounts (as applicable). Other restrictions may apply.
You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of the Website, use of the Website, or access to the Website provided hereunder.
You are responsible for your conduct, Your Information and you must comply with our Acceptable Use Policy.
You shall indemnify and keep us indemnified from and against any losses, costs, expenses, demands or liability whether directly or indirectly arising out of any breach of any intellectual property rights, neglect or default in the use of the Site.
The indemnities referred to in these Terms shall survive the expiration or termination of the relationship between you and us.
We may review your conduct and content for compliance with these Terms and any other documents incorporated by reference. With that said, we have no obligation to do so.
We are not responsible for the content people post and share via the Site.
Please safeguard your password to the Site if applicable, make sure that others do not have access to it, and keep your account information current.
Finally, our Site is not intended for and may not be used by people under the age of 18. By using our Site, you are representing to us that you are over 18.

LIMITATION OF OUR LIABILITY
Nothing in these terms of use excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury arising from our gross negligence, or our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
To the extent permitted by law, we exclude all conditions, warranties, representations or other terms that may apply to our Site or any content on it, whether express or implied.
We will not be liable to any user for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with:
• use of, or inability to use, our Site; or
• use of or reliance on any content displayed on our Site.
If you are a business user, please note that in particular, we will not be liable for:
• loss of profits, sales, business, or revenue;
• business interruption;
• loss of anticipated savings;
• loss of anticipated donations;
• loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation; or
• any indirect or consequential loss or damage.
We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our Site or to your downloading of any content on it, or on any Website linked to it.

INDEMNITY
You agree to indemnify and hold TheAFJ and its officers, agents, directors, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your use of theafj.org Website, your violation of this Agreement, or your violation of any rights of another.

VIRUSES
We do not guarantee that our Site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.
You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programs and platform in order to access our Site. You should use your own virus protection software.
You must not misuse our Site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorized access to our Site, the server on which our Site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our Site. You must not attack our Site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack.
In the event of such a breach, your right to use our Site will cease immediately.

BUSINESS DAYS
The phrase “business days” as used herein means Monday through Friday, excluding public holidays. However, access to the website will generally still be available online on non-business days.

ASSIGNMENTS AND TRANSFERS
You may not assign or otherwise transfer your rights under your Account or the Agreement to any other person or entity.

TAX DEDUCTIBILITY
You understand that you are solely responsible for determining the proper tax treatment for any donation you make through the Website and the Program. TheAFJ will provide an email receipt of proof of donation to a Donor. TheAFJ has not and will not provide any tax or legal advice to you in connection with any Donation you might make. Donations to TheAFJ may be treated in the manner you may treat any donation to a US 501 (c) (3) organization. This Agreement does not attempt to define the tax implications of participants in the Program. If you participate in the Program, you should consult with your own accountant, tax or legal advisor.

ACCEPTABLE USE
The Website is for use in connection with the theafj.org Donation Program and may not be used by you in connection with any other commercial endeavors.
Use of the Website and participation in the Program shall be in strict compliance with this Agreement, all other procedures and guidelines set forth on the Website and applicable law.
You may not engage in advertising to, or solicitation of, any User, donor or any other Person to buy or sell any products or services through the Website.
You may not transmit any chain letters or junk email to any User, donor or any other Person.
Illegal and/or unauthorized uses of the Website, including collecting the name, email address or any other personal or confidential information of any User, Donor or any other Person by electronic or other means for any reason, including, without limitation, the purpose of sending unsolicited email and unauthorized framing of or linking to the Website, will be investigated and appropriate legal action will be taken, including, without limitation, civil, criminal and injunctive redress.
Although TheAFJ assumes no obligation to monitor the conduct of any User off the Website, it is a violation of this Agreement to use any information obtained from the Website in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person, or in order to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to any User, donor or other person without their prior explicit consent. In order to protect such persons from such advertising or solicitation, TheAFJ reserves the right to restrict the number of emails that a User may send to others through TheAFJ in any twenty-four (24) hour or other period to a number that TheAFJ deems appropriate in its sole discretion.

TERMINATION
We reserve the right to suspend or end the Site at any time at our discretion and without notice and to remove any Campaign from the Portal. For example, we may suspend or terminate your use of the Site if you are not complying with these Terms, or use the Site in a manner that would cause us legal liability, disrupt the Site or others’ use of the Site.

SERVICE “AS IS”
We strive to provide a great service, but there are certain things that we cannot guarantee. To the fullest extent permitted by law, TheAFJ and its affiliates, suppliers and distributors make no warranties, either express or implied, about the services. The services are provided “as is.” We also disclaim any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Let us Try To Sort Things Out First. Without prejudice to any other term in this Agreement, we want to address your concerns without needing a formal legal case. Before filing a claim against TheAFJ, you agree to try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting info@theafj.org. We will try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting you via email. If a dispute is not resolved within fifteen (15) days of submission, you or TheAFJ may bring a formal proceeding.
Judicial forum for disputes: The Parties agree that any judicial proceeding to resolve claims relating to these Terms or the Services will be brought exclusively in the jurisdiction of the United States; and consent to venue and personal jurisdiction in such courts.

APPLICABLE LAW
These terms will be governed exclusively by New York law except for its conflicts of laws principles, unless otherwise required by a mandatory law of any other jurisdiction.

ENTIRE AGREEMENT
These Terms constitute the entire agreement between the Parties with respect to the subject matter of these Terms, and supersede and replace any other prior or contemporaneous agreements, or terms and conditions applicable to the subject matter of these Terms. These Terms create no third party beneficiary rights.

WAIVER, SEVERABILITY & ASSIGNMENT
Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of its right to do so later. If a provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions of the Terms will remain in full effect and an enforceable term will be substituted reflecting our intent as closely as possible. You may not assign any of your rights under these Terms, and any such attempt will be void. TheAFJ may assign its rights to any of its affiliates, or to any successor in interest of any business associated with the Site.

MODIFICATIONS
We may revise these Terms from time to time, and will always post the most current version on our website. If a revision meaningfully reduces your rights, we will notify you by email to the email address on our records.  Nevertheless, by continuing to use or access the Site after the revisions come into effect, you agree to be bound by the revised Terms.