Volunteer Terms of Service

Last Updated: July 22, 2025

If you don't agree to these Terms, you may not access or use the Service.

Welcome to Charity Engine (the "Service"), operated by Picador Multimedia UK (the "Company"); and thank you for considering participation. The following Terms of Use ("Terms") apply when you use any part of our Service and/or click "I accept" to these Terms. Please review these Terms carefully. By accessing or using the Service, you show you agree to these Terms.   

  1. About The Service

    The Service is comprised of a website (www.charityengine.com, the "Site"); one or more companion applications (Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, and/or iOS; the "App"); and supporting infrastructure.

    1. The Site allows you to learn more about the Company and our Service, and to track details of your participation.
    2. The App allows device users ("Volunteers") to contribute latent computer resources to a "virtual" cloud computing service.  This service aggregates the volunteered resources, and applies them to scientific and medical research, and to commercial uses. Profits from commercial uses will be shared with charities, and/or Volunteers via a prize draw.
    3. Please note that the Service is under constant development. New features may be added frequently, so it's important to check back to this page for updates.
    4. If you're a Charity Engine Cloud Customer, i.e. a user of the contributed compute resources, please refer to our Terms of Use for Customers.
  2. Use Of The Service For Volunteers
    If you are a Volunteer, the App utilizes a portion of the computation power, memory, internet connectivity, and other resources of your personal computer, laptop, server, or mobile device for scientific and medical research; and/or for various commercial purposes during the regular use of those same computers. Profits from any commercial use will be shared by the Company with Charities, and/or Volunteers selected randomly by a Prize Draw.

    To participate, you will need to download and install the App, and then make your computer available to our network.

    By downloading and using the App, you accept that it utilizes resources such as GPU computation power, CPU computational power, device memory, device storage, internet bandwidth, and other resources from you when you operate the App through background activity on your device (the "Shared Resources "). These resources will be applied to scientific and medical research, and to commercial uses. Profits from commercial uses will be shared with charities and/or Volunteers via a random prize draw.

    The Company does not guarantee that you will generate any revenues for charities, nor win any cash via the Prize Draws via your use of the Service.

  3. Use Of The Service

    You need to be at least 18 years old to use the Service as a Volunteer.  You hereby affirm we have the right to terminate your account with or without prior notice or cause.

  4. Use Restrictions

    Your permission to use the Service is conditioned upon the following restrictions and conditions. You agree that you will not:

    1. use, display, mirror or frame the Site or any individual element within the Service, Company's name, any Company trademark, logo or other proprietary information, or the layout and design of any page or form contained on a page or within the Site or App, without Company's express written consent;
    2. access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the Service, Company's computer systems, or the technical delivery systems of Company's providers;
    3. attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of any Company system or network or breach any security or authentication measures;
    4. avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, impair, descramble or otherwise circumvent any technological measure implemented by Company or any of Company's providers or any other third party (including another user) to protect the Service, or any 3rd party application running under the Service;
    5. use any meta tags or other hidden text or metadata utilizing a Company trademark, logo URL or product name without Company's express written consent;
    6. use the Service, or any portion thereof, for any commercial purpose or for the benefit of any third party other than as permitted by these Terms;
    7. forge any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any email or newsgroup posting, or in any way use the Service to send altered, deceptive or false source-identifying information;
    8. collect or store any personally identifiable information from the Service or from other users of the Service without their express permission;
    9. impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Company official, forum or social media leader, guide, or host, nor falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
    10. sublicense, resell, rent, lease, transfer, assign, timeshare, or otherwise commercially exploit or make the Service available to any third party;
    11. intentionally or unintentionally use the Service for any unlawful purpose or for the promotion of illegal activities;
    12. use the Service to attempt to, or harass, abuse or harm another person or group;
    13. use another user's account without permission;
    14. interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper functioning of the Service;
    15. take any action that we deem to impose or to potentially impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our servers or network infrastructure;
    16. attempt to decipher, reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any portion of the Service, or the software used to provide the Service;
    17. bypass any robot exclusion headers or other measures we take to restrict access to the Service or use any software, technology, or device to scrape, spider, or crawl the Service or harvest or manipulate data;
    18. publish or link to malicious content intended to damage or disrupt another user's browser, computer, or mobile device;  or
    19. encourage or enable any other individual to do any of the foregoing.
    20. take any steps to falsify Service-generated data reflecting your usage of and/or contributions to The Service
    21. take any steps to alter or otherwise falsify results of any computations being made by the Service on your volunteered device - i.e. you agree you will not alter any input files, output files, applications, or computations. 
    22. install or run the App on any computer system if you are not the owner of the system or do not have the permission of the owner.
  5. Monitoring and Compliance

    Although the Company is not obligated to monitor access to or use of the Service or to review or edit any Content, we have the right to do so for the purpose of operating the Service, to ensure compliance with these Terms, and to comply with applicable law or other legal requirements. We reserve the right, but are not obligated, to remove or disable access to the Service or any Content, at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, if we, at our sole discretion, consider any Content to be objectionable, illegal, or in violation of these Terms. We have the right to investigate violations of these Terms or conduct that affects the Services. We may also consult and cooperate with law enforcement authorities to prosecute users who violate the law.

  6. Intellectual Property

    You acknowledge and agree that the Company and its licensors retain ownership of all intellectual property rights of any kind related to the Service, including applicable copyrights, trademarks, and other proprietary rights. The Company reserves all rights that are not expressly granted to you under these Terms.

  7. Feedback

    We welcome and encourage you to provide feedback, comments, and suggestions for improvements of the Service ("Feedback"). You may submit Feedback by emailing us via the Site. You acknowledge and agree that if you submit any Feedback to us, you hereby grant to us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, fully-paid, royalty-free, sub-licensable (through several tiers) and transferable license under any and all intellectual property rights that you own or control in relation to the Feedback to use, reproduce, view, communicate to the public by any means, print, copy (whether onto hard disk or other media), edit, translate, perform and display (publicly or otherwise), distribute, redistribute, modify, adapt, make, sell, offer to sell, transmit, license, transfer, stream, broadcast, create derivative works from, and otherwise use and exploit the Feedback for any purpose.

  8. Indemnification

    You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Company from any and all claims, liabilities, expenses, and damages, including reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, made by any third party related to: (a) your use or attempted use of the Service; or (b) your violation of any law or rights of any third party.

  9. User Consent To Receive Communications In Electronic Form

    For contractual purposes, you (a) consent to receive emails via the email address you have submitted when you sign up on the Service, and/or via in-device notifications delivered via the App; and (b) agree that all Terms, agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications that the Company provides to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications would satisfy if it were in writing. The foregoing does not affect your non-waivable rights. The Company may also use your email address to send you other messages, including information about the Company and Service and special offers. You may opt out of such email by changing your account settings or sending an email via  https://www.charityengine.com/volunteer#contact-us

  10. Warranty Disclaimer

    THE SERVICE (INCLUDING SITE AND APP) IS PROVIDED "AS IS," WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, THE COMPANY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, REGARDING THE SERVICE INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, SECURITY, ACCURACY AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, THE COMPANY MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION THAT ACCESS TO OR OPERATION OF THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE. 

    THE COMPANY DOES NOT GUARANTEE OR PROMISE ANY SPECIFIC RESULTS FROM THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE. WE DO NOT STATE OR WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE, RESULTS, AND POTENTIAL REWARDS ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, CURRENT, OR ERROR-FREE. When using the Service, fees for used Internet traffic, mobile data, and other related services might be applied for users of certain Internet service providers. The Company takes no responsibility for shared traffic-related or any additional costs you might experience in accordance with your Internet service (or other services) provider's agreement in any circumstances. The use of the Service may be prohibited or restricted by your service provider. The Platform might also not be appropriate for all service providers' rules and policies - therefore, you should confirm the ability to use our Service with your service provider.

    YOU ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY AND RISK OF LOSS RESULTING FROM YOUR UPLOADING, DOWNLOADING, AND/OR USE OF FILES, INFORMATION, CONTENT OR OTHER MATERIAL SENT TO OR OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICE. SOME JURISDICTIONS LIMIT OR DO NOT PERMIT DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTY, SO THIS PROVISION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

  11. RISKS FOR VOLUNTEERS

    THE COMPANY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO ANY USER'S COMPUTER, HARDWARE, COMPUTER SOFTWARE, OR OTHER EQUIPMENT OR TECHNOLOGY INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGE FROM ANY SECURITY BREACH OR FROM ANY VIRUS, BUGS, TAMPERING, FRAUD, ERROR, OMISSION, INTERRUPTION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMPUTER LINE OR NETWORK FAILURE OR ANY OTHER TECHNICAL OR OTHER MALFUNCTION.

  12. LIMITATIONS OF DAMAGES; RELEASE

    TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OR EMPLOYEES, OR ITS LICENSORS OR PARTNERS, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, USE,  OR DATA, OR FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, HOWEVER ARISING, THAT RESULT FROM (A) YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE; (B) THE SERVICE GENERALLY OR THE SOFTWARE OR SYSTEMS THAT MAKE THE SERVICE AND SERVICE AVAILABLE; OR (C) ANY OTHER INTERACTIONS WITH THE COMPANY OR ANY OTHER USER OF THE SERVICE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), FRAUD, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE COMPANY HAS BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE, AND EVEN IF A REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.  IN NO EVENT WILL COMPANY'S LIABILITY TO YOU EXCEED $10. SOME JURISDICTIONS LIMIT OR DO NOT PERMIT DISCLAIMERS OF LIABILITY, SO THIS PROVISION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

    IF YOU ARE A CALIFORNIA RESIDENT, YOU WAIVE YOUR RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE SECTION 1542, WHICH SAYS "A GENERAL RELEASE DOES NOT EXTEND TO CLAIMS WHICH THE CREDITOR DOES NOT KNOW OR SUSPECT TO EXIST IN HIS FAVOR AT THE TIME OF EXECUTING THE RELEASE, WHICH, IF KNOWN BY HIM MUST HAVE MATERIALLY AFFECTED HIS SETTLEMENT WITH THE DEBTOR."

  13. Modification Of Terms Of Use

    The Company can amend these Terms at any time.  Any such modification will be effective immediately upon public posting. It's your responsibility to check the Site from time to time to view any such changes. If you continue to use the Service, you show your agreement to our revisions to these Terms. 

  14. Privacy Policy

    The Company respects the privacy of its users. Please refer to our Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect, use, and disclose information that pertains to your privacy. When you access or use the Service, you show that you agree to this Privacy Policy.

  15. General Terms

    If any part of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion of the Terms will be construed consistent with applicable law. The remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. Any failure on the part of the Company to enforce any provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of our right to enforce such provision. Our rights under these Terms will survive any termination of these Terms.

    You agree that any legal action related to or arising out of your relationship with the Company must commence within ONE year after the cause of action accrues. Otherwise, such cause of action is permanently barred.

    These Terms and your use of the Service are governed by the federal laws of the United States of America and the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict of law provisions.

    You agree to resolve any claims relating to these Terms or the Service through final and binding arbitration. Any arbitration will be conducted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its commercial arbitration rules. The arbitration will be held in Boston, MA.

    ARBITRATION MUST BE ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS. THIS MEANS NEITHER YOU NOR THE COMPANY MAY JOIN OR CONSOLIDATE CLAIMS IN ARBITRATION BY OR AGAINST OTHER USERS OR LITIGATE IN COURT OR ARBITRATE ANY CLAIMS AS A REPRESENTATIVE OR MEMBER OF A CLASS OR IN A PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL CAPACITY.

    If you attempt to bring any legal action against the Company based in any way on the Service you agree that, in the event you do not prevail or the Company does prevail, you will reimburse the Company for any costs and attorneys' fees associated with its defense of the action.

    The Company may assign or delegate these Terms and/or the Company's Privacy Policy, in whole or in part, to any person or entity at any time with or without your consent. You may not assign or delegate any rights or obligations under the Terms or Privacy Policy without the Company's prior written consent, and any unauthorized assignment and delegation by you is void.

  16. YOUR AGREEMENT

    YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THESE TERMS, UNDERSTAND THE TERMS, AND WILL BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS. YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THESE TERMS TOGETHER WITH THE PRIVACY POLICY REPRESENT THE COMPLETE AND EXCLUSIVE STATEMENT OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN US AND THAT IT SUPERSEDES ANY PROPOSAL OR PRIOR AGREEMENT ORAL OR WRITTEN, AND ANY OTHER COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN US RELATING TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS AGREEMENT.

 

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