Terms and Conditions for Organisations and Projects without tax advantages

1. Scope

The creation of organisations and projects which are not recognised as being tax-privileged within the meaning of German tax law on the platform betterplace.org ceased on 12.09.2016. The collection of donations in the non-tax-privileged area also ceased on 1.11.2016.

Organisations and projects already on the platform are still displayed on the betterplace.org platform in accordance with these Terms and Conditions, for transparency reasons.

Individual opportunities to use the platform in accordance with these Terms and Conditions have been maintained in the non-tax-privileged area for organisations and projects which already exist on the platform. However, donations are not collected and no new organisations and projects are created under any circumstances.

The platform betterplace.org is operated by gut.org gemeinnützige AG (gut.org gAG, Schlesische Strasse 26, D-10997 Berlin).

Where betterplace.org is mentioned as a uniform term below, this involves a legal relationship with gut.org gAG as operator of the platform.

The term “donation” is to be understood independently of the tax status of the projects and their sponsoring organisations.

2. Role of betterplace.org

betterplace.org only provides information about projects, organisations and fund-raising campaigns already on the platform and ends them in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

3. Changes to the project description and project updates for projects already on the platform

3.1. Changes to the project description – The project representative is still able to make changes to the product description, even after it is no longer possible for them to raise funds on betterplace.org. Changes to the project description are to be clearly identified as such and should provide the user with a realistic insight into the status of the project implementation.

3.2. Project updates – The project representative ensures that regular and timely project updates on betterplace.org provide accurate and reliable information about the progress and performance of the listed project and the use of funds. Project updates should in particular include details of all transactions, purchases/expenses, any delays or deviations from the project plan. Project updates should be provided in the form of blog posts with photos, linked documents and/or videos on the project page. The project representative is still able to post updates on the betterplace.org platform, even after it is no longer possible for them to raise funds on betterplace.org, in order to inform the user about alternative ways to donate or to continue to provide accurate information about the progress and fulfilment of the project.

4. Responsibility of organisations already on the platform

4.1. Responsible agent – The responsible agent of an organisation already on the platform shall remain authorised to clarify matters relating to the organisation on betterplace.org with binding effect, and to submit and receive the required statements to and from betterplace.org until notified otherwise.

4.2. Proof of the use of funds – For all organisations already on the platform and – in the case of an individual project which has already ended – for each project representative, the organisation or project representative is required to provide betterplace.org with evidence of the charitable use of the donations collected within the meaning of the German Tax Code (AO) by 01.11.2016 and paid out by 15.12.2016.

Upon request by betterplace.org, the organisation or project representative shall promptly provide documents allowing betterplace.org to verify the correct use of the funds.

5. Project representative for projects already posted on the platform

5.1. Project representative – the project representative for projects already posted on the platform shall guarantee and ensure that the information about the existing project and participants are relevant, and assumes responsibility for posting project updates. Any changes to the project representative are to be reported immediately. The previous project representative will remain visible on the platform until a new project representative is named and registered. Until the appointment/registration of a new project representative, the organisation representative (4.1.) will also be responsible for the project.

5.2. Individual projects – For projects already on the platform which have no connection to an organisation (“individual projects”), the registered user is both the project manager and project representative.

6. Appearance on the platform

The organisation profiles and project pages already available on the platform will remain the same. Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Terms and Conditions for Users and Supporters (tax deductible) apply accordingly to content posted by an organisation or project representative on betterplace.org. betterplace.org is in particular entitled to remove content which contravenes the conditions, and the organisation or project representative is in particular obliged to ensure that their conduct and attributable content do not violate statutory provisions, public morality or rights of third parties notices (e.g. trademark, name, copyright, data protection and youth protection law) before uploading content; they in particular also undertake to to obtain the legally required permission of the photographer or depicted individuals before uploading text, images or other content, even if this involves their own responsible individuals or representatives; the organisation shall release betterplace.org from any third party claims that result from a breach of these obligations. All forms of product advertising and approaching individual users for the purpose of selling products or referring to cooperation with companies or other forms of advertising for companies are prohibited.

7. Use of donations

Donations requested for payment up to 15.12.2016 can be used only in accordance with the purpose stated in the project description. Minor deviations, for example with regard to the quality or quantity of items to be purchased or small price differences are allowed, provided they are immediately and transparently added to the project updates. Differences of less than ten percent are generally considered to be minor deviations. Payments can only be made for specific requirements. Donations made directly to the project or the sponsoring organisation must be allocated for a specific purpose by the project representative before they are paid out.

8. Cancellation of a project

8.1. Cancellation of a donations project by the project representative – If it is no longer possible to achieve the project target as specified in the project description or if there is a serious risk, the project manager is required to cancel the project by 15.12.2016 and provide a corresponding notification on the platform. All previously collected and as yet unpaid donations over EUR 20.00 will be paid back to the supporters as long as they can be contacted with reasonable effort. All donations under EUR 20.00 will be allocated to betterplace.org and will be used to pursue its statutory purposes.

If no donations have been raised by the project cancellation date, the project representative can delete the project.

8.2. Cancellation of a donation project by betterplace.org – betterplace.org is entitled to cancel a project due to a serious breach of these conditions.

In this case, all previously collected and as yet unpaid donations over EUR 20.00 will be paid back to the supporters as long as they can be contacted with reasonable effort. All donations under EUR 20.00 will be allocated to betterplace.org and will be used to pursue its statutory purposes.

8.3. In the following cases, betterplace.org has a claim for payment against the project managers or collectively against the the project representatives and any recipients of donations according to the amount already paid out:

1. Project termination by the project representative or betterplace.org.
2. Serious breach of the listing conditions within the meaning of paragraph 9.2.
3. Supporter has reclaimed and recovered the donated amount from their bank.

The payment is to be made to the same account, for the benefit of the same account holder, from which the payment was made.

8.4. The following in particular apply as serious breaches of the conditions for listing:

1. Inaccurate information about participating individuals or significant features of the project
2. Severe or continuing breach of the obligation to provide information about project developments
3. Use of donations for other purposes

8.5. Other consequences under criminal or civil law remain unaffected.

9. Transparency, termination, suspension of functionalities

9.1. betterplace.org is entitled to suspend or terminate the betterplace.org functionalities still available to the organisation or project representative with immediate effect. For the blocking of content on betterplace.org by betterplace.org, paragraph 6 of the Terms and Conditions for Users and Supporters (tax deductible) shall also apply accordingly with regard to the project descriptions and updates.

9.2. All projects and organisations, in addition to their listed content, shall also remain visible on the platform following the termination/suspension, for transparency reasons, so that the previous projects and the use of donations can be tracked.

10. Changes to Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions are valid from November 2016.

We reserve the right to make changes to our Terms and Conditions at any time without restriction, in particular in order to adapt them to legislative or technical changes. The updates will be posted on our website 30 days before they take effect. Registered users are informed about upcoming changes at the same time by email. We therefore ask you to regularly refer to the latest version on our website.

For comments or questions about the Terms and Conditions of betterplace.org, please contact our Support Team at any time:

gut.org gemeinnützige AG
– Projects & Organisations –
Schlesische Strasse 26
D-10997 Berlin
support@betterplace.org