Terms and Conditions applying to www.charityskills.org

Preamble:  www.charityskills.org carries the work of many contributors including charities and volunteers who have given their time pro bono.  We must be certain that the site is run in a responsible and orderly manner and that Sector Services, as owner of www.charityskills.org and all our contributors and sponsors are protected against claim or litigation.  Therefore please read these terms and conditions very carefully as they form the basis on which you agree to use the site and the benefits it confers.

A.  Disclaimer, Copyright and Privacy Policy

1.  The CharitySkills website is owned and published by Sector Services, a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, registration number 04106660. This website is published in England and is intended for distribution to and use by charities and voluntary sector organisations in England and Wales.

2.  The provisions relating to Copyright and Privacy Policy published on this site through separate links and which apply to members and non-members alike each form an integral part of these terms and conditions. 

3.   Information available through the site (other than through the Helplines) is generic guidance only. It is not and should not be construed as specific advice for individual subscribers. If you treat it as such and act, or fail to act, you do so at your own risk. You agree to use the telephone Helplines for individual advice and where a Helpline is not available or is insufficient for your purpose, we recommend that you take independent professional advice.

4.  While we try to ensure that the information provided is updated regularly, we cannot guarantee that at any given moment it is up-to-date. Nor do we warrant that the information provided is complete or sufficient or fit for any purpose and it is not intended to replace professional advice in relation to specific situations. Sector Services, the sponsors and contributors make the information available without warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in or derived from or through this website.

5.  Sector Services, our sponsors and contributors hereby each disclaim and exclude to the fullest extent permitted by law all liability for any loss or damage of any kind whatsoever including but not limited to any indirect, special, consequential or secondary loss or damage or any loss of profit, time, contracts or goodwill or anticipated savings incurred by you howsoever arising in connection with your use of the site.

6.  A link to a service or site outside this site is not an endorsement of the service or site, its content or sponsoring organisation.

7.  There are inherent risks in the use of any software and information found on the internet or world wide web and you acknowledge that you understand these risks before using any or these services. The use of this website is at your own risk and we will not be liable for any damages or injuries arising out of computer virus or other destructive or disruptive material or any failure of hardware or software or theft or damage to your own material or systems consequent on your accessing of this site whether caused by our negligence or not.
 

8.  The information on CharitySkills.org is for general purposes and guidance only and does not purport to constitute legal or professional advice.  All information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.

B.  Members and Password Holders

1.  You represent and warrant that (i) you are an organisation domiciled in England and Wales;  (ii) you will not provide any false or misleading information as part of any application for a password, training course or otherwise; (iii) any material provided to Sector Services or placed on the site by you or your Staff will not infringe the rights of any third party (including but not limited to any copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights); and (iv) any such material will not be inappropriate or contain or transmit any viruses, worms or other such programmes or code of a disruptive or destructive nature.

2.   Sector Services may determine in its absolute discretion withdraw permission for any person to enter this site and cancel any password without notice.

3.   Sector Services may determine in its absolute discretion whether an applicant or member falls within the categories of membership identified on the site from time to time.  We may refuse membership or refuse to renew membership or may terminate membership without compensation or refund if Sector Services in its unfettered discretion determines that the applicant or subscriber does not fall within the categories of membership or acts in a manner inconsistent with the objects or ethos of the CharitySkills project.  In particular, you should note that membership is only open to organisations domiciled in England and Wales.

4.   This contract and any amendments or changes to it from time to time, whether notified to you or not, commences when passwords are issued to you.  Unless renewed (or terminated by you, if sooner), your membership ends when Sector Services notifies you in writing that your membership has ended.

5.  You undertake to pay the annual membership fee (unless waived) prevailing from time to time.  You accept that Sector Services in its unfettered discretion may lower membership fees, or give free membership, for any existing or future members without refund or other compensation to you.

6.   All members, including umbrella organisations and those of their member organisations who become members, are regarded as separate and equal.  For this reason, in the event of a dispute between any two or more members and/or any member of an umbrella organisation, the website nor the Helplines may be used in furtherance of the dispute by any party and, at its option, Sector Services may cancel both memberships upon refund on the appropriate membership fee.

C.  Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold Sector Services, its employees, sponsors and contributors harmless from and against any costs, claims, losses and damages (including legal fees) incurred by or awarded against Sector Services, its employees, sponsors and contributors as a result, direct or indirect, of any breach by you of these terms and conditions.

D.   Your Use of the Services

1.  Sector Services grants members a non-exclusive, restricted licence to use the CharitySkills website and any services stemming therefrom including the Forums  (‘the Services’) and the Helplines for the benefit of their organisation only.  For the avoidance of doubt, it is agreed that the term ‘benefit’ is to be construed narrowly and excludes the use of the Services, Helplines or other information and materials on the site to inform, advise or guide third parties who are not part of your organisation whether for profit or otherwise. Individuals in your organisation may not use the Services or Helplines for their own private purposes.  You understand and accept that information and materials derived from the site, the Services and the Helplines are relevant only to England and Wales.

2.  You must take all reasonable precautions to ensure that no-one (including you) uses the Services (including the Forums) or the Helplines:

a.  to send, knowingly receive, upload, download or use any material which is offensive, abusive, indecent, defamatory, obscene or menacing, or in breach of copyright, confidence, privacy or any other rights;

b.  to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety;

c.  to post advertising or promotional material on any Forum; or

d.  in a way that does not comply with these terms and conditions or any instructions that we have given or may from time to time give you.

3.  Passwords are issued to named individuals who must be of or over the age of majority and the site may only be accessed by those individuals.  You agree to keep the passwords confidential and to ensure that the named individuals in your organisation keep the passwords confidential and to ensure that there is no unauthorised use of the passwords.  You agree to indemnify Sector Services against all claims, loss and damages resulting from unauthorised use of the passwords issued to you or your organisation.  If you think that any password has become known by someone not authorised to use it, or if any password is being or is likely to be used in an unauthorised way, you undertake to inform Sector Services immediately.

4.  You agree to accept, observe and be bound by the Protocol and Conditions of participation in any Forum and the terms and conditions of the Helplines as such may be published on this website or notified to you from time to time.

5.  You undertake to procure that your Trustees, members of staff, volunteers, associates and other supporters whether paid or unpaid will observe and be bound by these Terms and Conditions and by the Protocol and Conditions of participation in any Forum and the terms and conditions of the Helplines and  websites as such may be published on this website from time to time.

E.  Changes and Withdrawal of Services

1.  Sector Services will take all reasonable steps to maintain the website in operational use so far as is reasonably practicable. You acknowledge that internet based systems are not fault free and cannot be run without periods when the site cannot be accessed (whether for repair maintenance, upgrading or other purpose).  Sector Services therefore does not warrant that your access to the website will be uninterrupted or free of error.

2.  Sector Services will use all reasonable efforts to ensure that commercial organisations donate and continue to donate time and intellectual property the site. However, you accept that the Services and the Helplines or any of them may be withdrawn or modified at any time. 

3.   Sector Services reserves the right to, at any time and without notice, enhance, modify, alter, suspend or permanently discontinue all or any part of the Services and Helplines and to restrict or prohibit your access to them.  You agree that Sector Services shall not be liable to you for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the website or the Services or Helplines.

F.  Internet Services

1.    The foregoing clauses E 1 and 2 apply mutatis mutandis to any website supplied by Sector Services to your organisation. 

2.  CharitySkills will take all reasonable steps to maintain the website(s) in operational use but you acknowledge that all internet based systems are not fault free and cannot be run without periods when the site cannot be accessed.  In particular, any website supplied by Sector Services used for the purposes of raising funds, legacies or other contributions may from time to time not function properly or be off-line for planned maintenance or other cause, inadvertent or not.  Sector Services is under no obligation to notify you to that your site will be off-line and is not responsible for any loss of expected income or earnings during the period that it is not operating properly or is off-line or as a consequence of its not operating properly or being off-line.

3.  With regard to websites supplied by Sector Services to you or your organisation, you undertake not to permit use of part of your website by another organisation, whether for payment or not, and to ensure that such website or websites is not used:

a.  to send, knowingly receive, upload, download or use any material which is offensive, abusive, indecent, defamatory, obscene or menacing, or in breach of copyright, confidence, privacy or any other rights;

b.  to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety;

c.  to post advertising or promotional material on any Forum; or

d.  in a way that does not comply with any instructions that we have given or may from time to time give you.

4.   You acknowledge that websites supplied by Sector Services are based on shared applications and that you are merely the licencee for a limited period of the technology that has permitted the creation of your website.  No warranty is given for fitness of purpose or use.  Sector Services is at liberty from time to time without consulting you and without obligation to compensate you for loss to modify or discontinue any aspect of the shared technology howsoever this may affect your website or its continuance. You also agree that if we carry out any bespoke development work for you, this development work is available to all present and future members of CharitySkills without charge by you or profit to you.

5.  Internet services provided by Sector Services, including the provision of websites, may be terminated by you or by Sector Services on one month’s written notice.  They may also be terminated at any time by Charity Skills without notice if in our sole opinion you are in breach of any of these terms and conditions.  If the services are terminated on notice, CharitySkills will pay a refund of prepaid hosting fees, calculated on a pro rata basis.  For the avoidance of doubt,  Sector Services is under no obligation to privde you with alternative internet facilities or to pay for the supply by a third party or to pay any compensation  Internet services are supplied to you subject to your continuing membership of www.charityskills.org and will terminate forthwith if your membership is terminated for any reason whatsoever.

6.  CharitySkills reserves the right to increase its hosting fees from time to time, but will endeavour to keep any such increases to a minimum and will give you three months prior notice of such increases.  You understand that because you are sharing applications, your site cannot be hosted other than through us.

7.  CharitySkills will take all reasonable steps to ensure the security of the website(s). However, there are inherent risks in the use of any software and information found on the internet or world wide web and you acknowledge that you understand these risks before using any of these services. The use of the website(s) is at your own risk and CharitySkills will not be liable for any losses, damages or injuries arising out of computer virus or other destructive or disruptive material or any failure of hardware or software or theft or damage to your own material or systems or to the material or systems of any third party consequent on your use of the site.

6.  You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for the use and operation of your site(s), for compliance with all relevant legislation and for the materials posted on your site(s) and that you agree to indemnify us against all loss, damage and expense (including legal expenses) in the event of claim by any third party arising out of your use or operation of your site(s).

G.  Members Benefits

1.  Sector Services may from time to time enter into agreements for the benefit of the membership to supply goods and services to members at discounted rates or on advantageous conditions.  While Sector Services will take reasonable care over the selection of such suppliers, Sector Services gives no warranties express or implied as to the suppliers, goods or services.   Sector Services is not liable for any acts or omissions of such suppliers or for defects or lack of fitness for purpose of such goods or services.

I.  Assignment

1.  You may not assign or otherwise transfer this contract or any part thereof and, for the avoidance of doubt, you may not assign or sub-licence or lend or share the use of any password.

J.  Survival of clauses

1.  Clauses A 1 and 2 (Disclaimers), B1 (Indemnity), D5 (procuring compliance by your Trustees etc) and F  (Internet Services) survive the termination of this contract.

K.  Notice 

1.  Any notice given pursuant to these terms and conditions may be delivered by hand or by first class mail to your registered office and shall be deemed to have been delivered 2 days after posting. Electronic mail shall be deemed to have been delivered when sent.

L.  Delay

1.   Any delay by Sector Services in exercising its rights under these terms and conditions or under any other term or protocol from time to time published on this site shall not be construed as a waiver of any breach by you and shall not be construed as an acceptance of any such breach

M.  Conflicting Terms

1.  If there is any conflict between these Terms and Conditions and any other specific terms of use (such as the protocol and terms of participation in On-line Clinics and Discussion Forums, the terms for your free web presence, use of the Helplines or document specific disclaimers) then the latter shall prevail over these Terms and Conditions to the extent that there is an inconsistency.

N.   Governing Law

1.  You agree that access to this site or use of the Services will be deemed to have occurred entirely at our principal office in London, England and that these terms and conditions shall be subject to English Law and the parties agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

Terms and Conditions as at 29^th March, 2004