TransparentMe — User Agreement (Terms of Service)
DRAFT — NOT LEGAL ADVICE — REQUIRES REVIEW BY A LICENSED ATTORNEY IN THE APPLICABLE JURISDICTION BEFORE USE.
This document was prepared as a working draft to accelerate review. It has not been reviewed or approved by a licensed attorney, it is not legal advice, and it must not be published, distributed, or relied upon until a qualified attorney in the applicable jurisdiction(s) has reviewed, corrected, and finalized it. Every field marked To be completed[PLACEHOLDER] must be completed by the founder and/or attorney before use. Bracketed Attorney note[ATTORNEY NOTE] comments flag decisions that require legal judgment and should be removed before publication.
Effective date: To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — effective date] Last updated: To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — last updated date]
1. Introduction and acceptance
1.1 These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — legal entity name] ("TransparentMe," "we," "us," or "our"), the operator of the TransparentMe mobile application (the "App") and the website located at transparentme.app (the "Website," and together with the App, any related features, and the public transparency pages, the "Service").
1.2 By downloading, installing, accessing, or using the Service, or by creating an account, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not access or use the Service.
1.3 If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you are authorized to bind that organization, and "you" refers to both you and that organization.
1.4 These Terms include an important limitation of liability (Section 15), disclaimers of warranty (Section 14), and, if elected, dispute-resolution and arbitration terms (Section 19). Please read them carefully.
2. What TransparentMe is — and what it is not
2.1 What the Service does. TransparentMe is a financial-transparency and record-keeping tool. It helps a person or organization running a fundraiser ("an Organizer") document how donated money was spent by pairing each expense with supporting evidence (for example, a receipt together with a corresponding bank or card record), organizing that evidence into a documented ledger, and — at the Organizer's choice — publishing a redacted public transparency page that donors and the public can open using a fund code.
2.2 What the Service is NOT. This is the most important thing to understand about TransparentMe:
- We are not a payment processor, money transmitter, escrow agent, bank, or fundraising platform. The Service does not collect, hold, transmit, disburse, or process donations or any funds of any kind. All donations are made and handled entirely outside the Service, on third-party platforms (for example, GoFundMe) or by other means that you and your donors arrange independently.
- We are not a party to any donation, fundraiser, or transaction between an Organizer and any donor, vendor, beneficiary, or other person.
- We do not solicit donations, and we do not endorse, sponsor, verify, audit, authenticate, or guarantee any fundraiser, Organizer, expense, receipt, ledger, or public transparency page. The Service records and displays information that Organizers provide and evidence Organizers supply; it does not independently confirm that any of it is true, accurate, complete, lawful, or that donated money was in fact spent as described.
- We do not provide legal, tax, accounting, financial, or auditing advice. Reports, categorizations (including "hard cost" / "soft cost" characterizations), and document formats offered by the Service are tools for your convenience only and are not a substitute for professional advice. You are solely responsible for whether any output meets the requirements of any court, tax authority, fundraising platform, regulator, or other recipient.
2.3 Assisted, not authoritative. The App uses on-device technologies — including Apple's Vision text-recognition (OCR) and Apple Foundation Models (on-device artificial intelligence) — to help read receipts, draft descriptive text, and propose matches between receipts and charges. These technologies are automated aids that can and do make mistakes. They may misread amounts, dates, vendors, or other details, or propose incorrect matches or descriptions. You are responsible for reviewing and confirming the accuracy of every figure, match, description, and record before you rely on it or publish it. See Section 6.
3. Eligibility and age requirements
3.1 You must be at least To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — age minimum, e.g., 18, or the age of majority in your jurisdiction] years old and capable of forming a binding contract to use the Service. The Service is not directed to or intended for children, and we do not knowingly permit account creation by anyone under that age.
3.2 Attorney note[ATTORNEY NOTE: Fundraisers on this platform may relate to, or be conducted for the benefit of, minors or other vulnerable people, and Organizers may upload documents containing the personal information of minors or vulnerable people. Counsel should decide (a) the minimum age to hold an account; (b) what representations and safeguards to require of an Organizer who publishes information concerning a minor or vulnerable person; and (c) any COPPA, state, GDPR-Article-8, or other children's-data obligations that apply. See also Section 8 and the Privacy Policy.]
3.3 You may not use the Service if you are barred from doing so under the laws of your jurisdiction, or if you are located in, or are a resident or national of, any country or on any list subject to sanctions or export restrictions administered by To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — applicable sanctions/export authorities].
4. Accounts and Sign in with Apple
4.1 Authentication. Accounts are created and accessed using Sign in with Apple, both in the App and on the Website. We do not maintain a separate password for your account. Your ability to sign in depends on your Apple ID and on Apple's services, which are governed by Apple's own terms and privacy policy.
4.2 Your responsibility for your account. You are responsible for maintaining the security of the Apple ID and device you use to access the Service, and for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us promptly at To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — contact/security email] if you believe your account has been accessed without authorization.
4.3 Apple private-relay email. If you choose Apple's private email-relay feature, we will receive a relay address rather than your personal email. You are responsible for keeping a working means of contact.
4.4 One person, accurate information. You agree to provide accurate information where the Service asks for it and to keep it current. You may not impersonate any person or misrepresent your identity or affiliation.
5. Description of the Service and how data is stored
5.1 On-device processing and your iCloud storage. The App is designed so that your receipts, charge records, ledger events, and other fund data are processed on your device and stored in your own Apple iCloud / CloudKit account. We do not operate a general-purpose server that holds a copy of your private fund data for the core App experience. Sync between your devices, and the availability and security of your iCloud storage, are provided by Apple and governed by Apple's terms.
5.2 The Website and public transparency pages. The Website is hosted on Vercel. Where the Service offers web features — for example, a public transparency page, or (where available) web upload and publishing — content that you choose to publish or upload through the Website may be stored using Vercel's hosting and storage services (including Vercel Blob storage). Content you choose to publish to a public transparency page is, by design, publicly accessible to anyone who has or can find the fund code or link. See Section 9 and the Privacy Policy.
5.3 Append-only records. The Service is designed as an append-only evidentiary record: entries and events are added over time and are preserved to maintain the integrity of the record, rather than being silently overwritten or erased. Corrections are made by adding new entries, and closing a fund is a reversible "archive" action rather than a deletion. This design serves the Service's core purpose of trustworthy record-keeping. It also affects how deletion and correction requests can be honored — see Section 11 and the Privacy Policy.
5.4 Changes to features. The Service is under active development. We may add, change, suspend, or remove features at any time. Some features described in the App, on the Website, or in our materials may be planned, in beta, or unavailable in your region.
6. Organizer responsibilities
If you use the Service to document a fundraiser, you are an "Organizer," and you accept the following responsibilities. These are central to the fairness and legality of the Service.
6.1 Accuracy of the ledger. You are solely responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and honesty of every amount, date, vendor, category, description, payment method, allocation, payback, and other entry in your fund — whether it was typed by you, entered manually, or read or suggested by the App's automated tools. You must review automated readings, matches, and drafted descriptions and correct them before you rely on or publish them. TransparentMe does not verify or guarantee any of this.
6.2 Right to upload and to publish. You represent and warrant that, for every image, document, receipt, screenshot, and other content you upload, store, or publish through the Service (your "User Content"), you either own it or have all rights, licenses, consents, and permissions necessary to upload it, to store it, and — for anything you choose to publish — to publish it and display it to the public. This includes obtaining any consent required from third parties whose personal information appears in your User Content (for example, a vendor, an attorney, a family member, a beneficiary, a donor, or any other individual).
6.3 Obligation to redact third-party and sensitive information. Your User Content may contain sensitive financial and personal information — yours and other people's (for example, full card or account numbers, names, addresses, contact details, health or legal details, or information about minors or vulnerable people).
- The Service provides tools to help redact certain content on shared and published copies, including automatic redaction of certain patterns and anonymization of payment-method identities (for example, showing "Credit Card A" instead of an issuer name and card digits) on the public transparency page and donor updates.
- These tools are aids, not guarantees. Automated redaction can miss content, misplace a redaction, or fail to detect sensitive information — for example, information contained in an image only as a logo or graphic, handwriting, or an unusual format. Redaction generally applies to shared and published copies; the full audit report and originals are, by design, unredacted.
- You remain solely responsible for reviewing every item before you publish or share it and for ensuring that anything made public is appropriately redacted and lawful to disclose. Do not publish or share content containing another person's sensitive information unless you have the right to do so and have appropriately redacted what should not be public.
6.4 Lawful fundraising and lawful use. You represent and warrant that your fundraiser and your use of the Service comply with all applicable laws and with the rules of any platform (such as GoFundMe) on which you raise or receive funds. You are responsible for any registration, disclosure, tax, charitable-solicitation, consumer-protection, or other legal requirements that apply to your fundraiser. You may not use the Service in connection with any fraudulent, deceptive, illegal, or misleading fundraiser, or to create a false impression of how money was raised or spent.
6.5 No reliance created against us. You will not represent that TransparentMe has verified, audited, endorsed, or guaranteed your fund, your records, or your transparency page. The Service's presence does not mean we have checked anything.
6.6 Your indemnity. Your responsibilities in this Section are backed by the indemnity in Section 16.
7. Donors and viewers of transparency pages
7.1 Informational only. If you open or view a public transparency page, a donor update, or a report, you understand that it is information published by an Organizer, not by TransparentMe. We do not create, verify, audit, endorse, or guarantee its contents, and it may be incomplete, inaccurate, out of date, or redacted.
7.2 No donation handling. TransparentMe does not collect, process, or transmit donations. Any decision to donate, and any donation you make, is between you and the Organizer or the third-party fundraising platform you use, at your own risk. Do not treat a transparency page as verification that any donation was or will be used in any particular way.
7.3 No professional advice; do your own diligence. Nothing on a transparency page or in a report is legal, tax, financial, or accounting advice. You are responsible for your own decisions.
8. Sensitive contexts, vulnerable people, and minors
8.1 Fundraisers may involve sensitive situations and may concern or benefit vulnerable people, including minors. If you are an Organizer publishing information that concerns or identifies another person — especially a minor or a vulnerable person — you are responsible for having the legal right and any necessary consent to do so, for disclosing only what is appropriate and lawful, and for redacting what should not be public.
8.2 We may, but are not obligated to, remove or restrict content that we believe, in our discretion, exposes a minor or vulnerable person to harm or violates these Terms or applicable law.
8.3 Attorney note[ATTORNEY NOTE: Counsel should tailor this section to the jurisdictions of operation and consider mandatory-reporting, child-protection, and vulnerable-adult frameworks, as well as the platform's exposure when Organizers publish information about identifiable third parties, including minors.]
9. Public content and the transparency page
9.1 Public means public. When you publish a transparency page, a donor update, or a share link, or otherwise make content available through a fund code, you are choosing to make that content available to the public. Anyone who obtains the fund code or link may be able to view, save, copy, screenshot, cache, index, or redistribute the published content, and we cannot control or retrieve what others do with it once it is public.
9.2 Redaction applies to shared copies. As described in Section 6.3, redaction and payment-method anonymization are applied to the copies you choose to share or publish; the underlying originals and the full audit report are unredacted and remain under your control. You decide what publishes.
9.3 Removal is not guaranteed to be complete. If you unpublish content, we can stop displaying it going forward through the Service, but we cannot guarantee removal of copies, caches, screenshots, or indexes that others made while it was public.
10. Acceptable use
You agree that you will not, and will not attempt to, and will not permit anyone to:
10.1 use the Service for any unlawful, fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading purpose, including to misrepresent how funds were raised or spent;
10.2 upload or publish content that you do not have the right to upload or publish, that infringes any intellectual-property, privacy, or publicity right, or that discloses another person's personal or sensitive information without the right to do so;
10.3 upload or publish content that is defamatory, harassing, threatening, obscene, hateful, or that exploits or endangers a minor or vulnerable person;
10.4 upload malicious code, or interfere with, disrupt, probe, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, other users' data, Apple's or Vercel's systems, or any related network or account;
10.5 reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code from the Service, except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by applicable law;
10.6 scrape, harvest, or systematically collect data from the Service or from transparency pages except as expressly permitted;
10.7 misrepresent your identity or affiliation, or use the Service to impersonate any person or entity; or
10.8 use the Service in violation of the rules of any fundraising platform or of any applicable law, sanction, or export control.
We may investigate and take appropriate action, including removing content and suspending or terminating accounts, for any actual or suspected violation.
11. Your content, corrections, deletion, and our license
11.1 You own your content. As between you and us, you retain all rights you have in your User Content. These Terms do not transfer ownership of your User Content to us.
11.2 License to operate the Service. You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, process, transmit, adapt (for example, to generate thumbnails, redacted copies, and reports), and display your User Content solely to the extent necessary to provide, maintain, secure, and improve the Service for you and to display the content you choose to publish. This license is limited to operating the Service; it does not permit us to sell your content or to use it for unrelated purposes. It ends when your User Content is removed from the Service, except (a) for content you published publicly, to the extent copies remain outside our control, and (b) for records we are required or permitted to retain by law or for the integrity of the evidentiary record.
11.3 Corrections and the append-only record. Because the Service is an append-only evidentiary record (Section 5.3), corrections are generally made by adding new entries rather than by erasing prior ones, so that the integrity and history of the record are preserved. This is a deliberate feature of a transparency tool.
11.4 Deletion. You may archive a fund and may request deletion of your data. Please understand the tension this creates: the value of a transparency and evidence tool depends on records not being quietly altered or destroyed, and some records may need to be retained to answer later inquiries (for example, from a court, a tax authority, or a fundraising platform) or to comply with law. We will handle deletion and export requests as described in the Privacy Policy. Because your core fund data is stored in your own iCloud/CloudKit account, much of it is within your own control, and deleting the App or your iCloud data is largely within your power; content you published publicly may persist in copies outside our control. Attorney note[ATTORNEY NOTE: The interaction between (a) statutory deletion/erasure rights (e.g., GDPR Article 17, CCPA/CPRA) and (b) an append-only evidentiary record and retention needs must be resolved by counsel and reflected consistently here and in the Privacy Policy.]
12. Intellectual property in the Service
12.1 The Service, including the App, the Website, and all software, designs, text, graphics, logos, and other materials we provide (excluding User Content and third-party materials), is owned by TransparentMe or its licensors and is protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Service for its intended purpose, subject to these Terms.
12.2 "TransparentMe," our logos, and our product names are our trademarks. You may not use them without our prior written permission, except to accurately refer to the Service.
12.3 Apple and Vercel and other third-party names are the property of their respective owners; nothing here grants you rights in them.
12.4 Feedback you give us may be used by us without restriction or obligation to you.
13. Third-party services and platforms
13.1 The Service relies on and interoperates with third parties, including Apple (Sign in with Apple, iCloud/CloudKit) and Vercel (Website hosting and storage), and may reference third-party fundraising platforms such as GoFundMe. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies, and we are not responsible for them. Their availability, changes, or failures may affect the Service.
13.2 The App is distributed through the Apple App Store. Your use of the App is also subject to Apple's applicable terms, and the Apple-required end-user license terms in Schedule A apply.
14. Disclaimers of warranty
14.1 THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. We specifically disclaim implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement, and any warranties arising from course of dealing or usage of trade.
14.2 Without limiting the foregoing, we do not warrant that: the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free; that automated readings, matches, redactions, categorizations, or generated descriptions and reports will be accurate or complete; that any record, transparency page, or report will satisfy the requirements of any court, tax authority, regulator, fundraising platform, or other recipient; or that any information published by an Organizer is true, accurate, or lawful.
14.3 You are responsible for maintaining your own copies and backups of important records (for example, by exporting a full archive), and for verifying accuracy before relying on any output.
14.4 Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above may not apply to you.
15. Limitation of liability
15.1 TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, TransparentMe AND ITS OWNERS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AND SUPPLIERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR REPUTATION, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
15.2 Without limiting Section 15.1, we are not liable for: (a) the accuracy, completeness, or lawfulness of any Organizer's records, transparency page, donations, or fundraiser; (b) any failure of automated reading, matching, redaction, or generation, including any exposure of information through incomplete or failed redaction; (c) any disclosure that results from your choice to publish content; (d) any act or omission of Apple, Vercel, a fundraising platform, a donor, a vendor, or any other third party; or (e) any loss of data stored in your iCloud/CloudKit account or elsewhere outside our systems.
15.3 TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (a) THE TOTAL AMOUNTS YOU PAID US FOR THE SERVICE IN THE To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — e.g., TWELVE (12)] MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (b) To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — e.g., USD $100].
15.4 These limitations are a fundamental basis of the bargain and apply even if a limited remedy fails of its essential purpose. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you; in that case our liability is limited to the greatest extent permitted by law.
16. Indemnification
16.1 To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless TransparentMe and its owners, officers, employees, and contractors from and against any claims, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your User Content and anything you upload, store, share, or publish; (b) your fundraiser and your use of the Service; (c) your violation of these Terms or of any law or third-party right, including any intellectual-property, privacy, publicity, or data-protection right; (d) your failure to obtain a necessary consent or right, or to appropriately redact, before uploading or publishing; and (e) any dispute between you and a donor, vendor, beneficiary, platform, or other third party.
16.2 We may assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which case you will cooperate with us.
17. Termination
17.1 You may stop using the Service at any time and may delete the App and your data as described in Section 11 and the Privacy Policy.
17.2 We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, or remove content, at any time, with or without notice, if we believe you have violated these Terms or applicable law, if required to protect the Service, other users, or third parties, or for other legitimate operational or legal reasons.
17.3 Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including Sections 2, 6, 11.2–11.4, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, and 20.
18. Changes to these Terms
18.1 We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will take reasonable steps to notify you (for example, by updating the "Last updated" date and, where appropriate, providing an in-app or on-site notice). Changes are effective when posted unless stated otherwise. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree, stop using the Service.
19. Governing law and dispute resolution
19.1 Governing law. These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service are governed by the laws of To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — governing law jurisdiction], without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, except to the extent mandatory consumer-protection laws of your place of residence apply.
19.2 Venue. Subject to Section 19.3, you and we agree to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts located in To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — venue] for any dispute not subject to arbitration.
19.3 Arbitration / class-action waiver (optional — to be decided). To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — arbitration election: include or omit]. Attorney note[ATTORNEY NOTE: If arbitration and/or a class-action waiver are desired, counsel must draft an enforceable clause appropriate to the chosen jurisdiction(s), including any consumer-arbitration, opt-out, mass-arbitration, and severability requirements, and confirm enforceability against consumers and in the EU/UK where such waivers may be unenforceable.]
19.4 Informal resolution first. Before bringing a formal dispute, you agree to contact us at To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — contact email] and attempt in good faith to resolve it informally for at least To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — e.g., 30] days.
19.5 Time limit. To the extent permitted by law, any claim must be brought within To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — e.g., one (1) year] after it arises, or it is permanently barred.
20. General
20.1 Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service and supersede prior agreements on the subject.
20.2 Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, it will be limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in effect.
20.3 No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver.
20.4 Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
20.5 No third-party beneficiaries, except that Apple is an intended third-party beneficiary of Schedule A as stated there.
20.6 Force majeure. We are not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
20.7 Notices and contact. Questions or notices under these Terms may be sent to To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — contact email] or To be completed[PLACEHOLDER — business mailing address].
Schedule A — Apple App Store additional terms (EULA)
This Schedule applies to your use of the App obtained through the Apple App Store. In the event of a conflict between this Schedule and the rest of these Terms with respect to the App, this Schedule controls for App Store distribution.
A.1 These Terms are between you and TransparentMe only, not with Apple. Apple is not responsible for the App or its content.
A.2 License scope. Your license to use the App is a non-transferable license to use it on Apple-branded devices you own or control, as permitted by the App Store Terms of Service, except that the App may be accessed by other accounts via Family Sharing where enabled.
A.3 Maintenance and support. TransparentMe, not Apple, is solely responsible for any maintenance and support for the App. Apple has no obligation to furnish any support.
A.4 Warranty. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no warranty obligation for the App. If the App fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple may refund the purchase price (if any); Apple has no other warranty obligation, and any other claims are TransparentMe's responsibility.
A.5 Product claims. TransparentMe, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claims relating to the App, including product-liability, legal-or-regulatory-compliance, and consumer-protection claims, to the extent not attributable to Apple.
A.6 Intellectual-property claims. TransparentMe, not Apple, is responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of any third-party claim that the App infringes intellectual-property rights.
A.7 Legal compliance. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as "terrorist supporting," and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
A.8 Third-party beneficiary. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms as they relate to the App and may enforce them against you.
End of Terms of Service draft. Remove all Attorney note[ATTORNEY NOTE] comments and complete all To be completed[PLACEHOLDER] fields before publication. Do not publish without review by a licensed attorney in the applicable jurisdiction.