Terms of Service

1. Who can use Karma Is Real

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use the Service. You can't use it if the law where you live doesn't allow it, or if we've closed your account before. The information you give us when you sign up must be accurate.

2. Not an emergency or safety service

Karma Is Real is a community map, not an emergency or safety service. We don't monitor the app and can't send help. Information may be incomplete or out of date.

If you or someone else is in danger, call 911 or your local emergency number. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988 or contact a local crisis line.

• We don't monitor the app or anything sent through it, in real time or otherwise.
• We can't send police, fire, medical, or any other help.
• Karma Is Real is not responsible for responding to anyone in distress, and nobody is guaranteed to see or respond to anything you send.
• Don't use the Service to ask for emergency help.

“Stay Safe” places, alerts, and city ratings are general information, not safety advice. We don't check that a place is open, safe, staffed, or able to help you.

3. Information on the map

Places, alerts, local news, nonprofit listings, and city ratings come from many sources, including public data feeds (such as disaster and weather alerts), map and place providers, nonprofits, and other people. We don't guarantee that any of it is accurate, complete, or up to date, and it can change without notice. Ratings and scores are rough estimates, not assessments of how safe or healthy a place is.

Use your own judgment, and don't rely on the Service for decisions about your safety, health, or property.

4. Your account

Sign-in is handled by our authentication provider. You're responsible for your account and for keeping your login details secure, and for what happens under your account. Tell us through our contact form if you think someone else has used it. We may suspend or close accounts that misuse the Service or break these Terms.

5. What you send us

You can send things through the Service, such as a volunteer application (which we pass to the organization you apply to), a claim to manage a nonprofit's profile, or a message through our contact form (“your content”). You keep ownership of your content, and you give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to store, use, and share it as needed to run the Service, for example by sending your application to the organization. The same applies to anything you post if we add ways to post later.

You confirm that your content is accurate as far as you know, that you have the right to share it, and, if you claim a nonprofit's profile, that you're authorized to act for that organization. We may remove or decline any content at any time. We don't review everything people send, and we aren't responsible for other people's content.

6. Rules

When you use the Service, don't:

• post false or misleading reports, or fake emergencies or alerts;
• harass, threaten, or intimidate anyone, or share someone's private information without permission;
• use the Service to stalk, track, or locate a person;
• pretend to be someone else, or misrepresent who you're connected with;
• post anything illegal, hateful, sexually explicit, or that infringes others' rights;
• scrape, bulk-download, copy, or resell the Service or its data, or use bots or other automated means without our written permission;
• try to break, overload, probe, or get around the security of the Service, or reverse engineer it;
• break any law.

7. Nonprofits, places, and volunteering

Nonprofits, volunteer opportunities, and other places listed on the Service are independent. We don't vet, endorse, supervise, or employ them, and we aren't a party to anything you arrange with them. Visiting a place, volunteering, or meeting anyone is at your own risk. Take care when meeting people you don't know, and meet in public places.

8. Directions and other services

Directions open in Google Maps or Apple Maps, which have their own terms; check the route and conditions yourself. The Service also uses and links to other services, such as our sign-in and map providers and organizations' own websites. Their terms and privacy practices apply to them, and we aren't responsible for them.

9. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect and how we use it. By using the Service, you agree to it as well.

10. Changes to the Service

The Service is free. We may add, change, pause, or stop any part of it at any time, with or without notice. It may sometimes be unavailable or contain errors.

11. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE AND EVERYTHING ON IT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, KARMA IS REAL DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ACCURACY, AND ANY WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE SAFE, SECURE, UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR THAT ANYONE WILL RESPOND TO YOU.

12. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, KARMA IS REAL AND ITS FOUNDERS, TEAM MEMBERS, VOLUNTEERS, AND PARTNERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, OR FOR ANY INJURY, LOSS, OR DAMAGE ARISING FROM: AN EMERGENCY OR ANY FAILURE OR DELAY IN RESPONDING TO ONE; YOUR RELIANCE ON INFORMATION ON THE SERVICE; ANY PLACE LISTED ON IT; OR THE CONDUCT OF OTHER USERS, ORGANIZATIONS, OR THIRD PARTIES. THIS APPLIES WHATEVER THE LEGAL THEORY, INCLUDING CLAIMS BASED ON OUR OWN NEGLIGENCE, AND EVEN IF WE WERE TOLD SUCH DAMAGES WERE POSSIBLE.

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF US$50 OR WHAT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM.

Nothing in these Terms limits liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, or anything else that can't be limited under the law that applies to you.

13. Your responsibility for claims

To the extent the law allows, you will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Karma Is Real and its founders, team members, volunteers, and partners from any claims, losses, and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your content, your use of the Service, your dealings with other people through it, or your breaking these Terms or any law.

14. Disputes: arbitration and no class actions

Please read this section carefully. It affects your rights, including your right to go to court and to take part in a class action.

Talk to us first

Before starting a claim, tell us about the problem through our contact form (or we'll email you at the address on your account). We'll both try in good faith to resolve it for 30 days.

Individual arbitration

If we can't resolve it, you and Karma Is Real agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be settled by binding individual arbitration, not in court, except that either of us may: (a) bring an individual claim in small claims court if it qualifies; or (b) ask a court to stop infringement or misuse of intellectual property.

The arbitration will be run by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. Fees are paid as those rules provide. The hearing will be by video, phone, or written submissions, or in person in the county where you live, as you choose. The arbitrator decides all questions about this section except those about the class action waiver below, which a court decides. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section.

No class actions or jury trials

YOU AND KARMA IS REAL MAY BRING CLAIMS ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS, NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING, AND YOU AND KARMA IS REAL BOTH GIVE UP ANY RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL.

The arbitrator may award relief only to you individually. If a court finds this paragraph unenforceable for a particular claim or remedy, that claim or remedy (and only it) will be decided by a court as set out in “Governing law and courts,” after any individual claims are arbitrated.

You can opt out within 30 days

You can opt out of arbitration by sending us a notice through our contact form (choose “Arbitration opt-out”) within 30 days after you first agree to these Terms. Include your name, the email address on your Karma Is Real account, and a clear statement that you opt out of arbitration. If you opt out, disputes go to the courts below, and the rest of these Terms still apply.

If we change this section, you can reject the change by telling us through the contact form within 30 days, and the earlier version will apply to you. This section does not apply where the law where you live doesn't allow it.

15. Governing law and courts

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules, and by the Federal Arbitration Act for the arbitration section. Any claim not settled by arbitration or in small claims court must be brought only in the state or federal courts located in Travis County, Texas, and you and we agree to those courts' jurisdiction. If you live outside the US, you keep any protections the consumer laws of your country give you that can't be changed by agreement.

16. Ending your use

You can stop using the Service at any time, and delete your account from Account settings or by asking us through our contact form. We may suspend or close your account, or stop providing the Service to you, at any time if you break these Terms, to protect other people or the Service, or if we stop offering it. Sections that by their nature should continue (including What you send us, Disclaimers, Limitation of liability, Your responsibility for claims, Disputes, and Governing law) continue after your use ends.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. We'll change the date at the top, and for important changes we'll ask you to agree again in the app. If you keep using the Service after an update, you agree to the new Terms; if you don't agree, stop using it.

18. General

These Terms, together with anything you agree to in the app, are the whole agreement between you and Karma Is Real about the Service. If any part is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. If we don't enforce a part, we haven't waived it. You can't transfer these Terms to anyone else; we can transfer them, for example if Karma Is Real becomes part of another organization. We aren't responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control.

19. Contact

Questions about these Terms, legal notices, and arbitration opt-outs go through our contact form.