LegitGood terms and conditions

1. About these terms

These terms and conditions govern your use of the LegitGood platform available at legitgood.org (the “Platform”). The Platform is operated by The Luminary Project (“we”, “us”, “our”).

By creating an account, posting a grant, making a donation, or otherwise using the Platform, you agree to these terms. If you are using the Platform on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you have the authority to bind that organisation, and “you” includes that organisation. If you do not agree to these terms, do not use the Platform.

2. Definitions

• NGO means a non governmental or non profit organisation that registers on the Platform to manage its operations, apply for grants, and receive donations and grant disbursements.
• Funder means an organisation or individual that posts grant opportunities on the Platform, whether or not it also disburses funds through the Platform.
• Donor means an individual or organisation that donates to an NGO through the Platform.
• Platform fee means the fee we charge on each donation processed through the Platform, as described in section 8.
• Verification means the checks we carry out on an NGO’s registration documents and organisation profile before the profile is published as verified.
• Content means any information, documents, text, images, or data uploaded to or entered into the Platform.

3. Eligibility and accounts

You must be at least 18 years old to use the Platform. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information when you register and to keep it up to date. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential and for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorised use of your account.

Organisation accounts may have multiple team members with different permission levels. The organisation is responsible for the actions of its team members on the Platform.

4. Verification

We review the registration and financial documents NGOs submit, and review organisation profiles, before publishing them as verified. You agree to provide the documents and information we reasonably request for this purpose and you confirm that everything you submit is accurate and genuine.

Verification is a good faith review based on the information available to us at the time. It is not an endorsement, a guarantee of an organisation’s conduct, an audit of its finances, or investment, legal, or charitable giving advice. Funders and donors remain responsible for their own due diligence and decisions. We may withdraw verification at any time if we believe the information provided was inaccurate or the organisation no longer meets our standards.

5. Terms for NGOs

If you register an NGO on the Platform, you agree that:

• Your organisation is lawfully established and registered in its country of operation, and your profile accurately describes your organisation and its work.
• You will use grants and donations received through the Platform for the purposes for which they were given and in compliance with applicable law.
• The Platform fee described in section 8 is deducted automatically from donations you receive through the Platform, unless the donor chooses to cover it at checkout, and the amount settled to you is the net amount after any deductions.
• You are the data controller of the donor, beneficiary, programme, and financial records you enter into the Platform, and you will process that data lawfully.
• You will respond honestly in grant applications and will not misrepresent your organisation, its finances, or its impact.
• You are responsible for your own legal, tax, regulatory, and reporting obligations, including receipting donors where required and accounting correctly for the gross amount received and the Platform fee deducted.

6. Terms for funders

If you post a grant opportunity, you agree that:

• Posting a grant opportunity is free. The opportunity must be genuine, funded or fundable, and described accurately, including eligibility criteria and deadlines.
• Decisions on applications are yours alone. We do not select, recommend, or guarantee applicants, and we are not a party to any grant agreement between you and an NGO.
• By default, you disburse grant funds directly to the NGO outside the Platform — we do not hold or process that money. For a specific grant, you may instead choose to have LegitGood hold and disburse the award to the NGO (“Pay through LegitGood”). If you choose this, you pay us the full award amount at the time you opt in — before any application is reviewed or any award decision is made — and we hold it, through our payment processor, until you make your award decisions. A Platform fee — a flat 9% of the award amount, capped at 100,000 naira or 100 US dollars per transaction (the same formula that applies to donations; see section 8) — is disclosed to you before you pay and is deducted from the amount we disburse to each NGO. We are not a financial institution, custodian, or trust, and we do not hold funds in a segregated trust or escrow account — see section 11. In all cases you remain responsible for your disbursement decisions.
• You will treat application data you receive through the Platform confidentially and use it only to assess applications and administer your grant.
• You are responsible for your own compliance obligations relating to your grantmaking.

7. Terms for donors

If you donate through the Platform, you acknowledge and agree that:

• Donations are processed by Paystack. We do not hold donated funds. The Platform fee, a flat 9% of your donation capped at 100,000 naira or 100 US dollars per transaction, is deducted from your donation before settlement to the receiving organisation, unless you choose at checkout to cover it, in which case it is added to your payment and the organisation receives your full gift.
• A transaction fee of approximately 2% of your donation, capped at 2,000 naira, is added at checkout to cover payment processing charges. The amounts you will pay are shown before you confirm your donation.
• Donations are generally not refundable by us. If you believe a donation was made in error or fraudulently, contact us and the receiving organisation promptly and we will assist where we reasonably can.
• Whether your donation is tax deductible depends on your circumstances and the laws that apply to you and the receiving organisation. We do not provide tax advice.

8. Fees

Using the Platform is free for NGOs and posting grants is free for funders. The Platform is funded by a Platform fee of a flat 9% of each donation processed through the Platform, capped at 100,000 naira or 100 US dollars per transaction. The current fee and cap are published at legitgood.org/pricing and are shown before a transaction is completed.

By default the Platform fee is deducted automatically at the point of payment, before settlement to the receiving organisation. Donors may instead choose at checkout to cover the Platform fee, in which case it is added to their payment and the organisation receives the full gift amount. This fee is what allows the Platform, including verification, NGO tools, and grant infrastructure, to remain free to use.

A transaction fee of approximately 2% of the amount, capped at 2,000 naira, is added at checkout on donations to cover payment processing charges. Processing charges on other payments will be shown or published before you complete a transaction. Funds transferred outside the Platform are not subject to the Platform fee. We may change our fees on reasonable notice, and changes will not apply to transactions already completed.

9. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Provide false, misleading, or fraudulent information, including fake organisations, fabricated impact data, or sham grant opportunities.
• Use the Platform for money laundering, terrorism financing, fraud, or any unlawful purpose.
• Route transactions off the Platform for the purpose of avoiding the Platform fee after using the Platform to establish the relationship, where the transaction was initiated on the Platform.
• Upload content that is unlawful, defamatory, infringing, or harmful, or that contains malware.
• Scrape, copy, or harvest data from the Platform, or access it by automated means without our written permission.
• Interfere with the security or operation of the Platform, or attempt to access accounts or data that are not yours.
• Impersonate any person or organisation, or misrepresent your affiliation with anyone.

10. Content and intellectual property

You retain ownership of the content you upload. You grant us a worldwide, non exclusive, royalty free licence to host, store, display, and process your content for the purpose of operating, improving, and promoting the Platform. Public profile content may be displayed to other users and visitors as part of how the Platform works.

The Platform, including its software, design, and branding, belongs to us or our licensors. You may not copy, modify, or create derivative works from it except as allowed by law or with our written permission.

You are responsible for the content you upload. We may remove content that we reasonably believe breaches these terms or the law.

11. Our role and disclaimers

LegitGood is a platform that connects NGOs, funders, and donors and facilitates payments between them through our payment processor. We are not a party to any grant agreement, donation, or other arrangement made between users, and we are not a broker, agent, fundraiser, financial institution, or fiduciary for any user. We do not guarantee that any NGO will receive funding, that any grant will be awarded, or that any organisation will use funds in a particular way.

The Platform is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all warranties, whether express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non infringement. We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error free, or secure.

12. Availability and changes to the Platform

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Platform at any time. We will give reasonable notice of changes that materially reduce the functionality available to you. We may impose limits on features or restrict access for maintenance, security, or legal reasons.

13. Limitation of liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including liability for fraud.

Subject to that, to the fullest extent permitted by law: we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss, loss of profits, loss of funding, loss of data, or loss of goodwill arising out of or in connection with the Platform; we are not liable for the acts or omissions of any NGO, funder, donor, or payment processor; and our total aggregate liability to you for all claims arising out of or in connection with the Platform in any 12 month period will not exceed the greater of the Platform fees we earned from your transactions in that period and 100,000 Nigerian naira.

14. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify us against claims, losses, and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising from your breach of these terms, your content, your misuse of the Platform, or your dealings with other users, except to the extent caused by our own breach or negligence.

15. Suspension and termination

You may close your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your account, remove your content, or withdraw verification if we reasonably believe you have breached these terms, provided false information, or created risk or legal exposure for us or other users. Where practical, we will notify you and give you an opportunity to remedy the issue first. Suspension or termination does not affect fees already deducted on completed transactions. Sections that by their nature should survive termination, including sections 10, 13, 14, and 16, will survive.

16. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Before starting formal proceedings, you agree to contact us and attempt to resolve any dispute amicably within 30 days. If a dispute cannot be resolved amicably, it will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Nigeria, except that either party may seek injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.

17. General

These terms, together with the privacy policy, the fees published at legitgood.org/pricing, and any additional terms presented for specific features, form the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Platform. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. You may not assign these terms without our consent; we may assign them as part of a reorganisation or transfer of the Platform. We may update these terms from time to time and will notify you of material changes through the Platform or by email before they take effect. Continued use after changes take effect means you accept the updated terms.

18. Contact

The Luminary Project, operator of LegitGood

Email: legal@legitgood.org