The agreement governing Alawi's support-request, contribution, review, compliance, and support services.
Welcome to Alawi Foundation. These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement governing your access to and use of alawifoundation.co and the support-request, contribution, review, compliance, informational, communication, and support features Alawi makes available through it (collectively, the "Services"). The website through which the Services are provided is referred to as the "Site." By accessing or using the Services, submitting a support request, or making a contribution, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.
Alawi Foundation is a U.S. nonprofit organization identified by EIN 42-2318635. Alawi operates a support program through which people may explore approved causes, submit eligible requests for possible support, make contributions directly to Alawi, receive contribution confirmations and support communications, and access related informational features.
As part of the Services, Alawi reviews requests, selects support purposes, publishes approved Support Pages, raises and administers contributions in its own name, performs risk and compliance checks, and independently decides whether, when, how, and in what amount to provide support for the displayed purpose. Submitting a Support Request, publishing a Support Page, displaying a requested amount, or receiving a contribution does not guarantee approval, funding, payment, or any particular outcome.
Alawi accepts contributions in its own name for its own support activities and administers those activities under these Terms.
References on the Site to a "donation," "contribution," "gift," "support," or "donate" mean a voluntary gift to Alawi for the specific support purpose identified at the time of the contribution. Alawi does not promise any particular tax treatment, and donors remain responsible for obtaining independent tax advice.
Alawi receives contributions for itself and its own support programs. Alawi does not sell or provide card processing, payment facilitation, money transmission, wallet, stored-value, escrow, custodial, fundraising-agency, or payout services to applicants, featured persons, or other third parties. Alawi does not accept a contribution as an agent, trustee, fiduciary, custodian, conduit, or payment representative of an applicant.
Alawi Foundation is the sole organizer and fundraiser for every Support Page published on the Site and is the sole recipient and controller of all contributions. A person who submits a Support Request is only an applicant for possible support from Alawi. Any person, pet, organization, project, need, or cause described on a Support Page is the displayed support purpose. Neither an applicant nor anyone or anything described on a Support Page is an organizer, fundraiser, merchant, submerchant, connected account, payment customer, payee, or owner of contributions received by Alawi. Applicants and featured persons have no account balance, wallet, withdrawal right, transfer right, or authority to instruct Alawi to send money to any person or destination.
Alawi may use a standard merchant account, hosted checkout, or payment link in its own name and may contract with an independent third-party payment provider to process a donor's contribution to Alawi. That provider performs payment processing for Alawi as the recipient and payee. No applicant is onboarded to the provider, receives a provider account or balance, or controls a provider payout. Alawi does not resell that provider's services or use the Site to process payments on behalf of applicants.
A "Support Request" is a private application asking Alawi to consider a stated need. A "Support Page" is a public page created and administered by Alawi to describe a purpose Alawi has approved for its own support activities. Every Support Page must first be analyzed and approved by Alawi. Alawi may review identity, location, the stated need, supporting records, requested amount, expected use, available resources, risk, and consistency with its support guidelines. Alawi may approve, decline, pause, request changes to, remove, or re-review a Support Request or Support Page at any time.
A Support Page describes a genuine, specifically identified support purpose that Alawi has chosen to present as part of its own fundraising and support activities. Alawi raises contributions in its own name for approved causes, and contributions associated with a Support Page are restricted by Alawi to furthering the displayed purpose, subject to Sections 8 and 10. Publication confirms only that the purpose passed Alawi's initial review; it does not create a personal fundraising account, establish a debt, or promise that the applicant or any featured person will receive the displayed total or any particular amount.
You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter into a binding agreement to submit a Support Request or make a contribution. Under the public application program, an applicant may request support only for the applicant personally or for a pet directly in the applicant's care. Public requests for another person, an organization, a business, or a community project are not eligible. Separately, Alawi may independently identify, review, approve, and publish its own Support Page concerning a minor, another person, an organization, or a community project. An Alawi-originated Support Page is not an applicant payment account and gives no featured person or entity ownership of contributions or a right to payment.
Alawi does not accept a Support Request or publish a Support Page when the applicant, featured person, principal support destination, proposed provider, financial account, or intended activity is located in or materially connected with a jurisdiction restricted under Alawi's sanctions and geographic eligibility policy (a "Restricted Jurisdiction"). Access, contributions, and other Services may also be unavailable based on IP-derived country, residence, transaction information, proposed destination, or other risk information. A person or entity included on an applicable sanctions designation list is ineligible to have a support cause with Alawi. If that status is identified at any point, Alawi will stop the request or support process and cannot serve that person or entity.
As of the date above, Restricted Jurisdictions are Afghanistan, Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Moldova, Montenegro, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Niger, North Korea, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. Alawi may add, remove, or suspend jurisdictions as sanctions programs, provider restrictions, legal requirements, or risk conditions change.
Alawi considers United Nations Security Council sanctions and its Consolidated List; U.S. Treasury OFAC lists and country or regional programs; the UK Sanctions List and OFSI requirements; European Union country regimes and its consolidated financial sanctions list; Canadian measures administered by Global Affairs Canada under SEMA and other applicable sanctions laws; Australian DFAT regimes and Consolidated List; Swiss SECO sanctions ordinances and lists; and sanctions or designation measures administered by Japan's Ministry of Finance and METI. These regimes vary and may be comprehensive, selective, sectoral, or person-specific. Alawi designates Restricted Jurisdictions based on applicable prohibitions, provider restrictions, legal requirements, and documented geographic risk. A selective, sectoral, or person-specific regime does not by itself make every resident or the entire jurisdiction unavailable. Regardless of location, listed persons and entities and prohibited activities remain ineligible.
By submitting a Support Request or providing information for a Support Page, you represent and agree that:
An applicant is not the organizer or fundraiser of a Support Page and is not Alawi's employee, agent, partner, contractor, payment representative, merchant, payee, or professional fundraiser. Only Alawi conducts fundraising, receives and controls contributions, and decides the method, timing, amount, and verified destination of support within the displayed purpose.
You may not use the Services for illegal activity, fraud, deception, hate, harassment, violence, weapons, controlled substances, gambling, pyramid schemes, investment returns, money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, exploitation, bribery, or content that infringes another person's rights. You may not manipulate contributions, impersonate another person, conceal the true beneficiary or proposed support destination, submit false documents, interfere with the Site, scrape it without permission, or abuse refund and dispute processes.
When a donor selects a Support Page, the contribution is associated with the specific support purpose displayed at checkout. Alawi will restrict amounts internally associated with that Support Page to pursuing that purpose, after costs disclosed before the contribution and subject to compliance review and final support approval. Support Pages describe genuine support purposes and are not merely advertising references.
The donor's selection identifies the purpose the donor wishes Alawi to further. It is not an instruction to transfer funds to the applicant or to any person or entity described on the Support Page and does not create an applicant balance or automatic right to payment. Contributions remain under Alawi's ownership and control. Alawi's discretion concerns whether verified conditions are satisfied and the form, destination, amount, and timing of support within the displayed purpose; it does not authorize Alawi to use associated amounts for an unrelated purpose except as expressly described below.
If the displayed purpose is completed, fully supported, no longer possible, unlawful, or materially inaccurate, Alawi may issue a refund or, where applicable law and payment-partner rules permit, use the associated amount for a closely related purpose that reasonably advances the same support objective. Alawi will clearly disclose any materially different treatment required for future contributions.
A displayed support target is an estimate of the support sought for the approved purpose. Amounts shown as "raised," percentages, progress bars, and similar figures are internal records of contributions associated with that purpose. They are not segregated deposits, escrowed property, stored value, a payable balance, or money owed to the applicant. Alawi may provide support in a different form or on a different timeline within the displayed purpose and may add its other funds to the amount associated with the Support Page.
Alawi alone decides whether verified conditions are satisfied and, within the displayed purpose, when, how, in what amount, and to which verified destination support is provided. Alawi may pay a verified medical provider, veterinarian, landlord, school, supplier, creditor, or other vendor; purchase goods or services for the approved purpose; reimburse a verified eligible expense; provide conditional or staged support; or use another documented method permitted by Alawi policy and applicable law. Alawi may decline unrestricted cash payments, require additional proof, change a proposed destination while preserving the displayed purpose, monitor use, suspend support, or recover unused or misapplied amounts. Alawi may not treat this discretion as permission to spend associated amounts on an unrelated purpose.
No donor, applicant, or beneficiary may direct or compel a payment. Alawi's decision to provide support is not a transmission of donor funds on behalf of the donor or applicant. If a feature or activity would require a license, registration, or approval under applicable financial law, Alawi may restrict or suspend that activity until the requirement is satisfied.
Alawi may conduct risk-based identity, business, anti-money-laundering, sanctions, fraud, and beneficiary-verification checks for applicants, donors, proposed support recipients, vendors, financial accounts, and transactions. Depending on the risk and stage of review, we may request or verify legal name, date of birth, government identification, address, nationality, country of residence, phone number, email address, ownership or control information, source of funds, relationship to the proposed beneficiary, account ownership, invoices, and the purpose and destination of proposed support.
We may screen relevant people, entities, locations, accounts, and transactions against the United Nations Security Council Consolidated List; OFAC sanctions lists; the UK Sanctions List and applicable OFSI restrictions; European Union consolidated financial sanctions information; Canadian sanctions lists administered by Global Affairs Canada; the Australian DFAT Consolidated List; Swiss SECO sanctions lists; Japanese Ministry of Finance and METI sanctions or designation information; payment-provider restrictions; and other restricted-party information. Screening applies worldwide, including outside Restricted Jurisdictions, and may extend to an entity treated as sanctioned because of ownership or control under the applicable rules. It may occur when a request is submitted, before publication, when a contribution is attempted, before support is approved or provided, when information changes, and when sanctions lists or risk information are updated.
Any person or entity included on one of these applicable lists is ineligible to have a support cause with Alawi. If Alawi identifies a listed applicant, featured person, proposed recipient, provider, owner, controller, or other material participant, the request and support process will be stopped and Alawi will not be able to serve them. Alawi may also reject or block access, pause or remove a Support Page, refuse a contribution, block property when legally required, return funds when legally permitted, cancel proposed support, request information, seek authorization, or make a required report. A refund, release, transfer, or other dealing involving blocked property will occur only when authorized by applicable law or the relevant authority. Users may not use a VPN, proxy, false identity, third party, alternate account, or other method to conceal a location or evade these controls.
Payment providers process card, bank, wallet, and related payment information under their own terms. Alawi and applicants do not receive full payment-card details. The transaction descriptor may identify Alawi or a payment provider processing the contribution for Alawi.
Payment-processing fees, currency-conversion costs, compliance costs, reasonable operational expenses, reserves, and other deductions may be paid from Alawi's funds, including amounts associated with a Support Page, only to the extent permitted by law and clearly disclosed to the donor before the contribution when disclosure is required. Settlement, review, documentation, disputes, banking delays, and legal restrictions may affect when or how Alawi provides support. No applicant is promised a specific payment date.
If a donor selects a monthly contribution, the payment provider will charge the selected amount on a recurring basis until the donor cancels or Alawi ends the recurring arrangement. Donors may request cancellation through any cancellation method offered with the payment receipt or by using our Contact page from the email address used at checkout. Cancellation applies to future charges and does not automatically reverse a contribution already processed.
If the selected Support Page closes or can no longer accept future contributions, Alawi will take reasonable steps to stop future monthly charges. Alawi will not redirect future recurring charges to a materially different purpose without appropriate disclosure and, when required, the donor's consent. Contributions processed before cancellation remain governed by the support-purpose and refund provisions of these Terms.
Our Refund Policy forms part of these Terms. Contributions are generally final because Alawi may commit or use its funds shortly after receipt. Alawi may review duplicate charges, incorrect amounts, unauthorized payments, confirmed fraud, material misrepresentation, inability to pursue an approved purpose, or other exceptional circumstances. A request does not guarantee a refund.
Chargebacks, reversals, refunds, penalties, or processing losses may reduce the amount internally associated with a Support Page or Alawi's other support activities. Applicants must cooperate with related investigations and may be responsible for losses caused by fraud or misuse and for returning support they improperly received.
Contributions made through the Site, including contributions associated with Support Pages, are not tax-deductible. A confirmation email, statement, or receipt records the transaction only and is not a tax opinion or evidence of eligibility for a deduction.
Donors and recipients are responsible for obtaining independent tax advice. Support provided by Alawi may have income, gift, reporting, or other tax consequences depending on the facts and jurisdiction.
You retain ownership of eligible content you submit. You grant Alawi a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, reproduce, format, translate, display, distribute, and promote that content for reviewing Support Requests, operating and securing the Site, raising contributions for Alawi, documenting support, and communicating about a Support Page. This license ends when the content is no longer reasonably needed for those purposes, subject to legal, archival, compliance, fraud-prevention, and transaction-record obligations.
Donors should review Support Page information and understand Alawi's role before contributing. Applicants must not pressure, harass, or mislead donors or make private promises about tax treatment, refunds, amounts, timing, destination, or use of Alawi's funds. Alawi may facilitate communication and investigate reports but is not responsible for private arrangements made outside the Site.
We may restrict access, pause contributions or proposed support, request corrective action, remove content, close a Support Page, preserve evidence, or recover funds when we reasonably believe these Terms have been violated or when necessary for compliance, payment processing, donor protection, featured-person protection, or security. Where appropriate and lawful, we will try to notify the affected user and explain the next step.
The Site, Alawi name, logo, design, and original materials are owned by Alawi Foundation or its licensors and are protected by applicable law. These Terms do not grant permission to copy our branding, software, or original content except as needed to use and share features of the Services.
The Services are provided "as is" and "as available." To the maximum extent permitted by law, Alawi does not guarantee support outcomes, applicant conduct, uninterrupted availability, collection of a displayed support target, or that every user-submitted statement is accurate. Nothing in this paragraph reduces Alawi's responsibility for its own receipt and purpose-restricted use of associated contributions or its independent support decisions under these Terms and applicable law. Alawi is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from use of the Services. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot legally be limited.
To the extent permitted by law, applicants agree to defend and hold Alawi Foundation harmless from third-party claims arising from their submitted content, false or incomplete information, claimed pet ownership or care, unauthorized conduct, misuse of support, violation of law, or breach of these Terms.
We may update these Terms of Service as the Services, compliance requirements, or Alawi's organizational or regulatory status evolves. Material changes will be reflected by the date above and communicated where appropriate. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New Mexico, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Questions about a contribution, Support Request, Support Page, support decision, the Services, or these Terms can be submitted through our Contact page.
Alawi Foundation address:
2404 Palomas Drive Northeast
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110
United States