1. Agreement and operator
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and FundMyUniverse (“we,” “us,” or “our”), the operator of the FundMyUniverse website, applications, and related services (the “Platform”).
By visiting or using the Platform, creating an account, organizing a campaign, or making a donation or other support payment, you agree to these Terms and the Privacy Policy. If you use the Platform for an organization, you represent that you may accept these Terms for that organization.
Key terms and roles
In these Terms, a “User” is anyone who accesses or uses the Platform; a “Donor” contributes to a campaign or profile; an “Organizer” creates or manages a campaign; and a “Beneficiary” is the person or organization the campaign states it is intended to benefit. A person may act in more than one role. “User Content” is described in Section 11.
These Terms take effect on October 3, 2026. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.
2. The platform
The Platform provides tools for people and organizations to publish fundraising campaigns and profiles, share updates and other content, and receive one-time or recurring support. It may also provide referral links, fundraising teams, and community programs such as the Overflowing Cup.
Payments are processed through Stripe and, where applicable, Stripe Connect. Stripe legally receives and controls the funds; FundMyUniverse does not legally receive or control them. Your use of Stripe services may also be subject to Stripe’s separate terms and policies.
The Platform does not promise that a campaign will receive donations, reach its goal, or achieve a particular outcome. A campaign page is created and maintained by its organizer or other authorized contributor, not by each donor.
3. Eligibility and accounts
You must be at least 18 years old to access or use any part of the Platform, including as a visitor without an account, an account holder, a donor, an organizer, a beneficiary, or a campaign contributor. A person under 18 may not be named as a beneficiary.
The Platform is available only in locations where the relevant feature and payment services are supported. The countries and territories in which donors may contribute and organizers may receive funds can differ; see our Supported Countries page for current country information.
You must provide accurate, current information and update it when it changes. You are responsible for activity through your account and for keeping your sign-in credentials secure. Do not create an account for someone else without authority to do so.
4. Campaigns and organizer duties
The Platform supports multiple campaign and profile paths, including personal and crisis fundraising, nonprofit campaigns, movement campaigns, and Verified Voice profiles. Some organization or profile types require a separate application and approval. The Platform may also let an organizer create a fundraiser for another person or organization.
As an organizer, you agree to:
- provide accurate, complete, and non-misleading campaign information, including the campaign’s purpose, goal, beneficiary, and intended use of funds;
- use funds for the purpose stated on the campaign page, or promptly update donors and obtain any consent required by law before materially changing that purpose;
- obtain permission to use names, photographs, videos, stories, logos, and other material you submit;
- comply with applicable laws, payment-processor requirements, and any campaign-specific eligibility or reporting requirements; and
- respond accurately to reasonable questions about your campaign and its use of funds.
If you fundraise for someone else, the campaign may use a direct-to-beneficiary payout path or an organizer-managed path. If funds are paid to you to distribute, you are responsible for distributing them as represented on the campaign page and for keeping any records required by law.
Campaigns may be placed in a pending or paused state and may not accept donations until required identity, payout, or review steps are complete. Campaigns and profiles may be subject to additional review.
5. Donations, fees, currency, and recurring support
5.1 One-time payments and checkout totals
Before you submit a payment, checkout will show the selected donation or support amount, the applicable community fee, any optional tip, and the total charged. The current Platform flow adds a 5% community fee to the amount you select. For example, a $100 donation has a $5 community fee before any optional tip or issuer-imposed charge.
A tip is optional and may be adjusted or removed where checkout offers that choice. The fee is separate from the amount you designate for the campaign or profile. The current public materials say Stripe processing costs are deducted from the fundraiser’s proceeds; Stripe reconciles all payment calculations and exceptions.
The 5% fee and optional tips are processed with the payment. The 5% community fee may be used to fund operating costs, community programs, verification, payment costs, or a combination of these purposes. Optional tips may be used for the same purposes.
5.2 Currency and third-party charges
A campaign may accept payment in the currency shown at checkout. Your bank or card issuer may convert the charge to another currency and may impose its own conversion, international, or other fees. Any cross-border or currency-conversion fees charged through Stripe are subject to Stripe’s pricing. Refer to Stripe’s pricing information for details. See our Supported Countries page for supported countries and their local payout currencies.
5.3 Monthly support
Where offered, monthly support is an automatic recurring payment. The displayed monthly amount and applicable 5% community fee are charged for each billing period. The current Platform provides account controls to cancel monthly campaign donations and to pause or resume them where available.
To stop the next monthly charge, you must cancel before the next billing cycle begins. A cancellation or pause does not by itself refund a payment already processed.
6. Verification, funds, and payouts
Organizers must complete the identity and payout steps applicable to their campaign. The current Platform uses Stripe Identity for identity checks and Stripe Connect for payout-account onboarding. Nonprofit, movement, and Verified Voice profiles may also require separate Platform approval.
Funds may be routed to a beneficiary’s connected account or to an organizer for organizer-managed distribution, depending on the campaign’s selected payout arrangement and the available payment flow. Payouts may be delayed or held while verification, payment settlement, compliance review, or a dispute is pending.
90-day refund rule. If the organizer has not linked a bank account to receive campaign proceeds within 90 days after the campaign’s first donation, donations to that campaign will be automatically refunded to the donors’ original payment methods, subject to applicable law and payment-processor requirements. The refund covers the payment processed for the donation; separate currency-conversion or other fees charged by a bank or card issuer are not refunded.
If a payment is held or a payout cannot be completed, the Platform may contact the organizer or beneficiary for additional information. Do not represent a payout as guaranteed until it is actually completed.
7. Refunds, cancellations, and payment disputes
Except where a refund is required by law or a campaign is determined to be fraudulent, donations and support payments are final and are not refundable because a donor changes their mind or entered a payment voluntarily. If FundMyUniverse confirms that a campaign was fraudulent, it will issue a refund to affected donors, subject to the payment processor’s capabilities and applicable law.
Refunds for confirmed fraud have no time limit.
Currency-conversion fees are not refunded.
If you believe a charge was unauthorized or incorrect, contact legal@fundmyuniverse.com promptly. Your bank or card issuer may also allow you to dispute a charge. A payment dispute or chargeback may cause the payment to be reversed and the related donation record or campaign totals to be adjusted. The allocation of chargeback fees, any recovery from an organizer or beneficiary, and any effect on future payouts are handled under FundMyUniverse’s payment and legal policies and applicable law.
Monthly support can be canceled through the controls currently offered by the Platform. Cancellation stops future charges according to the timing described in Section 5.3; it does not automatically refund a past charge.
8. The Overflowing Cup
The Overflowing Cup is available only to eligible campaigns in the Fundraisers and Crisis categories. When creating a campaign, the organizer selects an overflow percentage from 5% to 100%. That selection is shown to donors before checkout and cannot be changed after the campaign goes live. Once the campaign has met its goal, the selected share of eligible new donations is placed in the same-category Overflowing Cup pool. Donors cannot opt out of the disclosed allocation, and it does not add a separate charge to checkout.
FundMyUniverse distributes available pool funds periodically to verified, active campaigns in the same category that are below goal and meet eligibility and payout requirements. Recipients are selected under the Overflowing Cup’s program rules; donors cannot choose where the overflow amount goes. Meeting the requirements does not guarantee a distribution. FundMyUniverse may pause a distribution while checking eligibility, payment issues, suspected fraud, or legal requirements.
9. MyUniverse Effect Grants
FundMyUniverse operates the MyUniverse Effect grant program (the “Program”). The Program offers milestone grants to eligible campaigns and quarterly grants to Shared Voice contributors under this Section.
9.1 Milestone grants
At each funded community milestone, the Program randomly selects one verified campaign in each eligible Community Grant category—Personal, Crisis, Charity, Movement, and Verified Voice—and one verified registered nonprofit campaign for a $25,000 Verified Charitable Cause Grant. Each Community Grant is $5,000. No separate grant application is required. Selection identifies a candidate; a grant is approved only after the campaign satisfies the applicable identity, category, and nonprofit verification requirements and passes administrative review. Approved grants are paid without a FundMyUniverse platform fee.
9.2 Shared Voice grants
For each quarter, the 20 Shared Voice contributors with the greatest dollar amount of completed donations attributed to their personal referral links are eligible for a grant in an amount that may vary for each quarterly award and an invitation to MyUniverse Events. Donations made by the contributor are not included in that contributor’s sharing impact. To receive a Shared Voice grant, a contributor must complete identity verification and connect a Stripe payout account through Stripe Connect.
10. Nonprofit and political campaigns
10.1 Nonprofit campaigns and tax treatment
A nonprofit label, organization profile, payment receipt, or donation confirmation does not by itself establish that a contribution is tax-deductible. Tax treatment depends on the recipient’s legal status and the donor’s jurisdiction. Donors should review the specific campaign information and consult a qualified tax adviser.
For eligible support of an approved nonprofit profile, checkout may offer an optional tax-receipt request. If selected and the approved nonprofit’s registration details are available, FundMyUniverse sends a separate email receipt showing the nonprofit’s legal name, registration number and country, contribution amount and date, and a receipt reference. This receipt is based on information in the nonprofit’s Platform profile; it is not an independent certification of charitable status or tax deductibility.
This optional receipt is separate from any ordinary payment or donation confirmation and any receipt Stripe may provide. Selecting the checkbox does not determine tax treatment. Whether a contribution is deductible depends on the recipient’s legal status and applicable law in the donor’s jurisdiction.
10.2 Political campaigns
FundMyUniverse does not permit fundraising through the Platform for electoral campaigns, candidates for public office, political parties or committees, political action committees, or election-related ballot measures or referenda. You may not create, promote, or contribute to such a fundraiser through the Platform. FundMyUniverse may remove a prohibited fundraiser, suspend related activity, and hold or return funds where permitted by law and payment-processor rules.
11. User content and intellectual property
The Platform lets users submit campaign descriptions, stories, photographs, video, updates, profile material, comments, blog articles, and other content (“User Content”). You are responsible for your User Content and represent that you have the rights and permissions needed to submit it and authorize the uses described in these Terms.
As between you and FundMyUniverse, you retain ownership of your User Content. You grant FundMyUniverse a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, adapt, and create excerpts or derivative works from your User Content as reasonably needed to provide, maintain, secure, improve, and promote the Platform and its features. This includes allowing service providers to process the content on our behalf and enabling users to view and share public content through Platform features. The license continues while the content is available through the Platform and afterward to the extent needed for backups, legal or accounting records, dispute resolution, and copies already shared by users or third parties.
The Platform, including its software, branding, designs, and materials, is owned by or licensed to FundMyUniverse and is protected by applicable intellectual-property laws. These Terms do not transfer ownership of the Platform to you.
12. Prohibited conduct
You may not use the Platform to:
- create or support a fraudulent, false, or materially misleading campaign, impersonate another person or organization, or misuse funds;
- promote illegal activity, weapons, violence, hate speech, explicit content, financial speculation, or another purpose prohibited by applicable law or the Platform’s stated campaign rules;
- infringe another person’s intellectual-property, privacy, publicity, or other rights;
- evade identity, payout, campaign-approval, or payment requirements; or
- interfere with the security or operation of the Platform or use it in a way that violates applicable law.
You may not send spam, harass other users, scrape the Platform, manipulate donations or referrals, or otherwise misuse the Platform.
13. Moderation, suspension, and account closure
FundMyUniverse may review a campaign or account when it receives a concern or detects a possible violation. It may pause donations, delay payouts, request information, remove content, reject an application, or suspend or terminate access where reasonably necessary to address suspected fraud, legal risk, payment-processor requirements, or a violation of these Terms.
To report a campaign or account concern, contact support@fundmyuniverse.com and include the relevant link and a description of the concern. FundMyUniverse may review the information and take action under these Terms. A report does not guarantee a response time, a particular outcome, or a refund.
You may stop using the Platform and request account closure by contacting legal@fundmyuniverse.com.
Closing an account does not remove published campaign or profile pages or erase records that FundMyUniverse must retain for legal, payment, fraud-prevention, or accounting purposes. The Privacy Policy governs personal-data requests and retention.
14. Privacy and communications
The Privacy Policy explains how personal information is collected, used, and shared. Campaign and profile pages may be public. A donor may have an option to display a donation anonymously; that setting affects public display and does not necessarily prevent the Platform, payment processor, or organizer from processing information needed for the transaction or legal compliance.
FundMyUniverse may send transactional messages about accounts, campaigns, donations, payouts, verification, and policy changes. Marketing messages, if any, are subject to applicable law and available preferences.
Published campaign and profile pages cannot be removed by users. The Platform does not offer a page-removal control; organizers may pause donations where that control is available, but pausing does not remove the page. The pages remain on the Platform for legal reasons, including after donations are paused or an account is closed. Public pages may be indexed, cached, copied, or shared by search engines and other third parties. FundMyUniverse does not control copies held outside the Platform; contact the relevant third party about its copies. Avoid posting sensitive information about yourself or someone else unless you have the authority and consent to do so.
15. Disclaimers
The Platform and its content are provided on an “as available” basis, subject to rights that cannot be excluded by law. To the extent permitted by law, FundMyUniverse does not guarantee uninterrupted access, a particular campaign result, a particular level of donations, or the accuracy of User Content submitted by another user.
Campaign review or identity verification is not a guarantee that every campaign statement is true, that funds will be used as intended, that a campaign is free from fraud, or that a recipient qualifies for a tax deduction.
Platform articles, guides, and automated help responses are general information only and are not legal, tax, financial, medical, or professional advice. Users should consult qualified advisers for advice about their own circumstances.
15.1 The Amplify Guide
The Amplify Guide provides general educational information about fundraising and digital communications. Its recommendations are not promises. We do not guarantee increased reach, engagement, donations, campaign approval, or any particular result from following the Guide. Our Platform rules, tools, and third-party services may change; you should check current requirements before relying on the Guide.
15.2 The MyUniverse Journal
The MyUniverse Journal publishes reporting, ideas, and lived experiences submitted by verified Voices, Movements, and Nonprofits. Unless an article is expressly identified as an official statement by us, its content and opinions are those of its author and do not necessarily reflect our views. Verification, editing, or publication does not constitute our endorsement. We do not guarantee that contributor content is accurate, complete, or current.
16. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, FundMyUniverse and its affiliates will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive, exemplary, or other intangible damages, including lost profits, donations, goodwill, use, or data, arising from or related to your use of or inability to use the Platform, transactions through the Platform, or these Terms, even if advised of the possibility of those damages. This limitation applies regardless of the legal theory.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, FundMyUniverse’s total liability to you for all claims, losses, or causes of action arising from or related to the Platform or these Terms will not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount of payments you initiated through the Platform during the six months before the event giving rise to the claim or (b) US$100.
Some jurisdictions do not allow particular liability exclusions or limits, so this Section applies only to the extent permitted by applicable law. Nothing in this Section limits rights or remedies that cannot legally be limited, including mandatory consumer protections.
17. Indemnification
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to release, indemnify, and hold harmless FundMyUniverse and its affiliates and their officers, employees, directors, and agents from and against any and all losses, damages, expenses, costs, awards, fines, claims, and actions of any kind, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to your use of the Platform, any donation or fundraiser, your User Content, your connection to the Platform, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of another person’s rights.
FundMyUniverse may conduct its own defense of any covered claim at its discretion, and you will indemnify FundMyUniverse for the costs of that defense.
18. Dispute resolution and governing law
Before starting arbitration or a court case, you and FundMyUniverse agree to try to resolve the dispute informally. Send written notice to legal@fundmyuniverse.comwith your name, account email if applicable, a description of the dispute, and the resolution requested. The parties will make a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute for 60 days after notice.
If the dispute is not resolved informally, it will be decided by binding, individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. The hearing will take place in the county where you reside or remotely, unless applicable law requires another location. The arbitrator may award the same individual relief that a court could award. The parties will pay arbitration fees as provided by the applicable AAA rules.
You or FundMyUniverse may bring an eligible individual claim in small-claims court. Either party may ask a court for temporary injunctive relief to protect intellectual-property rights, and nothing in this section prevents you from contacting a government agency or limits a regulator’s authority. Disputes must be brought individually, not as a class, collective, or representative action. No shortened claim-filing deadline is imposed by these Terms.
You may opt out of arbitration by emailing legal@fundmyuniverse.com within 30 days after first agreeing to these Terms. Include your name, account email if applicable, and a clear statement that you opt out of the arbitration agreement. If you opt out, neither party may require arbitration. California law governs these Terms, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. For disputes that are not subject to arbitration, you and FundMyUniverse consent to the state and federal courts located in San Francisco County, California, except where applicable consumer-protection law requires another forum. Any non-waivable rights under the law where you live remain unaffected.
19. Changes and general terms
FundMyUniverse may revise these Terms. The revised version will identify its effective date. For a material change, we will give at least 30 days’ notice by email or a prominent notice on the Platform before the change takes effect, unless applicable law requires a different process. Your continued use after the new effective date constitutes acceptance where permitted by law. If you do not agree, stop using the Platform before the change takes effect.
If a provision is unenforceable, it will be limited only to the extent necessary and the remaining provisions will continue to apply, where permitted by law. A failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not transfer your account or rights under these Terms without permission. FundMyUniverse may assign these Terms as part of a merger, reorganization, or transfer of the Platform, subject to applicable law.
These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any additional terms shown for a particular feature, form the agreement concerning your use of the Platform. Feature-specific terms control only to the extent they expressly address the same subject.
Third-party services and external content
The Platform may link to or integrate third-party services, including payment, identity-verification, media, or other providers. Those services may be governed by terms, privacy notices, and policies provided by their respective operators. For terms or other information about a third-party service or link, refer to the materials made available by that third party through the service or link.
20. Contact
For questions, requests, or legal notices about these Terms, contact:
FundMyUniverse LLC
legal@fundmyuniverse.com