Acceptable Use

Prohibited fundraisers

This list follows the prohibited and restricted activity lists of our payment providers — a fundraiser breaking those would take down processing for everyone, not only for itself. You may not raise money for:

Illegality and violence

• Any illegal activity, or one that breaks a regulation or a contract with a third party.

• Ransom, human trafficking, vigilantism, bribery, or a reward for acting against someone.

• Terrorism, terrorist financing or money laundering.

• People, countries or entities under sanctions applicable to us or to our providers.

• Weapons, ammunition, explosives or military equipment — including legal firearms and regulated accessories.

• Toxic, flammable, radioactive material, or anything prohibited from transport.

• Legal defence for a violent crime — homicide, robbery, grievous injury, sexual offences and offences against a minor.

Fraud and misleading promises

• A cause that is fraudulent, misleading, inaccurate, dishonest or impossible to fulfil.

• Pyramid schemes, multi-level marketing, get-rich-quick schemes, or any promise of financial return to the donor.

• False testimonials, exaggerated results or unrealistic inducements.

• Selling traffic, followers, likes, reviews or engagement.

• Identity-theft protection or recovery services.

Substances and health

• Illicit drugs, controlled substances, or equipment to produce or consume them.

• Cannabis and derivatives, including cultivation, dispensaries, growing courses, and CBD products above the legal THC limit.

• Tobacco, e-cigarettes, e-liquid and production equipment.

• Supplements or nutraceuticals promising a cure, and treatments without scientific evidence.

• Running an online pharmacy, selling or importing prescription medicine, regulated medical devices, or telemedicine services.

Money and financial services

• Investment, brokerage, currency exchange, money transfer, payment accounts, credit, instalment plans or custody of third-party funds.

• Debt renegotiation, settlement, consolidation or collection services — including for someone else's debt.

• Cash advances, cash withdrawals, or passing money on without an explained purpose.

• Crypto mining or staking, initial coin offerings, and NFT resale.

• Gambling, betting, raffles, sweepstakes, penny auctions, or any reward in exchange for a donation.

Content and products

• Offensive, graphic or inappropriate content.

• Adult content, pornography, sexual services, escort services or adult content platforms.

• Genital jewellery, genital prosthetics and realistic sex toys — prohibited by our providers.

• Extremism, hatred, violence, harassment, bullying, or discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity, origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or age.

• Content glorifying suicide, self-harm or eating disorders.

• Counterfeit products or anything infringing intellectual property.

• Third-party file storage and sharing services.

Operations and the platform

• Selling a product or a service — a fundraiser is not a shop.

• Running an airline, charter flights, cruises, travel clubs or ride-hailing services.

• Election campaigns, political parties or political committees.

• Any attempt to route around the platform's payment processing.

What is still allowed

Two of the most common reasons for a fundraiser would fall foul of a literal reading of the list above, and that is not what it means. The prohibition is about running the business, not about the person who needs help:

• Medical treatment is allowed. You may raise money for your surgery, your medication, your therapy, or treatment for someone in your family. What is prohibited is using the platform to sell medicine, run a pharmacy or fund unproven therapies.

• Paying your own debt is allowed. You may raise money to clear a loan, overdue rent or a hospital bill. What is prohibited is offering debt renegotiation or collection services to others.

If you are unsure about your cause, write to support before publishing — we answer before the fundraiser joins the review queue.

Prohibited conduct

You may not:

• Publish someone else's content without permission, including images of people.

• Transmit malware or content that threatens anyone's security.

• Send spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes or improper solicitations.

• Interfere with our servers or attempt unauthorised access.

• Scrape, harvest or extract personal data from the platform.

• Raise money on behalf of a minor without being their legal guardian.

• Impersonate another person, company or institution, or claim a connection that does not exist.

• Share a password or access credential.

• Make or accept a fraudulent donation, including with someone else's card.

• Use bots or artificial means to simulate engagement, donations or support.

• Convert money raised into crypto assets before passing it to the beneficiary.

• Use platform material for unauthorised commercial purposes.

How we enforce this

We combine automated rules, a risk engine and human review. Every fundraiser is reviewed before it becomes public, and anyone can report one through the link at the foot of its page — no account needed.

Where a breach is confirmed, we may remove content, block the fundraiser, suspend the account, hold and reverse funds, and report to the authorities.

If you disagree with a decision, reply to the notification e-mail: it is reviewed by someone other than whoever decided.