Special Terms of Use for Campaigns for the Benefit of Third Parties (“Beneficiary Feature”)

1. Scope and relationship to the existing terms of use

1.1. These Special Terms of Use for beneficiary campaigns for the benefit of third parties (“Special Terms of Use”) apply to all beneficiary campaigns for which the beneficiary campaign creator activated the “Raise money for someone else” function (“Beneficiary Feature”) when registering the campaign (“beneficiary campaign”). They govern the relationship between Good Crowd GmbH as operator of the platform (hereinafter “platform”), the beneficiary campaign creator and the beneficiary.

1.2. These Special Terms of Use apply in addition to the General Terms of Use (“General Terms of Use”) and the Additional Terms of Use for Campaign Creators and Campaigns (“Additional Terms of Use”), each in their currently valid version. The General Terms of Use and the Additional Terms of Use remain unchanged. In addition, the platform’s Privacy Policy must be observed.

In case of conflicts, these Special Terms of Use take precedence over the General Terms of Use and the Additional Terms of Use.

Furthermore, these Special Terms of Use contain provisions relating to the contractual relationship between the donor and the beneficiary, which exists independently of the contractual relationship with Good Crowd GmbH.

1.3. Insofar as the General Terms of Use or the Additional Terms of Use govern the rights and obligations of the “campaign creator” (referred to as “campaign manager” in the English version of the General Terms of Use), these shall apply accordingly to beneficiary campaigns a) to the beneficiary campaign creator, insofar as they concern the creation, design, presentation, communication, content and implementation of the beneficiary campaign, and b) to the beneficiary, insofar as they concern the receipt, management, payout, repayment and taxation of donations as well as the payment service contracts and the processing fees, in each case unless otherwise provided in these Special Terms of Use.

2. Definitions

The terms defined in the General Terms of Use (Section 2) and in the Additional Terms of Use also apply here, unless otherwise specified below:

• “Beneficiary Feature” – Optional function of the platform which enables a beneficiary campaign creator to register a beneficiary campaign for the benefit of another person (beneficiary), who receives the donations directly from the donor.
• “Beneficiary campaign” – Campaign for which the Beneficiary Feature has been activated. There is only one beneficiary campaign creator and one beneficiary per beneficiary campaign.

• “Beneficiary campaign creator” (inviting party) – In deviation from Section 2 of the General Terms of Use: Registered user who registers, manages and carries out a beneficiary campaign. The beneficiary campaign creator is solely responsible for the content of the beneficiary campaign (creating the campaign, sending and withdrawing an invitation to the beneficiary until it is accepted, accuracy of the information on the beneficiary, campaign description, purpose, title, campaign category, images, target amount, news and communication regarding the campaign and with donors about the campaign), in particular for its accuracy, completeness and lawfulness. The beneficiary campaign creator is not the same person as the beneficiary, cannot receive donations, is not a contractual partner of any payment service provider with respect to the beneficiary campaign, has no power of disposal over the donations made to the beneficiary campaign and has no access to the beneficiary campaign account or the bank account. In particular, the content-related rights and obligations under the platform’s General Terms of Use and Additional Terms of Use apply to the beneficiary campaign creator, and the beneficiary campaign creator represents and warrants that essential elements of the campaign, such as the target amount and the purpose, have been agreed with the beneficiary in advance.

  Once the first invitation has been sent to a beneficiary, the beneficiary campaign can no longer be changed into a campaign for the benefit of the beneficiary campaign creator themselves. If the beneficiary campaign creator changes essential content, such as the purpose and the target amount, during the course of the campaign, they must inform the beneficiary of these changes in advance.

  The beneficiary campaign creator may not demand or take any remuneration from the donations for their activities.

• “Beneficiary” (invited person/invitee; displayed by name on the platform as “Recipient”) – Registered user who has been invited by the beneficiary campaign creator, has accepted this invitation and for whose benefit the donations of a beneficiary campaign are collected. The beneficiary may not be the same person as the beneficiary campaign creator. The beneficiary links the payment methods, completes the verifications required for this purpose, concludes the payment service contracts with the payment service provider(s), is the holder of the beneficiary campaign account and the bank account and has sole power of disposal over the donations, i.e. is the only one who can receive them in their bank account. The beneficiary is solely responsible for the accuracy of the billing data and agrees to the platform’s fees. The beneficiary is solely responsible for the receipt, management, payout, repayment and taxation of the donations as well as for the use of the donations for the intended purpose.

  The beneficiary has no influence on the beneficiary campaign description, the target amount or any other content of the beneficiary campaign and can neither change the content of the beneficiary campaign nor write updates.

  The beneficiary is obliged to review the content of the campaign before accepting the invitation and to inform the beneficiary campaign creator and the platform without delay if, in the beneficiary’s view, content of the beneficiary campaign is inaccurate, infringes the beneficiary’s rights or third-party rights recognisable to the beneficiary, or if the campaign purpose can no longer be achieved. The beneficiary is obliged to use the donations raised through the beneficiary campaign exclusively for the purposes specified in the campaign description and permitted under Section 3 of the Additional Terms of Use.

  Any person who meets the requirements for a donation recipient set out in Section 2 of the General Terms of Use (definition of “campaign manager”) may be a beneficiary. These are: a) when using PayPal: private individuals (consumers) resident in Germany or Austria as well as legal persons or sole proprietorships under German law with their registered office in Germany or under Austrian law with their registered office in Austria; b) when using Stripe in addition to PayPal: exclusively legal persons or sole proprietorships within the meaning of lit. a). If the beneficiary is a sole proprietorship, its owner must be acting in the exercise of their commercial or independent professional activity when concluding the contract with the platform and with the respective payment service provider. Sections 3.2 and 3.4 of the General Terms of Use apply accordingly to the beneficiary.

• “Invitation” – Request sent via the platform to the email address provided by the beneficiary campaign creator, asking a person to assume the role of beneficiary for a specific beneficiary campaign.
• “Beneficiary campaign account” – In deviation from Section 2 of the General Terms of Use: Account that the respective payment service provider maintains for the beneficiary (PayPal or Stripe account) and into which the donations for the beneficiary campaign are paid, less the fees in accordance with Section 8.2.
• “Bank account” – In deviation from Section 2 of the General Terms of Use: Bank account of the beneficiary with a bank designated by the beneficiary, to which the respective payment service provider pays out the donations on the instructions of the beneficiary. The beneficiary concludes separate payment service contracts with the payment service provider in order to be able to receive the donations.

3. Registration as a user, conclusion of a contract for use of the platform, sanctions lists, relationship between beneficiary campaign creator and beneficiary

3.1. If the beneficiary campaign creator is a legal person, it is not required, in deviation from Section 3.4 of the General Terms of Use, that the registered user who registers and manages the beneficiary campaign in its name is its legal representative. However, this registered user must be authorised to register and manage the beneficiary campaign on behalf of the legal person and shall prove this to the platform upon request by providing suitable evidence. If the beneficiary campaign creator is a natural person, they must be the same person as the registered user.

3.2. Beneficiary campaigns are not permitted if the beneficiary, the beneficiary campaign creator or any other third party benefiting from the campaign is listed on a sanctions list, such as the EU or US sanctions list, or if there is a ground for exclusion pursuant to Section 3.3 of the Additional Terms of Use.

3.3. The beneficiary campaign creator represents and warrants that a) they are authorised by the beneficiary to collect donations for the beneficiary’s benefit in the form of the beneficiary campaign, and that the beneficiary consents to the purpose and presentation of the campaign and to the processing of the beneficiary’s name, and b) the beneficiary’s data (first name, last name, email address) provided to the platform when creating the beneficiary campaign are accurate and the email address is used exclusively by the beneficiary. The beneficiary campaign creator shall prove this to the platform upon request by providing suitable evidence.

3.4. Relationship between beneficiary campaign creator and beneficiary: The legal relationship between the beneficiary campaign creator and the beneficiary (e.g. arrangements regarding the campaign, mandate, courtesy arrangement) exists independently of the platform. The platform is not a party to this legal relationship and assumes no responsibility for its content or fulfilment. Any claims of the beneficiary campaign creator against the beneficiary for the handover, transfer, or forwarding of donations cannot be asserted against the platform and have no effect in relation to the platform.

4. Registration of campaigns, conclusion of a contract for the use of the platform for campaigns between beneficiary campaign creator or beneficiary and platform, and conclusion of a contract between beneficiary and payment service provider

4.1. Registration and activation: The beneficiary campaign creator activates the Beneficiary Feature when registering the beneficiary campaign by selecting the option “Raise money for someone else”.

4.2. Conclusion of contract between platform and beneficiary campaign creator: Section 4.1 of the Additional Terms of Use applies subject to the proviso that, upon completion of the registration of the beneficiary campaign including consent to the Special Terms of Use (upon receipt of the corresponding confirmation email), a contract for the extended use of the platform as beneficiary campaign creator of a beneficiary campaign is concluded, and that donations can only be solicited once the beneficiary has successfully linked a payment method. By clicking on the final button in the registration process of the beneficiary campaign, the beneficiary campaign creator makes a binding offer for the extended use of the platform in accordance with these Special Terms of Use, which the platform accepts by sending an email confirming the registration of the beneficiary campaign (confirmation email). The contract is concluded upon receipt of the confirmation email. The receipt of donations is not part of the contract between the platform and the beneficiary campaign creator within the scope of the use of the Beneficiary Feature.

4.3. Conclusion of contract between platform and beneficiary:

The platform sends an invitation to the email address provided by the beneficiary campaign creator. If the invitee does not accept the invitation within 14 days of it being sent, the invitation expires. The invitation does not yet constitute a binding offer for the use of the platform. If the invitee accepts the invitation by registering as beneficiary and, as part of the acceptance, agreeing to these Special Terms of Use, the General Terms of Use, the Additional Terms of Use (in accordance with Section 1.3) and the processing fees and acknowledging the Privacy Policy, the invitee makes a binding offer, by clicking on the final button in the registration process, to conclude a contract for the use of the platform as beneficiary of the specific beneficiary campaign. After conclusion of the contract, the beneficiary campaign becomes publicly visible on the platform with the names of the beneficiary and the beneficiary campaign creator. The beneficiary campaign can only solicit donations once a payment method has been linked.

If the invitee is not already registered as a user on the platform, the invitee simultaneously concludes a contract for the general use of the platform in accordance with Section 3 of the General Terms of Use as part of the registration process.

After successful registration as a user and as beneficiary and verification of the email address, the user immediately receives a confirmation from the platform by email. The confirmation email from the platform constitutes acceptance of the user’s previously submitted offer to use the platform as beneficiary within the scope of the Beneficiary Feature. The contract is concluded upon its receipt.

The platform reserves the right to refuse the registration of a user without giving a reason.

4.4. Conclusion of contract between beneficiary and payment service provider

4.4.1. The beneficiary concludes the payment service contracts in their own name directly with the respective payment service provider. For this purpose, the beneficiary accepts, during onboarding on the platform, the contractual terms of the respective payment service provider provided to them there and personally provides the information required by the payment service provider. The provisions of the General Terms of Use and the Additional Terms of Use apply accordingly to the beneficiary with regard to the conclusion, content, performance and termination of the payment service contracts as well as the entire payment processing. In this respect, the beneficiary takes the place of the campaign creator, and the beneficiary campaign takes the place of the campaign. The platform is not a party to these contracts; it is merely appointed by the beneficiary as the beneficiary’s transmitting messenger (“Erklärungsbote”) for the sole purpose of transmitting the beneficiary’s declarations in the cases governed by the General Terms of Use and the Additional Terms of Use; the platform does not make any declarations of its own and does not act as the beneficiary’s agent or representative. Where the platform is appointed as transmitting messenger in the event of a suspicion of fraud, the suspicion of fraud may relate to the conduct of the beneficiary campaign creator, of the beneficiary or of third parties.

4.4.2. No payment service contract is concluded between the beneficiary campaign creator and the payment service providers with respect to the beneficiary campaign.

4.4.3. In case of conflicts between these Special Terms of Use, the General Terms of Use or the Additional Terms of Use and the payment service contracts, the provisions of the payment service contracts take precedence in the legal relationship between the respective payment service provider and the beneficiary.

5. Donation process, processing of donation payments and conclusion of contract between beneficiary and donor

5.1. Sections 10 and 11 of the General Terms of Use apply to beneficiary campaigns subject to the proviso that, by clicking on the donation button integrated in the donation form and paying the respective amount, a contractual relationship independent of the platform (donation subject to an obligation) with the associated rights and obligations is established between the donor and the beneficiary. The beneficiary campaign creator is not a party to this contractual relationship but supports the beneficiary insofar as the content of the campaign is concerned.

5.2. The beneficiary is the recipient of the donations and the obligor of any repayment claims of the donors (Section 10.2.4 of the General Terms of Use applies accordingly). Claims of the donor against the beneficiary campaign creator or the beneficiary under statutory provisions (e.g. in tort in the case of intentionally false information) remain unaffected; other consequences under criminal and civil law also remain unaffected.

The dedication of the donations to a specific purpose results from the beneficiary campaign description written by the beneficiary campaign creator; the beneficiary acknowledges this by registering as beneficiary and agreeing to the platform’s terms of use. Section 10.2.5 lit. c) of the General Terms of Use applies accordingly to the beneficiary. If the beneficiary objects vis-à-vis the platform to a subsequent change of the campaign purpose and/or the target amount, Sections 7.1 and 5.4 apply.

5.3. Role of the platform: Section 10.1.1 of the General Terms of Use applies accordingly; in this respect, the platform acts exclusively as transmitting messenger of the beneficiary, not of the beneficiary campaign creator. The beneficiary campaign creator is not entitled to issue instructions to the platform regarding payments, payouts or repayments. Sections 10.1.3 and 10.2.7 of the General Terms of Use (donations to support the platform) remain unaffected.

5.4. Ending and cancellation of the beneficiary campaign

5.4.1. Section 10.3 of the General Terms of Use applies accordingly, subject to the proviso that the beneficiary campaign is ended or cancelled by the beneficiary campaign creator, whereas the obligation to make repayments following a cancellation lies with the beneficiary of the beneficiary campaign (Section 5.2).

5.4.2. The beneficiary is obliged to inform the beneficiary campaign creator and the platform without delay if the beneficiary recognises that the target of the beneficiary campaign can no longer be achieved or that there is a serious risk of this, or if the beneficiary can no longer use the donations for the intended purpose. If the beneficiary campaign creator does not cancel the beneficiary campaign in such a case, the platform may cancel the beneficiary campaign in accordance with Section 10.3.3 of the General Terms of Use or block it in accordance with Section 7.2 of the General Terms of Use.

5.4.3. In addition to serious violations by the beneficiary campaign creator, the platform may also cancel the beneficiary campaign in accordance with Section 10.3.3 of the General Terms of Use in the event of serious violations by the beneficiary of these Special Terms of Use, the General Terms of Use or the Additional Terms of Use, or of the currently applicable principles of the platform. A violation of the currently applicable principles of the platform may also arise from reasons relating to the person of the beneficiary.

5.5. Transparency: Section 5.4 of the General Terms of Use (permanent visibility) also applies to the information on the beneficiary campaign creator and the beneficiary.

6. Termination

6.1. Section 7 of the General Terms of Use applies accordingly. The good causes set out there by way of example for campaign creators which relate to payment service contracts and transactions apply accordingly to the beneficiary in the case of beneficiary campaigns.

In addition, good cause for extraordinary termination by the platform in accordance with Section 7.1.2 of the General Terms of Use also exists if the beneficiary campaign creator has provided incorrect information about the beneficiary or has collected donations for the beneficiary’s benefit without the beneficiary’s consent, or if the beneficiary, through their conduct or for reasons relating to their person, violates the currently applicable principles of the platform.

6.2. If the beneficiary terminates their usage contract, the beneficiary campaign ends when the termination takes effect. Donations already received but not yet paid out must be processed in accordance with these Special Terms of Use, the General Terms of Use and the Additional Terms of Use. If the beneficiary campaign creator terminates their usage contract, Section 7.2 applies.

7. Departure or replacement of the beneficiary campaign creator and the beneficiary

7.1. In the event of disagreement between the beneficiary campaign creator and the beneficiary, in particular regarding the accuracy of the information in the beneficiary campaign or the use of the donations, the platform may temporarily block the beneficiary campaign in accordance with Section 7.2 of the General Terms of Use if there are concrete indications. For this case, the beneficiary appoints the platform as their transmitting messenger to pause the transmission of their payout instructions to the respective payment service provider until the matter has been clarified. The platform shall inform the beneficiary campaign creator and the beneficiary of the pause and shall lift the pause as soon as the disagreement has been resolved, in particular by a mutual declaration of the parties involved or by suitable evidence such as court decisions. The platform is not obliged to decide on the disagreement. Section 10.2.5 a) of the General Terms of Use (suspicion of fraud) remains unaffected.

7.2. If the beneficiary campaign creator ceases to be involved (e.g. due to death, termination, blocking), the platform may end the beneficiary campaign. Donations already received remain with the beneficiary and must be used by the beneficiary in accordance with the beneficiary campaign description.

8. Beneficiary campaign processing

8.1. Section 6 of the Additional Terms of Use applies accordingly to beneficiary campaigns and to the beneficiary. The platform reserves the right to request proof of the proper use of the donations at any time (Section 6.4 of the Additional Terms of Use). The beneficiary is obliged to provide such proof. The beneficiary campaign creator is obliged to cooperate in providing such proof insofar as they are able to do so, and to inform the donors appropriately about the use of the donations on the beneficiary campaign page. The beneficiary shall provide the beneficiary campaign creator with the information required for this purpose.

8.2. Processing fees and taxes: The rights and obligations under Section 6.5 of the Additional Terms of Use apply accordingly to the beneficiary.

The processing fee is therefore to be paid by the beneficiary to the platform. The beneficiary expressly agrees to the fees when accepting the invitation and authorises the corresponding payment. Details about the fees can be found in the applicable pricing table. The fees include the respective applicable statutory VAT. The beneficiary campaign creator is informed about the fees and can view invoices, but does not owe the fees. The platform will issue an invoice to the beneficiary for each billing period, insofar as the platform is legally obliged to do so.

With regard to taxes, Section 6.5.2 of the Additional Terms of Use applies accordingly: Any taxation of donations solicited via the platform is the sole responsibility of the beneficiary. In this regard, the time of receipt of payment in the beneficiary campaign account is decisive.

9. Liability and indemnification

The liability of the platform is governed by Section 9 of the General Terms of Use. The indemnification provisions of the General Terms of Use apply equally to the beneficiary campaign creator and the beneficiary, including with respect to any breaches of obligations under these Special Terms of Use. Section 6.6 of the Additional Terms of Use applies accordingly to the beneficiary.

10. Data protection and third-party data

10.1. The beneficiary campaign creator ensures that they are entitled to transmit the beneficiary’s name and email address to the platform for the purpose of the invitation and that they have informed the beneficiary of the invitation in advance. The beneficiary campaign creator indemnifies the platform against any third-party claims based on an unauthorised transmission.

10.2. Section 8 of the Additional Terms of Use (donor data) applies equally to the beneficiary campaign creator and the beneficiary, insofar as they can view donor data. The platform may make information on the status of donations and payouts available to the beneficiary campaign creator insofar as this is necessary for the implementation and transparent presentation of the beneficiary campaign.

11. Instructions on withdrawal for the beneficiary regarding the contract with the platform

If the beneficiary uses the platform as a consumer, the following shall apply:

Right of withdrawal

The beneficiary has the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.

The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day of the conclusion of the contract.

To exercise the right of withdrawal, the beneficiary must inform the platform (Good Crowd GmbH, Schlesische Straße 26, 10997 Berlin, Email: [email protected]) of its decision to withdraw from this contract by an unequivocal statement (e.g. a letter sent by post or an email). The beneficiary may use the attached model withdrawal form, but it is not obligatory.

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for the beneficiary to send the communication concerning the exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.

Effects of withdrawal

If the beneficiary withdraws from this contract, the platform shall reimburse to the beneficiary the fees paid in accordance with Section 8.2 without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which the platform is informed about the decision to withdraw from this contract. The platform will carry out such reimbursement using the same means of payment as the beneficiary used for the initial transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise with the beneficiary; in any event, the beneficiary will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.

If the beneficiary requested the performance of services to begin during the withdrawal period, the beneficiary shall pay the platform a reasonable amount. This reasonable amount corresponds to the amount of fees under Section 8.2 incurred for donations raised up to the point in time when the beneficiary informed the platform of the exercise of its right of withdrawal.

Model withdrawal form

(complete and return this form only if you wish to withdraw from the contract)

• To Good Crowd GmbH, Schlesische Straße 26, 10997 Berlin, Email: [email protected]:
• I/We (*) hereby give notice that I/We (*) withdraw from my/our (*) contract for the provision of the following service (*),
• Ordered on (*),
• Name of consumer(s),
• Address of consumer(s),
• Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper),
• Date

(*) Delete as appropriate.

Section 9 of the Additional Terms of Use applies unchanged to the beneficiary campaign creator of a beneficiary campaign; as the beneficiary campaign creator does not owe any fees, there is no refund of fees to them.

12. Rights of withdrawal regarding payment service providers

With regard to the conclusion of the payment service contracts between the beneficiary and the respective payment service provider, only the payment service provider must provide information about any rights of withdrawal, their legal requirements and exercise (Section 10 of the Additional Terms of Use). The platform is legally a third party in this respect.

13. Changes to these Special Terms of Use

The platform reserves the right to change these Special Terms of Use at any time without restriction, in particular to adapt them to legal or technical changes. The amended terms will be announced on this website at least four weeks before they come into effect. Registered users will be notified of upcoming changes by email at least four weeks before they come into effect. Users are therefore requested to regularly review the current version on the platform’s website. If a registered user does not object to the validity of the new terms within four weeks after receiving the email, the amended terms are deemed accepted. The platform will specifically point out the possibility of objection and the significance of this four-week period to registered users in the email containing the amended terms.

14. Final provisions

Section 13 of the General Terms of Use (severability clause, applicable law, consumer arbitration, place of jurisdiction, out-of-court dispute resolution) applies accordingly.

These Special Terms of Use are provided in German and English. Only the German version shall be legally binding; the English version is provided for information purposes only.

For suggestions and questions about these Special Terms of Use, you can contact our support team at any time:

Good Crowd GmbH – Customer Support – Schlesische Straße 26, D-10997 Berlin

[email protected]