Terms of Service — Volunteer Circle
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are an agreement between Ministry Boost LLC (operating as “Volunteer Circle”; “we,” “us”) and the church or organization that registers for or uses the Service (the “Church,” “you”). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you are accepting on behalf of a Church, you represent that you are authorized to bind that Church.
1. The Service
Volunteer Circle provides software to help churches care for, communicate with, and train their volunteers — including roster and team management, care tracking, messaging, and training/courses, across web and (when available) mobile apps. We may update, improve, or change features over time.
2. Accounts, roles, and eligibility
- You must provide accurate account information and keep it current.
- The Service uses roles (e.g., admin, leader, volunteer, guardian). The Church is responsible for assigning roles appropriately and for the actions of its users.
- Administrators and leaders must be 18 or older. The Service stores information about volunteers who may be minors; the Church is responsible for handling that information lawfully (see Section 4).
- You are responsible for maintaining the security of your sign-in credentials.
3. Customer Data and ownership
“Customer Data” means the information a Church and its users put into the Service. As between the parties, the Church owns its Customer Data. The Church grants us a limited license to host, process, and transmit Customer Data solely to provide and support the Service and as described in the Privacy Policy.
4. Church responsibilities (important)
The Church is responsible for:
- having a lawful basis to collect and use the information it puts into the Service, including information about minors and their guardians;
- obtaining any parental/guardian consent required before adding a minor's information;
- obtaining prior express written consent from each individual in compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (47 U.S.C. § 227) and applicable FCC regulations before using the Service to send any text message to that individual, whether informational or promotional; maintaining records of such consent; honoring opt-out requests upon receipt of a STOP reply; and registering applicable 10DLC campaigns before initiating A2P commercial messaging (the Church is the TCPA sender, not Volunteer Circle; TCPA violations carry statutory damages of $500 to $1,500 per message);
- the accuracy of background-check status it records (the Service stores status and dates only, not reports); conducting actual background checks through FCRA-compliant consumer reporting agencies; and issuing all pre-adverse-action and adverse-action notices required by FCRA § 615 when background-check status is used to make volunteer eligibility decisions (Volunteer Circle is not a consumer reporting agency and status data in the Service is not a consumer report);
- using the Service consistent with its own policies and applicable law; and
- the conduct of its users.
5. Safety features and acceptable use
The Service includes child-safety features, including a rule that prevents a one-to-one message thread with a minor unless a second adult is present, and message permanence/visibility to administrators. You agree not to attempt to circumvent these features. You also agree not to:
- use the Service to harass, abuse, or harm any person;
- upload unlawful, infringing, or harmful content;
- attempt to access another organization's data or breach the Service's security;
- reverse engineer or misuse the Service; or
- use the Service to violate any law.
We may suspend access to address a security risk, a violation of these Terms, or a threat to safety.
6. Training content and courses
- The Church owns the courses it creates (“Church Content”) and grants us a license to host and deliver it to its assigned learners.
- We may make platform-provided courses available; those remain our (or our licensors') property and are licensed to you for use within the Service.
- A Church may choose to share a course to a public library for other churches to copy. By sharing, the Church grants other churches a license to use a copy of that course. Shared courses are copied to the receiving church (so each church controls its own copy); underlying media may be streamed from a single source.
- You are responsible for having the rights to any video or materials you upload.
7. Third-party services
The Service relies on third-party providers (e.g., hosting, video, payments) and may integrate with services you connect (e.g., a church-management system). Your use of connected third-party services is governed by their terms; we are not responsible for third-party services.
8. Fees and payment
During the pilot phase, the Service is provided at no charge. When paid subscriptions launch, fees will be set forth on the pricing page at volunteercircle.com and billed in advance on a monthly or annual basis. Payments are processed by Stripe; Ministry Boost LLC does not store full card details. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 5 business days before the renewal date. Taxes, if any, are the Church's responsibility. Ministry Boost LLC may change fees on 30 days' written notice; continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. The pilot is free; once paid subscriptions launch, churches may cancel at any time and fees are billed in advance with no refund for partial billing periods, except where required by applicable law.
9. Term, termination, and data export
- These Terms apply while you use the Service.
- On termination, you may request export of your Customer Data within 30 days, after which we may delete it. We will delete or de-identify Customer Data following termination as described in the Privacy Policy, except where retention is legally required.
10. Disclaimers
The Service is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free. The Service is a tool to assist ministry; it is not a substitute for the Church's own judgment, supervision, and safety practices.
11. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither party will be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or lost profits or data, arising out of or related to the Service. Our total liability for any claim arising out of these Terms or the Service will not exceed the amounts you paid us for the Service in the 12 months before the claim.
12. Indemnification
Each party will defend and indemnify the other against third-party claims to the extent caused by its breach of these Terms or its unlawful use of the Service, subject to standard procedures. Without limiting the foregoing, the Church will specifically defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Ministry Boost LLC from any claims, fines, penalties, or damages arising from: (a) the Church's failure to obtain required TCPA prior express written consent before sending text messages; (b) the Church's failure to issue FCRA-required adverse-action notices; (c) the Church's failure to obtain required parental consent before entering minor volunteer data; or (d) any other unlawful use of Customer Data by the Church or its users. Ministry Boost LLC will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Church from third-party claims arising from Ministry Boost LLC's material breach of its data security obligations under the DPA.
13. Changes to the Service or Terms
We may update the Service or these Terms from time to time. For material changes to these Terms, we will post the updated Terms with a new “Last updated” date and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. Your continued use of the Service after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance.
14. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Before initiating formal proceedings, the parties will attempt in good faith to resolve disputes by written notice followed by a 30-day negotiation period. Unresolved disputes shall be submitted to binding arbitration under AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules, with proceedings in Baltimore County, Maryland, except that: (a) either party may bring qualifying claims in small-claims court in lieu of arbitration; and (b) either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction without first arbitrating.
15. Contact
Ministry Boost LLC
[Ministry Boost LLC — Maryland mailing address]
support@volunteercircle.com