General Terms and Conditions of the Foundation in support of the WHO in relation to the Health Emergency Appeal 2023 [1]

Preamble

The service is a fundraising platform that has been provided worldwide for the Health Emergency Appeal 2023 (the “Campaign”), which is powered by the Foundation in support of the World Health Organization (“WHO”), (WHOF”) to support WHO’s response to saving lives of people affected by the world’s most urgent health crises (“WHO’s Appeals”).

The platform serves as an intermediary between WHOF and persons and companies (natural or legal) (the “Donor” or “Donors”) wishing to make donation(s).

The service provided is available on the Campaign website: “https://www.who.int/emergencies/funding/outbreak-and-crisis-response-appeal/2023” or through other means such as, but not limited to, QR codes, link through social media, Facebook, Instagram, FundraiseUp, Benevity, companies matching platform or any other tools developed in relation to the Campaign (the “Campaign Fundraising Tools”).

Scope of these General Terms and Conditions

These General Terms and Conditions (“General Terms and Conditions“) are applicable to all services provided to link Donors with WHOF for the Campaign.

By using the Campaign tools, the Donor acknowledges that he/she is bound by these Terms and Conditions, which he/she declares having read and understood.

When a Donors makes a donation to the Campaign via WHOF, she/he undertakes to read and accept the General Conditions and/or special contractual conditions of payment companies, such as “STRIPE” or PayPal (the “Payment Companies“), as well as service providers, such as Fundraise Up Inc or fiduciary partners [2] (“Service Providers”). Payment Companies and Service Providers are intermediaries between WHOF and the Donor. WHOF cannot be held liable for contractual relationships between the Donors and the Payment Companies or Service Providers except in cases of willful misconduct or gross negligence of WHOF.

In the event of disagreement with these General Terms and Conditions, the Donor undertakes to leave the Campaign Fundraising Tools. The same applies for the general terms and conditions of Payment Companies and Service Providers.

WHOF reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify the General Terms and Conditions at any time. The General Terms and Conditions applicable at the time of the Donor’s contribution shall apply. If a specific agreement is signed between the Donor and WHOF, the specific Agreement provisions shall prevail over the General Terms and Conditions. 

Conclusion of the donation agreement

The donation agreement is concluded when Donor clicks on “Donate” or “Payment” on the Campaign mobile site or any Campaign Fundraising Tools. When the agreement is concluded the amount of the donation will be withdrawn from the Donor account by the Payment Companies.

The Donor may not revoke an unconditional one-time donation.

Monthly donations which allow WHOF to carry out its projects long term, are open-ended and are revocable for future donation. The Donor is solely responsible to cancel recurring donations.

A confirmation of payment will be sent to the Donor by email. The confirmation of payment may be used as a tax receipt, if this facility is provided by the Campaign in the jurisdiction of residence of the donor. At this stage this option is only available for the Campaign in SwitzerlandLiechtenstein, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.,

In accordance with its Gift Acceptance Policy (“GAP”), WHOF can return any donation after completion of its due diligence process. 

Prices and commissions

The use of the website or other means is free of charge.

To cover the running cost of the Campaign, 5% of the amount of each donation will be kept by the WHOF.  Additional fees from service providers might be deducted from the donation amount, such as the donation platform fee, fiduciary partners fees or external due diligence costs, if applicable.

Additional fees are applied to cover the Payment Companies. Donors have the possibility to take these fees in addition to his/her donation.

Unless otherwise mentioned, all prices are quoted in United States Dollars (USD) outside Europe, in Euro (EUR) in Europe and in Swiss Francs (CHF) in Switzerland or an equivalent amount in the Donor local currency. For online donation, if the currency is not one of the above mentioned currencies the transaction costs will be borne on the amount of the donation at the exchange rate of the date of the transaction.

The prices quoted are without tax. Where applicable, Additional amounts may therefore be added to the prices indicated, in particular the additional amounts relating to value added tax (VAT).

Obligation of the WHOF

The Campaign raises money to save lives of people affected by the world’s most urgent health crises. WHOF is responsible for the collection of funds. Unless otherwise agreed with the Donor, the collected funds for the Campaign will contribute towards WHO’s Appeals, after the above mentioned deductions.

WHOF will ensure that the funds given to the Campaign are transferred to WHO to be used according to the needs of people affected by the world’s most urgent health crises. If the WHO’s Appeals no longer need funding, the Donation will be transferred to the WHO Health Emergencies Programme at large (WHE). WHO is solely responsible for the use of funds within the framework of the mandate given by WHOF and the Donors. Under exceptional circumstances, WHOF may inform Donors by email of the need to modify planned activities due to unforeseen events or other difficulties, in order to improve the effectiveness of project interventions.

WHOF will issue, one year after the launch of the WHO Appeal, a report that will be made available on its website. The reporting data will be extracted from the information provided by WHO publicly. WHOF is not liable for any data communicated by WHO in the context of the WHO’s Appeal.

WHOF shall conduct a due diligence process on Donors according to its GAP.

Obligations of the Donor

The Donor expressly undertakes:

  • To write only truthful information on the Campaign Fundraising Tools;
  • To use the donation tool for strictly personal use;
  • To keep as confidential and not to transfer their passwords and account information to third parties in order to avoid any undue access;
  • Not to use programs or other systems that may cause disturbances to the Campaign Fundraising Tools and that may disrupt its use;
  • To agree that the donation shall solely benefit the WHOF. The donation should not benefit the Donor, whether directly or indirectly (except for any potential tax exemption) the donation is made without any expectation of any kind in respect of benefits, services, advice, influence or other type of contribution from the WHOF towards the Donor or its direct or indirect interests. If the Donor has a limited direct or indirect benefit from its donation, notably through the image that such donation is providing, it should  remain minor and shall not be qualified as a conflict of interests ;
  • To warrant that that the amounts donated do not stem from any illegal activity or undertaking that would otherwise breach any applicable regulations, in particular in relation to bribery, corruption, money laundering, tax or other good governance principles;
  • To warrant that he/she is not employed in, nor possess a significant financial interest in the arms or tobacco industry (see below).

The Donor expressly accepts:

  • To transmit some of his/her personal data in order to be able to use the Campaign Fundraising Tools and make a donation (surname, first name, e-mail address, private address, telephone number, IP address, credit card number, credit card expiry date, credit card CVC number etc). It should be noted that WHOF does keep personal data as described in its Data Privacy Policy; Payment information will not be stored by WHOF.
  • When the donation is given to a Fiduciary Partners, to provide the said Fiduciary Partners with any documentation (including but not limited to original passports and/or driving licenses and current utility bills showing home addresses) that it might require in order for it to comply with all applicable money laundering regulations. The Donor agrees that the Fiduciary Partners can access personal data from the Campaign Fundraising Tools. Fiduciary partners will use such data to comply with the relevant legislation, in particular to edit tax receipts and for marketing purposes if the Donor has agreed to stay in touch.
  • If for any legitimate reasons the donation cannot be used for the Campaign purpose (for example, but not limited to, WHO’s Appeals no longer needs funding), the donation will not be returned to the Donor but shall be allocated to the essential work of WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE).

Arms and Tobacco disclosure statement

The Foundation can not accept funds from arms and tobacco industries or individuals or entities linked with such industries. In accordance with the Foundation GAP, funds linked to such industries will be returned if received. Therefore, for donation amounting from USD 1 [one] to USD 9.999 [nine thousand ninety nine], the Donor acknowledge and agree with the following statement:

  • for individuals:
    I certify that I am neither employed in, nor possess a significant financial interest in the arms or tobacco industry. Direct donations from governments and their agencies, as well as donations from individuals and entities affiliated with the arms or tobacco industries cannot be accepted and will be returned if received.
  • for corporates donors:
    We certify that our entity or affiliated entities do not possess a significant financial interest in the arms or tobacco industry. Direct donations from governments and their agencies, as well as donations from entities affiliated with the arms or tobacco industries cannot be accepted and will be returned if received.

For donation above USD 10.000 [ten thousand] an arms and tobacco disclosure agreement must be filled and signed. Please contact us at info@who.foundation should you wish to make a donation of this amount or above. If you proceed with a donation above that threshold without contacting us and we are unable to obtain the information necessary to comply with our GAP we will return said donation.

WHOF or its fiduciary partners will return any funds received in violation of the WHOF GAP requirements.

Minimum age

To be able to use the Campaign Fundraising Tools, the Donor certifies that he/she is 16 (sixteen) years of age or older.

Payments

The following payment options are available: payment by credit card, Paypal, Apple Pay, wire transfer and Google Pay for donation up to USD 10.000. Invoices are available for any higher amount.

The amount relating to the donation must be paid in full by the Donor as soon as the donation contract is concluded. The donation is irrevocable and may not be reclaimed by the Donor for any reason whatsoever.

Cancellation, refusal or refund of the donation contract

As soon as the donation has been made, this contract cannot be canceled unless otherwise required by law (cf. art. 249-250 of the Swiss Civil Code of OBligations).

The WHOF reserves the right to refuse or refund a donation if a breach to the arms and tobacco statement is found, if the Campaign requirements are not met or if there is a potential or actual conflict of interest with the donor and/or donation.

Tax deduction

For this Campaign, Switzerland, Liechtenstein  Luxembourg and the Netherlands allow the Donor to receive a tax deduction receipt.

Tax deduction receipts are not systematic.

Should there be a system in place to provide tax deduction receipts to the Donor, the Donor accepts to provide WHOF or its Fiduciary Partner with the necessary information required by the country laws and regulations to obtain a tax deduction receipt or the Donor allows WHOF or its affiliated company to transfer the necessary information to the entity issuing the tax deduction receipt.

This tax deduction receipt shall be issued by the direct recipient of the donation. Should there be an intermediary third party (ex. Fiduciary Partners) receiving the donation the tax deduction receipt should be issued by this third party. In addition, tax receipt can be automated.

Responsibility

WHOF declines any responsibility in relation to the services it offers as well as those provided by its auxiliaries. This limitation of liability does not apply in the event of fraud or gross negligence.

The Donor is aware that WHOF cannot be held liable for the services provided by a third party. In particular, once WHOF has transferred the donation money to a third party in charge of the implementation of the Campaign, WHOF has no responsibility on the use of the funds, other than the usage in conformity with its purpose clause and the purpose of the donation by the Donor.

Any liability of WHOF for indirect or consequential damage is also excluded.

Donors are solely responsible for the accuracy of the information they insert in the donation tools.

Intellectual property rights

Neither these General Terms and Conditions nor the individual agreements (if applicable) relating to them deal with the transfer of intellectual property rights, unless expressly provided for.

The Donor must ensure that he/she does not infringe any intellectual property rights when using content, images, texts or figurative elements, when using them in connection with the WHOF or WHO. All rights of reproduction and representation of WHOF or WHO are reserved, including downloadable documents. All texts, graphics, icons, photographs, plans, logos, videos, sounds, trademarks, name, emblem and more generally all the elements composing the website may not be represented, reproduced, exploited or extracted, in whole or in part, on any medium whatsoever, without the WHOF’s written authorization. At no time shall the Donor state or suggest that he/she has funded WHO directly nor shall he/she have any right or license to use the WHO name, acronym, or emblem.

If applicable, the material from the Campaign may be shared in conformity with the guidelines provided on the Campaign website.

Data protection and privacy

WHOF must process and use the data collected at the time of conclusion of the contract in order to fulfill its contractual obligations. WHOF takes all necessary measures to ensure data protection in accordance with legal provisions. When transferring personal data of the Donor outside of Switzerland and/or the European Union, it shall ensure that appropriate safeguards are implemented with the data recipient prior to any international transfer. Aggregated data necessary for the performance of the Campaign may be transferred to service partners mandated by WHOF as well as to other third parties. For this Campaign, donor’s data are hosted on the payment processor FundraiseUp. Therefore, your data also follow FundraiseUp data privacy policy that can be found here: https://fundraiseup.com/privacy/

Data protection legislation and WHOF Data Privacy Policy applies to the Campaign.

By donating to the Campaign, you are allowing WHOF or its Fiduciary Partners to contact you directly, thanking you for the donation and offering you the option to receive further information and newsletters.

Force Majeure

If WHOF, its suppliers or mandated third parties are unable to perform within the prescribed time limits due to force majeure, for example in the event of a natural disaster, earthquake, volcanic eruption, avalanche, bad weather, storm, epidemic, pandemic, war, political or social unrest, civil war, revolution and insurrection, terrorism, sabotage, strike or nuclear accident or damage to nuclear reactors, then WHOF is released from the obligation to perform its services during these cases of force majeure as well as for an appropriate period of time following the end of these events.

Any other claims, in particular those relating to claims for damages resulting from force majeure, are excluded.

Completeness

These General Terms and Conditions replace any previous agreements or provisions. Only the provisions of agreements in writing between WHOF and the Donor (if applicable) that specify these General Terms and Conditions take precedence over them.

Salvator Clause

The validity of the General Terms and Conditions shall not be affected if any of its provisions or other binding document is or should be declared null and void. If any portion of the General Terms and Conditions is held invalid or unenforceable, any remaining portion shall continue in full force and effect.

Confidentiality

WHOF may publicly disclose, at its sole discretion, agreements (if applicable) between the Donors and WHOF, unless Donors expressly requested to remain anonymous after his/her donation.

Applicable law and jurisdiction

These General Terms and Conditions are subject to Swiss law.

In the event of a dispute, the courts located at the WHOF’s registered office shall have jurisdiction to settle any dispute between WHOF and the Donor.

The Parties irrevocably consent to the Swiss jurisdiction of, and venue in Geneva and waive any objection that such courts are an inconvenient forum, with the exception of an appeal to the Swiss Federal Court in Lausanne.

Contact

For any question or request for information, the Donor can send an email to the following email address: info@who.foundation


[1] January 18, 2023

[2] Fiduciary partners are non-profit organizations located in non-Swiss jurisdictions and that facilitate donation in specific countries for Donors. They may provide tax receipts to our Donors and transfer the donation amount to WHOF, usually with an overhead.