Terms of Service

By using Hope Behind Bars Organization's website, making a donation, submitting a volunteer application, or contacting us through any of our forms, you agree to these Terms of Service. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.

All donations are voluntary and made to support the charitable work of Hope Behind Bars Organization. Donations are processed through our payment partners (Stripe, Chapa, Telebirr, or direct bank transfer). Donations are generally non-refundable, but if you believe a donation was made in error, please contact us within fourteen days at hopebehindbars01@gmail.com and we'll review.

Donations are stored and reported in Ethiopian Birr (ETB). USD donations are converted at the rate provided by our processor on the date of the transaction.

A donation receipt will be emailed to the address you provide. Receipts are issued in the currency in which you donated.

When you donate to a specific campaign, we make a good-faith effort to direct your donation to that program. If a campaign has reached its goal, has been closed, or can no longer accept funds, we will redirect your donation to the most closely related program at our reasonable discretion. You will be notified by email if this happens.

General donations (made through /donate) go to our General Fund and are deployed where they're needed most.

Hope Behind Bars Organization is a registered nonprofit in Ethiopia. Tax deductibility depends on your country of residence and your specific tax situation. We recommend consulting a tax professional. We do not provide individualized tax advice.

Submitting a volunteer application is not a guarantee of placement. We review applications based on need, fit, and capacity to support volunteers. Background checks and reference checks may be required for roles involving direct contact with vulnerable beneficiaries.

If you choose to leave a public donor message, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to display that message on the campaign donor wall and in related communications. We reserve the right to remove any content that is offensive, discriminatory, misleading, or otherwise inappropriate. By submitting a message, you confirm it's your own work and doesn't infringe anyone else's rights.

All content on this website — text, photographs, graphics, logos, and the underlying code — is the property of Hope Behind Bars Organization or its content partners and is protected by copyright. You may share links freely. Reproducing or republishing content requires our written permission.

Our site links to third-party services for payments, analytics, and email delivery. Their terms and privacy policies apply when you interact with them. We're not responsible for the content or practices of external sites we link to.

The website is provided “as is.” We make every reasonable effort to keep it accurate, secure, and available, but we do not warrant uninterrupted or error-free service. Use of the site is at your own discretion.

To the fullest extent permitted by Ethiopian law, Hope Behind Bars Organization and its staff, board, and volunteers shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the site or your donation, except where caused by our willful misconduct.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Any dispute arising out of these terms will be resolved in the competent courts of Hossana, Central Ethiopia.

We may update these Terms of Service from time to time. The “Effective” date at the top reflects the latest revision. Continued use of the site after changes are posted means you accept the updated terms.