Affiliate Program Terms

1. Who these terms are between

These Affiliate Program Terms (the "Affiliate Terms") are an agreement between you (the "Affiliate") and ScreenForge Labs LLC, a Florida limited liability company that owns and operates VolunteerBadge ("VolunteerBadge," "we," or "us"). They govern the VolunteerBadge creator affiliate program (the "Program"). By applying to the Program you agree to them. Our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy also apply to your use of our website.

2. Joining the Program

Participation is by application. We review each application by hand and may approve or decline any applicant for any lawful reason. When we approve you, we issue a personal referral code and link (for example, volunteerbadge.com/go/YOURCODE). You are an independent contractor, not our employee, agent, or partner, and you may not make commitments on our behalf.

3. Referrals and attribution

• A "Referred Account" is a new VolunteerBadge organization account, or a new volunteer badge profile, created within 90 days after the visitor follows your link, from the browser that followed it. If a visitor follows more than one affiliate link, the most recent one counts.
• Attribution is fixed when the account is created and does not change afterward.
• An account that already existed before the visitor followed your link is not a Referred Account. Neither is any account you own, or an organization where you are an employee, officer, or director, or where you make or approve purchasing decisions.
• Our tracking records are final for determining attribution, absent a demonstrable error.

4. Commissions

You earn a commission on each Qualifying Payment from a Referred Account for as long as that account remains a VolunteerBadge customer and these Affiliate Terms remain in effect between us. A "Qualifying Payment" is money actually collected from a Referred Account for background-check credits (including automatic top-ups), a volunteer-paid background check, or a volunteer badge renewal.

The commission rate slides with the per-check price of the purchase:

• The per-check price is the amount paid divided by the number of checks purchased. Payments under a negotiated or custom price below $5 per check do not earn an automatic commission; any commission on them is agreed in writing case by case.
• Volunteer-paid checks and badge renewals ($10 each at current prices) earn the rate for their per-check price.
• Activation bonus. A one-time $20 bonus for each Referred Account organization whose first Qualifying Payment is $90 or more.
• Champion tier. Once 50 of your Referred Accounts have made a Qualifying Payment, each rate above increases by 2 percentage points on Qualifying Payments made after that point.
• Commissions are not earned on free or promotional credits (including the 2 welcome credits a referred organization receives), taxes, or any amount refunded, reversed, or charged back.

5. Holds, payouts and taxes

• Each commission is held for 60 days after the Qualifying Payment. If the payment is refunded, disputed, or charged back, the commission is cancelled. If that happens after the commission was paid, we may deduct it from future commissions.
• We pay commissions that have cleared the hold once a month, once your cleared balance reaches $25. Balances below that roll over to the next month.
• Payouts are made through our payment processor (currently Stripe). To receive them, you must complete the processor's onboarding and give us accurate tax information (for example, Form W-9 or W-8). We issue tax forms where the law requires. You are responsible for your own taxes.

6. Disclosure and accurate claims

• You must clearly and conspicuously disclose that you earn a commission whenever you promote VolunteerBadge, as the Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides require. Place the disclosure where your audience will see or hear it, not only in a link or behind a "more" button.
• Describe VolunteerBadge accurately and only from your own experience or from information we publish. If you mention our lowest per-check price, you must include the condition that it applies to bundled packs. You may not state or imply that a background check guarantees anyone's safety, that a person is "cleared" or "passed," or that VolunteerBadge holds any license, certification, or government approval we have not published.
• You may not make any statement about a specific person's background-check results.

7. Prohibited conduct

You may not:

• bid on "VolunteerBadge" or confusingly similar terms in paid search or social ads;
• post your link on coupon, deal, cash-back, or incentive sites, or offer your audience payments or rebates to sign up;
• send unsolicited bulk email or messages, or otherwise violate anti-spam laws;
• use our name, logo, or materials in a way that suggests you are VolunteerBadge, or register domains or accounts containing our name;
• create accounts, make purchases, or use cookie-stuffing or other tricks to generate commissions; or
• promote VolunteerBadge alongside content that is unlawful, hateful, or harmful to children or vulnerable adults.

If we determine in good faith that you have broken these rules, we may withhold or reverse commissions tied to the violation and end your participation.

8. Changes and ending participation

We may change these Affiliate Terms, including commission rates, by giving you at least 30 days' notice by email. Changes apply to Qualifying Payments made after the effective date. Commissions you have already earned are not reduced. Either of us may end your participation at any time. If you leave, or we end your participation for any reason other than a violation of these terms, we will pay any commissions earned before the end date once they clear the hold. Commissions stop accruing on the end date.

9. Liability and governing law

The Program is provided "as is." To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability to you arising from the Program will not exceed the commissions paid or payable to you in the twelve months before the claim. These Affiliate Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules.

10. Contact

Questions about the Program: support@volunteerbadge.com. Back to the affiliate program.