Terms of Service

1. Agreement to These Terms

These Terms of Service are an agreement between you and Nikolas Rowland and Ian Zhao, the operators of Koiniva. By accessing or using Koiniva, you agree to these terms and the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

2. About Koiniva

Koiniva is a platform that helps users discover volunteer opportunities posted by aquariums and marine-conservation organizations. Koiniva may also offer event registration, reminders, check-ins, reviews, calendars, maps, and an informational AI assistant.

Koiniva is not a nonprofit organization, aquarium, volunteer agency, employer, school, or emergency service. Koiniva does not guarantee that any organization, event, user, listing, or opportunity is accurate, safe, available, suitable, or legitimate.

3. Eligibility and Accounts

You must be at least 13 years old to use Koiniva. If you are under the age of legal majority where you live, you must have permission from a parent or guardian.

You agree to provide accurate information, keep your account credentials secure, and promptly update information that changes. You are responsible for activity performed through your account. Contact us if you believe your account has been used without permission.

4. Volunteer Opportunities and Safety

Organizations are responsible for the opportunities they post, including descriptions, requirements, supervision, accessibility, safety procedures, and legal compliance. Volunteers and their parents or guardians are responsible for deciding whether an opportunity is appropriate and for following the organizer’s instructions.

Before participating, independently verify the organizer, location, schedule, transportation, supervision, required permissions, risks, and any age or skill requirements. Koiniva is not a party to arrangements between users and organizers and does not conduct background checks unless expressly stated.

5. Acceptable Use

You may not:

• Break the law, encourage unsafe conduct, or violate another person’s rights.
• Post false, misleading, discriminatory, harmful, or inappropriate content.
• Impersonate another person or organization.
• Harass users, collect their information without permission, or send spam.
• Upload malware, interfere with Koiniva, bypass security, or attempt unauthorized access.
• Scrape, copy, reverse engineer, or commercially exploit the service except where the law expressly allows it.

6. User Content

You keep ownership of content you submit. You grant Koiniva a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, and distribute that content only as reasonably needed to operate, protect, and improve the service.

You represent that you have the right to submit your content and that it does not violate these terms or anyone else’s rights. We may remove content that violates these terms or creates risk for Koiniva or its users.

7. AI Assistant

The AI assistant may produce incomplete, inaccurate, or outdated information. Its responses are for general informational purposes only and are not legal, medical, safety, or professional advice. Do not rely on it for emergencies or decisions involving personal safety.

8. Fees and Contributions

Koiniva currently does not charge users to access the service. Any page inviting support does not mean Koiniva is a nonprofit or charitable organization. Unless expressly stated otherwise by a qualified recipient, money given in support of Koiniva is not a charitable donation and should not be treated as tax-deductible.

If paid features are introduced, applicable prices and payment terms will be shown before purchase and these terms will be updated.

9. Intellectual Property

Except for user content and third-party materials, Koiniva’s name, logo, design, software, and original content belong to its operators or licensors. These terms do not transfer ownership to users.

10. Third-Party Services and Links

Koiniva may use or link to third-party services. We are not responsible for their content, availability, security, or practices. Your use of a third-party service is governed by that provider’s terms and policies.

11. Suspension and Termination

You may stop using Koiniva at any time and may request account deletion. We may suspend or terminate access, remove content, or restrict features if we reasonably believe there is a violation of these terms, a safety or security risk, or a legal requirement.

12. Service Availability and Disclaimers

Koiniva is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not promise uninterrupted service, error-free information, or permanent storage of content.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty exclusions, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Koiniva and its operators will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, lost data, or losses arising from an event, organizer, volunteer, third-party service, or reliance on service content.

Where liability cannot be excluded, the total liability of Koiniva and its operators for claims relating to the service will not exceed $100. This limitation does not apply where prohibited by law.

14. Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York and applicable United States federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute must be brought in a court with proper jurisdiction in New York, unless applicable law requires otherwise.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms as Koiniva changes. We will post the revised terms here and update the effective date. Continued use after updated terms take effect means you accept the revised terms.

16. Contact

Questions about these terms can be sent to contact@koiniva.org.