About these terms
These terms explain how Giving121 works and what you can expect from us. They apply when you use this website, ask for help, fund a case or list cases as a sponsor. Please read them before you do any of those things.
If anything here is unclear, email info@giving121.com or call 0800 246 1094.
Who we are
Giving121 is run by Independent Check Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales, company number 08302295. Our registered office is Celtic House, Caxton Place, Cardiff CF23 8HA.
In these terms, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Independent Check Ltd.
Giving121 is not a charity. Independent Check Ltd is a private company.
What Giving121 does
Giving121 lists cases. A case is one specific thing that one person needs, such as a bed, tools for work or a school uniform, costing between £30 and £500.
Every case is put forward by a sponsor. A sponsor is an organisation that already works with the person, such as a registered charity, council, school, housing association or NHS team.
When someone wants to fund a case, we put them in touch with the sponsor. The giver then pays the sponsor organisation, or the supplier of the item. This is how Giving121 works during its pilot. It may change, and if it does we’ll update these terms first.
We never take, hold or pass on the money for a case. It is never paid to the person as cash.
Using this website
You don’t need an account to use Giving121, and there are none.
You can read the site without telling us anything. When you fill in a form, please give us information that is true and up to date. Our Privacy policy explains what we do with it.
You must be 18 or over to fund a case, to register as a sponsor or to ask for help yourself. If you’re under 18, a parent, carer or sponsor can make the request for you.
If you ask for help
- It’s free for you. You never pay the listing fee or anything else.
- Someone who already supports you needs to back your request. That’s your sponsor. If you don’t have one, tell us and we’ll try to help you find one. We can’t promise to.
- You see your listing before anyone else does. We show you the exact wording. You can change it or say no.
- Your name, photo and address are never shown. The area shown is your county at most.
- Givers never get your contact details. If a giver wants to say thank you or send a message, it goes through your sponsor, and only if you want it.
- You can ask us to take your listing down at any time before it’s funded. Email info@giving121.com or ask your sponsor.
- We can’t promise your case will be listed or funded. We list cases that fit the pilot rules, and it depends on someone choosing to fund it.
- The money pays for the item. It goes to your sponsor or to the supplier, never to you as cash.
What we can list: one specific item or cost, from £30 to £500. We can’t list cash, debts or rent arrears.
If you fund a case
- You fund the whole case. In the pilot, each case has one giver, so a case is either open or funded.
- When you tell us you’d like to fund a case, we check it’s still open and put you in touch with the sponsor by email. Nothing is paid until you and the sponsor agree how.
- You pay the sponsor organisation or the supplier of the item, using the payment details the sponsor gives you. The money for the item never goes through us, and never goes to the person.
- The listing fee. Each listing has a small fee. It’s never paid by the person asking for help. Either the sponsor pays it, or it’s added to your total. We’ll tell you the amount and how to pay before you commit to anything.
- Proof. The sponsor sends a receipt or a photo of the item once it’s delivered. We forward it to you and mark the case as funded.
- If the item can’t be delivered, you get your money back (from the sponsor, or from the shop if you paid it). Or, if you agree, it goes towards the same person’s next listed need. Nobody uses your money for anything else without asking you.
- You can change your mind at any time before you pay. Just tell us or the sponsor.
- No Gift Aid. Giving121 isn’t a charity, so Gift Aid doesn’t apply.
- You won’t learn who the person is. Please don’t try to find out, or to contact them.
Your payment is an arrangement between you and the sponsor (or the supplier). We are not a party to it, but we’ll help sort out any problem. See “If something goes wrong” below.
If you’re a sponsor
Sponsors can be registered charities, councils, schools, housing associations, NHS teams and similar organisations that already work with the person. We decide whether an organisation can be a sponsor.
How we check you. We check each organisation once, before its first case. We look it up on the Charity Commission register, Companies House or gov.uk. Then we call the named contact on the organisation’s main phone number, not a number given to us.
What you agree to do for each case:
- Check that the need is real and that the person is someone your organisation works with.
- Confirm the item and the price, with a link or a quote.
- Get the person’s agreement to: asking for help; sharing their details with us; and the wording of their listing.
- Keep the person’s identity private: no name, photo, address or other details that could identify them.
- When a giver pays you, use that money only for the item listed.
- Send us a receipt or a photo once the item is delivered.
- If the item can’t be delivered, give the money back to the giver, or use it for the same person’s next listed need if the giver agrees.
- Tell us straight away if anything about the case changes.
The listing fee is paid by you, or added to the giver’s total. It’s never paid by the person you support. We’ll tell you the amount and how to pay before you commit to anything.
Personal information. You’re responsible for the information your organisation holds about the person, under your own privacy policy. Before you share someone’s details with us, you confirm you have their agreement.
How we check cases, and what we don’t check
- Each sponsor is checked once, as described above.
- The sponsor checks each case. They know the person; we don’t.
- When a request for help or a sponsor registration comes in, a computer pre-screen reads it first. It looks for things like whether the request is for one specific item, and whether it contains details that could identify someone. It doesn’t decide anything. A member of our team reads every request and decides what happens next.
- A member of our team approves every listing before it goes on the site.
We take care over these checks, but we can’t guarantee that every case is exactly as described. We rely on the sponsor’s knowledge of the person. If you’re unsure about a case, ask us before you fund it.
Things you must not do
Please don’t:
- give false or misleading information, or ask for help for someone without their agreement;
- pretend to be a sponsor or an organisation you don’t represent;
- try to identify or contact a person whose case is listed;
- use the site to harass anyone, or for anything unlawful;
- try to get into parts of the site or our systems you’re not meant to, or interfere with how the site works;
- copy cases or other content from the site to use elsewhere without asking us.
If you do, we may remove a listing, stop working with a sponsor, or refuse to deal with you. We may also tell the police or the sponsor organisation.
Our content
The words, design, logo and illustrations on this site belong to us or the people who licensed them to us. You can share links to the site and quote small parts. Please ask us before using anything else.
Listings are written with, and approved by, the person and their sponsor.
Our responsibility to you
We’ll run Giving121 with reasonable care and skill, and do what these terms say.
We’re not responsible for:
- the sponsor’s or supplier’s part of the arrangement, such as the quality of an item or a delay in delivering it (the sponsor or supplier is responsible for that);
- losses we couldn’t reasonably have foreseen;
- the site being unavailable from time to time.
Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law doesn’t let us limit. If you’re a consumer, nothing here affects your legal rights.
If something goes wrong
Tell us first: info@giving121.com or 0800 246 1094. We reply to every message within 1 working day.
If your complaint is about a sponsor, we’ll raise it with them and tell you what happens. If a case turns out to be misleading, we’ll take it down and help the giver get their money back from the sponsor.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms, for example when the pilot changes. We’ll put the date of the change at the top. If you’re part of a case that is under way, the terms that applied when it started still apply to that case.
The law that applies
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you’re a consumer, you can bring a claim in the courts of England and Wales, or in your own part of the UK if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Contact us
Independent Check Ltd (Giving121)
Celtic House, Caxton Place, Cardiff CF23 8HA
info@giving121.com
0800 246 1094