Host and Placement Terms

These Host and Placement Terms (Host Terms) form a legally binding agreement between you and Verdant Volunteers when you create, publish, manage, promote, supervise, or accept Volunteers for a Placement through or in connection with the Platform.

These Host Terms apply to individuals, nonprofits, charities, schools, public bodies, community groups, faith organizations, social enterprises, companies, project owners, and representatives acting for a Host. They apply to in-person, remote, one-time, recurring, domestic, and international Placements.

Nothing in these Host Terms removes a legal obligation or a right that cannot lawfully be waived.

These Host Terms supplement the Terms and Conditions, Volunteer Participation Terms, Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, Refund and Cancellation Policy, Privacy Policy, Data Protection Policy, Impact Points and Badges Terms, community rules, and any lawful Placement-specific terms.

These Host Terms control on matters concerning Host eligibility, Placement listings, Volunteer selection and supervision, safety, safeguarding, costs, attendance verification, and Host handling of applicant data. Mandatory applicable law controls over every contractual term.

Host means a person or entity that creates, manages, offers, promotes, supervises, or accepts Volunteers for a Placement.

Host Representative means a person who creates or manages a Host account or Placement for a Host.

Placement means a volunteer opportunity, project, event, shift, role, assignment, program, or related activity listed, promoted, applied for, or arranged through Verdant.

Placement Terms means lawful terms disclosed for a specific Placement, including eligibility, duties, schedule, location, costs, cancellation, accommodation, supervision, and safety requirements.

Volunteer means a person who browses, applies for, accepts, attends, completes, or intends to participate in a Placement.

You represent that the Host lawfully exists or operates, is eligible to offer the Placement, and has every registration, license, permit, approval, and insurance required for its activities.

A Host Representative must have actual authority to bind and act for the Host. You must provide accurate identity, organization, ownership, address, contact, registration, tax, licensing, insurance, safeguarding, and payment information and promptly update material changes.

The Host is responsible for every person it authorizes to use its account or manage a Placement. Credentials must not be shared with an unauthorized person. Verdant may request evidence of authority, status, policies, insurance, facilities, partners, or program arrangements at any time.

Unless Verdant expressly states that it directly operates a Placement, the Host is solely responsible for designing, offering, selecting for, operating, supervising, changing, and closing the Placement.

The Host, not Verdant, is responsible for the acts and omissions of its personnel, supervisors, contractors, partners, local coordinators, accommodation providers, transport providers, and other parties involved in delivering the Placement.

The Host must identify the legal entity or person responsible for the Placement and provide Volunteers with an appropriate contact. The Host must not imply that Verdant operates, endorses, employs, supervises, insures, certifies, or guarantees the Host or Placement.

The Host must ensure that a Placement is lawful as unpaid volunteering in every relevant jurisdiction. The Host must not use volunteering to disguise employment, replace paid workers unlawfully, avoid minimum-wage or working-time rules, evade tax or social-insurance obligations, obtain coerced labor, or shift ordinary commercial labor costs to Volunteers.

Placements should serve genuine civic, charitable, humanitarian, community, educational, environmental, religious, or similar lawful purposes. A for-profit or commercially operated Host must not offer unpaid activity that primarily benefits its ordinary commercial operations unless the arrangement is lawful in the applicable jurisdiction and Verdant has expressly approved the Placement.

Participation must be freely chosen and without an undisclosed expectation or promise of wages, employment, immigration benefit, or other material compensation. The Host must obtain qualified advice where classification is uncertain.

Stipends, allowances, meals, accommodation, transport, reimbursement, insurance, training, certificates, professional benefits, academic credit, or a pathway to employment may affect legal classification. Calling a person a Volunteer or obtaining agreement to these Host Terms does not determine legal status.

If applicable law treats a Volunteer as an employee, worker, intern, trainee, contractor, or another protected category, the Host must satisfy every resulting obligation.

Each listing must be truthful, current, complete, and not misleading. Before a Volunteer commits, the Host must clearly disclose:

1. The responsible Host and the Placement's genuine purpose.
2. Expected duties, outputs, limits, and prohibited activities.
3. Dates, duration, hours, shifts, breaks, flexibility, and attendance expectations.
4. Location, remoteness, travel, transport, accommodation, meals, and living conditions.
5. Required age, skills, experience, language, licenses, screening, health, or other eligibility.
6. Physical, emotional, environmental, safeguarding, security, and health risks known to the Host.
7. Training, supervision, equipment, protective measures, emergency arrangements, and insurance.
8. Required and optional costs, deposits, reimbursements, stipends, benefits, and refund rules.
9. Selection, cancellation, removal, reference, certificate, attendance, and completion conditions.
10. Any partner, third-party provider, or local coordinator materially involved.

The Host must correct inaccurate information promptly and notify affected applicants and Volunteers of material changes.

The Host makes the final acceptance or rejection decision unless Verdant expressly states otherwise. The Host must review applications fairly, consistently, promptly, and only for legitimate Placement purposes.

Selection criteria must be lawful, relevant, proportionate, and connected to genuine role requirements, safety, safeguarding, capacity, scheduling, or program objectives. The Host must not discriminate unlawfully or retaliate against an applicant who requests an adjustment, raises a concern, or exercises a legal right.

The Host must not guarantee acceptance before completing required checks. Conditional acceptance must identify the material conditions. Rejected or wait-listed applicants must not be represented as confirmed.

Where reasonably practicable and lawful, the Host should communicate a decision or status update. The Host may withhold information where disclosure would compromise another person's privacy, confidential references, safeguarding, security, or legal obligations.

Schedules and expected time commitments must be reasonable, accurately described, and lawful. The Host must provide breaks, rest periods, maximum hours, and time-off arrangements required by law or reasonably necessary for health and safety.

The Host must not pressure Volunteers to perform materially more hours, remain on call, cancel paid work, or accept duties beyond the listing without free and informed agreement. A Volunteer may decline a material change.

Attendance and completion records must be accurate. The Host must not confirm attendance or performance that did not occur, exchange verification for money or favors, or create manufactured Placements primarily to generate Impact Points or other benefits.

The Host must provide a safe, lawful, and appropriately managed environment. Before participation, the Host must assess reasonably foreseeable hazards associated with the activity, location, equipment, travel, accommodation, beneficiaries, weather, security conditions, and emergency response.

The Host must eliminate or reduce material risks where reasonably practicable, communicate residual risks, maintain safe premises and equipment, and comply with applicable occupational, public-health, fire, environmental, transport, and event-safety laws.

The Host must maintain emergency procedures appropriate to the Placement, including emergency contacts, evacuation, first aid, incident escalation, and communication arrangements. High-risk or remote activity requires proportionately stronger planning.

The Host must provide instruction, orientation, training, supervision, staffing, tools, and protective equipment appropriate to the activity and the Volunteer's experience.

Supervisors must be suitable, competent, informed of their responsibilities, and reasonably available. A Volunteer must not be left to perform a high-risk, regulated, or safeguarding-sensitive task without lawful authorization and appropriate supervision.

Required protective equipment must be fit for purpose, maintained, and provided or clearly identified before commitment. The Host must not charge a Volunteer for safety measures where doing so is unlawful.

The Host must stop or modify an activity where conditions become unsafe, unlawful, materially different, or beyond the Host's capacity to manage.

The Host must verify any license, certificate, clearance, training, or authorization required for clinical, medical, therapeutic, legal, financial, teaching, childcare, driving, construction, electrical, machinery, security, emergency-response, or other regulated or high-risk activity.

Volunteers must not be used as substitutes for licensed professionals or assigned duties beyond their lawful scope. The Host must identify who bears professional responsibility and must maintain required records and supervision.

Where driving is involved, the Host must address license validity, vehicle condition, insurance, passenger safety, safeguarding, route risk, and local transport law. A Volunteer must not transport a child or vulnerable person without authorization and required safeguards.

The Host must comply with the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, applicable safeguarding law, and professional standards.

Placements involving children or vulnerable persons require documented risk assessment, safer recruitment, role boundaries, appropriate screening, training, supervision, reporting procedures, consent, information controls, and restrictions on unsupervised access.

The Host must not design or promote exploitative volunteer tourism, unnecessary institutional access, orphanage tourism, poverty display, intrusive storytelling, or activities that place a Volunteer's experience, marketing, fundraising, or content creation above a person's welfare and dignity.

The Host must identify a responsible safeguarding contact and ensure concerns can be reported outside the immediate supervisory relationship.

A person under 18 may participate only through a lawfully structured youth Placement expressly permitted by Verdant and the Host. The Host must comply with age, parental or guardian consent, education, labor, privacy, travel, curfew, supervision, staff-to-child ratio, background screening, transport, accommodation, and safeguarding requirements.

The Host must verify the authority of the consenting parent or guardian where required and provide clear information about activities, risks, supervision, emergency procedures, data use, photography, travel, and collection arrangements.

A minor must not be instructed to create an adult account, misstate age, communicate secretly, travel alone contrary to law or policy, or waive a mandatory protection.

The Host must determine which screening is lawful and proportionate for the role. A background check is not automatically required for every Placement and must not be used as a substitute for supervision, training, references, risk assessment, or safe program design.

Where a check, reference, fingerprint, police clearance, health clearance, or consumer report is used, the Host is responsible for required disclosures, separate authorization, lawful provider selection, confidentiality, data minimization, retention, correction rights, and pre-decision or adverse-action procedures.

Agreement to these Host Terms or the Volunteer Terms is not a substitute for a legally required standalone screening disclosure or authorization.

Screening criteria must be applied consistently and assessed in a manner relevant to the role, time elapsed, evidence, rehabilitation, safeguarding risk, and applicable law. A record must not be used unlawfully or retained longer than permitted.

The Host must describe essential eligibility and physical requirements accurately. It must not request health, disability, pregnancy, genetic, or other sensitive information unless the request is lawful, necessary, proportionate, and appropriately protected.

Where required by law, the Host must consider reasonable adjustments and accessible participation. Decisions concerning safety or suitability should be individualized and based on objective information rather than stereotypes.

An adjustment need not be provided where applicable law recognizes that it would fundamentally alter the Placement, create an undue burden, remove an essential eligibility requirement, or create a direct and substantial risk that cannot be reasonably reduced.

The Host must provide a reasonable channel for accessibility requests and must protect related information.

The Host must maintain insurance required by law and coverage reasonably appropriate to its activities. Depending on the Placement, this may include public liability, volunteer accident, employer liability, workers' compensation, professional liability, motor, property, event, cyber, travel, or other insurance.

The Host must not state or imply that Verdant insures a Placement. If insurance is offered to Volunteers, the Host must accurately disclose the provider, eligibility, coverage, exclusions, limits, claim process, and any Volunteer cost.

The Host remains responsible for deductibles, uninsured obligations, and liabilities not transferred by a valid policy. Verdant may request current certificates or other evidence of coverage.

The Host must accurately disclose known passport, visa, permit, vaccination, registration, health, security, or local participation requirements. The Host must not provide immigration, legal, medical, or insurance advice unless lawfully qualified.

Accommodation, meals, and transport must be safe, lawful, reasonably hygienic, and materially consistent with the listing. The Host must disclose sleeping arrangements, shared facilities, accessibility, curfews, household members, animals, security conditions, local travel, and other material living conditions.

The Host must not retain a passport or identity document except where specifically lawful, necessary, time-limited, and freely authorized. The Host must not restrict a Volunteer's freedom to leave, communicate, retain personal property, or seek assistance.

Before commitment, the Host must clearly disclose every required and optional payment, currency, recipient, purpose, deadline, tax, processing charge, deposit condition, refund rule, and reasonably expected local cost.

The Host must not charge hidden, misleading, exploitative, unlawful, or disproportionate fees. A required contribution must not be described as a charitable donation if it purchases accommodation, meals, training, administration, access, or another service.

Reimbursement, stipend, allowance, accommodation, meals, transport, certificates, references, academic credit, or other benefits must be accurately described and lawfully administered. The Host must state evidence requirements and claim deadlines before costs are incurred where reasonably practicable.

Refunds, non-refundable costs, Host cancellations, and material changes are governed by the Refund and Cancellation Policy and mandatory law.

The Host must promptly notify applicants and confirmed Volunteers of a material change to dates, duties, location, hours, supervision, accommodation, costs, safety, eligibility, partners, or cancellation terms.

The Host may cancel, suspend, or remove a Volunteer for legitimate safety, safeguarding, capacity, conduct, performance, legal, funding, weather, emergency, or operational reasons. Decisions must not be unlawfully discriminatory, retaliatory, deceptive, or abusive.

Immediate protective action may be taken where delay could create risk. Where circumstances permit, the Host should explain the general reason, address property and outstanding expenses, and provide a review or complaint route.

The Host must maintain reasonable contingency and communication arrangements for cancellations, emergencies, stranded travelers, or closure where the nature of the Placement makes those risks foreseeable.

The Host must respond promptly to injury, illness, accident, near miss, safeguarding concern, security incident, missing person, property damage, or other serious event. Emergency services and competent authorities must be contacted where required.

The Host must provide appropriate first response within its competence, protect affected persons, preserve relevant evidence, record the incident, notify Verdant where relevant, cooperate with insurers and authorities, and satisfy mandatory reporting obligations.

The Host must not suppress, discourage, conceal, retaliate against, or privately settle a report in a manner that endangers a person or defeats a legal reporting duty.

Verdant is not an emergency-response provider and notification to Verdant does not replace notification to emergency services, regulators, child-protection authorities, law enforcement, insurers, or other required bodies.

The Host may use applicant and Volunteer data only for legitimate Placement administration, safety, safeguarding, legal compliance, and closely related purposes. The Host must comply with applicable privacy and data-protection law and Verdant's Data Protection Policy.

Depending on the processing, the Host may act as an independent controller or other legally responsible party. The Host is responsible for providing required notices, identifying a lawful basis, limiting access, maintaining security, honoring rights, managing retention, and responding to breaches.

The Host must not add applicants to unrelated marketing, sell or disclose their data, conduct unnecessary screening, scrape profiles, or retain rejected-applicant data indefinitely. Access must be removed when no longer needed.

A suspected breach, unauthorized disclosure, loss, or misuse involving Verdant-sourced data must be reported promptly to Verdant and competent authorities where required.

The Host must protect confidential and sensitive information belonging to Volunteers, staff, beneficiaries, communities, partners, and Verdant. It must give Volunteers clear confidentiality and information-handling instructions appropriate to the Placement.

The Host must obtain every required consent, release, or lawful basis before requesting or using photographs, recordings, interviews, testimonials, case studies, health information, or stories. Consent must be informed, specific, freely given where consent is relied upon, and capable of withdrawal where applicable.

The Host must not pressure a child, vulnerable person, beneficiary, or Volunteer to participate in publicity or fundraising. Content must not be exploitative, demeaning, misleading, intrusive, sexualized, or inconsistent with dignity and safeguarding.

The Host must have the rights required for listing content, training materials, logos, images, documents, software, and other materials it supplies.

Any ownership, license, confidentiality, or permitted-use rule for work created by a Volunteer must be lawful and clearly disclosed before the relevant work begins. The Host must not impose an undisclosed assignment after work has been completed.

Pre-existing intellectual property remains with its owner. Mandatory moral rights, attribution rights, employee-invention rules, or other non-waivable rights remain unaffected.

Where a Placement is eligible for Impact Points or another record of service, the Host must verify attendance and completion honestly, consistently, and using the disclosed method.

The Host must not sell verification, demand a Donation, exchange confirmation for a favorable review, create false attendance, approve unperformed service, operate manufactured Placements, or coordinate activity primarily to generate points or badges.

The Impact Points and Badges Terms govern point eligibility, processing, adjustment, and review. Verdant may request supporting records or withhold recognition while activity is reviewed.

The Host should keep material application, confirmation, schedule, cost, cancellation, safety, and change communications on the Platform where available.

The Host must provide Volunteers with a reasonable way to raise operational and safety concerns, including a route outside the immediate supervisor for serious or sensitive matters.

The Host must not retaliate against a person who requests an adjustment, refuses unsafe or unlawful activity, reports a good-faith concern, participates in an investigation, or exercises a legal right.

The Host must cooperate honestly and promptly with Verdant, insurers, payment providers, regulators, safeguarding bodies, and law enforcement where cooperation is lawful and appropriate.

Verdant may request documents or explanations reasonably related to Host authority, registration, classification, listing accuracy, insurance, safeguarding, screening, safety, complaints, costs, payments, attendance, incidents, or legal compliance.

The Host must maintain records required by law and records reasonably necessary to demonstrate compliance. Records must be accurate, secure, accessible to authorized persons, and retained only as long as lawful and necessary.

Verdant may reject, edit, limit, pause, remove, or close a Placement; restrict applications or communications; suspend the Host; preserve evidence; notify affected users; or report concerns where reasonably necessary for safety, safeguarding, legal compliance, fraud prevention, or enforcement.

Verification or publication by Verdant is not certification, endorsement, inspection, legal approval, or a guarantee of future compliance.

The Host's indemnity obligations under the Terms and Conditions include claims arising from its Placement, personnel, premises, Volunteer classification, supervision, safeguarding, fees, accommodation, transport, data processing, intellectual property, taxes, insurance, legal violations, and breach of these Host Terms.

The disclaimers and liability limits in the Terms and Conditions apply to the maximum extent permitted by law. Nothing excludes or limits liability for fraud, willful misconduct, gross negligence, death or personal injury where liability cannot lawfully be limited, breach of a non-excludable statutory duty, or another liability or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded.

No Volunteer-protection or charitable-immunity law should be assumed to protect the Host, its personnel, or a Volunteer. Eligibility and protection depend on applicable law and the specific facts.

These Host Terms apply globally, subject to mandatory local law. The Host must comply with the laws of every place relevant to its organization, Volunteers, beneficiaries, facilities, payments, travel, data, and Placements.

The informal-resolution, arbitration, class-action waiver, governing-law, venue, and jurisdiction provisions in the Terms and Conditions apply. Subject to mandatory law, the governing law is the law of the State of California, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

For questions, complaints, or reports, contact:

Member support: support@verdantvolunteers.org

Legal: legal@verdantvolunteers.org

Phone: +1 385 233 9891

For an emergency or immediate danger, contact local emergency services first.