Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By creating an account, submitting a form, donating, or simply browsing the Platform, you confirm that:

• You are at least 13 years of age, or have the consent of a parent or legal guardian if you are younger.
• You have read, understood, and agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy.
• If you are acting on behalf of an organisation, you have authority to bind that organisation to these Terms.

2. Who We Are

Books & Beyond is a child-led movement founded by Surina and Keisha with the mission of building libraries in rural schools across Kenya. Our first completed project — the HGM Kathonzweni Primary School Library — was featured on pages 41–42 of the Daily Nation Kenya on 19 February 2026.

The Platform is used to manage volunteers, track book and artwork donations, coordinate school partnerships, and share our progress with the public.

3. Use of the Platform

You may use the Platform only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms. The Platform is intended to:

• Allow members of the public to learn about our mission, projects, and progress.
• Enable prospective interns, partners, and donors to apply, register, or contribute.
• Provide registered users (interns, librarians, donors, partners) with a personalised management dashboard.
• Allow administrators to manage content, applications, and users.

You must not use the Platform in any way that:

• Violates any applicable local, national, or international law or regulation.
• Is fraudulent, deceptive, or harmful to Books & Beyond, its beneficiaries, or other users.
• Involves the transmission of unsolicited commercial communications ("spam").
• Interferes with the proper working of the Platform or attempts to gain unauthorised access to any server, database, or system.
• Scrapes, crawls, or harvests any data from the Platform without explicit written permission.

4. User Accounts

4.1 Registration

Some features require you to create an account. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to keep your account information up to date.

4.2 Account Security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and for all activities that occur under your account. You must notify us immediately at hello@booksandbeyondonline.org if you suspect any unauthorised use of your account.

4.3 Role-Based Access

Accounts are assigned one of the following roles, each with its own permissions:

• Superadmin / Admin — full platform management.
• Head Intern — validate intern logs at assigned school.
• Intern / Volunteer — log activities, download certificate.
• School Librarian — manage library at assigned school.
• Donor — log donations, track delivery.
• Partner — view contribution dashboard.
• School Admin — view school data and reports.

Access is granted only to the features relevant to your role. Attempting to access features outside your role is a breach of these Terms.

4.4 Approval Requirement

Self-registered accounts (donors, partners, interns) are subject to admin review and approval before full access is granted. We reserve the right to decline any registration without providing a reason.

5. Content & Uploads

5.1 Your Content

When you submit content to the Platform (activity logs, profile information, photos, documents), you grant Books & Beyond a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use, store, display, and reproduce that content solely for the purposes of operating and improving the Platform, communicating our mission, and reporting on our work to donors and partners.

5.2 Content Standards

All content you submit must be accurate, lawful, and must not:

• Infringe any third-party intellectual property rights.
• Contain defamatory, harassing, hateful, or sexually explicit material.
• Include personal data of third parties without their consent.
• Misrepresent your identity or qualifications.

5.3 Admin-Generated Content

Content uploaded by administrators (school descriptions, news features, speech transcripts, partner profiles) is owned by Books & Beyond and may not be reproduced without prior written consent.

6. Donations

6.1 Book Donations

Books donated through the Platform are physical goods tracked through our lifecycle system (donated → in transit → received → sorted → assigned → at school → checked out → returned). By donating books you confirm you are the lawful owner and that the books are in a condition suitable for use by school-age children.

6.2 Artwork Donations

Artwork donated for display in school libraries (by individuals, classes, or schools) remains permanently on display at the school with a credit label. The donor retains moral rights over the work but transfers physical ownership to the school upon display.

6.3 Financial Contributions

Financial donations made through linked payment processors are governed by the respective payment processor's terms. Books & Beyond does not store payment card details on our servers. All financial donations are used entirely for our stated literacy and library-building mission.

6.4 Non-Refundable

Physical donations (books, artwork) are non-refundable once received at our collection point. Financial donations are non-refundable except in cases of proven technical error on our part.

7. Interns & Volunteers

Interns participate under a separate cohort agreement issued at the time of enrolment. The following applies to all intern and volunteer activity on the Platform:

• Daily activity logs must be truthful and accurately reflect work completed.
• Certificates are issued by the system automatically at cohort end for participants with at least one validated activity log. Falsifying logs to obtain a certificate is a breach of these Terms and may result in account termination and certificate revocation.
• Recommendation letters are AI-assisted and admin-reviewed. We make no guarantee regarding the outcome of any application the recommendation is submitted to.
• Interns are unpaid volunteers. Nothing in these Terms creates an employment, agency, or contractor relationship between Books & Beyond and any intern or volunteer.

8. Intellectual Property

The Books & Beyond name, logo, brand identity, Platform design, written content, photographs, and multimedia (except where attributed to third parties) are the intellectual property of Books & Beyond and are protected by Kenyan and international copyright, trademark, and design laws.

You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, or commercially exploit any of our content without prior written permission, except that you may share links to our public pages and quote short excerpts with proper attribution.

9. Prohibited Conduct

The following actions are strictly prohibited:

• Impersonating Books & Beyond, its founders, staff, or any other user.
• Attempting to circumvent access controls, authentication, or role permissions.
• Using automated scripts or bots to interact with the Platform.
• Uploading malware, viruses, or any other harmful code.
• Harvesting user data or personal information from the Platform.
• Using the Platform to facilitate financial fraud, money laundering, or any other illegal activity.
• Posting content that sexualises or exploits minors in any way.

We reserve the right to remove any content and suspend or terminate any account that violates these prohibitions, without prior notice.

10. Disclaimers

The Platform is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. While we strive to maintain uninterrupted and accurate service, Books & Beyond makes no warranties — express or implied — regarding:

• The uninterrupted availability of the Platform.
• The accuracy or completeness of any content on the Platform.
• The outcome of any application (internship, partnership, infrastructure support).
• The suitability of AI-generated recommendations for any particular purpose.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by Kenyan law, Books & Beyond and its founders, administrators, and volunteers shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of (or inability to use) the Platform, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

In no event shall our total liability to you exceed the amount you have donated to Books & Beyond in the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

12. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account at any time if we reasonably believe you have breached these Terms, or for operational reasons with reasonable notice. You may request deletion of your account by contacting us at hello@booksandbeyondonline.org . Deletion removes your personal data except where we are legally required to retain it (e.g. donation records, intern certificates).

13. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Kenya. Any dispute arising from these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Kenyan courts.

14. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where the changes are material, send a notification email to registered users. Continued use of the Platform after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.