The Deal.
Terms of Service & Privacy Policy · Draft — July 2026
PledgeIRL is a place to put a promise in writing, let people you love pledge toward it, and send the money to charity when you succeed. These are the rules that make that work. We’ve written them to be read.
1.What PledgeIRL is (and isn't)
PledgeIRL is a platform. We provide the pages, the walls, the emails, and the plumbing that moves completed pledges to charity. We are not a party to any promise, and we do not independently verify whether a goal was completed. When a creator submits proof and their witness (or, for cohort promises, their organization) confirms it, we treat the promise as completed and act accordingly. The witness’s confirmation is final within the platform; we don’t arbitrate disagreements about whether someone “really” did it beyond the witness mechanic itself.
2.Pledges are promises, not contracts
A pledge on PledgeIRL is a voluntary, non-binding statement of intent. It creates no legal obligation to pay — not to the creator, not to the charity, not to us. We will never pursue collection of an unfulfilled pledge, and no one else may use the platform or its records to do so. The signature you may draw when pledging is ceremonial: it is decorative user content, not an electronic signature executing an agreement under the E-SIGN Act or similar laws.
3.Money: what happens when a promise succeeds
When a promise is confirmed, we email each pledger a payment link. Payments are processed by Stripe; we never see or store your card details. Card processing fees (approximately 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) are deducted from your payment unless you choose the “cover the processing fee” option at checkout. Donations are routed through our charitable giving partner, a registered facilitator that verifies charities and delivers funds; your donation is legally made to the facilitator, which grants it to your chosen charity. Completed payments are final. Tips to PledgeIRL are voluntary, non-refundable, and — because they go to a company, not a charity — not tax-deductible. If a chosen charity becomes ineligible or ceases to exist before disbursement, funds go to a similar charity selected in good faith by the facilitator.
4.Taxes
Your donation receipt comes from the giving facilitator, and any tax deduction applies when payment is actually made — not when the pledge is made. We are not tax advisors, and nothing here is tax advice; consult your own advisor.
5.Cohort promises (schools, academies, teams, causes)
Organizations may create promise templates for their members. On cohort promises, the organization confirms completions and the beneficiary organization pays PledgeIRL a platform fee (disclosed at setup, currently 12%) out of funds it receives. Pledgers pay exactly what they pledged. A person creating a cohort represents that they have authority to bind their organization. Full institutional terms, including fee schedule, data handling for member rosters, and parental-consent requirements where members are under 18, are set out in the Institutional Addendum.
6.Who can use PledgeIRL
You must be 18 or older to create a promise, serve as a witness, or make a pledge. A parent or legal guardian may create a promise honoring their minor child (an “on behalf of” promise); the parent is the account holder and controls all content about the child. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
7.What promises are allowed
Promises must be binary, verifiable, deadline-bound, and within the promise-maker’s own control. We do not allow promises tied to medical outcomes or another person’s health; promises involving illegal activity, dangerous stunts, or self-harm; or wagers between parties (nothing on PledgeIRL is a bet — no one stakes anything against anyone). We may decline, edit the visibility of, or remove any promise at our discretion, and we may withhold or reverse disbursements in cases of suspected fraud, chargebacks, or misuse.
8.Your content
Your promise, story, photos, proof, and signature are yours. You grant us a license to host and display them as needed to run the platform (including on your wall and in the emails the platform sends about your promise). Don’t post content you don’t have rights to, don’t impersonate anyone, and don’t submit falsified proof — the whole thing runs on the honesty the name implies.
9.Privacy
What we collect: names, email addresses, pledge amounts, promise stories and proof, and signature images. What we share: payment data with Stripe, donation data with our giving facilitator, and email delivery with our email provider — never a sale of your data, and never advertising use. What we promise beyond the law: individual pledge amounts are never displayed to anyone — not on the wall, not to the creator, not to other pledgers. Only totals are shown. You may request deletion of your data at any time; completed donation records are retained as required for financial and tax compliance. Cookies are limited to what the platform needs to function.
10.The lawyerly necessities
The platform is provided “as is” without warranties; to the maximum extent permitted by law our liability is limited to the greater of $100 or amounts you paid us in the past 12 months; you agree to resolve disputes with us individually (not as a class) under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; we may update these terms with notice, and continued use is acceptance. Some jurisdictions don’t allow certain limitations, so some of this may not apply to you.
11.Reaching us
Questions, deletion requests, charity issues, or anything else: hello@pledgeirl.com. A human reads it.