Empower Illinois Terms & Conditions

This is an agreement between Empower Illinois and our users.  It governs your use of the websites, applications, and services operated by Empower Illinois (“Sites and Services”). Throughout these Terms & Conditions, we will refer to ourselves as “Empower Illinois”, “we”, “us”, or “our.” “You and “your” refers to anybody using our websites, applications, or services.

Empower Illinois provides scholarships to low-income and working-class students. We work with donors to help them donate to Illinois’s tax credit scholarship program, schools to help them secure scholarships for their students from low-income and working class families, and parents and guardians to help them apply for available scholarships for their children. These Terms & Conditions are binding for all users of our Sites and Services. Please read these Terms & Conditions carefully.  We encourage you to keep a copy of them for your reference.

Please note that we may change the Terms from time to time. By accessing or using the Sites and Services, you acknowledge and agree that you have read these Terms. You accept and agree to be bound by these Terms.

 

If you do not agree with all of these Terms & Conditions, do not use our Sites or Services.

Our service is for adults (18 and over) and is not suitable for people under 18. If you are under the age of 18, please do not use our Sites or Services.

 

Compliance with Applicable Laws

As a condition of your access to and use of our Sites and Services, you agree that you will not use the Sites or Services for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms and that you will comply with all applicable laws and any conditions or restrictions imposed by these terms.

 

Changes

We may change these Terms from time to time. The most recent version will replace and supersede all previous versions. You should return to this page from time to time to review the rules applicable to using our Sites and Services.

 

Privacy Policy

Please also review our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated in these Terms. Our Privacy Policy explains what data we collect about you and what we do with it. Pursuant to the Illinois Invest in Kids Act, you authorize Empower Illinois, its service providers, and others as permitted by law to access information needed for income eligibility determinations.

 

Electronic Communications

You agree to receive emails and other electronic communications from us. You agree that electronic messages we send to you are communications “in writing” for legal purposes.

 

International Users

If it is against the law to use our Sites or services where you are, or if it is unlawful to transfer your data to the United States, do not use our Sites or services.

 

Applicable Parties

As a user of this Service, you may fall into one or more of the Applicable Parties below, and therefore be bound by this agreement:

“Visitors” – users accessing the Empower Illinois Site(s);

“Donors” – users accessing our website to donate to Illinois’s tax credit scholarship program;

“Schools” – users accessing our website on behalf of a school to secure financial scholarships for the school’s students; and

“Parents and Guardians” – users accessing our website to apply for available scholarships on behalf of their children.

 

Your Account and Data

Make sure you look after your account and password details. You agree not to share your account and password details with anyone.

We will do our best to ensure the integrity of our systems and prevent hacks. However, no system is impenetrable. You agree that we are not responsible for someone hacking your account.

We may change the services we offer or suspend or cease performance of the services at any time or for any reason. We also reserve the right to cancel or refuse services. We may also remove or edit content or delete accounts.

 

Links to Third Party Services

Sometimes we may post links to other sites. We cannot control the content on other sites, and we are not responsible for the content on those sites. By linking to such sites, we do not agree with or endorse the content or owners of those sites. Please be aware that the content of those sites may also change from time to time. Even if we linked to something, we are not responsible for what is at the other end of the link.

 

Communications Between Us and You

If you register with us and indicate that you want to receive information from us, you agree that we may communicate with you from time to time regarding our Sites and Services.

We reserve the right to contact you by email for purposes of informing you of changes to our Sites or these Terms. We may also contact you regarding surveys or feedback regarding the Sites.

 

No Unlawful or Prohibited Use/Intellectual Property

We grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access our Sites, as long as you agree with our Terms.

You agree not to use our Sites to do anything illegal. You also agree that you will not do anything that violates these Terms. You agree that you will not try to hack us or try to sabotage our services in any way. You agree that you will not try to access another user’s data or do anything that prevents someone else from using our Sites.

All of the content on our Sites is protected by various laws. That means all articles, photographs, pictures, graphics, video, audio, text, logos, software, and other content are protected by copyright as collective works or compilation under the copyright laws of the United States and other countries. All individual articles, photographs, pictures, graphics, video, audio, text, logos, software, and other content are also copyrighted works. All copyrights in the Sites are owned by us or by our third-party licensors to the extent permitted under the United States Copyright Act and all international copyright laws.

We encourage you to republish and distribute our materials to others who may benefit from the information we provide to donors, schools, and student families.  You agree not to make any changes to the content of our materials or to misrepresent the information contained in our materials.

You agree not to use any automated means (including but not limited to scripts, bots, scrapers, and spiders) to view, access, collect, or submit information from or through the Sites and Services. Any use of such automated means may result, among other things, in the disqualification of your reservation and application for any Empower Illinois credits or scholarships.

 

User Generated Content

Some portions of our Sites may permit you to upload information to our Sites. You agree not to upload, distribute or otherwise publish on our Sites any libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, or otherwise illegal material. We ask that you be courteous to other users and not threaten or verbally abuse other users, use defamatory language, or deliberately disrupt discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam. You agree not to use language that abuses or discriminates on the basis of race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual preference, age, region, disability, or other categories. Hate speech of any kind is grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of access to all or part of the Sites. You shall not, without our express approval, distribute or otherwise publish any material containing any solicitation of funds, advertising or solicitation for goods or services.

You acknowledge and agree that any submissions you make may be edited, removed, modified, published, transmitted, and displayed by us and you waive any rights you may have in having the material altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you. You grant us a perpetual, nonexclusive, world-wide, royalty free, sub-licensable license to your postings or submissions, which include the right for us or any third party we designate to use, copy, transmit, excerpt, publish, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, modify and adapt (including without limitation the right to adapt to streaming, downloading, broadcast, mobile, digital, thumbnail, scanning or other technologies) in any form or media now known or hereinafter developed, any voluntary posting or submission by you on or to the Sites, including any voluntary posting or submission posted on or to the Sites through a third party. By making a voluntary posting or submission to our Sites, you consent to its display and publication on the Sites and for related online and offline promotional uses.  We will not, however, publish or publicly display information that we require for student applications, donor applications, or participating school registrations.

 

tax credit scholarship (TCS) donations

Although it is our goal to use your contribution at the particular school or region that you have designated, in the event that the amount of donations exceeds the number of scholarships needed by the particular school or region, pursuant to Section 1000.200(b)(5) of the Illinois Invest in Kids Act, you permit and authorize Empower Illinois to, among other things, use the contribution to award scholarships to eligible students to attend any qualified school in the same region or any qualified school in another region.  In such event, Empower Illinois will take into account then-current regulations and other guidance promulgated by the State of Illinois and any additional guidance provided by the Donor in accordance with the contribution, including any particular school or region selected at the time of the contribution.

 

Liability Disclaimer

WE MAY MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AND/OR CHANGES IN THE SITES AT ANY TIME.

WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, TIMELINESS, AND ACCURACY OF THE SITES, OR INFORMATION ACCESSIBLE THEREIN. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SITES AND INFORMATION ACCESSIBLE THEREIN ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THE SITES AND INFORMATION ACCESSIBLE THEREIN, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL WE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SITES, THE DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITES, OR FOR ANY INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES, OR RELATED GRAPHICS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITES, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES AND/OR JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

 

Representations

YOU REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT NO MATERIALS YOU SUBMIT TO US OR OUR SITES WILL VIOLATE, PLAGIARIZE, OR INFRINGE UPON THE RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES OR CONTAIN LIBELOUS OR UNLAWFUL MATERIAL. YOU REPRESENT THAT YOU ARE AT LEAST 13 YEARS OLD.

 

Termination/Access Restriction

We reserve the right to prevent you from visiting our Sites and using our services, without notice.

 

Illinois Law and Enforceability

This agreement and our Sites are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois. You agree that Illinois has exclusive jurisdiction to anything related to our Sites.

If you are in a location that does not permit any of the terms in this agreement, you agree you will not use our Sites.

Using the Sites does not mean that you and we are in a joint venture, employment, or partnership.

If any part of this agreement invalid or unenforceable, the rest of the agreement will continue to be valid.

This agreement and the Privacy Policy is the entire agreement between you and us. The most recent version of the Terms is the valid version.

 

Contact Us

If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

Empower Illinois
200 North LaSalle Street – Suite 2310
Chicago, IL  60601
info@empowerillinois.org