Donation Terms

Your donation is a charitable gift to The Farmer-Owned Project to support the Certified Farmer-Owned program. It is not a purchase, an investment, a loan, or a securities offering. It gives you no ownership, equity, or other interest in The Farmer-Owned Project or any other organization, and it does not buy certification or any advantage in certification.

We recognize the donors who back the program early. Section 4 describes that recognition, and Section 5 states its value for tax purposes.

Certified Farmer-Owned verifies that a business is owned and controlled by farmers. We own and administer the Certification Standard and the Certified Farmer-Owned mark, and have applied to register the mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The program operates under the Certified Farmer-Owned Certification Standard, Version 3.4, published at farmerownedproject.org/standard. Farmer registration is open, and we are accepting registrations only. When an independent Certification Body is appointed, we will pass registrations to it. It will run the full application and assessment against the published Standard, and certification will be decided on that basis alone. The Program Guidance, the Trademark and Mark Usage Guide, and the Certification and Mark License Agreement are pending and will be provided to applicants during the certification process. Certification fees are disclosed to every applicant during that process and are the same whether or not the applicant has donated.

How the Standard evolves. Like every credible standard, ours is reviewed and improved over time. Each revision is versioned and dated, published before it takes effect, and comes with a transition period for certified businesses. Our Board of Directors oversees the Standard until the Standards Council is seated. The Standards Council, with a majority of farmer members, then holds that responsibility under its charter.

Donations are general support for the program and are used at our discretion to advance our mission. Our planned allocation of founding funds is below. These are planning estimates, and actual use may vary as needs change. We will report to the Founding Cohort each year on how founding funds were used, and our annual IRS filing will be public.

• Standard and governance: Maintaining the Standard, forming the Standards Council, legal counsel, and protecting the mark (about 40%)
• Verification: Audit protocols and capacity with the Certification Body (about 25%)
• Farmer and public outreach: Farmer education, retail engagement, the certified directory, and public communications (about 20%)
• Standards Council and review sessions: Honoraria, meetings, and the appeals process (about 10%)
• Administration: Payment processing, donor acknowledgment and recognition, and records (about 5%)

The Founding Cohort is the group that backs the program in its first year. Anyone who donates at the levels below, from the program's first founding gifts through October 11, 2027, joins it, and Founding Cohort status is permanent. It is donor recognition, separate from certification: it honors your support, is not payment for your donation, and does not affect certification (Section 7).

Founding Farmer: $2,500

• Permanent Founding Cohort designation, with your name on the Founding Cohort roll on our website and in launch materials
• The Founding Member badge for your website, email signature, and marketing (Section 8)
• A Founding Cohort designation shown on your listing in the certified directory, if your business is certified
• A seat in at least one Founding Cohort review session on the Standard, with your written feedback recorded and considered by the program team
• Early access to published program documents and Standards Council announcements before public release
• A Founding Cohort thank-you gift

Founding Steward: $5,000

Everything in Founding Farmer, plus:

• Recognition as a program architect at Founding Cohort events
• Featured placement on the Founding Cohort page of our website
• A seat in every Founding Cohort review session
• The right to nominate candidates for the Standards Council, with selection made under the Standards Council charter
• An invitation to review and comment on proposed changes to the fee schedule before the Board adopts them

Custom: any amount

• Named acknowledgment as a founding supporter
• Early access to published program documents
• A Founding Cohort thank-you gift for gifts of $100 or more
• Gifts of $5,000 or more receive Founding Steward recognition. Gifts of $10,000 or more include a conversation with our founding team about how your support is recognized.

Advocates and organizations may donate at any level without seeking certification.

Founding Cohort recognition has no fair market value: your name on the Founding Cohort roll, the Founding Member badge, the directory designation, review session seats, nomination rights, and early access to published documents. Any thank-you gift we send is kept within the IRS limits for insubstantial benefits, so it does not reduce the amount of your gift that may be deductible.

• Founding Farmer, $2,500: The benefits received are of insubstantial value, so the full $2,500 may be deductible if 501(c)(3) status is recognized.
• Founding Steward, $5,000: The benefits received are of insubstantial value, so the full $5,000 may be deductible if 501(c)(3) status is recognized.
• Custom, any amount: The benefits received are of insubstantial value, so your full gift may be deductible if 501(c)(3) status is recognized.

If we ever offer something of more than insubstantial value, such as event hospitality, we will say so before you give and state its value in your written acknowledgment.

We are a Delaware nonprofit corporation that intends to apply for recognition under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Until the IRS decides, we do not represent that any donation is tax-deductible. If the IRS grants recognition, it generally applies from our formation date, and donations made before the decision may then be deductible to the extent Section 5 allows. If it does not, they will not be.

We will email a written acknowledgment for every donation. It states the amount and date, describes any benefits provided with our good-faith estimate of their value, and states our IRS status at that time. We will write to every donor when the IRS decides. Donors outside the United States should not assume any tax benefit in their own country.

This is general information, not tax advice. Please consult your own tax advisor.

Every applicant, donor or not, is assessed by the Certification Body against the same published Standard. Your donation has no bearing on whether you are certified, how quickly your application is reviewed, what fees you pay, or the outcome of any appeal. Certified businesses pay the same published fees whether or not they donated.

The Founding Cohort designation is recognition only. It is shown alongside a certified listing and does not change the order or prominence of certified listings in directory search results. If a business does not qualify for certification, its other Founding Cohort recognition remains in place.

Any director or officer of ours with a personal or financial connection to an applicant takes no part in decisions about that applicant, under our conflict of interest policy.

Eligibility is set out in the published Standard. If you want to know whether your business is likely to qualify, contact us before donating.

The Founding Member badge is yours to use from the date of your donation, on your website, email signature, and marketing, under the badge guidelines we send with your badge. It recognizes your support. It is not a certification and must not be used in a way that suggests your business or products are certified. We may withdraw the badge if it is misused.

The Certified Farmer-Owned mark may be used only by certified businesses in good standing, under a signed Certification and Mark License Agreement and the Trademark and Mark Usage Guide. A donation grants no right to use the mark on packaging or anywhere else.

Your donation gives you no ownership of our marks, the Standard, or any of our other intellectual property. Please do not register a domain name, social media handle, or business name that uses our marks or names, or anything confusingly similar, without our written consent. If you misuse the badge or our marks, you are responsible for any claims against us that result.

We invite Founding Cohort members to structured review sessions on the Standard and other major program documents. Your feedback is recorded and considered by the program team. Input is advisory: it is not a vote or a veto. Our Board, and the Standards Council once seated, make the final decisions. Standards Council seats are open to qualified farmers and others whether or not they have donated, and a donation is not a factor in selection. Draft documents shared in review sessions are confidential until we publish them. By giving feedback, you allow us to use it in the Standard and program documents without payment or credit.

Within 14 days. You may request a full refund for any reason within 14 days of your donation. Approved refunds are returned to your original payment method within 30 days of your request.

Errors. Duplicate or mistaken charges are refunded in full within 30 days.

Donations we decline. We may decline or return any donation if, in our reasonable judgment, accepting it would not serve the program's mission or integrity. In that case we refund it in full within 30 days.

After 14 days. Donations are final and are committed to the program when received. They are not refunded because of a certification outcome, a revision to the Standard, a change in governance, or a change to fees.

Changes to your recognition. If we materially reduce the recognition described in Section 4 for your level, we will tell you in writing before the change takes effect and provide comparable recognition.

To request a refund, email info@farmerownedproject.org with your name, donation date, and amount.

The Farmer-Owned Project is an independent nonprofit governed by its Board of Directors. Some of our founders are also involved in other organizations, including companies in the food industry. We disclose those relationships, and how we manage them, on our Independence and Governance page at farmerownedproject.org/independence.

Donations are held in our own accounts. Any transaction between us and an organization connected to a director or officer requires approval by disinterested directors, at fair market value, under our conflict of interest policy.

We may revise the Standard, governance, fees, and program operations through the processes described in Section 2. We may update these Terms from time to time. An update applies to donations made after its effective date. Your donation stays governed by the version in effect when you gave.

We are not responsible for business, product, or marketing decisions you make in connection with your donation or the program. We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your donation. Our total liability to any donor is limited to the amount of that donor's donation.

Stripe, our payment processor, collects your payment details. We never see or store full card numbers. We receive your name, email, billing address, the amount and date, a transaction reference, and any business name you give. We use this to process your donation, send your acknowledgment, provide Founding Cohort recognition, keep required financial records, and meet state charitable registration requirements. We will confirm with you before publishing your name or business in donor recognition. We do not sell your information, and we share it only with service providers that help us run the program, under confidentiality obligations. See our Privacy Policy at farmerownedproject.org/privacy.

We register to solicit charitable contributions in the states that require it. Information about our registration status and our financial statements is available on request at info@farmerownedproject.org.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict of law principles.

We would rather resolve any concern with a phone call. Write to info@farmerownedproject.org and give us 30 days to try to resolve it. If that does not work, the dispute will be settled by final and binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association, under its Consumer Arbitration Rules where you donated as an individual and its Commercial Arbitration Rules otherwise, in Wilmington, Delaware or by video conference. Either of us may instead bring an individual claim in small-claims court if it qualifies. Each of us may bring claims only individually, not as part of a class or representative action, and each of us waives any right to a jury trial. You may opt out of arbitration by emailing us within 30 days of your donation, in which case disputes go to the state or federal courts in Delaware.

Questions about these Terms or your donation: info@farmerownedproject.org

The Farmer-Owned Project, Inc., 615 S College St, 9th Floor, Charlotte, NC 28202