Terms of Service

Welcome to Community Credentials! These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of our digital badging platform operated by VocalCat LLC. By accessing or using our services, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

Our platform enables nonprofit organizations to create, issue, and manage verifiable digital badges for volunteer recognition, skills certification, and program achievements. We are committed to supporting the nonprofit sector with open, decentralized credentialing technology.

Community Credentials allows organizations to create and issue digital badges, and enables badge earners to share and verify their credentials across platforms. By using our platform, you acknowledge that:

• You are responsible for the accuracy of badge information you create or claim
• You must comply with applicable laws and regulations when using our services
• When sharing badges on third-party platforms, you are subject to their terms of service
• You will not use our service for fraudulent, misleading, or illegal activities

To use our services, you may be required to create an account. When you register, you agree to:

• Provide accurate and complete information
• Maintain the security of your account credentials
• Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use
• Be responsible for all activities under your account

Our platform uses open standards and cryptographic verification to ensure badge authenticity. When creating or issuing badges:

• Badge information must be accurate and truthful
• You must have authority to issue badges on behalf of your organization
• Badge recipients must have legitimately earned the credentials
• You understand that badge data becomes part of a public verification system

We collect and use anonymized data from your interactions on our platform to improve our services and support the nonprofit sector. This includes:

• Aggregated usage statistics to improve platform functionality
• Anonymized badge trends and impact metrics for sector research
• Platform optimization and security monitoring

This data is aggregated and does not personally identify you. By using our service, you consent to the collection of this anonymized data for research and optimization purposes.

While we strive to provide reliable service, please understand:

• We do not guarantee 100% uptime or continuous availability
• Support is provided on a best-effort basis for nonprofit organizations
• We may update or modify features with reasonable notice
• Badge verification relies on decentralized standards and may be affected by external factors

Our commitment to open standards and community ownership:

• Badge data you create belongs to you and your organization
• Our platform is built on open source software and open standards
• You retain rights to export your data in standard formats
• You must respect the intellectual property rights of others

We may update these Terms of Service from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or community needs. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date. For significant changes, we will notify users via email or through our platform. Your continued use of the platform after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of those changes.

Either party may terminate this agreement:

• • You may stop using our services at any time
• • We may suspend or terminate accounts for violations of these terms
• • We may discontinue services with reasonable notice to users
• • Badge data remains accessible according to our data retention policy
• • Issued badges continue to be verifiable through decentralized standards