General Terms and Conditions for Donations

(1) We, the Wilderness International Foundation, represented by the Executive Board, Grundstr. 1, 01326 Dresden Germany (hereinafter also referred to as ‘we’ or ‘Wilderness’), accept donations for the purpose of environmental protection, in particular the protection of forests, in accordance with the provisions set out below.

(2) The acceptance of donations is governed exclusively by these General Terms and Conditions for Donations, unless otherwise stipulated by contract in individual cases. Any conflicting general terms and conditions of visitors are expressly rejected.

For the purposes of these General Terms and Conditions for Donations, the following definitions apply:

1. ‘Visitors’: persons who access the web pages of our donation platform;
2. ‘Donor’: a visitor who uses the donation function to make a monetary contribution to Wildnerness (Sections 516 et seq. of the German Civil Code (BGB));
3. ‘Donation’: the donor’s gift made without consideration;
4. ‘Purpose of the donation’: the donor’s intention, as expressed at the time of the donation, regarding how Wilderness should use the donation;
5. “Sponsorship”: an internal and purely symbolic allocation of a specific plot of land to a donor, to enable the donor and third parties, for the sake of transparency, to better understand how their donation is being used. The sponsorship has no legal effect vis-à-vis third parties; in particular, it does not entail either the acquisition of ownership by the donor or any other right of use on the part of the donor with regard to the plot of land subject to the sponsorship. Wilderness shall endeavour, without, however, being obliged to do so, to take into account any requests from the donor regarding the designation of a specific area of woodland;
6. ‘Recurring donation’: a promise by the donor, revocable with future effect, to make a monetary contribution – the amount of which is to be defined in advance – on an indefinite basis and at predetermined intervals (e.g. monthly), each contribution constituting an individual donation that has already been pledged in advance.

(1) We provide the technical facilities required to use our donation platform in accordance with the following provisions and to the extent described therein.

(2) The donor carries out the data communication required for this via independent online access – for example, via a web browser or a relevant app.

(3) Details regarding the donation process and the receipt of any requested donation receipt are set out in the relevant sections of our donation platform’s website.

(4) Depending on whether the donor wishes to make a general donation – without a specific purpose beyond the cause of environmental protection – or wishes to link their donation to a specific cause, the donor first makes the relevant selection, checks the details of their donation commitment on the subsequent overview page, and completes the donation by clicking the ‘Donate now (payment required)’ button. Until the donation is finalised, the donor may cancel the donation at any time by clicking the ‘Back’ button or by closing the browser window. Once the data relating to the donation has been successfully transmitted, the donor will immediately receive a confirmation by email. This confirmation of receipt also constitutes acceptance of the donation. Depending on the chosen payment method (e.g. PayPal), the donation is then either made directly by the donor or collected by Wilderness via direct debit.

(5) The donor will receive a donation receipt (‘confirmation of donation’) for their donation. Wilderness will send this within 21 days of the donation being made.

(6) We shall store the terms of the contract for the duration of its performance (the legal basis for this is Article 6(1), sentence 1, point (b) of the GDPR), subject to the fulfilment of our statutory obligations (in particular tax obligations) (legal basis: Article 6(1), sentence 1, point (c) of the GDPR). The terms of the contract will also be sent to the donor upon acceptance and, should the donor lose their records, a copy may be sent to them in writing upon request.

(7) We are entitled to have our services provided by third parties.

(1) If the donor chooses the standing order option, the amount pledged will be debited as a one-off donation on each of the agreed dates. With regard to future payments, the donor may revoke the pledge at any time, with effect for the future, until such payments have been made.

(2) As any refunds of individual payments already collected involve considerable administrative and financial effort for Wilderness, donors who have selected the standing order option are asked to give reasonable notice of at least 5 calendar days should they wish to revoke their commitment.

(3) The donor will receive a summary annual donation receipt (‘donation confirmation’) for all donations made under the standing order scheme, covering all donations made in the previous calendar year under this scheme. Wilderness will send this by 31 January of the following year. 

(1) If the donor chooses to make their payment by direct debit, they must ensure that the donation can be debited. Any charges arising from a returned direct debit due to insufficient funds shall be borne by the donor.

(2) Should the donor unlawfully dispute the donation with the issuer of their payment method (e.g. credit card) or otherwise unlawfully arrange for it to be reversed via their bank, they must reimburse Wilderness for any fees incurred as a result by the payment service provider.

(3) Wilderness authorises the donor, within the scope of the donor’s own reporting and communications, to use the foundation’s name and the texts, photographs and graphics provided by Wilderness on its own website under ‘Downloads’ in any printed or digital communications produced by the donor, i.e. in particular to reproduce, distribute and make them publicly available. In this regard, the donor is also permitted to make editorial and graphical adaptations to the content (e.g. translations, abridging texts for various social media services, adapting graphic formats for display on third-party platforms). This authorisation extends exclusively to communications relating to any involvement by the donor for the purpose of environmental protection and, in particular, forest conservation, drawing on the work of Wilderness. This does not constitute the granting of any rights (licence), but merely a (non-transferable) authorisation under the law of obligations. The donor shall comply with copyright law. Unless otherwise specified in the download section regarding the specific content, the author(s) request that they be credited in the form ‘Author: Name of author Source: www.wilderness-international.org’.

(4) The basis of the transaction is that Wilderness is committed to environmental protection, in particular forest conservation, and that this purpose should also be reflected in its public image. Should this basis of the transaction be compromised (e.g. due to scandals concerning environmentally harmful acts and/or omissions on the part of the donor), Wilderness shall be free to reverse any donations made to the donor, even after they have taken effect. Any donation receipts already issued must be returned immediately in the event of a reversal or – in the case of digital delivery – deleted by the donor, and any recipients (e.g. the tax authorities) must be informed of their cancellation.

(1) The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply, to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. In relation to consumers (Section 13 of the German Civil Code (BGB)) who place orders from another Member State of the European Union or another State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, this choice of law shall apply only insofar as it does not deprive the consumer of the protection afforded by mandatory provisions of the law of the country in which the consumer is habitually resident (the so-called ‘principle of favourability’).

(2) The place of performance and venue for all disputes arising out of or in connection with this contract shall be Dresden, Germany, in the case of contracts with traders, legal entities under public law or special funds under public law.

As at: November 2022