Terms of Use

Who we are

BAU Farm Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating the Service to Soil initiative and a 3-day regenerative agriculture intensive for farmers. "We", "us", and "our" refer to BAU Farm Foundation.

Use of the website

You may browse and use this site for lawful, personal, and program-related purposes. You agree not to:

• Interfere with, disrupt, probe, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the site, its infrastructure, or other users' accounts.
• Scrape, mirror, or republish site content in bulk without written permission.
• Submit content that is unlawful, abusive, misleading, infringing, or contains malware.
• Impersonate another person or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or organization.
• Use the site in a way that would violate applicable federal, state, or local law.

We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the site at any time without notice.

Program application

Our program application, when applications are open, is an expression of interest in our 3-day farmer intensive. Submitting an application does not create a contract, guarantee acceptance, or entitle you to placement, stipend, housing, credentialing, or any other benefit.

• You confirm that information you provide is accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge.
• Eligibility criteria may change; final admission decisions are at our sole discretion.
• Accepted participants will receive a separate written program agreement covering conduct, safety, releases, and any stipend or benefit terms. Those terms govern the program itself; these Terms govern only your use of this website and the application form.
• You may withdraw an application at any time by contacting us.

Events, tours, and volunteer days

Farm tours, volunteer days, and training events take place on a working farm. Agriculture involves inherent risks including uneven terrain, weather, tools and machinery, livestock, plants, and biological agents.

• Follow all posted rules and on-site staff instructions.
• You may be asked to sign a separate on-site waiver, liability release, and photo/media release before participating.
• Minors must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian who accepts responsibility for their supervision.
• Events may be canceled, rescheduled, or moved for weather, safety, or capacity reasons.

Events conduct and acceptable use

To keep events and volunteer days safe, welcoming, and mission-focused, all attendees, guests, volunteers, mentors, staff, and vendors agree to the following code of conduct while on Foundation property, at Foundation-hosted events (on or off site), and in Foundation-run online spaces (chat groups, forums, video calls, mailing lists, and social channels).

Expected behavior

• Treat everyone with respect regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, or any other protected status.
• Follow all safety briefings, posted rules, PPE requirements, and instructions from staff, mentors, and event leads.
• Stay within designated areas; do not enter restricted zones, operate equipment, handle livestock, or apply inputs without authorization and training.
• Supervise any minors or guests you bring, and respect the privacy of other participants.
• Ask before photographing or recording other attendees; honor requests to stop.

Prohibited conduct

• Harassment, intimidation, threats, discriminatory slurs, unwanted sexual attention, or bullying in any form.
• Violence or the threat of violence; fighting, hazing, or physical intimidation.
• Weapons at events, except lawfully carried by on-duty law enforcement or as expressly authorized in writing by the Foundation.
• Illegal drugs, cannabis, or misuse of prescription medications on site. Alcohol is prohibited except at events where the Foundation has expressly authorized and supervised its service; where allowed, drink responsibly and do not operate equipment or vehicles after drinking.
• Operating vehicles, tractors, ATVs, tools, or machinery while impaired, without training, or without authorization.
• Theft, vandalism, tampering with equipment, harming animals, or damaging crops, soil, structures, or natural areas.
• Recording private conversations, one-on-one mentoring, medical or mental-health discussions, or areas marked as no-photography.
• Using event attendance, mailing lists, or participant contact information for solicitation, recruiting, political campaigning, MLM, or unrelated commercial purposes without written permission.
• Bringing pets other than documented service animals, unless a specific event expressly permits them.
• Any conduct that violates federal, state, or local law, or that endangers the health, safety, or dignity of others.

Health, safety, and biosecurity

• Do not attend if you are contagiously ill. Disclose relevant allergies, medical conditions, or accessibility needs to event staff in advance where possible.
• Follow biosecurity protocols: clean footwear, hand-washing, and any requested boot-wash or coverall procedures before entering animal or nursery areas.
• Report injuries, near-misses, unsafe conditions, or animal escapes to the nearest staff member immediately.
• In an emergency, call 911 first, then notify event staff.

Online spaces

The same standards apply in Foundation-run online spaces. Do not share other participants' personal information without consent, post confidential program materials publicly, or use the channels for spam, harassment, or off-topic promotion. Content you post must be your own or properly licensed.

Enforcement

Violations may result, at the Foundation's sole discretion and without refund, in a warning, removal from the event or online space, revocation of program participation, suspension or termination of access to Foundation properties and channels, being banned from future events, and referral to law enforcement where appropriate. The Foundation may take immediate action when needed to protect people, animals, property, or the mission. To report a concern, contact Diamond.cleary@baufarmfoundation.org or, for anonymous reports, follow the process in our Whistleblower Policy on the Governance page.

Accepted program participants remain subject to any separate written program agreement, which may impose additional or stricter conduct requirements. In the event of conflict, the program agreement controls for program activities.

Donations

BAU Farm Foundation (dba Service to Soil) is an active U.S. 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, EIN 42-3647027. Donations made through this website support our 3-day farmer intensive and general operations. Donations are generally tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law; you are responsible for consulting your own tax advisor.

Authorization and eligibility

• You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter into a binding transaction.
• You represent that the payment method used is yours (or that you are expressly authorized to use it) and that the funds are lawfully sourced.
• By submitting a donation you authorize the charge in the amount and frequency shown at checkout, plus any applicable processing amounts disclosed before you confirm.

Recurring donations

• Recurring donations are charged automatically on the schedule you selected (for example, monthly) until you cancel.
• You may cancel or change a recurring donation at any time from the donor portal, or by emailing Diamond.cleary@baufarmfoundation.org. Cancellations take effect for future charges; charges already processed are not automatically refunded.
• If a scheduled charge fails, our payment processor may retry. Repeated failures may result in cancellation of the recurring donation.
• We may update the payment processor's terms, statement descriptor, or checkout experience from time to time.

Receipts and acknowledgments

A payment receipt is emailed to the address you provide at checkout. For donations of $250 or more, and on request for smaller gifts, we will provide a written acknowledgment that meets IRS substantiation requirements. No goods or services are provided in exchange for a donation unless expressly disclosed at the time of the gift (for example, event tickets or fulfilled merchandise), in which case the fair market value of the benefit is stated and the deductible portion is the amount above that value.

Refunds

Donations are intended as final, charitable gifts and are generally non-refundable. We will consider a refund request when made within 30 days of the charge and one of the following applies:

• Obvious duplicate charge or clerical error (wrong amount or wrong frequency).
• Unauthorized use of your payment method that you have not disputed with your bank.
• A recurring donation that continued after a timely cancellation request.

Refund requests outside these circumstances are considered at our sole discretion. Approved refunds are returned to the original payment method; processing fees may not be recoverable. If a tax acknowledgment has already been issued, we will issue a corrected acknowledgment and you agree not to claim a deduction for the refunded amount. To request a refund, email Diamond.cleary@baufarmfoundation.org with the donor name, date, and last four digits of the card.

Chargebacks and disputes

Before filing a chargeback with your card issuer or bank, please contact us first — we can almost always resolve a billing question, cancel a recurring donation, or issue a refund faster than the dispute process. If you initiate a chargeback:

• We may submit records of the transaction to the card network, including donor name, email, IP address, timestamp, amount, and cancellation history, to respond to the dispute.
• Any recurring donation associated with the disputed payment method will be canceled.
• Any tax acknowledgment previously issued for the disputed amount is void, and you agree not to claim a charitable deduction for a charged-back donation.
• Repeated or fraudulent chargebacks may result in your payment methods, email address, or IP being blocked from future donations, and, where warranted, referral to the payment processor, card network, or law enforcement.

Failed payments, currency, and fees

• Donations are charged in U.S. dollars unless a different currency is expressly shown at checkout. If your card is denominated in another currency, your issuer sets the exchange rate and any foreign-transaction fee.
• You are responsible for any bank fees, insufficient-funds charges, or currency-conversion charges imposed by your issuer.
• If a donation is reversed for insufficient funds or bank error, we may attempt to re-run the charge or contact you before canceling the gift.

Restricted gifts and use of funds

Undesignated donations support the Foundation's general charitable purposes and may be applied wherever the need is greatest, including program operations, farm infrastructure, and administration. We welcome restricted gifts for a specific initiative (for example, a named cohort or capital project); the Foundation reserves the right, consistent with donor intent and applicable law, to redirect restricted funds to a related purpose if the original purpose becomes impracticable, and to decline or return a gift that conflicts with our mission or governing policies.

Anti-fraud, sanctions, and donor privacy

• Donations are screened for fraud and processed by our third-party payment provider under its terms; we do not store full card numbers.
• We do not knowingly accept donations from sanctioned persons or jurisdictions, or from sources we reasonably believe to be unlawful, and we may decline, refund, or report such transactions.
• We do not sell or rent donor information. Public recognition (for example, in an annual report or on a donor wall) occurs only with your consent, and you may request anonymity at any time.

User submissions

If you submit content through a form (application, contact, event sign-up), you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use that content for the purpose of operating the program and communicating with you. You represent that you have the right to submit the content and that it does not violate anyone's rights.

Intellectual property

Site text, graphics, logos, photographs, and the "Service to Soil" name and marks are owned by BAU Farm Foundation or used with permission. You may not copy, redistribute, or create derivative works from site content without written permission, except for brief excerpts with attribution for news, education, or personal reference.

DMCA and copyright infringement notices

BAU Farm Foundation respects the intellectual-property rights of others and expects users to do the same. We respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512 ("DMCA"), and we will, in appropriate circumstances, disable or remove content and terminate accounts of users who are repeat infringers.

Filing a notice of infringement

If you believe that content on this website infringes a copyright you own or are authorized to enforce, send a written notice to our Designated Agent (below) that includes all of the following, as required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3):

1. A physical or electronic signature of the owner, or a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or, if multiple works are covered by a single notice, a representative list).
3. Identification of the material claimed to be infringing and reasonably sufficient information to allow us to locate it — for example, the full URL(s) on servicetosoil.com.
4. Your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address so we can contact you.
5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

Incomplete notices may not be actionable. Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing may be liable for damages, including costs and attorneys' fees. Consider consulting an attorney before sending a notice.

Designated DMCA Agent

For online-service-provider status under the DMCA, agent designations must also be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office at copyright.gov/dmca-directory. Any change to the contact information above will be reflected on this page and in that directory.

Our response

Upon receipt of a valid notice, we may remove or disable access to the allegedly infringing material, notify the affected user, and, in the case of repeat infringement, terminate the responsible account. We may also forward a copy of the notice (including your contact information) to the user who posted the material.

Counter-notification

If you believe your content was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, you may send a counter-notification to the Designated Agent that includes:

1. Your physical or electronic signature.
2. Identification of the material that was removed or disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access was disabled.
3. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
4. Your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if outside the United States, for any judicial district in which we may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original notice or an agent of that person.

Upon receipt of a compliant counter-notification, we may reinstate the removed material in 10 to 14 business days unless the original complainant notifies us that they have filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the alleged infringement.

Repeat infringers

Consistent with 17 U.S.C. § 512(i), we have adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users we determine to be repeat infringers.

Other intellectual-property claims

For trademark, right-of-publicity, or other non-copyright IP concerns, email Diamond.cleary@baufarmfoundation.org with "IP Notice" in the subject line, a description of the right and how you own or control it, the material at issue with URLs, and your contact information.

Third-party links and services

The site links to and integrates third-party services (for example, payment processing, analytics, email, and social media platforms). We are not responsible for the content, availability, or practices of third-party sites and services. Your use of them is governed by their own terms.

Disclaimers

The site and its content are provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, or uninterrupted availability. Information about the program, agricultural benefits, agriculture, health, or finance is general in nature and not professional advice. Do not rely on it as a substitute for advice from a qualified professional.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, BAU Farm Foundation, its directors, officers, employees, volunteers, and contractors will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenues, data, or goodwill, arising out of or related to your use of the site, the application form, events, or any information obtained from us. Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising out of these Terms or the site will not exceed one hundred U.S. dollars ($100). Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless BAU Farm Foundation and its personnel from any claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of your use of the site, your submissions, or your violation of these Terms.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the state in which BAU Farm Foundation is registered, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. You agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in that state for any dispute not subject to informal resolution.

Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by an updated "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the site after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

Contact

BAU Farm Foundation
Diamond.cleary@baufarmfoundation.org

See also our Privacy Policy.