Commitment Gift Terms

A Commitment Gift is bought before a challenge starts. It is purchased either way. Only its destination depends on the outcome: if the challenge is completed, the gift goes to the participant; if it is not, the gift value is applied to a charitable purpose.

You pay two separate amounts, shown separately before you pay: the gift value, and our platform fee. They are different things and are treated differently in everything below.

We do not keep the gift value in either outcome. That is the foundation of this model: we have no financial reason to prefer that you fail.

Where a challenge is not completed, the gift value is applied to a charitable purpose. You select an organisation when you buy, and we will use reasonable efforts to direct your gift there.

However, you are not buying a donation to a named organisation. We determine, at our discretion, the recipient organisation — which may differ from the one you selected — and the timing, method, currency, and whether gifts are aggregated and donated in batches. We may substitute a different organisation from our verified list, for example where the one selected cannot accept the donation, has ceased operating, or cannot be paid for legal or practical reasons.

We do not guarantee that any individual gift reaches any particular organisation, at any particular time, or in a form traceable to you. We do not act as your agent or trustee in making a donation, and you do not acquire any interest in the funds once paid. You should not treat a Commitment Gift as a tax-deductible charitable contribution by you; any deduction, if one exists, is a matter between you and your tax adviser.

The platform fee is our only revenue on a challenge. It is charged whichever way the challenge ends, disclosed separately from the gift value before you pay, and calculated as a percentage of the gift value subject to a minimum.

It is consideration for services we provide from the moment of purchase: holding and administering the gift, running reminders and daily tracking for the length of the challenge, operating the accountability review process, payment processing, and buying and delivering the gift to whichever destination applies. Those services are delivered regardless of the outcome, which is why the fee does not depend on it.

Once a challenge has started, the gift value and the platform fee are non-refundable. This is deliberate and is the whole point of the mechanism: a commitment you can cancel by asking for your money back is not a commitment, and a refund on non-completion would make the gift meaningless.

You cannot withdraw from a challenge to obtain a refund, or recover the gift value because you did not complete it. A challenge may be restarted, as set out under “Restarting a challenge” below, but a restart moves the dates and never returns money.

We will refund you where:

Completing a challenge means logging at least the required share of its days. That share is set before the challenge starts, from the commitment strength chosen when it was created: Flexible is 80%, Committed is 90%, and Strict is 95% of the days the challenge asks for. It is fixed at that point and does not change while the challenge runs.

Every challenge also names who confirms those days before it starts, and that choice is shown to the sponsor before payment. It is one of three: an accountability partner you appoint, ManifestationAlarm reviewing the evidence you submit, or the participant self-reporting.

Where an accountability partner is appointed, that partner is the sole authority on whether the challenge was completed. Their determination is final and binding as between the participant and the sponsor, and it is what we act on when we decide where the gift goes.

Where the participant self-reports, there is no independent review. The outcome is determined by the participant’s own record of the days they completed, measured against the completion threshold set when the challenge started, and that record is what we act on. A sponsor who funds a self-reported challenge accepts that the record is unverified.

We are not the judge of your challenge. We do not supply, vet, train, or employ accountability partners, we do not second-guess an honest determination, and we are not liable for a partner’s judgement, delay, bias, or unavailability.

Where a partner is appointed but does not respond within the review window shown in the app, the outcome is determined by automated verification against the activity records in the app.

A challenge may be restarted up to three times. A restart abandons the attempt in progress and begins the same commitment again, of the same length, starting the day after the restart is made.

Days already logged are archived. They remain visible to the participant and to the accountability partner, and they stop counting toward completion.

The gift is not purchased again and no further payment is taken. It carries over to the new attempt and is settled on the same terms.

Where the gift was paid for by someone other than the participant, that sponsor must agree to a restart before it takes effect. Where the participant paid for their own gift, no separate agreement is needed.

The accountability partner is told that a restart has happened. Their agreement is not required: they decide whether a day counts, not how long the challenge runs.

Once three restarts have been used, the challenge runs to its end date and is settled on the outcome at that point.

We reserve the right, but are not obliged, to substitute automated system verification for a partner, to appoint a different verifier, or to set aside a determination and substitute our own. We will only do so in these circumstances:

If you believe a determination was wrong, write to contact@manifestationalarm.com with the challenge, what you say happened, and your evidence. A complaint without evidence will not be reviewed.

We will consider what you send us and tell you the outcome. We are not obliged to reverse a determination, and our decision on a complaint is final. Raising a complaint does not pause fulfilment unless we say it does.

Gifts are currently fulfilled manually. We aim to send a gift promptly after the outcome is determined but do not guarantee any particular timeframe.

Delivery depends on information you give us being correct — an email address for a digital gift, a postal address for a physical one. We are not responsible for a gift sent to an address or email you provided incorrectly, or for a gift card that expires unredeemed, is lost after delivery, or is refused by its issuer.

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for any loss arising from: the destination of a gift under these terms; the failure, delay, or non-delivery of a gift to any participant or organisation; the conduct, solvency, or use of funds by any recipient organisation; the acts, omissions, or determinations of an accountability partner; or your failure to complete a challenge.

Our total liability for any claim relating to a Commitment Gift will not exceed the total amount you paid us for that gift.

Nothing here excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including for fraud.

We may change these terms for future purchases. The version you accept at the time of purchase is the version that governs that gift, and we record it against your purchase so it can be identified later.