Legal
Terms & Conditions
This page is in English. The English version is the one that applies.
Last updated 1 October 2026 · Version 1.0
These terms govern your membership of Chain of Deeds and anything you buy from us. They are written to be read, not to be got past.
1. Who we are and how to reach us
Chain of Deeds is a platform and a movement operated by Chain of Deeds Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 15529163. Contact us at admin@chainofdeeds.com.
Chain of Deeds Ltd is not a registered charity. We will partner with established charities, universities and institutions who deliver the work on the ground.
2. These terms
These terms apply to your membership of Chain of Deeds and to any merchandise you buy from us. Your use of the website itself is covered by our Website Use terms, and your personal data by our Privacy Policy.
By completing registration you accept these terms. Please read them and keep a copy; we will also email them to you.
3. Eligibility
3.1 You must be at least 16. You must use a payment method you are authorised to use, in your own name.
3.1a Members aged 16 and 17. If you are 16 or 17 you may join in your own name. The consent you tick at checkout states that a parent or guardian knows you are joining and agrees to it. That confirmation is not a contract with your parent and does not make them responsible for your membership — it is there so that someone at home knows, and so we have a record that you told us.
3.1b If you are under 18 you may end your membership at any time and we will not hold you to it. This is your right in law and we are not going to argue with it. Cancelling stops every future payment; what has already been paid is dealt with at clause 7 and clause 11A.6.
3.1c The age of majority is 18 in England and Wales and in most of the United States, but not everywhere — it is 19 in Alabama and Nebraska and 21 in Mississippi. Where the age of majority where you live is higher than 18, the protections in clauses 3.1a and 3.1b apply to you until you reach it.
3.1d If you tell us you are older than you are, we may cancel the membership when we find out. We will still refund the network fee.
3.2 Membership in a child's name. A parent or guardian may hold a membership dedicated to a child under 16. The adult is the member and the contracting party: they pay, they may cancel, and these terms bind them, not the child. By opening one you confirm you hold parental responsibility for that child.
3.3 We ask only for the child's first name, and the chain number is issued in that name. We do not collect their date of birth, contact details or images. We never contact the child directly and send them no marketing.
3.4 When the young person reaches 16 they may take the membership into their own name, keeping the same chain number and position in the chain. Until then it remains the adult's to manage or cancel. Clause 13 explains how this sits with the rule against transferring a chain number.
3.5 Children under 16 may not open a membership themselves. We do not knowingly accept a registration made by a person under 16 in their own name. If we find one we will cancel it and refund everything paid, including the network fee. Clause 7 does not apply to a registration that should never have been accepted.
4. What membership is
Membership consists of two separate monthly amounts:
- The network fee — £1, €1 or $1 a month, depending on the country you joined from. This is our fee. It runs the organisation: staff, technology, events, compliance, payment processing and independent auditing. It secures and maintains your position in the chain and your chain number.
- Your pledge — from 5 a month in your currency (£5, €5 or $5). Not currently collected — see clause 10. You choose the amount, 5 in your currency (£5, €5 or $5) is the minimum, and 100% of it funds the food and water projects. Nothing is deducted from it for salaries, administration or overheads.
The 100% policy applies only to your food and water pledge. It does not apply to the network fee, and we do not claim that it does.
5. How the contract is formed
Your membership begins when we confirm your registration on screen and issue your chain number. We will send written confirmation by email. If we cannot accept your registration we will tell you and will not charge you.
6. When you are charged
On registration we charge the network fee immediately. At the same time we obtain authorisation for your pledge but do not charge it.
Your pledge is not collected on registration. It is first collected only when the chain reaches 100,000 members (clause 10). We will email you at least seven days before that first charge. After that it recurs monthly on the same day of the month as the day you registered. Where that date does not exist in a given month, we charge on the last day of that month.
The network fee recurs monthly from registration on the same basis. Clause 6A explains how long we hold your authorisation, and clause 10A what happens if the chain never reaches 100,000 members.
6A. How long we hold your authorisation
Your pledge authorisation is held until the chain reaches 100,000 members, which may be a long time. We will confirm at least once every twelve months that it is still held and remind you how to withdraw it.
If your card expires or is replaced we may ask you to re-authorise. If you do not, no pledge is collected and your membership continues on the network fee alone. You may withdraw the authorisation at any time without cancelling your membership.
7. Your express request to begin, and what it means for cancellation
This clause matters. Please read it.
Because membership is a service bought at a distance, you have a statutory right under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 to cancel within 14 days of joining.
When you complete registration you expressly request that we begin supplying the membership service immediately, within that 14-day period, rather than waiting for it to expire. You do that by ticking the box at checkout. We then perform immediately: your chain number is issued, your place in the chain is recorded, and the network for that month is provided to you.
You acknowledge, by ticking that box, that where you cancel after we have begun, you must pay for the service already supplied, in proportion to the whole. Because the network fee is charged one month at a time and the membership for that month is supplied to you in full as soon as you join, the proportionate amount is the whole of that month's network fee.
The practical effect: the network fee is not returned, including within the first 14 days. Cancelling stops every future payment immediately.
If you had not made that express request, or if we had failed to give you the cancellation information the Regulations require, you would bear no cost for the period. We give you that information here, in the confirmation email, and at checkout.
8. Cancelling
You may cancel at any time by writing to admin@chainofdeeds.com, and from your account once member accounts are open. Any clear statement that you wish to cancel is enough; you do not have to give a reason or use a particular form of words. Cancellation stops all future payments.
When you cancel, you have 30 days to come back and keep your chain number. After 30 days your number is retired for good and your personal data is deleted. Want your data deleted straight away? Email admin@chainofdeeds.com. Payment and tax records are kept for six years, because UK law requires it, and then deleted.
What is and is not returned is set out in our Refunds & Cancellation policy, which forms part of these terms.
9. Price and currency
Prices are shown in pounds sterling in the United Kingdom, in euros in Eurozone countries and in US dollars everywhere else. The amount charged in each currency is set by us and shown to you before you confirm. It is not a live foreign exchange conversion and may differ from the market rate on any given day. Your bank or card issuer may apply its own charges; those are between you and them.
We may change the network fee or the minimum contribution. We will give you at least 30 days' notice by email before any increase takes effect, and you may cancel before it does.
10. What happens to your contribution
The two amounts you pay are treated differently. The network fee is received and retained by Chain of Deeds Ltd and funds the running of the organisation. Your pledge is not collected at all at present. No pledge will be collected until the network reaches 100,000 members (team accounts count too). The funds are then held by a registered charity under a written agreement on our terms, restricting them to this purpose and upholding our 100% policy, so every penny or cent pledged reaches the ground with no deduction for administration by any party. Until then, members pay the network fee only. What continues after you cancel, and what happens on death, is set out at clause 11A.
The governance model is being finalised. Any earlier statement that a delivery partner or university holds or will hold member funds is withdrawn and does not apply. Universitas Mataram (UNRAM) is an academic and delivery partner and does not hold member funds.
Those funds build and buy food and water assets outright as waqf. The assets are owned by the communities they serve. They are not rented, resold or held personally by any individual, by Chain of Deeds Ltd or by any partner organisation.
Because your contribution is used to build and buy assets that pass into community ownership, contributions cannot be reversed once applied.
10A. If the chain never reaches 100,000
If the chain has not reached 100,000 members within three years of your registration, we will write to you. You may either confirm that you wish to continue or withdraw your authorisation. If you do not reply, or we cannot reach you, the authorisation lapses and no pledge is collected.
11. Independent auditing
Every contribution, project and outcome will be independently audited and published for the whole network. We publish results regardless of what they show. Audit reporting is published in aggregate and does not identify individual members.
11A. The chain, and what continues
11A.1 What you are agreeing to give. By becoming a member you agree that your Sadaqah Jariyah is given with the intention that it is given on your own behalf and on behalf of every other member of the chain — those in the chain at the time, those who were members at the time of their death, and those who join after you. Members who join later share in that intention from the date they join. Nothing applies retrospectively: a member does not share in contributions made before they joined.
11A.2 Remaining in the chain. The intention above continues for as long as you remain a member. A member who is in the chain at the end of their life remains named in it, and contributions made by the members who come after them continue to be made on their behalf.
11A.3 If you cancel. Cancelling ends your future contributions. From the date you cancel you stop giving on behalf of the members who come after you, and they stop giving on behalf of you. It does not undo what your contributions have already built. Assets acquired with them remain in community ownership and continue to produce. Your name and number are not kept in the chain after you cancel; your number and personal data are deleted 30 days after cancelling (clause 11A.7). What your contributions built is unaffected. Contributions made by members who joined through you during your membership are likewise unaffected.
11A.3A If the network fee cannot be taken. If your network fee cannot be taken, we try three times over three days and then pause your membership until your card is updated. If it is not updated within 90 days, we treat the membership as cancelled on the 90th day and clause 11A.7 applies.
11A.4 If a member dies. We have no way of knowing that a member has died. Membership continues, and payments authorised by the member continue to be taken, until we are told and the membership is cancelled. Responsibility for telling us rests with the member's next of kin, executor or personal representative. We are not liable for payments taken before we are notified.
11A.5 What we do when we are told. Write to admin@chainofdeeds.com. We will stop all future payments the same day, confirm in writing, and record the member as having passed away while in the chain. Their name and chain number stay in the chain permanently (clause 11A.2); the 30-day deletion in clause 11A.7 does not apply. We keep only the personal data needed for that record.
11A.6 Payments already taken are not returned. The network fee is not refundable from the day it is paid, under clause 7. Pledges already collected have been applied to building and buying assets that have passed into community ownership. It cannot be reversed and is not refunded. This is the same position that applies to any member who cancels during their lifetime, and it applies equally on death. Sadaqah given is given.
11A.7 The chain number is never reissued. A chain number is never given to anyone else, during the member's life or after it, and whether or not the membership has been cancelled. When a membership is cancelled, the number and the member's personal data are kept for 30 days, so that the membership can be reinstated, and are then deleted, except for a member who passed away while still a member, whose name and number stay in the chain (clause 11A.5). Payment and tax records are kept for six years, as UK law requires, and then deleted. What the member's contributions have already built is unaffected, as set out at clause 11A.3.
11A.8 Clause 11A describes what members agree to and how we operate the chain. It is not a religious ruling. Members who want guidance on the religious position should ask a scholar they trust.
12. Merchandise
12.0 Who may buy
You must be 16 or over to place an order. Merchandise may be bought without becoming a member.
12.1 Pre-orders
Merchandise is currently sold on pre-order and is expected to ship in November 2026. If that date moves we will tell you and you may cancel for a full refund. Merchandise is a commercial activity, separate from member contributions, and does not form part of the 100% policy.
12.2 Prices and delivery
Prices are set in pounds sterling and shown in pounds in the United Kingdom, in euros in Eurozone countries and in US dollars everywhere else. Delivery is included to the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. A flat delivery contribution applies to the rest of the world and is shown before you pay.
12.3 Import duty and taxes
Orders ship from the United Kingdom. If you are outside the UK, import duty, tax and handling fees may be charged by your own government when the parcel arrives. Those charges are set by your government, are payable by you, and are not included in the price we charge. Refusing a parcel to avoid them is treated as a cancellation, and the costs we incur will be deducted from your refund.
12.4 Risk and damage in transit
Goods remain our responsibility until they come into your physical possession. If your order arrives damaged, incomplete or does not arrive at all, tell us within 14 days of the expected delivery date and we will replace it or refund you. We will pursue the carrier; you do not have to.
12.5 Your rights over the goods
Goods must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Your cancellation and return rights are set out in the Refunds & Cancellation policy. Standard sizes and standard designs are not personalised goods and are fully returnable.
13. Your chain number and account
Your chain number records your position in the chain. It is issued once and belongs to your membership. It has no monetary value, cannot be sold, exchanged or given to another person, and does not confer ownership of any asset, any share in Chain of Deeds Ltd, or any right to a return.
There is one exception, and only one: under clause 3.4, a membership held for a child may pass to that young person when they reach 16, carrying the same chain number and the same position. That is a change of who holds the membership, not a sale or a transfer of the number itself.
Keep your account details secure and tell us promptly if you think someone else has access.
14. When we may suspend or end your membership
We may suspend or end your membership if you break these terms, if we reasonably suspect fraud or money laundering, if a payment fails repeatedly, or if we are required to by law. Where we can, we will tell you first and give you an opportunity to put things right.
If we end your membership for a reason that is not your fault, we will refund that month's network fee in full, even though clause 7 would not require us to. If any pledge has been taken for a month in which we end your membership and it has not yet been applied to a project, we will refund that too. Pledges already applied cannot be reversed, as set out at clause 11A.6.
15. If something goes wrong
If we fail to comply with these terms we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breach. We are not responsible for loss or damage that is not foreseeable.
We do not exclude or limit our liability in any way where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, and for breach of your legal rights in relation to services and goods.
We supply merchandise for domestic and private use. We have no liability for loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption or loss of business opportunity.
16. Events outside our control
We are not liable for failure or delay caused by an event outside our reasonable control. If such an event occurs we will tell you and our obligations are suspended for its duration. If it lasts more than 30 days you may cancel. We will refund the network fee for any month in which we could not run the network, and the full price of any goods we could not deliver. Pledges already applied to a project cannot be reversed, as set out at clause 11A.6.
17. Complaints
Write to admin@chainofdeeds.com. We will acknowledge within five working days and aim to resolve within 30 days. If we cannot resolve it between us, you may be able to refer the matter to an alternative dispute resolution provider. We are not currently a member of an alternative dispute resolution scheme. Nothing in this clause affects your right to go to court.
18. Changes to these terms
We may change these terms. Where a change materially affects you we will give at least 30 days' notice by email and you may cancel before it takes effect. Minor changes, such as corrections and clarifications, take effect when published here.
19. General
We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation, and will tell you if we do. You may not transfer yours without our written consent.
This contract is between you and us. No other person has any right to enforce any of its terms.
If a court finds any part of these terms unlawful, the rest continues in force.
If we delay in enforcing these terms, that does not prevent us enforcing them later.
20. Governing law
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and you may bring proceedings in the courts of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in your own courts. Nothing here removes the protection of the mandatory consumer law of the country in which you live.