Donation, Sponsorship & Refund Policy

Plain-language summary

Donations are voluntary gifts that help keep Clap Ideas free and open. They are not investments, and they buy no special treatment.
A donation does not buy ownership, votes, ranking boosts, or influence over ideas, moderation, research, or our AI.
We use Stripe to handle card payments. Payments are collected by CLAPPE Inc. (clappe.com), the operator, on behalf of Clap Ideas.
Your card statement will show “CLAPPE INC”. Your card details go only to Stripe and never reach Clap Ideas servers.
You can give once, or set up a recurring gift (monthly or yearly). Recurring gifts renew on their own until you cancel, and you can cancel any time.
In this first version (V1), you can support the platform or a specific event.
Donations may not be tax-deductible. Only an official receipt that clearly says so can be relied on.
Need a refund? Email support@clapideas.com. We handle requests in good faith.

1. What a donation is

Clap Ideas is an AI-powered global idea democracy and future-technology lab. It is run as a public-interest project, not a commercial social network. Donations are voluntary financial support for the platform or for specific public-interest activities, such as a community event. They help us cover the cost of running the platform and keeping it open to everyone.

A donation is a gift. You receive no goods, services, or financial return in exchange for it. Giving is always optional. You can use the core features of Clap Ideas without donating.

2. What a donation is not

To be completely clear, a donation to Clap Ideas is not any of the following:

An investment, security, share, equity stake, or financial product.
A loan, deposit, or anything that earns interest or a return.
A grant with promised, guaranteed, or contractual deliverables.
A purchase of any product, service, membership tier, or subscription benefit.
A vote, or any form of extra voting power.
A ranking boost, visibility boost, or priority for any idea, project, or event.
Ownership of, or a stake in, any idea, project, the platform, or the operator.
A way to buy influence over ideas, rankings, moderation decisions, research outcomes, our AI systems, or platform governance.

We keep funding and platform decisions separate on purpose. See section 9 on sponsorship independence.

3. How your payment is processed

We want you to understand exactly where your money goes and whose name you will see. Here is the full chain:

Stripe processes the payment. Stripe is a global payment processor. We use Stripe so card payments are handled securely by a specialist, not by us.
CLAPPE Inc. collects the payment. Clap Ideas is operated by CLAPPE Inc. (clappe.com), a company based in Canada. CLAPPE Inc. collects donations through Stripe on behalf ofClap Ideas, as the platform operator. The operator’s registered address is shown in the footer of this page.
Your statement shows “CLAPPE INC”. On the Stripe checkout page, and later on your card or bank statement, the charge appears as “CLAPPE INC”. This is normal and expected. We name it plainly here so you do not see an unfamiliar charge and worry.
Your card details never touch our servers.You enter your card details on Stripe’s own secure, hosted checkout page. Clap Ideas never sees or stores your full card number, expiry, or security code.

When you choose to donate, your browser is sent to Stripe’s hosted checkout to finish the payment. Your gift is recorded as pending until Stripe confirms it. Stripe acts under its own terms and privacy policy. Please review Stripe’s policies for how it handles card data.

4. One-time and recurring donations

4.1 One-time donations

A one-time donation is a single gift, charged once. You choose the amount (or enter your own), confirm on Stripe, and that is the end of it. No further charges are made.

4.2 Recurring donations

A recurring donation is an ongoing gift that repeats automatically. When recurring giving is available, you can choose a monthly or yearly schedule. Key points:

Your chosen amount is charged automatically at the start of each period.
The donation renews on its own until you cancel it. There is no fixed end date.
You can cancel any time. See section 5 for how.
When you cancel, you keep the period you have already paid for, and you are not charged again. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid period.

4.3 Failed or missed recurring payments

If a recurring charge fails (for example, your card has expired or there are insufficient funds), Stripe may try again according to its standard retry process. If payment cannot be collected, the recurring donation may be paused or cancelled. We may email you about a failed payment if we hold contact details for you. A failed charge does not create a debt you owe us; it simply means that period’s gift was not collected.

5. Managing or cancelling a recurring donation

You are always in control of a recurring donation. There are two ways to cancel:

If you are signed in: open your My donations page from your account to view and cancel any recurring donation.
If you donated without an account: use the secure manage link tied to your donation. This link contains a private token that acts as your key, so you can manage the donation without signing in. Keep the link safe and do not share it.

In both cases, cancelling stops future renewals. Your donation is set to cancel at the end of the current paid period, and you will not be charged again. If you cannot find your manage link, or your link does not work, email support@clapideas.com and we will help.

6. What you can support (V1 scope)

In this first version of Clap Ideas, donations support one of two things:

Platform support— a general gift that helps run and improve Clap Ideas as a whole.
Event support— a gift directed at a specific public-interest event listed on the platform.

Person-to-person and project donations are not part of V1. You cannot donate directly to another user or fund a private project through the platform yet. We may add new donation types in future versions. If we do, we will update this policy and describe how they work and what protections apply. Visit the donate page to give.

7. Tax, receipts, currency, and fees

7.1 Tax-deductibility is not guaranteed

Whether a donation is tax-deductible depends on the operator’s final legal and charitable status and on the tax rules where you live. At this stage, donations should be treated as not tax-deductible unless an official receipt issued to you expressly states otherwise. Only such a receipt can be relied on for tax purposes. The operator, CLAPPE Inc., is based in Canada; its charitable or NGO registration and tax status in Canada and elsewhere are to be confirmed on formal launch. Please consult your own tax adviser; we cannot give tax advice.

7.2 Receipts

You normally receive a payment confirmation from Stripe by email for each successful charge. If you need a separate donation receipt, contact support@clapideas.com. A confirmation of payment is not, by itself, a statement that your gift is tax-deductible.

7.3 Currency and fees

Donations may be offered in more than one currency. If you pay in a currency other than your card’s currency, your bank or card issuer may apply its own conversion rate and foreign-transaction fees, which are outside our control. Payment processing fees charged by Stripe may apply to each transaction. The amount you choose is the amount we ask Stripe to charge; any card-issuer fees are added by your bank, not by us.

8. Refunds

Because donations are voluntary gifts rather than purchases, they are generally non-refundable. However, we understand that mistakes happen — a double charge, a wrong amount, or a payment you did not mean to make. We handle refund requests in good faith.

8.1 How to request a refund

Email support@clapideas.com with the details of your donation (the approximate date, amount, and the email address used, if any). Please contact us promptly. We will review your request and respond.

8.2 What to expect

We review each request individually and aim to be fair, especially for clear errors such as duplicate charges.
Approved refunds are returned through Stripe to the original payment method. The time for the money to appear depends on Stripe and your bank.
Payment processing fees may not be recoverable, and currency conversion differences may mean the refunded amount in your currency differs slightly from what you paid.
For recurring donations, charges that have already been completed for past periods may not be refundable. You can always cancel future renewals so that no further charges are made (see section 5).

This refund approach does not limit any non-waivable consumer rights you may have under the law of your country or region. Where local law gives you stronger rights, those rights apply.

9. Sponsorship and donor independence

Trust is central to Clap Ideas. Donations and sponsorship never buy influence over how the platform works. In particular:

Giving does not change how ideas are ranked, scored, surfaced, or recommended.
Giving does not change moderation decisions or who is allowed on the platform.
Giving does not change research briefs, feasibility analysis, or AI outputs.
Giving does not grant any role in platform governance or decision-making.

We keep funding separate from our editorial, moderation, ranking, and research functions. If a sponsor or event organiser is publicly acknowledged, that acknowledgement is just a thank-you and carries none of the benefits ruled out in section 2.

10. Fraud, sanctions, and chargebacks

To protect donors, the platform, and the public interest, we and our payment partners apply baseline checks against fraud, money-laundering, and sanctions. We may reject, refund, freeze, hold, or report any donation we reasonably suspect is connected to:

Fraud, theft, or use of a stolen or unauthorised payment method.
Money-laundering or other financial crime.
Sanctions violations or prohibited parties or jurisdictions.
Chargeback abuse or other misuse of the donation system.

Stripe runs its own fraud-detection checks as part of processing. Baseline sanctions and anti-money-laundering screening may apply. If you believe a charge on your statement is fraudulent, contact your bank and also let us know at support@clapideas.comso we can investigate. If you do not recognise a “CLAPPE INC” charge, please read section 3 first — it is the name we use for donations to Clap Ideas.

11. Donor privacy

We treat donor information with care. What we collect about a donation, how we use it, and your rights are explained in our Privacy Policy. Sensitive card data is handled by Stripe, not by us. Any donor message you choose to add is optional, and you should not include sensitive personal information in it.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the platform and the operator’s legal status develop — for example, when the operator’s registration, jurisdiction, or charitable status is confirmed, or when new donation types are added. If changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to let donors know. Change history is tracked by document version.

This policy works together with our Terms of Service, our Privacy Policy, and our terms for projects and events. For donation or refund questions, email support@clapideas.com— support is by email only; we do not offer telephone support. For legal questions about this policy, email legal@clapideas.com.

Change history is tracked by document version; see the Legal Centre.