This version of the Terms and Conditions was valid until 14 October 2026 and is provided here for documentation purposes only. The current Terms and Conditions apply.
Note: This is a machine translation of the original German Terms and Conditions provided for convenience only. In case of any discrepancies or legal doubts, the German version shall prevail.
(1) Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp GmbH - hereinafter: gutopia - operates the websites www.Bildungsspender.de, www.WeCanHelp.de and gutopia.de - hereinafter collectively: gutopia.de. This is an internet-based system for raising funds for the non-profit sector.
(2) By registering with gutopia.de or otherwise using this website, these General Terms and Conditions (GTC) are accepted.
(3) Fundraising is carried out through two pillars, the so-called charity purchase (§ 3) and direct donation (§ 4).
(4) gutopia commits to forwarding at least 80% of the credits earned through purchases and bookings (charity purchase) to the institution chosen by the user, provided this is legally and technically possible and the institution has proven its non-profit status.
(5) Any funds available in the general funding pool are used to strengthen the non-profit sector. These funds, which are available 'without specific recipients', are used as contributions to strengthen the immediately usable funds of a corporation or to increase the asset base of foundations (endowments). In this context, gutopia is responsible to customers and funded institutions to determine the character of the contributions, such as making the explicit declaration according to § 62 para. 3 no. 2 AO that the contributions are intended for equipping the corporation with assets or increasing assets. In this context, funds can be used for matching funds, fundraising contests, or for the foundation capital of foundations that promise to sustainably strengthen the non-profit landscape. This use of funds serves the strategic goal of expanding the non-profit infrastructure in the non-profit sector, winning people over to civic engagement, and strengthening gutopia's public perception.
(1) The following General Terms and Conditions (GTC) apply to the legal and contractual relationships between gutopia and buyers, contact persons of institutions, shop operators, service providers and other company cooperation partners, donation recipients and other users - hereinafter: users. The validity of deviating GTC of users is hereby excluded, their inclusion is expressly objected to.
(2) The GTC can be changed by gutopia at any time without stating reasons. Users known to gutopia will be informed about the changed conditions in text form by email two weeks before they take effect. The period begins with the sending of the email by gutopia. As part of this information, gutopia specifically points out the importance of the two-week period to users. If the user does not object to the changes within two weeks of receiving the information, the new conditions are deemed accepted; if the user objects, the usage relationship ends.
The usage contract is concluded as soon as the user has successfully registered on the websites or in the app of gutopia. The contract is not limited in time. The usage contract can be terminated by gutopia and the user at any time without considering a period of notice. An option to terminate is available in the user account.
(1) To enable a charity purchase, gutopia mediates the contact between a company as a cooperation partner - hereinafter: company cooperation partner - that is willing to pay a reimbursement for the mediation of purchases or use of services, and the customer of the company cooperation partner - hereinafter: buyer.
(2) From the received reimbursement, gutopia receives up to 20% to cover its own costs. The use of the remaining share (at least 80%) is based on the buyer's suggestion. gutopia endeavors, but is not obligated, to follow the buyer's suggestion. In any case, gutopia commits to allocating the amount exceeding cost coverage to a non-profit organization or non-profit purpose. The buyer selects a tax-privileged institution (school, daycare, support association, etc.) listed on gutopia.de for their contribution wish before being forwarded to a company cooperation partner - hereinafter: donation recipient. Alternatively, the buyer can decide to support the general funding pool, the use of which gutopia decides according to its strategic goals. Neither company cooperation partners nor buyers can receive a donation receipt. In the event that the selected company cooperation partner does not pay the reimbursement, neither the buyer nor the donation recipient is entitled to demand payment of funds in the corresponding amount.
(3) The published information on the amount of remuneration is merely for orientation and is not guaranteed. For percentage information, the calculation basis is the shopping cart value without sales tax and shipping costs, as the sales tax must be paid by gutopia to the tax office. gutopia assumes that the payment of the amount as a donation, which remains for the institutions after deduction of sales tax and retention of its own share (see § 3 para. 2), is tax-neutral for gutopia. If the tax office should demand income taxes, gutopia will have to change the donation amount in the future.
Direct donations are processed by the Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp, whose terms and conditions and privacy policy also apply to direct donations. The Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp is a tax-recognized funding corporation. The Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp accepts direct donations through electronic media. For donors, direct donations mean contributions to promote tax-privileged purposes, which are deductible as special expenses according to § 10b para. 1 sentence 1 EStG with the respective maximum amounts regulated there. For this purpose, gutopia offers an online donation service and provides an online direct donation form. This form can be used by donors to provide contributions to an institution listed on the websites and apps of gutopia.
(1) Contact person is someone who registers with gutopia on behalf of an institution / project group. Each contact person can initiate the listing of an institution / project group. In this case, a new URL following the pattern www.gutopia.de/institutionname is set up for individual use. The contact person must ensure that a bank account of the donation recipient is deposited and that current proof of tax privilege (e.g., exemption or assessment notice from the responsible tax office) is regularly possible. Only tax-privileged institutions such as schools, daycares, universities, (support) associations, foundations, or other corporations under private law and public law corporations are eligible as donation recipients, which are directed in their articles of association and in their actual management exclusively and directly to the fulfillment of tax-privileged purposes and comply with the provisions that contain the prerequisites for tax benefits. Contributions to natural persons or to their accounts are excluded.
(2) Registration on the websites and apps of gutopia and use of the services are free of charge. gutopia commits to donating at least 80% of the actual reimbursements received from shops, service providers, and other company cooperation partners that users have intended as contributions for a specific institution. Excluded from this are reimbursements that users regularly assign directly to gutopia because the selection of another institution is not technically, contractually, or legally possible. gutopia uses these funds to cover its own costs.
(3) gutopia and the Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp collect all funds that flow in from charity purchases, direct donations, and possibly other channels. These are allocated by the Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp up to twelve times per calendar year to tax-privileged institutions that pursue non-profit, charitable, or church purposes. The individual institution receives a transfer as soon as a contribution amount of at least 200 euros is available for use, but at least once annually in the fourth quarter from a threshold of ten euros. The prerequisite is the existence of valid proof from the institution of its tax-privileged status. The institution to which the contributions flow decides on the use of the funds received. The transfer is made by the Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp.
(4) The Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp assures that 100% of direct donations are donated to the donation recipients. Excluded from this are fees charged to the Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp by third parties (e.g., fees of payment service providers for donations by credit card, PayPal, chargeback fees, etc.). The Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp does not charge its own fees for this.
(1) gutopia endeavors to ensure proper operation of gutopia.de at all times. However, gutopia does not guarantee uninterrupted usability or accessibility of the internet portal. gutopia is also not liable for technically caused transmission delays or failures that are caused by technical disruptions or necessary maintenance work and lead to temporary inaccessibility of gutopia.de.
(2) gutopia is not liable for the accuracy and content of the information provided by the contact persons. gutopia assumes no liability for the possible misuse of this information.
(3) gutopia is not liable for unauthorized acquisition of user data by third parties, e.g., through unauthorized access by 'hackers' to the database. gutopia is also not liable for misuse of information and data by third parties to which users themselves have made this information accessible.
(4) gutopia is not liable for the content provided by donation recipients for publication. This applies in particular to cases where this content violates intellectual property (trademark rights, copyright, etc.) or personality rights of third parties.
(5) gutopia provides no warranty and is not liable for the goods and services offered by the shops and service providers as well as for the fulfillment of contracts between users and shops and other service providers.
(6) gutopia is not liable for economic, physical, or immaterial damages that result from the use of gutopia.de, insofar as the damage was not demonstrably caused intentionally or by gross negligence by gutopia or its employees.
(7) gutopia is entitled at any time to discontinue the site gutopia.de in whole or in part with immediate effect and to delete all stored user data within the legal framework, excluding any claims for damages. No reason needs to be given for this.
(8) Linked internet pages are checked for compliance with legal regulations at the time of linking. However, gutopia has no influence on the content of linked pages. In particular, gutopia cannot continuously monitor the content of linked external pages. If gutopia becomes aware of illegal content on linked external pages, these links will be removed immediately.
(9) gutopia enables the use of the fundraising platform with the partner shop offers listed at gutopia.de. gutopia can only donate actually received reimbursements. There is no right to forward reimbursements not paid by partner shops.
(10) gutopia informs the contact persons who have registered with gutopia on behalf of an institution at least once per year about the transferred donation status. Donations are usually transferred in the fourth quarter of each year, provided that the contact person has deposited a bank account and the tax privilege of the donation recipient has been proven in accordance with gutopia's tax-privileged goals. There is no claim to compliance with the deadline.
(11) If gutopia is obligated to repay reimbursements to shops or repay donations after the contribution has been made to the donation recipient because the underlying transaction was not properly concluded and is being reversed, gutopia is entitled to demand the repayment amount from the originally beneficiary donation recipient. The donation recipient is obligated to refund the donation to gutopia in this case.
(12) gutopia is not liable for lost reimbursements, provides no warranty, and makes no assurances that relate to products or the contractual processing in connection with products of a company cooperation partner.
(13) Otherwise, gutopia is only liable for gross negligence or intent to the extent of foreseeable and contract-typical damages.
(1) The contact person is responsible for the content of their registration and for information they provide. They assure that the data they have entered corresponds to the truth. For contact persons of institutions, it must be ensured that the donation recipient is a tax-privileged corporation that pursues the same tax-privileged purposes as the Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp and that the deposited account details belong to the donation recipient. The specification of private account details is prohibited. In case of violation, the contact person can be held liable for damages incurred. Username and password are to be treated confidentially.
(2) Furthermore, the contact person must ensure that the tax privilege of the donation recipient is proven. Without this proof, no transfer of collected funds will take place. Due to its own tax privilege, the Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp is obligated to use donations promptly. Therefore, if proof is missing, the donation credit cannot remain with gutopia or the Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp for longer than 2 years after receipt. If no valid proof of tax privilege is available after this period, this is considered a waiver by the listed institution of the transfer of the donation credit; proceeds from charity purchases then go to gutopia, donations to the Stiftung Bildungsspender | WeCanHelp, which then uses them for non-profit purposes.
(3) Users of the websites and apps of gutopia must not make any efforts to manipulate, damage, or abusively read out, store, process, change, forward, or otherwise misuse information from the website. They are obligated to compensate gutopia for damages arising from corresponding intentional or negligent unlawful actions.
(4) gutopia prohibits linking its websites and apps with other internet pages that contain illegal and / or youth-endangering content.
(1) gutopia reserves the right to exclude this user from the service with immediate effect without stating reasons and excluding the assertion of damages in the event of violations of one or more of the provisions of these GTC. In these cases, gutopia expressly reserves the right to take civil and/or criminal steps, in particular to assert damages and/or file a criminal complaint.
(2) gutopia acquires a claim for damages against the user for those material or immaterial damages including the costs of active or passive legal prosecution that arise because
false or incomplete information has been provided,
users have not fulfilled their notification obligations,
third-party rights are violated by the communicated and posted information on gutopia.de,
the impracticability or failure of a donation campaign was known to the user, had to be known without gross negligence, or was deliberately caused by them, or
the user acts or cooperates alone or in cooperation with third parties to obtain an advantage for themselves or a third party or to damage gutopia.
(3) Users are liable to the extent of § 8 para. 1 also when gutopia is used by third parties that are caused by links or are based on another violation of applicable law in connection with the use of gutopia.de by users.
(4) Users commit to indemnify gutopia from any claims by third parties that could arise from misuse of a service of gutopia.de by the user and violation of these GTC.
gutopia assures to use the collection, processing, and use of personal data only for its own purposes. The data traffic during registration and maintenance of data by users is encrypted to protect it against unauthorized persons. gutopia assures not to pass on personal data. Furthermore, the detailed privacy policy applies.
gutopia is entitled to commission third parties with the provision of the provided services and services in whole or in part. In this respect, the GTC and privacy policies of these service providers also apply, insofar as they do not contradict the GTC of gutopia.
Should a provision of these GTC be invalid or incomplete in parts, the remaining clauses of the GTC remain unaffected in their validity. Instead of the invalid or incomplete provision, the parties agree on an effective regulation that comes closest to the intended content.
To the extent legally permissible, the place of jurisdiction is the location of the business headquarters. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Sales Law and other provisions of private international law.