Donations and refunds

What a donation is

A donation or a gift of an item is a voluntary gift to Mediterranean Environmental Protection Agency. You receive nothing in return: no goods, no services and no say in which cases we open or whom we name. See our donor policy. This is not a sale, and a donation does not create a customer relationship.

How we use gifts

If you choose a project or a need, we use your gift for that purpose. If a need receives more than its price, the surplus goes to the next open need. If a need is not filled within 90 days, we use what was given for a similar need and say so on the needs page. If you choose “where it is needed most”, we decide. If we cannot use a gift for the purpose you chose, we use it for the nearest purpose we can, or return it if you give a return address and ask.

Prices on the needs page are estimates in Monero with a euro figure at the rate we show. Rates move, and we re-quote before we buy.

Tax

MEPA does not currently hold deductible gift recipient status, charity registration or any other tax-deductible status in Australia, Cyprus or elsewhere, so we do not issue tax-deductible receipts. We will say so here if that changes. Tax treatment of your gift is your own affair; please take advice if you need it.

Refunds and returns

Monero payments are final once sent. We cannot reverse them. We are not obliged to refund a gift, but we will return it, less any network fee, if:

• we decline it under the donor policy (for example, a condition attached to it, or a refusal-list match);
• you sent it by mistake, such as a duplicate payment or a payment to the wrong objective that we cannot use as you chose; or
• we cannot use it for its purpose and you ask for it back.

To be able to return a gift you must give a return address when you donate, or tell us one on your token page before the gift is used. Without one we cannot return it. Ask on your token page, or write to admin@mepa.ngo with the token or the transaction ID. We reply within 14 days. Returns are made in Monero to the address you give. Once a gift has been used for its purpose (for example, an item has been bought), it cannot be refunded.

If card payments become available, the payment partner’s own rules for disputes and chargebacks apply as well. Nothing here limits any right you have under law that cannot be excluded, including the Australian Consumer Law or consumer law where you live.

Gifts of items

We may decline an offer of an item. We accept new items, and used processors and memory that you have tested, and not used drives, boards or network cards. We do not publish an address: if we take up your offer we tell you where to send it on your token page. Unless we agree otherwise, you pay postage and any customs or import charges, and the item becomes ours when it arrives. We may return, recycle or dispose of an item that is unsuitable or unsafe.

Rules for donors

By giving you confirm that you are not a sanctioned person or from a sanctioned jurisdiction, that you are not on our refusal list (see the donor policy), and that your gift comes with no conditions on which cases we open or whom we name. We may decline, restrict or return a gift if that is not true or if we cannot satisfy ourselves about its source. We may keep records of gifts as the law requires.

Avoiding scams

We only ask for donations through this website. We will never ask you to send money to a personal account, to give us your wallet seed or keys, or to pay a fee to receive something. If someone asks you for these in our name, do not pay, and tell us at admin@mepa.ngo.

Tokens and records

Your private token is the only way to follow your donation. We store it only as a hash, so we cannot recover it. Anyone who has the token can see the status and add updates to that record.

Questions and complaints

Write to admin@mepa.ngo. We will reply within 14 days. If you are in Australia and are not satisfied, you may also contact the Western Australian regulator of associations and charitable collections, or the consumer regulator where you live.