Terms of Use

Effective date: October 20, 2026

These Terms of Use (the “Terms”) govern your use of yeshivagivingfund.org (the “Site”), our scholarship application and applicant accounts, and our Education Opportunity Fund programs (together, the “Services”). The Services are provided by The Yeshiva Giving Fund, Inc. (“YGF,” “we,” “us”). By using the Services, you agree to these Terms. If you use the Services for an organization or on behalf of someone else, such as a student you are applying for, you agree to them on that person’s or organization’s behalf and confirm that you are authorized to do so. If you do not agree, please do not use the Services.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information and is part of these Terms.

1. About YGF and Education Opportunity Funds

YGF is a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 82-3513755). We sponsor Education Opportunity Funds (“EOFs”), which are donor-advised scholarship funds. Each EOF has one or more fund advisors (“EOF Managers”) who may recommend scholarships from it. YGF is the legal owner of every EOF and of the funds in it, and YGF has full legal discretion over every scholarship approval and disbursement.

Our EOF programs are administered for us by BrightLeaf Giving, a separate company that operates the EOF platform at brightleaf.giving under a services agreement with YGF. Starting, managing, and donating to an EOF take place on brightleaf.giving and are also subject to BrightLeaf Giving’s Terms of Use and to your EOF program terms. If those program terms conflict with these Terms, the program terms control for that EOF.

2. Who can use the Services

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding agreement to create an account, submit a scholarship application, start or manage an EOF, or make a donation. A parent or guardian should apply on behalf of a student under 18. You may not use the Services if you are barred from doing so under US law, including US sanctions laws.

3. Your account

  • Give us accurate, current, and complete information, and keep it up to date.
  • Keep your password and login details confidential. You are responsible for activity under your account.
  • Tell us right away at office@yeshivagivingfund.org if you think someone has accessed your account without permission.

4. Donations and EOFs

  • Gifts to YGF. A donation to an EOF is a charitable gift to YGF that is set aside for that EOF. Once made, a gift is irrevocable, and YGF has exclusive legal control over the donated funds. YGF issues the tax receipt for each gift. Whether a gift is tax-deductible depends on the law and on your own circumstances.
  • Recommendations are advisory. EOF Managers may recommend scholarships, but YGF is not required to follow any recommendation. YGF may approve, decline, or change a recommended scholarship. If an EOF becomes inactive or its purpose can no longer be carried out, YGF may use its funds for other charitable educational purposes consistent with YGF’s mission.
  • No private benefit. Scholarships are awarded under YGF’s procedures on an objective and nondiscriminatory basis. An EOF Manager may not recommend a scholarship for themselves, for a donor to the EOF, or for a relative of either, and no one may receive goods, services, or any other benefit in return for a gift or a recommendation.
  • Fees. Fees for EOF programs are set out in your EOF program terms.

5. Scholarship applications

  • No guarantee. Submitting an application does not guarantee a scholarship. Every award is at YGF’s sole discretion and depends on eligibility, verification, and available funds.
  • Accuracy and verification. You confirm that everything in your application is true and complete. We may ask for more documentation, verify your identity and enrollment, and contact your references. We may decline, cancel, or recover an award if information in an application is false or incomplete, if the student does not enroll in or leaves the program, or if the funds are not used for their educational purpose.
  • Payment. Scholarships are usually paid directly to the school or program. Depending on your circumstances, a scholarship may be taxable to the recipient; talk to a tax professional if you have questions.
  • Your profile. Your application profile is shared with matched EOF Managers and, if you choose, shown on the public scholarship dashboard, as described in our Privacy Policy. You can ask us to change your profile’s visibility or to withdraw your application at any time.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

  • use the Services for anything illegal, fraudulent, or misleading;
  • impersonate anyone, or misrepresent your connection to a person, school, or organization;
  • upload content that infringes someone else’s rights, or that is defamatory, hateful, harassing, or obscene;
  • upload information about another person without the right to share it;
  • try to access accounts, applications, or data that are not yours, or to probe, scan, or test the security of the Services;
  • interfere with the Services, introduce malicious code, or overload our systems;
  • scrape, copy, or harvest data from the Services by automated means, except with our written permission;
  • contact applicants for any purpose other than considering a scholarship, or use applicant information for any other purpose; or
  • use the Services to send spam or unsolicited messages.

7. Your content

You keep ownership of the text, photos, and files you submit (“Your Content”). You give YGF and BrightLeaf Giving a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, copy, display, adapt, and share Your Content as needed to provide the Services, to review, match, and administer scholarships, to display your profile as you have chosen, and to meet legal obligations. This license ends when Your Content is removed from the Services, except for copies we must keep for legal or record-keeping reasons and content that was already shown publicly.

You confirm that you have the rights to Your Content, including permission from the person you quote and from anyone shown in photos you upload. We may remove or decline to display content that we believe breaks these Terms.

8. Information on the Site is not professional advice

Information on the Site about EOFs, scholarships, and charitable giving is general information. It is not legal, tax, accounting, or financial advice. Tax results depend on your own circumstances; talk to a qualified professional before relying on them.

9. Third-party services

The Services connect to and link to services run by others, including brightleaf.giving, payment and banking providers, and the websites of schools and programs. We do not control them and are not responsible for their content, terms, or practices.

10. Our intellectual property

The Site, including its design, text, graphics, and the Yeshiva Giving Fund name and logos, belongs to YGF or our licensors and is protected by law. You may use the Services only as these Terms allow. If you send us feedback or suggestions, we may use them without any obligation to you.

11. Suspension and termination

You may stop using the Services at any time, and you may ask us to close your applicant account. We may suspend or end your access to the Services, or decline or withdraw an application, if you break these Terms, if we are required to by law, or if we reasonably believe it is needed to protect applicants, donors, our programs, or the Services. Sections 4, 7 (the license for content already shown), 8, 10, and 12 through 16 continue after termination.

12. Disclaimers

We work hard to keep the Services accurate, secure, and available, but we provide them “as is” and “as available.” To the extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not guarantee that the Services will be uninterrupted or error-free, that any application will receive a scholarship, or that any EOF will reach a fundraising goal.

13. Limitation of liability

To the extent the law allows, YGF and its directors, officers, employees, volunteers, and service providers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, or opportunities, arising from your use of the Services. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Services is limited to $100. Some jurisdictions do not allow these limits, so they may not all apply to you.

14. Indemnification

You agree to defend and indemnify YGF and its directors, officers, employees, volunteers, and service providers against claims, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) that arise from Your Content, your application, your use of scholarship funds, or your breach of these Terms or the law.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Before filing a claim, you agree to contact us at office@yeshivagivingfund.org and try to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days. Any dispute that is not resolved will be brought only in the state or federal courts located in New Jersey, and you and YGF consent to their jurisdiction.

16. General terms

  • Changes. We may update these Terms from time to time. We will post the new version on this page and change the effective date above. If you keep using the Services after a change takes effect, you accept the updated Terms.
  • Electronic communications. You agree that we may send notices, receipts, and other communications to you electronically, by email or through the Services.
  • Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and any EOF program terms you agree to are the whole agreement between you and YGF about the Services.
  • Severability and waiver. If part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. Not enforcing a right is not a waiver of it.
  • Assignment. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms without our consent. We may transfer ours to another charity as part of a merger or a transfer of our programs.

17. Contact us

The Yeshiva Giving Fund, 208 Downing Street, Lakewood, NJ 08701. Email office@yeshivagivingfund.org or call +1 (848) 276-7085.