Welcome to Pledgescore. These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Pledgescore website at pledgescore.com and any related services (collectively, the "Service"). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms.
Please read these Terms carefully. If you do not agree with any part of these Terms, do not use the Service.
01Definitions
- "Pledgescore," "we," "us," "our"
- The operator of the Service, based in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States.
- "User," "you," "your"
- Any person or entity that accesses or uses the Service.
- "Service"
- The Pledgescore website, Campaign Readiness Assessment, Campaign Improvement Plan, Studio referral program, and any related tools, content, or communications.
- "Campaign Readiness Assessment"
- The free, stage-aware assessment (10 questions) resulting in a numeric score from 0 to 100.
- "Campaign Improvement Plan"
- The paid $49 personalized report, generated directly from your Campaign Readiness Assessment — no separate questionnaire.
- "Studio"
- Our free referral program for crowdfunding consultants and agencies. A Studio partner refers clients to the Campaign Improvement Plan using their own referral code, which applies a discount at checkout; Pledgescore separately tracks a commission owed to the partner. Joining Studio has no cost.
- "Content"
- Any information, data, text, or materials submitted by you or provided by us through the Service.
02Description of the Service
Pledgescore is a structured crowdfunding-readiness assessment and planning service. It uses a fixed scoring framework plus automated analysis and third-party research to identify campaign strengths, risks, and possible improvements. Based on your inputs, we generate:
- A Campaign Readiness Assessment score from 0 to 100 indicating overall readiness
- A Pledgescore badge for your campaign page
- Campaign-type context based on the readiness framework
- Top identified issues and suggested improvements
- (For Campaign Improvement Plan, $49) A personalized improvement plan covering all nine readiness factors; campaign-specific planning tools such as funding-goal math and reward/giving-tier structure; ready-to-use copy such as rewritten hooks, a backer FAQ, and launch/social templates; a downloadable, dated campaign calendar and other supporting file attachments where generated; comparable-campaign and market research where available; and one free re-score — built directly from your free assessment, no separate intake required. Specific deliverables may be added, changed, or improved as the Service evolves; the current, complete list is described on our pricing page at the time of purchase.
Separately, Studio is a free referral program: approved partners receive a referral code that applies a discount to a referred client's Campaign Improvement Plan purchase, and Pledgescore tracks a commission owed to the partner for each converted referral.
Pledgescore is a structured crowdfunding-readiness assessment and planning service, not a guarantee of funding. It evaluates campaign preparation using a fixed, stage-aware scoring framework combined with automated analysis and, where available, third-party research — it does not predict or guarantee crowdfunding outcomes. Scores and recommendations are based partly on information you supply yourself; we do not independently verify what you tell us, and inaccurate inputs will produce inaccurate outputs. Any third-party campaign, market, or comparable-campaign information referenced in your report reflects a point in time and can change. Suggested funding goals, pricing, advertising or promotion ideas, and any legal, tax, or platform-specific information should be independently verified before you rely on them — we do not provide financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. You remain solely responsible for any claims, prices, or commitments you publish on your own campaign page. Many factors affect crowdfunding success — Pledgescore's assessment is one of several inputs to consider, not the final word.
03Eligibility and accounts
To use the Service, you must:
- Be at least 16 years old (18 in some jurisdictions)
- Have legal capacity to enter into binding contracts
- Not be barred from using the Service under applicable law
- Provide accurate and truthful information
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any account credentials and for all activity conducted under your account.
04User obligations
When using the Service, you agree to:
- Provide accurate information. The quality of your Pledgescore depends on truthful inputs. Deliberately misleading inputs will produce misleading outputs.
- Use the Service lawfully. Do not use the Service for any illegal, fraudulent, or unauthorized purpose.
- Respect our intellectual property. Do not copy, scrape, reverse engineer, or attempt to derive the source code, scoring algorithm, or underlying data of the Service.
- Not resell or redistribute reports without written permission.
- Not misuse the Service in ways that could damage, disable, or overburden it, including through automated queries, denial-of-service attempts, or excessive requests.
- Not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Service, other users' data, or our infrastructure.
05Payment terms
Free tier
The Campaign Readiness Assessment is provided free of charge. No payment is required.
Campaign Improvement Plan ($49)
The Campaign Improvement Plan is a one-time purchase of $49 USD (or equivalent in your local currency). Payment is processed through Stripe. Access to the Campaign Improvement Plan is provided upon successful payment. This is a one-time payment — not a subscription.
Studio referral program
Joining Studio is free — there is no purchase or fee to become a partner. A referred client's discounted purchase is still a Campaign Improvement Plan purchase, processed through the same Stripe checkout described above. Any commission owed to a Studio partner is tracked separately by Pledgescore and is not part of the Service's customer-facing payment flow.
Taxes and fees
Prices displayed do not include applicable taxes (VAT, GST, sales tax) which may be added at checkout based on your location. You are responsible for any bank fees, currency conversion charges, or other transaction costs.
Failed payments
If a payment fails or is reversed, we may suspend or terminate your access to paid features until payment is successfully completed.
06Refund policy
We offer a 14-day money-back guarantee on all Campaign Improvement Plan purchases, including those made with a Studio referral discount. See our full Refund Policy for details on eligibility, how to request a refund, and processing times.
07Intellectual property
Our IP
All content, features, and functionality of the Service — including but not limited to the scoring algorithm, benchmark data, report templates, brand name, logo, design, text, graphics, and code — are owned by Pledgescore and protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.
Your Content
You retain ownership of any Content you submit to the Service (quiz answers, campaign descriptions, URLs, etc.). By submitting Content, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, process, and analyze that Content solely for the purpose of providing the Service to you and improving our scoring model in aggregated, anonymized form.
Feedback
Any feedback, suggestions, or ideas you submit to us may be used by Pledgescore without compensation or attribution.
08Disclaimer of warranties
The Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied.
We do not warrant that:
- Your campaign will fund or succeed based on our recommendations
- Any score, benchmark, or comparison generated by the Service predicts or guarantees your specific campaign's outcome
- The Service, including report generation and delivery timing, will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free
- Any errors in the Service will be corrected
- Results obtained from the Service will meet your expectations
To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
09Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Pledgescore's total aggregate liability to you for any and all claims arising from or related to the Service shall not exceed the amount you paid to Pledgescore in the 12 months preceding the claim — or $50 USD, whichever is greater.
In no event shall Pledgescore, its owners, employees, contractors, or affiliates be liable for:
- Any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages
- Lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, or lost business opportunities
- Losses arising from your crowdfunding campaign performance
- Losses arising from third-party services (Kickstarter, Indiegogo, payment processors, etc.)
- Any damages exceeding the liability cap above
These limitations apply regardless of the legal theory (contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or otherwise) and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
10Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Pledgescore and its owners, employees, contractors, and affiliates from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in any way connected with:
- Your use or misuse of the Service
- Your violation of these Terms
- Your violation of any third-party rights
- Any Content you submit
- Your crowdfunding campaign or its outcomes
11Third-party services
The Service integrates with or references third-party services, including but not limited to Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Stripe, Anthropic, Google Cloud (including Google Apps Script and Cloud Run), Resend, Google reCAPTCHA, MailerLite, and various crowdfunding platforms. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or responsible for any third-party service. Your use of third-party services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies. See our Privacy Policy for what each provider processes on our behalf.
12Termination
Termination by you
You can stop using the Service at any time. Nothing about the Service is a subscription — a Campaign Improvement Plan purchase is one-time, and Studio partnership has no ongoing commitment or fee to cancel.
Termination by us
We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without notice, for any reason — including but not limited to violation of these Terms, misuse of the Service, or failure to pay.
Effect of termination
Upon termination, your right to use the Service ends immediately. Sections that by their nature should survive termination will do so, including intellectual property rights, disclaimers, limitations of liability, and indemnification.
13Changes to the Service
We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time, with or without notice. We are not liable to you or any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuation of the Service.
14Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will:
- Update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page
- Notify active users via email when the changes are significant
- Post a prominent notice on the Service
Continued use of the Service after changes means you accept the updated Terms.
15Governing law and jurisdiction
These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.
Any dispute arising from or relating to these Terms or the Service shall be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts — unless applicable consumer protection laws in your jurisdiction require otherwise. Nothing in these Terms limits your rights as a consumer under mandatory local laws.
16Miscellaneous
Entire agreement
These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Refund Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Pledgescore regarding the Service.
Severability
If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.
No waiver
Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of that right or provision.
Assignment
You may not assign or transfer these Terms without our written consent. We may assign these Terms without restriction.
Force majeure
We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, terrorism, riots, pandemics, government actions, or infrastructure failures.
17Contact us
If you have questions about these Terms, contact us: