Terms of Service

Last Updated: July 22, 2026

1. About These Terms.

Simple Liberty Foundation is a California nonprofit corporation (”Simple Liberty,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). We publish civic education content and organize a nonpartisan community of everyday Americans - Commoners - who examine issues together and propose solutions for the common good. These Terms of Service (”Terms”) govern your relationship with Simple Liberty: the content we publish, the community we host, the donations we receive, and the benefits we provide in recognition of your support.

We do not operate our own website software or process payments ourselves. We use third-party platforms to do those things. Your use of those platforms is governed by their agreements with you, not by these Terms. Section 2 explains how that works.

By subscribing, donating, participating in our community, or otherwise engaging with Simple Liberty, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use our publication or make a donation.

2. THE PLATFORMS WE USE.

2.1 Substack. Our publication, subscriptions, comments and paid memberships are hosted on Substack, a platform provided by Substack Inc. (”Substack”). When you subscribe to or read our publication, create an account, comment, or purchase a paid membership, you are also using Substack and you agree to Substack’s own agreements directly with Substack, including its Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Content Guidelines and Copyright Dispute Policy, available at substack.com. Paid subscription payments are processed by Substack’s payment processor, Stripe, under Stripe’s terms.

2.2 Donorbox. Donations are processed through Donorbox, a service of Rebel Idealist, Inc. (”Donorbox”), on Donorbox-hosted pages. When you make a donation, you are also using Donorbox and you agree to Donorbox’s own terms and privacy policy directly with Donorbox, available at donorbox.org. Donorbox is not a payment processor. Card and bank payments are collected and processed directly by Stripe and PayPal under their respective terms. Payment card data does not pass through or reside within Simple Liberty systems.

2.3 What This Means. You may engage with Simple Liberty on one platform or both. Which agreements apply to you depends on what you do: reading, subscribing, commenting and paid membership involve Substack; donating involves Donorbox and its payment processors. These Terms apply to your relationship with Simple Liberty in all cases. Where a platform’s agreement governs account security, technical operation, content moderation on the platform itself, copyright takedown procedures, payment processing or platform availability, that agreement controls as to those matters. We are not responsible for the platforms’ acts or omissions, their availability, or their handling of your data or payments, except as required by law.

3. Eligibility. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account, subscribe, donate, or participate in our community. By engaging with Simple Liberty you represent that you are at least 18 and that your participation complies with applicable law. Note that Substack sets its own minimum age for use of its platform.

4. SUBSCRIPTIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS.

4.1 Free Subscription. Anyone may subscribe to our publication at no cost. Free subscribers receive posts by email and may access our public content.

4.2 Paid Memberships. We offer recurring membership tiers. Membership contributions are donations to Simple Liberty Foundation, not fees for goods or services. In recognition of your support, members receive access to certain benefits, which are described on our membership pages and summarized in Section 6.

4.3 Billing and Cancellation. Recurring membership payments are billed through Substack and its payment processor on the schedule shown at signup, and continue until cancelled. You may cancel at any time through your Substack account settings. Cancellation stops future charges. Because contributions are donations, they are generally not refundable, though we will consider requests made in good faith - see Section 5.4.

5. DONATIONS.

5.1 One-Time and Recurring Gifts. You may give once or set up a recurring gift through Donorbox. Recurring gifts continue on the schedule you select until you cancel them.

5.2 Managing Your Giving. You may update, pause or cancel a recurring gift through the donor management link included in your receipt, through your Donorbox donor account, or by emailing us at info@simpleliberty.com. We will act on requests we receive promptly, but changes to a payment already submitted for processing may not be possible.

5.3 Acknowledgment and Tax Treatment. We send a written acknowledgment for each gift. Simple Liberty Foundation has applied to the Internal Revenue Service for recognition as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. That application is pending. If it is approved, exemption is granted retroactive to our date of formation and your contribution would be tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Because our application is pending, deductibility cannot be guaranteed until the IRS grants recognition. Please retain your acknowledgment and consult your tax advisor.

5.4 Refunds. Donations are generally not refundable. If a gift was made in error, in a duplicate amount, or in an amount you did not intend, contact us at info@simpleliberty.com and we will review the request in good faith. Refunds, where granted, are returned through the original payment method and may be subject to the processor’s timing and limitations.

6. Benefits Provided in Recognition of Support. In recognition of member and donor support, we may provide access to benefits such as participation in community discussion, voting on research priorities, access to draft materials before publication, live online meetings, digital badges, and a limited number of trial memberships you may share with others. Benefits are described on our membership pages. We may add, change or discontinue benefits at any time. Some benefits depend on features provided by Substack or other third parties, and may change or become unavailable if those features change. Benefits are personal to you, are not transferable except as expressly offered, and have no cash value.

7. Community Conduct. Our community depends on facts and civil dialogue. By participating, you agree to follow our Rules of Engagement, which are incorporated into these Terms by reference and are available on our publication. In summary: be respectful, disagree without contempt, support claims with facts, use your real identity, and keep contributions relevant to the issue at hand. We do not permit self-promotion, harassment, threats, impersonation, unlawful content, or content that infringes the rights of others.

We may address conduct that violates these Terms or our Rules of Engagement by warning a participant, removing content, restricting participation, or ending a membership. We moderate behavior, not opinions. Disagreement with our conclusions, or with other participants, is not a basis for removal. Where content sits on Substack, Substack’s own content policies and enforcement also apply, and Substack may act independently of us.

These standards apply to live online meetings and other gatherings we host, in addition to written discussion.

8. Our Content. The content we publish - including our research, written analysis, the 4Q Scrolls framework and materials, graphics, and the organization of our Issues, Topics and Claims - is owned by Simple Liberty Foundation or used by permission, and is protected by copyright and other laws. You may read, share links to, and quote our published content with attribution for noncommercial purposes. You may not republish substantial portions, create derivative works, or use our content commercially without our written permission. Our name and logo may not be used in a way that suggests endorsement or affiliation without permission.

9. Your Content. You keep ownership of what you post. By posting comments, submissions or other content in our community, you grant Simple Liberty Foundation a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to display, reproduce and distribute that content in connection with our work, including quoting it in our published materials with attribution. You represent that you have the right to post what you post, and that it does not infringe the rights of others or violate the law. We are not obligated to publish, retain or preserve any content you post, and we may remove it. Content you post on Substack is also subject to the license you grant Substack under its agreements.

10. Volunteer Contributions. Some Commoners volunteer to help develop research, solutions and other materials. Unless we agree otherwise in writing, work you contribute as a volunteer - including research, drafting, and analysis prepared for Simple Liberty - is contributed to Simple Liberty Foundation for use in our published work, and you grant us the rights necessary to publish, edit and distribute it. Volunteering does not create an employment relationship, and volunteers are not entitled to compensation. We may credit contributors, but are not obligated to.

11. Civic Education, Not Professional Advice. Simple Liberty publishes civic education and policy analysis. Nothing we publish is legal, financial, tax, medical or professional advice, and you should not rely on it as such. We are nonpartisan. We do not endorse candidates for public office or intervene in campaigns. References to organizations, sources or officials are for information and do not imply endorsement by them or by us. We work to be accurate, and we correct errors, but we do not warrant that our content is complete or free of error.

12. Disclaimers. Our publication, community and content are provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. We do not warrant that our publication or community will be uninterrupted, secure or error free, and availability depends on platforms we do not control.

13. Limitation of Liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Simple Liberty Foundation and its directors, officers, employees, volunteers and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages arising from your use of our publication or community, your participation, or your donations. Our total liability for any claim will not exceed the greater of the amount you contributed to Simple Liberty in the twelve months before the claim arose, or one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

14. Indemnification. You agree to defend and indemnify Simple Liberty Foundation and its directors, officers, employees, volunteers and agents against claims, damages and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising from your content, your participation in our community, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of the rights of others.

15. Dispute Resolution. We would rather resolve any problem directly. Before starting a formal proceeding, please contact us at info@simpleliberty.com and give us thirty (30) days to work it out with you.

16. Changes to These Terms. We may update these Terms. When we do, we will change the “Last Updated” date above. For material changes, we will provide notice to subscribers before the changes take effect. If you continue to participate after changes take effect, you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you may cancel your membership or unsubscribe.

17. Ending Your Participation. You may unsubscribe, cancel a membership, or stop a recurring gift at any time, as described in Sections 4.3 and 5.2. We may end or restrict your participation if you violate these Terms or our Rules of Engagement. Sections 8 through 14 survive the end of your participation.

18. GENERAL.

18.1 Governing Law. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict of law principles. Subject to Section 15, you and Simple Liberty submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Placer County, California.

18.2 Entire Agreement and Severability. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and our Rules of Engagement, are the entire agreement between you and Simple Liberty regarding your participation, and supersede our prior Terms of Service. If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.

18.3 Notices and Contact. We may provide notices to you by email or by posting to our publication. You may contact us at info@simpleliberty.com, or by mail at:

Simple Liberty Foundation

4120 Douglas Blvd., Suite 306-143

Granite Bay, CA 95746

18.4 California Residents. Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California residents may contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs at 1625 N. Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, California 95834, or by telephone at 1-800-952-5210.

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[DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW - NOT FOR PUBLICATION. This is a plain-language starting point prepared for legal review. It has not been drafted or reviewed by an attorney. It intentionally replaces our prior Terms of Service, which was adapted from a Circle.so template and described a platform relationship we no longer have. The approach here is to cover only what Simple Liberty Foundation itself controls and owes, and to defer to Substack and Donorbox for the platform mechanics that their own agreements already govern. Highlighted notes throughout mark decisions and confirmations we need from counsel. Please delete all highlighted notes before publication.]

[ATTORNEY NOTE - Section 2: Please confirm this deferral structure is sound, and in particular whether we need any express disclaimer of agency or joint liability with Substack, Donorbox, Stripe or PayPal. Also confirm whether we should link directly to each platform’s terms or reference them generally, given those URLs may change.]

[ATTORNEY NOTE - Section 3: We set 18 in our prior Terms. Substack’s Terms of Use set a lower minimum age. Please confirm whether we should keep 18, align with Substack, or state both. Also confirm our COPPA posture given we do not knowingly collect information from minors.]

[ATTORNEY NOTE - Section 4: The donation-not-fee characterization is central to our nonprofit tax posture and needs both legal and CPA confirmation. Please confirm this framing is defensible given that members receive benefits, and coordinate with our CPA on the quid pro quo disclosure threshold and the fair market value treatment of member benefits.]

[ATTORNEY NOTE - Section 5: Please confirm the pending-status language in 5.3, and confirm it matches the disclosure language in our donor acknowledgment emails, which are also pending CPA sign-off. Also advise whether a stated refund policy helps or hurts us here, and whether any state charitable solicitation registration or disclosure obligations apply to us given we solicit online across state lines.]

[ATTORNEY NOTE - Section 6: We deliberately describe benefits generally here and keep specifics on the membership pages so we are not locked into terms that change. Please confirm this is adequate, and confirm the interaction with Section 4.2 donation framing and the CPA’s fair market value analysis.]

[ATTORNEY NOTE - Section 9: Please confirm the scope of the license we take. We want the ability to quote community contributions in published research with attribution, but we do not need broad sublicensing rights. Please also confirm how this interacts with the license Substack takes in its Terms of Use, and whether we should require attribution consent separately.]

[ATTORNEY NOTE - Section 10: This is the section we most need drafted properly. Please advise whether volunteer contributions should be handled by assignment, by license, or by a separate volunteer agreement signed outside these Terms. Please also address volunteer status under California labor law, any insurance or liability exposure from volunteers, and whether contributed research creates any warranty or defamation exposure for us as publisher.]

[ATTORNEY NOTE - Section 11: Please confirm this language is adequate for our 501(c)(3) posture, particularly the political campaign intervention prohibition and any lobbying limits that apply to our published advocacy of solutions.]

[ATTORNEY NOTE - Section 13: We carried the liability cap structure from our prior Terms. Please confirm it is appropriate for a nonprofit receiving donations rather than selling services, and whether the contribution-based cap creates any unintended implication that donations are payment for services.]

[ATTORNEY NOTE - Section 15: Our prior Terms contained a full binding arbitration provision administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, with a class action waiver, a thirty day opt-out, carve-outs for small claims and intellectual property, and fee-shifting provisions. We have not reproduced it here pending your advice on two questions. First, whether binding arbitration with a class waiver is appropriate and enforceable for a nonprofit whose users are donors and readers rather than paying customers, particularly under California law and recent consumer arbitration decisions. Second, whether the mechanics of that clause - notice, fee reimbursement, arbitrator selection, and the relationship between the opt-out and the governing law provision - are sound as drafted. Please draft the dispute resolution provision you recommend, or confirm that the prior AAA provision should be reinstated as written.]