Terms & Conditions

What Arkansas Serve is

Arkansas Serve is a record-keeping and event-discovery platform for community service in Arkansas. It lets organizations post volunteer opportunities, lets people sign up for them, and records the service hours that result so schools, courts, and organizations can verify them.

Arkansas Serve is not the organizer of the events listed here, and does not run, staff, supervise, or insure them. Each event is run by the organization that posted it. We do not screen volunteers, do not screen organizations, and do not conduct background checks. Where a background check or a waiver is recorded on this platform, that record was entered by an organization; the platform stores the organization's assertion, and does not verify or perform the underlying check.

These terms are between you and Arkansas Serve. Your relationship with any organization you volunteer with is separate, and that organization may impose its own requirements.

Who may use it

Arkansas Serve is for students, adult volunteers, schools, juvenile detention and court divisions, and community organizations tracking community-service hours in Arkansas.

Browsing without an account. Anyone may browse the events an organization has chosen to make publicly visible, and the public organization directory, without signing in. Visiting the site beyond the standard home page at https://arkansasserve.com or the policy pages requires consenting to the terms and conditions and associated policies. Signing up for an event always requires an account, so that age, guardian consent, and any organization requirements are captured before a person is placed at an event.

Users under 16. Users under 16 years of age may use Arkansas Serve with the approval of a parent or guardian. The platform determines whether users are a minor from the listed date of birth — not from the account type you select. A minor must provide guardian contact details, and the guardian's consent is recorded as described below. For more information about compliance with Arkansas's Children and Teens Online Privacy Protection act, see section 22.

Guardians need not hold accounts. A guardian without an account can be reached through a single-use, time-limited link issued by an organization, which opens a short session in which the guardian can review and record their decision. Guardians holding a live link act as guardian for the student for whom the link was sent, which is why links are single-use and expire; do not forward one. Alternatively, guardians may create an account for their own use that may be linked to their ward or child's account as a guardian for consent directly in the Arkansas Serve platform.

Your account

Accounts are created and signed in through Microsoft Entra External ID and Secure Sign On methods such as Google or Facebook. Arkansas Serve never receives or stores your password. Keep your sign-in credentials to yourself; you are responsible for activity under your account. If you suspect suspicious activity on your account, you must report it as soon as possible to our team via email to contact@arkansasserve.com.

Provide accurate information, and keep it current. Service hours recorded here are used by schools, courts, and community organizations to verify that a real obligation was met, so misrepresenting your identity, your hours, or your attendance undermines the record for everyone and is grounds for removal from the site and communication about inaccuracies to your supervising organization. Aggravated violation of truthful representation of your identity or misrepresentation of the identity of another could be grounds for legal action by Arkansas Serve, its organizational affiliates, the state, or users.

An organization may create a roster record for you before you have created an account. When you later sign in with the matching email address or user record that is matched to existing records you claim, that record becomes yours.

Guardian consent for minors

An organization may require that a guardian's consent is on file before a minor can register for its events. Where an organization has turned that requirement on, a minor without consent on file cannot register with that organization.

Consent is recorded per organization and continues until it is withdrawn. Some events require a guardian to approve that specific event in addition to any standing consent — an organization can flag an event this way, and the platform also treats multi-day and overnight events as requiring specific approval.

Withdrawal is always effective. A guardian who withdraws consent blocks further registration with that organization regardless of the organization's settings, and existing future registrations for that minor are cancelled. Consent history is kept rather than erased, so that a withdrawal remains visible after the fact.

Consent is recorded against the version of these documents in force at the time. If the documents change materially, consent may be requested again.

Organizations, memberships, and roles

You hold a separate membership in each organization you join, and your role is granted per organization. Joining an organization lets its administrators see your profile, your sign-ups, and your hours with them, so they can verify your service. Roles range from member through event, group, and organization administrator; platform administrators operate the service itself. For more information about what data is available to organizations, see the Privacy Policy.

A membership you added yourself may be removed by you. A membership an organization created for you — a school adding you to its roster, for example — can only be removed by that organization's administrators, because the record is theirs to keep. You may request removal at any time, and Arkansas Serve's administrators will support efforts to process valid requests for removal of data.

An organization may restrict who can join it, may lock profile editing so that only its administrators can change member details, and may assign specific administrators to oversee specific volunteers. These options are left to the discretion of the organization so long as they do not conflict with state or federal rules or law or Arkansas Serve's Organization Terms and Conditions.

Organization requirements ("tags")

An organization can define requirements it tracks against its assigned or joined users, such as a signed waiver form, a completed training task, or a food-safety authorization card. Each requirement is set by the organization to do one of three things when someone does not hold it: flag it for administrator review, block registration to organization events, or allow sign-up but block check-in on the day until review or approval.

Some requirements are satisfied by an affirmation; others require you to upload a document as evidence. Uploaded documents are stored privately and are visible to administrators of the organization that asked for them. A requirement may expire after a period the organization sets, after which it must be met again.

Requirements apply within the organization that set them. A requirement met with one organization says nothing about another organization, and does not follow you between them.

Signing up, attendance, and check-in

Signing up for an event may require choosing a shift and answering questions the organizer has set. Capacity is limited and sign-up is first-come. You may cancel your own registration; an administrator of the organization running the event may also cancel or clear registrations.

On the day, an organizer may check you in directly, or post a code you scan to check yourself in. Check-in codes are time-limited and can be reissued; a code proves presence at the venue, so do not share or photograph one for someone else's use.

Service hours

Hours are submitted by you or recorded by an organizer. Whether they need review before counting is set by your school or organization: some configure hours from certain organizations or categories to count automatically, and otherwise hours count only once an administrator approves them.

Administrators may reject, reverse, or void hours that were logged in error or cannot be verified. Approval reflects an organization's judgement, not a guarantee by Arkansas Serve that any school, court, employer, or other body will accept the hours. If your hours must satisfy a court order, a graduation requirement, or a scholarship, confirm the requirements with that body — we cannot and do not vouch for acceptance.

Listings from other organizations

Some listings on Arkansas Serve are informational only: the activity is run by an outside organization that is not on this platform, and we show the details, location, and a link so you can contact them directly. These listings carry no sign-up and no service credit here.

Some of those listings are collected automatically from organizations' own public web pages and calendars. We fetch only pages a site permits automated access to, never anything behind a login, and each listing keeps its attribution and a link to the original. We do not verify third-party listings. Details may be out of date or wrong; confirm with the organizer before travelling to an event.

Inclusion of a listing is not an endorsement of the organization, its cause, or its views. If you are an organization and want your listing corrected or removed, write to contact@arkansasserve.com and we will act on it.

Content you provide

You keep ownership of what you upload — event photos, logos, documents, descriptions. By uploading it, you give Arkansas Serve permission to store and display it for the purpose of running the platform: showing an event to the people who can see it, showing a waiver to the administrators who asked for it, showing an organization's logo on its page.

Only upload content you have the right to share. Do not upload a photograph identifying another person's child without that guardian's permission. Organizations are responsible for the content they post, including obtaining any consent needed for photographs taken at their events.

We may remove content that breaches these terms, that infringes someone's rights, or that puts a person at risk.

Acceptable use

Do not use Arkansas Serve to harass, endanger, defraud, or misrepresent anyone; to access records you have not been given a role to see; to scrape or bulk-extract other people's information; to interfere with the service's operation or security; or to upload content you do not have the right to share.

Because the platform holds information about minors and court-involved youth, misuse of another person's records is treated as serious and may end your access immediately and be reported.

Safety

Volunteering carries real-world risk. Supervision, safeguarding, insurance, and site safety are the responsibility of the organization running the event — not Arkansas Serve. Guardians should satisfy themselves about an event and the organization running it before consenting to a minor's participation.

If you believe a child is at risk, contact local authorities. Reports about conduct on this platform can be sent to contact@arkansasserve.com.

Availability

Arkansas Serve is provided as-is and as-available. We do not promise uninterrupted availability, and we may change, suspend, or discontinue features. The platform is under active development and its behavior will change.

We keep the records you and your organizations enter, but you should not treat Arkansas Serve as your only copy of anything you depend on. Organizations that must retain service records for legal or accreditation purposes should keep their own copies.

Disclaimers and limitation of liability

Arkansas Serve does not guarantee the safety, availability, or quality of events and is not an insurer of events or content posted on the site. Arkansas Serve does not guarantee that all content posted on the site is compliant with state or federal laws or regulations and cannot accurately screen all user-generated content before it is posted. Arkansas Serve relies on user reporting to flag concerns of violations of these Terms and Conditions or content publishing policies present in organization specific policies and cannot therefore guarantee content will be compliant.

To the fullest extent the law allows, Arkansas Serve makes no warranties of any kind about the service, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy of listings, or acceptance of recorded hours by any third party.

To the fullest extent the law allows, Arkansas Serve is not liable for: the conduct of any organization, volunteer, or third party; injury, loss, or harm occurring at or in connection with an event; a school's, court's, or other body's decision to accept or reject hours recorded here; or loss of data, service interruption, or indirect or consequential loss.

Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

Suspension and termination

We may suspend or end access for a breach of these terms, for conduct that puts another person at risk, or where required by law. Where circumstances allow, we will say why and the future course of action for like offenses in these terms.

You may stop using Arkansas Serve at any time. Leaving an organization you joined yourself removes that membership. Records an organization created and holds about your service with it — including approved hours a school or court may need to retain — are that organization's to keep or remove, and are not deleted by your leaving. To ask about deletion of your information, see the Privacy Policy.

Changes to these terms

These documents carry a version. When we change them materially, we bump the version, and you will be asked to accept the new version the next time you sign in. Your acceptance is recorded as the version you accepted and the date you accepted it. Continuing to use the platform after a change means the current version applies.

Agreements with schools and organizations

Where an organization has a separate written agreement with Arkansas Serve, that agreement governs the organization's use of the platform and prevails over these terms to the extent of any conflict; however, external terms will generally be more specific than these terms and these are the default terms. These terms continue to govern each individual's own use of their account.

Use by political organizations and other issue-advocacy groups

Arkansas Serve allows political organizations and issue advocacy groups to freely use the site to publish volunteering opportunities as it does for all registered entities on the site. Such use is not a form of in-kind donation or explicit endorsement of the platforms or issues those organizations support. Notwithstanding removal for cause of organizations violating the terms and conditions of the site, free opportunity to use the platform is provided regardless of political affiliation.

Use of this site's content publishing mechanisms as a political platform to message users or garner support for political issues is prohibited. Likewise, harassment based on political affiliation or misusing registration tools or content publishing to disrupt political activities is prohibited. Arkansas Serve will use its discretion in identifying such misconduct and such prohibited use may result in a suspension of associated accounts or other restrictions.

Right of notice and cure

Before any legal action or process is taken against Arkansas Serve or its agents and any user or organization because of activity on the platform, the party presenting the legal challenge must provide the other party and Arkansas Serve (if it is not the other party) with notice of the alleged wrongdoing and provide adequate time to cure the issue, whether it occurred by an error or an intentional act. Failure to notify Arkansas Serve in a good-faith manner before undertaking such above-mentioned legal action is a breach of duty on behalf of the filer of the legal action and Arkansas Serve will hold that party responsible for any social or legal consequence flowing from this breach. By consenting to these terms, you agree to make good-faith efforts to contact Arkansas Serve before engaging in legal action or process against Arkansas Serve or its agents and any user or organization because of activity on the platform.

Governing law

Arkansas Serve is a domestic Arkansas Limited Liability Company registered with the Arkansas Secretary of State.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Arkansas, and the courts of Arkansas have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them. By consenting to these terms, you agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the courts and laws of Arkansas. Likewise, any contracts negotiated between Arkansas Serve and parties using this site will be governed by Arkansas law and tried in Arkansas courts as the choice of venue.

Recommended events

Arkansas Serve may recommend certain features or events; however, this is never done in exchange or consideration for value and is most often connected to past service experience or preferences chosen by users to whom recommendations are made.

Compliance with the Arkansas Children and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act

Arkansas Serve only collects the relevant information of individuals required to effectively display its platform and redistributes information collected directly through the site except as stated in the Privacy Policy. Arkansas Serve never sells any information to third-parties.

Arkansas Serve relies upon self-reported age verification to register and use the platform. Failure to accurately self-report a user's age is grounds for removal from the site.

Any user under 13 years of age, as defined under the relevant Arkansas laws, is not permitted to use this site without supervision by a parent or guardian. If a user's self-reported age is under 13 years, the site will automatically request a parent or guardian's contact to message a consent authorization link. Authorization must be given from a parent or guardian older than 18 years of age for users under 13 years of age.

Any user between the ages of 13 and 16 years of age, as defined under the relevant Arkansas laws, must themself consent or provide consent of a parent to use this site at account creation and before storing any personally identifying information on the site. Only the user or a guardian older than 18 years of age may consent on behalf of the user.

Consent requirements for users 16 years of age and older, as defined under the relevant Arkansas laws, are assigned by organizations and requirements are defined in the consent documentation relevant to that organization. No additional consent is required for users older than 16 years of age by Arkansas Serve to utilize the platform beyond these terms and conditions and all incorporated documents (including the Privacy Policy).

Other Arkansas Serve policies and procedures for policy changes

Arkansas Serve incorporates its published Privacy Policy into the terms and conditions of use for the Arkansas Serve platform. Arkansas Serve also maintains unpublished procedures for isolated events including the organizational policy for treatment of prohibited use of the site and the cyber-security breach policy. These policies may be available for review upon request by registered users or individuals who intend to register for the service; however, they are not publicly available to prevent abuse by third parties.

Changes to Arkansas Serve policies will be made with a 3 business day prior announcement on the platform and a message to all registered user emails (provided the registered email has not opted out of notifications). After the 3-day period, the policy changes will take effect. Arkansas Serve reserves the right to freely modify the policies, terms, and conditions of use.