Program Terms

1. What this document is

These are the terms of the Omen Services Nonprofit Web Grant. They describe who can apply, how applications are reviewed, what an award includes, what it does not include, what it costs to keep the site online and who owns what at the end.

Omen Services is a service offered by Omen IT Solutions, a trade name of Walter White Enterprises, LLC, a Virginia limited liability company headquartered in Culpeper, Virginia. "We" and "us" mean that company. "You" means the organization applying.

Applying does not create a contract and does not obligate either of us. If you are awarded, we confirm the scope in writing before work starts. Where this page and anything else on this website disagree, this page governs.

2. Who can apply

Three requirements. All three have to be true.

• Tax status. A United States organization in good standing under any one of the following: 501(c)(3) charitable, religious or educational; 501(c)(4) social welfare; 501(c)(5) labor, agricultural or horticultural; 501(c)(6) business leagues, chambers of commerce and trade associations; or 501(c)(19) veterans organizations. An organization that has filed for 501(c) status and is awaiting an IRS determination qualifies, and so does an organization operating under a qualifying fiscal sponsor. Where an organization is fiscally sponsored, the sponsor is the party that has to meet this requirement.
• Size. An annual operating budget under $1,000,000. The application asks for a range, not an exact figure.
• Location. Anywhere in the United States. There is no narrower geographic limit, and being outside Virginia is not a disadvantage.

If you are not sure whether you qualify, apply anyway. It costs you one form and we will tell you plainly.

2.1 Proof of status is required

The application requires you to confirm your legal status before it can be submitted. On the last step you confirm that your organization holds at least one of the following: an IRS determination letter, a 501(c) application you have filed and are awaiting a decision on, or proof that you are registered as a business entity with your state.

This website is a set of static files and cannot accept file uploads, so the confirmation is an attestation rather than a document. The EIN you give in step 1 lets us look a determined organization up in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search independently. Links to supporting documents remain optional, because many small organizations have no hosted copy to link to.

An award is conditional on producing the actual document. If we select your application we request it directly by email. If it does not arrive, or it does not support the status you claimed, the award can be withdrawn under section 14.

3. Who cannot

3.1 Partisan political campaign activity

501(c)(4) and 501(c)(5) organizations are eligible. The exclusion is on the use of the site, not on the tax status.

A site built under this program may not be used for electioneering, candidate advocacy, campaigning for or against a candidate for public office, or any other partisan political campaign activity. This applies while we host the site and it applies to the pages we build.

This exclusion carries more weight than any other rule on this page, because 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations and 501(c)(5) labor organizations are the two most politically active categories in the tax code, and both may lawfully engage in political activity that we will not build or host under our own name. It is not a judgment about your positions. Issue advocacy, public education, service delivery and legislative work are not covered by this exclusion. Electing a candidate is.

3.2 Other 501(c) subsections

501(c) subsections other than those listed in section 2 are not eligible, including 501(c)(7) social and recreational clubs, 501(c)(8) and 501(c)(10) fraternal societies, and 501(c)(13) cemetery companies.

The line is public benefit versus member benefit, and it is drawn on the subsection you file under. It is a rule about categories, not an assessment of any particular organization. The application lists the eligible statuses and an option for another subsection, so you can identify yourself accurately and be told no rather than pick a label that does not fit in order to get through a form.

4. Applying does not guarantee selection

Meeting every eligibility requirement does not entitle you to an award. Omen Services selects recipients at its sole discretion, based on what we can build well with the capacity we have.

We do not publish a number of awards, because there is not one. Awards are made as capacity allows. There is no quota to fill, no deadline to beat and no queue position to protect. Any website telling you to hurry is not this one.

If we decline your application we will tell you. You are welcome to apply again later, particularly if what changed is capacity on our side rather than anything on yours.

5. How review works, and how long it takes

Plain English first. Apply whenever. We answer within 2 weeks. If you are awarded, the site is live 4 to 6 weeks after your content reaches us.

"Complete" matters. If a required answer is missing we will ask for it, and the 2 weeks runs from the day the application is complete rather than the day it was first submitted.

The build clock starts when your content is in hand, not on the day of the award. This is the step that most often decides a timeline, and it is the step you control.

6. What the award includes

• Design and build of a custom multi-page site. Not a template with your logo dropped into it.
• Copywriting. We write the pages, working from what you tell us and what you send.
• On-page SEO setup. Titles, descriptions, headings, structure and internal linking, done properly at launch.
• Logo or basic brand work. A mark and a palette, for organizations that do not have one yet.
• Donation button integration. We connect the payment processor you already use, such as Stripe, Givebutter or PayPal. See section 6.1.

6.1 What donation button integration means, exactly

We connect your existing donation processor to your new site so that a donate button on the site takes a donor into your existing checkout.

We do not supply the payment processor and we do not supply the account. You open it, you own it, the money goes to you, and the processor's fees and terms are between you and them. We never ask for your processor login or your banking details. If you do not have a processor yet, you will need to set one up before the donate button can do anything.

7. What the award does not include

Stated plainly, because silence here is how this kind of offer usually goes wrong.

• Photography. No shoots and no photographers. Bring your own photos, or the site uses illustrative imagery.
• Ongoing content edits. Not included in the monthly. They are billed separately at the normal rate, and only when you ask for them.
• Ecommerce or an online store. A donate button is not a store, and stores are out of scope.
• Donor CRM, membership databases or custom web applications. Portals, logins, dashboards and databases are out of scope.
• Email hosting. We do not host or manage your mailboxes.
• Paid advertising or ad management. No campaigns, no ad spend, no ad accounts.
• Grant writing or fundraising strategy. We build the website. We do not write your grants or plan your fundraising.

Some of these are things Omen Services does for paying clients. Nothing here obligates you to buy any of them, ever, and no award depends on buying any of them.

8. Hosting, and what the monthly covers

Plain English first. $25 a month for the first 12 months. $50 a month after that. It buys hosting and SSL, nothing else.

• $25 per month for the first 12 months after the site goes live.
• $50 per month thereafter, ongoing.
• The monthly covers hosting and SSL only. That is the entire business model behind this program, and it is stated here rather than discovered later.
• Content edits, new pages, new features and anything in section 7 are not covered. They are quoted and billed separately at the normal rate, and only if you ask.

There is no setup fee, no minimum term and no cancellation fee. You are not required to host with us at all: see section 11.

9. Your domain name

You register and own your domain name, in your own account, under your own organization's name. Not ours. This is not negotiable and it is not a favor, it is how it should always have been done.

Practically, that means the registrar account is yours, the billing for the domain is yours, the contact records name your organization, and you can point the domain anywhere at any time without asking us. If you already own a domain, you keep it exactly as it is. We will walk you through the settings if the registrar interface is unfamiliar, but the account stays in your hands.

A domain registration is a small annual fee paid to your registrar. It is not part of the monthly and we do not collect it.

10. What you own

When the site is finished, you own:

• The finished website.
• The content, including the copy we wrote for you and any logo or brand work produced under the award.
• The source files. The actual code and assets, not a locked export.

You do not need our permission to modify it, move it, hire someone else to work on it, or hand it to a volunteer. Content you gave us stays yours throughout, and we claim nothing over your photographs, your text, your logo or your name.

The only thing we keep is described in section 12, and it is narrow.

11. If you cancel

This is the question a board asks first, so here is the answer without qualifications.

You can stop at any time and take the site with you. We send you the files. You can host them anywhere. Nothing is withheld.

• There is no minimum term. Cancel in month 1 or month 40, it works the same way.
• There is no cancellation fee and no penalty.
• You receive the source files of the finished site.
• Your domain name is already yours, in your own account, so there is nothing to transfer, unlock, or ask us to release.
• We do not hold your content, your logo, your copy or your files as leverage. Not for unpaid invoices, not for anything.

Cancel by emailing info@omen.services. Hosting runs to the end of the month you have paid for. We send the files, we point the domain wherever you tell us, and that is the end of it.

12. The one thing we keep: permission to show the work

Omen Services sells websites to paying clients. Sites built under this program are the evidence that the work is good, and that is the reason the build can be donated at all.

So the application asks whether you agree to be named. If you agree, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, revocable license to display the finished work as a portfolio piece and to name your organization as an organization we built for. In practice that means screenshots, a link to the live site, and your name on a page like our work page or in a proposal.

You have to answer the question, and either answer is acceptable. Saying no does not affect the decision on your application. It is not scored, not weighed against you, and not raised again as a condition of the award. Permission given under pressure is worth nothing to either of us, so we would rather have your real answer. Accepting an award means accepting these terms as a whole; the naming permission is the one part of them that is yours to give or refuse.

The limits on that license:

• It covers the finished website and your organization's name. It does not cover your logo for any other purpose, your donor lists, your photographs of people, or anything you did not publish yourself.
• It does not let us claim you endorse us, recommend us, or say anything we made up. We do not write testimonials on anyone's behalf.
• It is revocable. Withdraw permission in writing at any time, by email to info@omen.services, and we take your name and the work down. You do not have to give a reason and we will not ask for one. Withdrawing permission does not affect your site, your hosting, your ownership or anything else in these terms.

13. What we ask of an awarded organization

Three things, and they are the three that decide whether the build finishes on time.

• A responsive point of contact. One named person with the authority to answer questions and approve decisions. Not a committee, and not an inbox nobody reads.
• Content delivered in reasonable time. Text, photos, hours, program descriptions, your logo if you have one. The build clock does not start until this arrives, so a slow content step becomes a slow launch.
• Timely review. When we send work for review, look at it and come back with consolidated feedback rather than a trickle over several weeks.

We are not going to be rigid about a bad week, a staff departure or a busy season. Tell us and we will work around it. What causes problems is silence.

14. When an award can be withdrawn

Three grounds. There are no others.

• Unresponsiveness. If we cannot get the content or the approvals needed to finish, and repeated attempts to reach you go unanswered, we may withdraw the award and offer the capacity elsewhere.
• Misrepresentation on the application. If the application materially misstates your tax status, your budget range, your eligibility, or the purpose the site will be used for, the award can be withdrawn.
• Proof of status not produced. An award is conditional on the document described in section 2.1. If we request it and it does not arrive, or it does not support the status you claimed, the award can be withdrawn.

Before withdrawing an award we will write to you, say what the problem is, and give you a fair chance to respond. If an award is withdrawn before launch, you owe us nothing and we keep nothing of yours. Anything you sent us is returned or deleted, as you prefer.

15. The program can change or pause

This is a program, not a permanent entitlement. We may change the eligibility criteria, adjust what an award includes, or pause the program entirely if capacity requires it.

If that happens: work already awarded is finished on the terms that applied when it was awarded. A change to this page does not reach backwards into a build already under way. If a change affects a site we already host, we will give you notice in writing before it takes effect, and the ownership and cancellation rules in sections 10 and 11 never change while your site is live.

Changes are published on this page and the effective date at the top is revised.

16. Contact

Questions about the program, before or after you apply:

• Email: info@omen.services
• Phone: (540) 792-3635
• Mail: Omen IT Solutions, PO Box 14, Culpeper, VA 22701, United States

The phone and the email are support channels, not a sales line. Nobody will call you to close a deal.

See also the Privacy Policy and the Terms of Service.