East Coast Exchange Programme Rules
These Programme Rules apply to the East Coast Exchange’s Cyclone Gabrielle Response Programme (Programme). Participation in the Programme is subject to acceptance of these Programme Rules. Anyone taking action or contributing eligible goods and services (Contributor) or funds (Funder) to the Programme (together, Participants) will be deemed to have accepted these Programme Rules.
Public record of actions to post-Cyclone Gabrielle recovery and resilience building efforts
East Coast Exchange is giving public recognition to community efforts to recover from the devastation caused by Cyclone Gabrielle and build resilience on the East Coast. The Programme involves recording the value of eligible actions and contributions of goods and services to the Gisborne, Wairoa and Hawkes Bay districts and publishing this information on a publicly available record (Record) accessible via the website eastcoastexchange.toha.nz (Website).
Action for which the Contributor has received (or has contracted to receive) payment are not eligible for the Programme.
To be included on the Record, a Contributor must provide their name, contact details and details of their action (including a realistic estimated value) in a form provided by East Coast Exchange - either in hard copy or on the Website.
By providing these details, Contributors consent to publication of their name and action details on the Record and to East Coast Exchange providing their name to any Funder whose funds may be distributed to the Contributor.
After a Contributor completes their action, and submits acceptable evidence of that, East Coast Exchange will record the details on the Record. East Coast Exchange will publish guidance as to acceptable evidence - which may include aspects such as file format, metadata and sufficiency. Evidence of satisfaction by the recipient of the goods or services, regarding the quality and claimed value of the goods or services, may be required. Acceptance of evidence will be at East Coast Exchange’s sole discretion.
East Coast Exchange gives no guarantee of payment in return for action or goods and services contributed to recovery or resilience building efforts recipients via the Programme, and makes no offer of employment or engagement to any Contributor.
Contributors do not transfer ownership of the data they provide to East Coast Exchange. East Coast Exchange will only publish and use Participants’ data in accordance with these Programme Rules and any other authority granted by Participants. In particular, East Coast Exchange will not re-use or sell Participants’ data without express permission. For further information, see the Privacy Policy.
Action Points
East Coast Exchange will also publish on the Record a number of Action Points (APs) equal to the estimated New Zealand dollar value of the Contributor’s action. An AP represents public recognition of a Contributor’s action to support post-Cyclone Gabrielle recovery and resilience building efforts. An AP is not electronic money, an asset or a security.
Where action is taken in a volunteer capacity, ie with no expectation of reward or receipt of reward, the appropriate number of APs will be included on the Record for public recognition, but those APs are not eligible for Programme funding.
A Contributor holding APs may donate any number of their APs to any other Contributor by communicating details of their transfer request to East Coast Exchange.
A Contributor holding APs may ‘lock’ any number of their APs, either temporarily (thereby putting others ahead of them in the priority queue) or permanently (thereby effectively gifting them to the Programme), by communicating details of their request to East Coast Exchange.
APs will expire after one year unless otherwise communicated by East Coast Exchange.
Funding toward Action in the Programme
East Coast Exchange is seeking funds from impact funders and donors in order to distribute those funds among Contributors who have taken action to support Cyclone Gabrielle relief and resilience building efforts on the East Coast, provided evidence of their action, and hold APs demonstrating that.
Individuals, companies and organisations may give funds to the Programme (Programme Funds) via the Website or by contacting East Coast Exchange. Programme Funds will be held on trust in the trust account of Toha Foundry Limited.
Funders consent to publication of their name, and value of the funds they have given, on the Website. A Funder’s name may also be given to the recipient(s) of the funds.
East Coast Exchange will publish the total value of Programme Funds on the Website.
Each New Zealand dollar of Programme Funds will fund one AP.
Tagged Funds: A New Zealand resident Funder may allocate some or all of the funds they have contributed to:
specific APs held by a Contributor(s), as shown in the Record, or
a class of action (eg emergency response action).
Where it is not possible for Tagged Funds to be distributed to the specific APs or class of action chosen by the Funder (for example, where a chosen Contributor rejects an offer of Programme Funds), East Coast Exchange may shift the Tagged Funds to the Pool of Untagged Funds (as described below).
Untagged Funds: Where a Funder has not communicated an allocation of the funds they have given to the Programme, the funds will be held in a general pool for distribution to Contributors (Pool). East Coast Exchange will publish the balance of Programme Funds held in the Pool on the Dashboard.
Distribution of Programme Funds
East Coast Exchange provides a mechanism for distribution of funds received from third parties (only). East Coast Exchange cannot and does not itself guarantee any allocation or distribution of funds.
Contributors acknowledge that they may receive no funds in return for their recorded action or contribution of goods or services to post-Cyclone recovery or resilience building efforts.
A Contributor who provides services as a volunteer is not eligible to receive Programme Funds for that contribution despite holding APs for those on the Record.
Allocation of Untagged Funds in the Pool
From time to time, East Coast Exchange will announce an allocation of Pool funds to Contributors who hold APs (Allocation), at its sole discretion:
on a frequency basis (eg monthly); and/or
when a Pool value threshold has been reached (eg $10,000); and/or
when agreement is reached with a Funder to distribute the funds that the Funder gave to the Programme.
The maximum total value of any Allocation of funds by East Coast Exchange is the amount of available Pool funds.
In general, the Pool funds in an Allocation will be offered to Contributors based on the date and time of the action for which they hold APs, on a ‘first come, first served’ basis - ie the earliest evidenced actions will have priority.
Conditional offers of Programme Funds
From time to time, East Coast Exchange will communicate a conditional offer of a specific amount of Pool funds from an Allocation, or of Tagged Funds, to a Contributor who holds APs. This is an offer to the Contributor to receive (Tagged or Pool) Programme Funds in return for cancellation of their APs. Each offer of Programme Funds is conditional on there being sufficient available Programme Funds. East Coast Exchange may withdraw or cancel an offer of Programme Funds where insufficient funds are available, including where the offer was made on the basis of a mistake regarding the volume of available Programme Funds.
A Contributor who has ‘locked’ APs will only receive conditional offers of Programme Funds once the specified locking period expires.
Responding to a conditional offer of Programme Funds
Following receipt of a conditional offer of Programme Funds, the Contributor may respond to communicate:
their acceptance of the offer - in which case, East Coast Exchange will engage with the Contributor on the mechanics of payment of funds;
their rejection of the offer - in which case, East Coast Exchange will not distribute the offered Programme Funds and make no corresponding change to the Record; or
a request to East Coast Exchange to transfer their APs to another Contributor - in which case, East Coast Exchange will transfer the APs and not distribute the offered Programme Funds to the Contributor.
If the Contributor does not respond to the offer of Programme Funds, East Coast Exchange will treat this as a rejection, not distribute the offered Programme Funds and make no change to the Record. The Contributor may receive subsequent conditional offers of Programme Funds.
Payment of Programme Funds
Where a Contributor has accepted a conditional offer of Programme Funds, East Coast Exchange will engage with the Contributor on the mechanics of payment. East Coast Exchange:
will require additional Contributor details, including proof of identity, New Zealand bank account number, IRD number and tax information; and
may make deductions from payments, including third party service fees and any deductions required by law (eg for Resident Withholding Tax).
Wherever possible in the process of distributing funds, East Coast Exchange will issue a buyer-created tax invoice (BCTI) showing the amount of a named Funder’s Programme Funds to be distributed to a named Contributor, in the interest of transparency. The Funder will not issue any other invoice in relation to the transaction. The invoice cannot be used as a receipt toward a donation tax credit.
When Programme Funds have been transferred to the Contributor, East Coast Exchange will cancel the appropriate number of APs (ie the gross contribution value figure, before any deductions) from the Record. This cancellation will be published on the Record.
General Terms
East Coast Exchange Participants must:
act honestly and truthfully in all interactions with and representations of information to East Coast Exchange;
comply with East Coast Exchange policies, including the Privacy Policy and any others published from time to time;
not use information from the Record for any private purpose, including for profit;
not upload any harmful or malicious content to the East Coast Exchange website;
abide by the list of communications principles in the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015; and
follow all relevant laws of their country of residence, including the relevant laws of New Zealand as the country of residence of East Coast Exchange.
East Coast Exchange may require Participants to provide proof of identity - in particular, where this is required by law (for example, for anti-money laundering purposes).
Participants acknowledge that they are responsible for any tax liability associated with their receipt of Programme Funds (eg income tax or goods and services tax).
East Coast Exchange may respond to allegations or evidence of misuse or fraudulent activity in relation to the Programme by taking a range of actions at its sole discretion, including suspension or cancellation of APs, banning a Participant from the Programme, and reporting to Police.
Any Participant may lodge a complaint or dispute about conduct within the Programme with East Coast Exchange. East Coast Exchange will publish dispute resolution rules that will be incorporated into these Programme Rules. The basis for lodging a complaint or dispute may include disagreement with the claimed value of an action recorded on the Record.
A Participant may withdraw from participating in the Programme at any time by written notice to East Coast Exchange. Upon receipt of such notice, East Coast Exchange will cancel any APs held by the Participant and remove the Participant’s information from the Record on the Website. East Coast Exchange may retain internal records relating to Programme participation and activity, noting that this may be required by law in some circumstances.
East Coast Exchange may end the Programme at its sole discretion at any time. At such time, East Coast Exchange will endeavour to distribute all remaining Programme Funds (if any) to Contributors who hold APs on terms that will be announced together with the end of the Programme.
East Coast Exchange may revise these Programme Rules at its sole discretion at any time. East Coast Exchange will endeavour to communicate changes to all Participants using the email addresses they have provided. If a Participant does not agree with the revised Programme Rules, they must withdraw from the Programme.
This Programme does not constitute an employment relationship, partnership, joint venture, or agency.
Queries about the Programme and these Programme Rules should be directed to: eastcoastexchange@toha.nz.
East Coast Exchange is administered by Toha Foundry Limited, registered company number 7108533. Toha Foundry Limited is not a registered charity and funding given to the Programme is not eligible for donation tax credits.
Please note in Version 1.0 and 1.1 of the Programme Rules, Action Points were referred to as Contribution Points. This was changed across all East Coast Exchange communications, platforms and terms on 11th October 2023.
Version 1.2
Updated 11 Oct 2023