When we launched All for Good in 2009, it was done with the specific intention of creating a free resource to facilitate broad volunteerism. We wanted to create an open source application that anyone on the web could use to enable more people to strengthen their communities through service. We are proud of our many distribution partners- government agencies, nonprofit groups, and private/public companies – that currently utilize the All for Good application.

To aggregate the widest range of volunteer opportunities, All For Good relies upon all kinds of content partners from small local not-for-profits to large aggregators of volunteer opportunities. While we are eager to build the richest content and the broadest distribution of All For Good’ s volunteer opportunities, it is not fair for some to use All for Good for private commercial advantage at the expense of other partner’ s existing business models.

It has been brought to our attention that some entities may be using All for Good primarily for commercial purposes, forcing users (either institutional or individual) to pay for the right to access the service. Such usage if allowed to continue would actually limit the reach of our content and potentially impair our data partners who generate many of our service opportunities.  It conflicts with our desire to build the field for the widest possible public benefit.

As a result, we have altered our API Terms of Service (TOS) to prohibit such use of All For Good. We have borrowed language from our friends at Creative Commons who have set the bar on determining protections and freedoms for authors, artists, educators and others who operate in a digital environment. Please review the new Terms of Service to make sure that your use of All For Good complies with these new protections.
To facilitate your review, the new added language is highlighted below in bold italics:

1.2 Use of the API . The API may be used in connection with a software application or website provided that the API is not used in any manner that is primarily intended or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation. In order to use the API, you must obtain an API key from this form, and Our Good Works may block requests with an invalid key.

We realize that this change might present a challenge for some organizations, especially those that have integrated All for Good into pay-for-use commercial products. We deeply regret this potential inconvenience. Looking ahead to the near future, we are hopeful that some technical improvements on the horizon might allow us to mitigate this problem.

In the next few days, we will be contacting groups that we believe may use All for Good in a manner inconsistent with these modified TOS. Please let us know if you find such a situation that requires our attention. Again, while we want to make All for Good as widely available as possible, we do not want to diminish the success of our data partners whose participation is essential to our continued growth. We hope that this change to the AFG TOS will facilitate our ability to serve the public interest by displaying the widest offering of service opportunities and doing so in the most open environment possible.