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Kinshare Terms of Service

Version 2026-10-17b. Effective 17 October 2026.

Kinshare is operated by Marquette Consulting & Management, LLC (“MCM”, “we”, “us”). These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between MCM and each organization that uses the Kinshare portal, and they apply to every person who signs in. Section 9 (public directory) applies to anyone who uses the public site.

When your organization’s administrator agrees to these Terms, they agree on behalf of your organization and confirm they have the authority to do so. Every other staff member agrees for themselves at first sign-in and again whenever the version changes. If you do not agree, do not use the portal.

1. Prohibited data: never enter it

Entering any of the following into Kinshare is strictly forbidden and a violation of these Terms:

Kinshare does not collect or retain this data. This applies to every field, note, message, board post, upload and “anything else” box. Choosing a referral category, such as immigration help, is allowed; recording the person’s status, documents or numbers is not.

If anything that resembles prohibited data is found in Kinshare, by the system or by a person, it will be deleted and removed. Your organization’s administrator is notified that a record was changed and why. No copy is kept. The deletion is logged by record identifier only, never by its content. Repeated violation may lead to suspension or termination of your organization’s access (section 13).

Client contact details. A client’s name, phone number, email address, mailing address, preferred language and date of birth may be entered only with the client’s consent recorded in Kinshare, and only to make a referral and follow it up. They are handled under the Kinshare Privacy Policy.

2. Definitions

3. The service

Kinshare is a platform for community organizations in Bastrop County and nearby Central Texas counties. It has three parts: a public directory of local help; a portal where organizations send and receive referrals with the client’s consent and follow each one until it closes; and tools for organizations, including grant opportunities, a network board for organization news, and outcome counts. MCM may improve, change or retire features. We will give reasonable notice before removing a feature your organization relies on.

4. Accounts and organizations

Who may use the portal. Organizations that MCM has approved and the users they add. Each user has one role in each organization: org admin, navigator, provider staff or reporter. The administrator decides who gets an account and which role, and removes access the same day a person leaves or no longer needs it. A client may be invited by staff, at the client’s request, to a read-only page that shows only their own referrals.

Accounts are personal. Each account is for one person. Staff, volunteers and administrators must be at least 18 years old to hold an account. Do not share passwords or authenticator codes, and do not sign in as someone else. Tell us at once if you think an account has been misused.

Your organization is responsible for its users and everything done under their accounts; for the accuracy of what they enter; for having each client’s consent before recording contact details or sending a referral; for keeping its own paper or signed consent forms; and for meeting the laws and funder rules that apply to its own work.

5. Client data and MCM’s role

Client data belongs to the organization that recorded it and is private to it. Other organizations see only what a referral shares (section 6).

For client data, MCM acts as a service provider and data processor: we hold and process it only on your organization’s instructions and only to run Kinshare for you. We never sell it, never use it for advertising, and never show it to another organization except through a referral you send. MCM’s administrator accounts cannot open client records. MCM decides how it handles its own records, such as user accounts, billing and the public directory, as described in the Privacy Policy.

Write only what the next person needs in order to help. Do not copy client data out of Kinshare except through the export your administrator controls, and never send client details by email.

Nothing about a client leaves your organization without a recorded consent that names the receiving organization. A consent states who signed, how, the date, the purpose, what may be shared and when it expires; the default expiry is one year. If the client’s date of birth is on file and shows they are under 18, the consent must be signed by a parent, guardian or another legally authorized representative.

When you send a referral, the receiver sees only the client’s name, phone, ZIP code, preferred language, the need category and your optional short note. For referrals in sensitive categories (safety from violence, legal help, immigration help and reentry after jail) the receiver sees the client’s name and phone only. The receiver never sees your notes, questionnaire answers or the client’s other needs.

Answer referrals sent to you within 48 business hours: accept, decline or waitlist them, and record when you cannot reach the person. If a client withdraws consent, your navigator or administrator records the revocation; the receiver loses access at once and is told to stop acting on any copy it holds.

A listing or a referral is not a promise that any organization will serve a person.

7. Acceptable use and prohibited conduct

Use Kinshare only to help the people your organization serves and to run your organization. You must not:

8. Messages and the network board

Messages on a referral are seen by both organizations on that referral. Network board posts are seen by every organization and are for organization news only: hours, closures, open slots. Neither may carry any client’s name, situation or details, or any prohibited data, and both refuse text that contains health terms.

9. Public directory and listing data

The public directory needs no account. Nothing you type into its search or into the “Find help that fits” questionnaire is saved.

Listings are built from Internal Revenue Service nonprofit files, from what organizations report and from organizations’ own websites. Some details were read from websites by an automated process and are labelled “not yet confirmed” until a person confirms them. MCM does not guarantee that any listing is accurate, complete or current. Call before you go. An organization may claim its listing to correct it, or use the “report a problem” link on any listing.

An organization that claims its listing keeps it accurate: hours, phone, address, services, languages and who it serves. Kinshare asks for confirmation every 90 days. A listing not confirmed for 120 days leaves public search until it is confirmed.

Third-party data. Financial figures on public listing pages come from ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer and are credited on the page “Source: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, from IRS filings”. They are not used in the portal, the grants pages, exports or downloads. All other nonprofit data comes from Internal Revenue Service files. Grant information comes from public sources including Grants.gov, USAspending.gov and SAM.gov. This product uses the Grants.gov API but is not endorsed or certified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Third-party data is shown as received.

10. Not a crisis service

Kinshare is not a crisis or emergency service and is not monitored around the clock. If someone is in danger, call 911. For the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988.

11. Fees, payment and taxes

Your organization’s listing is at no charge: claiming it in the public directory and keeping its information correct, with the portal access that takes (signing in, these Terms, account settings, staff access and the billing page). Everything else in the portal requires a membership: referrals, clients and consent, outcome reports, grants tools, the network board, tasks and compliance tools. An organization without a membership cannot send or receive referrals through Kinshare.

The membership is pay what you can. The suggested amount is $25 a month and the minimum is $9.99 a month, plus $9.99 a month for each staff seat beyond the first. Report-only accounts are not charged. Payments are processed by Stripe; MCM does not see or store card numbers. Fees are billed in advance, are non-refundable except where these Terms or the law say otherwise, and may change with at least 30 days’ notice.

Texas sales tax is added at checkout where it applies. An organization that is exempt may claim the exemption with its Texas taxpayer number; it applies once MCM has accepted it.

If a payment is late, your organization keeps normal use for 30 days, then the portal becomes read-only until the balance is paid. MCM never deletes data for non-payment, and the listing never requires a membership.

12. Intellectual property

MCM owns Kinshare, its software, design and content, except organization data and third-party data. Your organization keeps all rights in its organization data and gives MCM permission to host, process and display it only as needed to provide the service. If you send us suggestions, we may use them without obligation to you.

13. Suspension and termination

Your organization may stop using Kinshare at any time by telling us. MCM may suspend or end an organization’s or a user’s access, with notice where practical, if they break these Terms (including repeated prohibited data), create a security risk, fail to pay after the period in section 11, or if the law requires it. Sections 5, 12 and 14 to 22 continue after termination.

14. Data export and deletion

Your administrator can export your organization’s data at any time. When your organization leaves, or asks for deletion, MCM holds the data for 30 days so the request can be confirmed or reversed, then deletes it from our systems. Backups roll off on their normal schedule. We keep the access log and the record that a disclosure happened, which the law may require; they hold record identifiers, not client details. Referrals you sent to other organizations stay with them as their own record.

15. Security and breach notification

Kinshare keeps each organization’s data separate at the database level, encrypts notes, messages and dates of birth, requires an authenticator app at sign-in, and logs every view of a client record, every referral and every change with who, when and which record. The log cannot be edited or deleted. Your administrator can see your organization’s log. MCM’s Privacy and Security Officer reviews access every month.

If MCM confirms that client data was exposed, MCM tells every affected organization in writing within 72 hours of confirming it: what was exposed, whose records, when, and what we did. Each organization then tells its own clients within the time Texas law allows (Business and Commerce Code chapter 521: 60 days from the day the exposure was found). When 250 or more Texans are affected, MCM also notifies the Texas Attorney General within 30 days. If an exposure happens on your side (a shared password, a lost phone, a message to the wrong person), tell us at once; the same clocks run.

16. Service providers

MCM uses DigitalOcean (hosting in the United States, with encrypted backups), Resend (email, which never contains client details) and Stripe (payments). Each is bound to protect the data it handles. We will give notice before adding a provider that handles client data.

17. Disclaimers

Kinshare is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the fullest extent the law allows, MCM disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy and non-infringement. MCM does not promise that Kinshare will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or without errors, or that any listing, referral, grant or message is accurate or will be acted on. Keep your own records of anything you cannot afford to lose.

18. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows: MCM is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, funding or goodwill, however caused, even if warned of the possibility. MCM’s total liability for all claims arising from Kinshare or these Terms is limited to the greater of the fees your organization paid MCM in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or one hundred U.S. dollars ($100). Nothing in these Terms limits liability that the law does not allow to be limited.

19. Indemnification

Your organization will defend, indemnify and hold harmless MCM and its members, officers and contractors from any claim, loss, damage or cost (including reasonable legal fees) arising from its organization data, including data entered without consent or prohibited data; its users’ conduct; or its breach of these Terms or of the law.

20. Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict of law rules. Any dispute will be brought only in the state courts located in Bastrop County, Texas, and each party consents to their jurisdiction.

21. Changes to these Terms

MCM may change these Terms. We will post the new version with its date and, for a material change, notify administrators by email or in the portal before it takes effect. Every user sees the new version at the next sign-in and must agree to it before continuing. If your organization does not agree, it may stop using Kinshare; section 14 applies.

22. General

23. Contact

Marquette Consulting & Management, LLC. Email support@kin-share.org for questions, problems and notices. Privacy and security concerns go to the same address and reach our Privacy and Security Officer. Never put a client’s name or details in an email.