Terms of Service

1. About these Terms

Hearth is an in-person community for people seeking deeper conversation, practical wisdom, and real friendships. These Terms are the agreement between you and Hearth. They cover our website, our application and matching process, Circle meetings, chapter events, and everything else we run.

Hearth currently operates as a fiscally sponsored project of The Hack Foundation (d.b.a Hack Club), a 501(c)(3) organization. In these Terms, "Hearth," "we," and "us" mean the Hearth program and The Hack Foundation (d.b.a Hack Club) acting as its fiscal sponsor. "You" means the person applying to or participating in Hearth.

By applying, attending a Hearth gathering, or making a member contribution, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy.

2. Who can join

To participate in Hearth you must:

• Be at least 18 years old. Hearth does not currently serve minors, and we do not knowingly accept applications from anyone under 18.
• Live in or near a metro area where Hearth operates.
• Consent to a background check before entering any private home for a Hearth gathering.
• Be able to agree to these Terms on your own behalf.

Hearth is open to people of any belief or non-belief. We do not require any statement of faith, and we do not screen for religious or political views. We may decline or end a membership for the reasons described in Section 10.

3. What Hearth is, and what it is not

Hearth is a peer community. Understanding its limits is part of joining it.

Hearth is not therapy or clinical care. Circle conversations can feel therapeutic, but they are not treatment. Facilitators are trained volunteers, not licensed clinicians, and nothing at Hearth is a substitute for professional mental health care, medical care, legal advice, or financial advice. Members do not diagnose one another.

Hearth is not a crisis service. We do not provide emergency response. If you or someone else is in danger, call 911. In the United States you can also call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Hearth may offer a warm referral to outside resources, but we cannot provide, monitor, or guarantee care.

Hearth does not tell you what to believe. We have one shared starting point, that it is good for people to flourish. Discussion materials draw on many traditions and are offered as fuel for conversation, not as doctrine.

Hearth is not a professional network, a dating service, or a platform for advocacy. See Section 6.

4. Member contributions

Hearth membership runs on voluntary recurring contributions.

• Contributions are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested minimum of $5 per month.
• Contributions renew automatically each month until you cancel. You can cancel at any time by emailing hello@discoverhearth.org, effective at the end of your current period.
• Contributions are generally not refundable, including if your membership ends under Section 10. We may make exceptions at our discretion.
• Members who host a Circle in their home are exempt from the contribution for the period they host.
• Contributions are made to The Hack Foundation (d.b.a Hack Club) in support of the Hearth program. The Hack Foundation (d.b.a Hack Club) retains discretion and control over the funds as required by law.
• We may change contribution levels with at least 30 days' notice.

5. Applying, matching, and background checks

Application. You give us contact details, availability, neighborhood, and a few preferences. We use availability and location as the primary matching criteria.

Matching. We do our best to match you into a Circle that fits, but we do not guarantee placement, timing, a specific Circle, or a specific set of people. Circles form, change, and sometimes end.

Background checks. Before you first enter a private home for a Hearth gathering, we obtain a background check through a third-party consumer reporting agency. You consent to this at application, and the check is run before your first living-room meeting. If you decline the check, you cannot participate in Hearth. We may re-run checks periodically or if a safety concern arises.

6. Community conduct

The Circle Agreements. Every Circle meeting begins by reading these aloud. They are binding on participants, not just aspirational:

1. Confidentiality. What people share here stays here. Carry the ideas out into your life, but do not repeat the name or identifying details of anyone in the room, or anyone described in it.
2. Assume good intentions. Take what people say in the most generous light.
3. Speak from the "I." Talk about how you see it and what you have lived, not "the truth is," and not on anyone else's behalf.
4. Leave room for everyone. Watch your airtime.
5. You can always pass. No one ever has to share.
6. Disagreements are welcome. You are free to disagree, including on hard questions, about what flourishing means and how to get there.
7. Go after ideas, not people. Argue with the idea, never with the person. We use the names and pronouns people give us. You can disagree with ideas about identity, but you do not get to deny a member their own identity here.
8. Hearth isn't a political stage. Politics may surface when it touches something deeper, and that is fine to explore with curiosity, but this is not the room for advocacy or campaigning.
9. Hearth isn't therapy. These conversations can feel therapeutic, but we are not clinical help and we do not diagnose each other.

Additional rules. You also agree not to:

• Harass, threaten, intimidate, stalk, or physically harm anyone.
• Engage in sexual harassment or any unwanted sexual attention or contact.
• Record audio or video of a Circle meeting, or photograph the inside of a host's home, without the explicit consent of everyone present.
• Share another member's contact information, health information, or anything disclosed in a check-in outside the Circle.
• Use Hearth to recruit for a business, sell products or services, solicit investment, campaign for a candidate or cause, or proselytize.
• Bring a guest to a Circle meeting without prior approval from the facilitator, or bring anyone into a host's home who has not cleared a background check.
• Bring weapons or illegal drugs to any Hearth gathering.
• Attend a Hearth gathering while impaired to a degree that affects others.
• Misrepresent your identity or your background.

Limits of confidentiality. Confidentiality is a promise members make to each other and Hearth takes it seriously, but we cannot guarantee that another member will keep it. Please share accordingly. Hearth itself may disclose information when someone is at risk of serious harm, when required by law, or as described in the Privacy Policy.

7. Meetings in private homes

Most Circle meetings happen in a member's living room. That is the point of Hearth, and it carries real risk that you accept by participating.

• Hearth does not own, control, inspect, or insure members' homes.
• Hosts are volunteers. Hosts are responsible for the condition of their own home and for their own compliance with any lease, building rule, or local law that applies to hosting a regular gathering.
• You are responsible for your own safety traveling to and from meetings, and for your own conduct in someone else's home.
• A host may ask anyone to leave their home at any time, for any reason. That decision is immediate and final for that evening.
• Hearth does not supervise what happens between members outside of Hearth gatherings, including relationships, communications, or activity members organize on their own.

8. Volunteer roles

Facilitators, hosts, chapter chairs, and other role-holders are volunteers, not employees, contractors, or agents of Hearth, except where a role is expressly paid.

• Volunteering creates no employment relationship and no entitlement to compensation or benefits.
• Facilitator roles require completing our training and vetting process, including a background check and a screening interview.
• Facilitators must follow the never-alone rule: no one-on-one facilitator and member meetings in a private space, and at least three people present for any home meeting.
• We may end any volunteer role at any time, with or without cause. Ending a volunteer role does not by itself end your membership.

9. Raising a concern

If something at Hearth worries you, tell us. You can raise a concern with your facilitator, your chapter's member advocate, or directly with Hearth HQ at hello@discoverhearth.org. At least one of those channels always bypasses your Circle's leadership, so you never have to go through the person a concern might be about.

• We record safety concerns in a single confidential record held by Hearth HQ, so that patterns across different Circles can be seen. Section 7 of the Privacy Policy explains how that record works.
• We do not tolerate retaliation against anyone who raises a concern in good faith.
• Knowingly false reports made to harm someone are themselves grounds for removal.
• If you are in immediate danger, call 911 first. Tell us after.

10. Suspension and removal

A report about discomfort triggers attention, not automatic removal. We try to protect both a genuine victim and a person who is merely awkward or intense.

How we respond. Response scales to severity. Something acute, such as physical or sexual misconduct or a clear threat, means immediate interim suspension while we review. A vague pattern means a quiet look, including a check of the confidential record for prior concerns elsewhere. A simple personality clash is not a safety matter and is handled by re-matching, not removal.

The bar for removal is behavior that crosses a boundary, kept strictly separate from someone merely being different or difficult.

Who decides. Removal decisions take more than one person and span levels, for example the chapter member advocate together with the chapter president. Hearth HQ can review and overturn a local decision in either direction. Any one host can require someone to leave their home immediately, which clears the room for that night but is not by itself a decision about membership.

Effect of removal. If we end your membership, your recurring contribution stops, contributions already made are not refunded, and you may not attend Hearth gatherings or contact members through Hearth. We may decline to share the details of a report or the identity of a reporter.

Your own exit. You can leave Hearth at any time for any reason. We will ask you to complete a short exit survey, and you are free to skip it.

11. Materials and content

Our materials. Discussion packets, the connection activity library, facilitator guides, and other Hearth materials belong to Hearth or its licensors. We grant you a personal, non-transferable license to use them for your own participation. You may not republish them, sell them, or use them to run your own group without our written permission.

Your content. If you send us feedback, survey responses, testimonials, or workshop material, you keep ownership. You grant Hearth a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use it to run and improve the program. We will not publish anything that identifies you without your permission.

Photos and video. We sometimes take photographs at Hearth gatherings for our website, newsletter, and materials. Tell the organizer or email hello@discoverhearth.org if you would rather not appear, and we will not use images that identify you. We do not photograph inside a host's home without the host's and attendees' agreement.

12. Communications

By joining, you agree to receive emails necessary to run your membership, such as meeting logistics, surveys, and safety notices. You can unsubscribe from our newsletter and other optional email at any time.

If you opt in to text messages, you consent to receive recurring SMS messages from Hearth at the number you provide, including automated messages about reminders, scheduling and logistical updates, Hearth events, membership, and related program updates. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to unsubscribe at any time or HELP for help. Consent to receive text messages is not a condition of membership.

13. Third-party services

We use outside providers for payments, background checks, email, texting, scheduling, and member records. Their handling of your information is covered by their own terms and by our Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for third-party services we do not control.

14. Disclaimers

Hearth is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that participation will produce any particular outcome, that you will form friendships, that a Circle will last, or that any member will behave well. We do not screen members beyond the process described in these Terms, and a background check is not a guarantee about anyone's character or conduct.

15. Assumption of risk and release

You understand that Hearth involves meeting people you do not know, entering private homes, traveling to gatherings, and speaking about personal matters. You voluntarily accept those risks.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you release Hearth, The Hack Foundation (d.b.a Hack Club), and their directors, staff, and volunteers from claims arising out of the conduct of other members or third parties, the condition of any private home, and any interaction between members outside of Hearth gatherings.

16. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Hearth and The Hack Foundation (d.b.a Hack Club) will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits or lost data, arising out of your participation.

Our total liability for any claim arising out of these Terms will not exceed the greater of the total contributions you made to Hearth in the 12 months before the claim, or $100.

Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, or personal injury caused by our own negligence where the law does not permit that limitation.

17. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify Hearth and The Hack Foundation (d.b.a Hack Club) against claims arising out of your breach of these Terms, your violation of law, or your conduct at a Hearth gathering. If you host, this includes claims arising out of the condition of your home, to the extent permitted by law and not covered by applicable insurance.

18. Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict of laws rules.

Arbitration. Disputes will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by American Arbitration Association under its rules, with no class actions, except that either party may bring a claim in small claims court.

19. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. If a change is material, we will give notice by email or at a Circle meeting at least 30 days before it takes effect. Continuing to participate after that means you accept the updated Terms.

20. Miscellaneous

If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not transfer your membership. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any standalone consent forms, are the entire agreement between us.

21. Contact

hello@discoverhearth.org
223 E 78th St, Apt 4B, New York, NY, 10075