Effective Date: January 2025
Website: www.avance.network
These Terms, Conditions, Statement of Faith and Data Processing Agreement (“Agreement”) govern your use of the Avance website, mobile application and platform (“Platform”). By creating an account or using the Platform, you accept this Agreement in full.
If you disagree with any part of this Agreement, you must not use the Platform.
You must be at least 13 years of age to use this website and mobile application. By using this website and mobile application and by agreeing to these terms and conditions, you warrant and represent that you are at least 13 years of age.
This website and mobile application uses cookies. By using this website and mobile application and agreeing to these terms and conditions, you consent to Avance’s use of cookies in accordance with the terms of Avance’s privacy policy.
Avance provides the software platform that enables churches to manage member data, communication, content and operations. Avance acts as a service provider and data processor, handling data only as necessary to operate, maintain and support the Platform.
You acknowledge and agree that:
Avance does not control how your church uses member data beyond providing the Platform functionality.
Unless otherwise stated, Avance and/or its licensors own the intellectual property rights in the website, mobile application and material on the Platform. Subject to the license below, all these intellectual property rights are reserved.
You may view, download for caching purposes only, and print pages, reports or other content from the website and mobile application for your own personal use, subject to the restrictions set out below and elsewhere in this Agreement.
You must not:
You must not use this website and mobile application in any way that causes, or may cause, damage to the website and mobile application or impairment of the availability or accessibility of the website and mobile application; or in any way which is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful purpose or activity.
You must not use this website and mobile application to:
Avance is not a platform designed for all religions or faiths. Avance subscribes to the Christian Faith as articulated in the Apostle’s Creed and The Westminster Confession of Faith.
The Westminster Confession of Faith can be found here:
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/westminster-confession-faith
Avance is designed exclusively for churches, mission organisations, ministries and individuals who subscribe to these statements of faith.
Avance reserves the right to:
You agree to the following responsibilities:
If you store children’s data, you confirm that:
Access to certain areas of this website and mobile application is restricted. Avance reserves the right to restrict access to areas of this website and mobile application, or indeed the entire Platform, at Avance’s discretion.
If Avance provides you with a user ID and password to enable you to access restricted areas of this website and mobile application or other content or services, you must ensure that the user ID and password are kept confidential.
Avance may disable your user ID and password in Avance’s sole discretion without notice or explanation.
In this Agreement, “user content” means material (including without limitation text, images, audio material, video material and audio-visual material) that you submit to the Platform for whatever purpose.
You grant to Avance a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, translate and distribute your user content in any existing or future media. You also grant to Avance the right to sub-license these rights, and the right to bring an action for infringement of these rights.
Your user content must not:
You must not submit any user content to the Platform that is or has ever been the subject of any threatened or actual legal proceedings or similar complaint.
Avance reserves the right to edit or remove any material submitted to the Platform, stored on Avance’s servers, or hosted or published upon the Platform.
Notwithstanding Avance’s rights under this Agreement in relation to user content, Avance does not undertake to monitor the submission or publication of such content.
For purposes of applicable data protection law, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”) where applicable, the Church is the data controller and Avance is the data processor in relation to personal data processed by Avance on the Church’s behalf through the Platform. Where Avance processes personal data for its own independent purposes, Avance may act as a controller for that processing as described in the Privacy Policy.
The subject matter of the processing is the provision, hosting, maintenance, support and security of the Avance Platform and related services. Processing will continue for the duration of the Church’s use of the Platform and for any limited period thereafter required for deletion, backup, legal, security, fraud-prevention or dispute-resolution purposes. The nature and purpose of processing include member management, communications, groups and events, attendance and participation, volunteer and ministry administration, child and safeguarding information where provided by the Church, pastoral and prayer information where provided, giving and transaction records, authentication, customer support, platform security and related Platform functionality.
Depending on the Church’s use of the Platform, personal data may include names, contact details, addresses, dates of birth, gender, profile photographs, relationship and employment information, skills and interests, church membership and involvement, attendance and participation, volunteer activity, prayer requests and pastoral notes, children’s information, giving and transaction-related records, account and authentication information, and technical or usage information. Data subjects may include church members, attendees, leaders, staff, volunteers, children and other individuals whose information the Church lawfully uploads or otherwise makes available through the Platform.
Avance will process personal data only on documented instructions from the Church, including instructions relating to transfers of personal data to a third country or international organisation, unless Avance is required to process the data under applicable law. Where legally permitted, Avance will inform the Church of such legal requirement before processing. Avance will promptly inform the Church if, in its opinion, an instruction infringes applicable data protection law.
Avance will ensure that persons authorised to process personal data are subject to confidentiality obligations or an appropriate statutory duty of confidentiality. Access to personal data will be limited to personnel and authorised service providers who need access for the purposes of providing, securing, maintaining or supporting the Platform.
Avance will implement appropriate technical and organisational measures appropriate to the risks of processing, taking into account the nature of the data and the available technology. These measures include, where applicable, encryption in transit, encryption at rest, role-based access controls, authentication and access management, monitoring and audit logs, backup and recovery measures, vulnerability and security management, incident response procedures, and measures designed to protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss, destruction or damage.
Taking into account the nature of the processing, Avance will provide reasonable assistance to the Church, through appropriate technical and organisational measures, to enable the Church to respond to requests from data subjects exercising their rights under applicable data protection law, including rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and data portability where applicable. Requests relating to data for which the Church is controller should normally be directed to the Church. Avance will not respond substantively to such requests except on the Church’s documented instructions or where required by law.
Avance will notify the Church without undue delay after becoming aware of a personal data breach affecting personal data processed on the Church’s behalf. Where reasonably available, the notification will include the nature of the breach, categories and approximate number of affected data subjects and records, likely consequences, and measures taken or proposed to address and mitigate the breach. The Church remains responsible for determining whether and when notification to a supervisory authority or data subjects is required, unless applicable law places that obligation directly on Avance.
The Church gives Avance general written authorisation to engage appropriate sub-processors for hosting, infrastructure, analytics, communications, payment processing, customer support, security and other services necessary to provide the Platform. Avance will impose data protection obligations on each relevant sub-processor that provide an equivalent level of protection required under applicable law and will remain responsible for the performance of the sub-processor’s data protection obligations to the extent required by applicable law. Avance will maintain information about relevant sub-processors and will provide notice of intended additions or replacements where required, giving the Church a reasonable opportunity to object on data protection grounds.
The Church acknowledges that Avance and its authorised sub-processors may process personal data in countries outside the European Economic Area, including South Africa and other jurisdictions used to provide the Platform. Where GDPR applies and a transfer of personal data to a third country or international organisation requires a transfer mechanism, Avance will implement an appropriate mechanism recognised under applicable GDPR requirements, such as an adequacy decision, appropriate safeguards including the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses where applicable, or another lawful transfer mechanism. Avance will take account of applicable requirements concerning supplementary measures where required.
Taking into account the nature of processing and the information available to Avance, Avance will provide reasonable assistance to the Church in meeting obligations relating to security of processing, personal data breaches, data protection impact assessments and prior consultation with a supervisory authority where applicable to the processing performed by Avance on the Church’s behalf.
At the end of the Church’s use of the Platform, and subject to applicable legal retention requirements, Avance will, at the Church’s choice, delete or return personal data processed on the Church’s behalf and delete existing copies, unless applicable law requires continued storage. Personal data contained in routine backups may remain for a limited period until securely overwritten in accordance with Avance’s backup and retention procedures.
Avance will make available to the Church information reasonably necessary to demonstrate compliance with the obligations applicable to Avance as a processor under this Agreement and applicable data protection law. Where reasonably necessary and subject to appropriate confidentiality, security and cost controls, Avance will permit and contribute to audits or inspections by the Church or an auditor mandated by the Church. Audits will be conducted during normal business hours and in a manner that does not unreasonably disrupt Avance’s operations or compromise the security or confidentiality of other customers’ data.
The Church may contact Avance regarding data protection matters at support@avance.network. Where Avance is required by applicable GDPR provisions to appoint a representative or Data Protection Officer, Avance will comply with that requirement and provide the relevant contact details through the Platform or website.
The Church remains responsible for determining the purposes and lawful basis of its processing, providing appropriate privacy notices, obtaining any required consents or other lawful bases, ensuring the accuracy and lawfulness of data submitted to the Platform, responding to data subject requests, and complying with applicable data protection laws in its use of the Platform. The Church must not instruct Avance to process personal data in a manner that would unlawfully infringe applicable data protection law.
Where this Data Processing Agreement contains provisions specifically addressing the processing of personal data on behalf of the Church, those provisions will apply to that processing to the extent of any inconsistency with a more general provision of these Terms and Conditions. Nothing in this Agreement limits any mandatory rights or obligations under applicable data protection law.
The Platform integrates with third-party providers such as Stripe and Paystack for payment processing, and may use other third-party providers for hosting, infrastructure, communications, analytics, security, support and related services. Where such providers process personal data on behalf of Avance, they will be treated as sub-processors where applicable and will be subject to appropriate contractual data protection obligations. Some third-party providers may independently act as controllers for processing they undertake for their own purposes, including payment processing, and their own terms and privacy policies will apply to that independent processing.
This website and mobile application is provided “as is” without any representations or warranties, express or implied. Avance makes no representations or warranties in relation to this website and mobile application or the information and materials provided on this website and mobile application.
Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraph, Avance does not warrant that:
Nothing on this website and mobile application constitutes, or is meant to constitute, advice of any kind. If you require advice in relation to any legal, financial, spiritual or medical matter you should consult an appropriate professional.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Avance will not be liable to you (whether under the law of contract, the law of torts or otherwise) in relation to the contents of, use of, or otherwise in connection with the Platform:
In addition:
These limitations of liability apply even if Avance has been expressly advised of the potential loss.
Nothing in this Agreement will exclude or limit any warranty implied by law that it would be unlawful to exclude or limit, and nothing in this Agreement will exclude or limit Avance’s liability in respect of any:
By using this website and mobile application, you agree that the exclusions and limitations of liability set out in this Agreement are reasonable.
If you do not think they are reasonable, you must not use this website and mobile application.
You accept that, as a limited liability entity, Avance has an interest in limiting the personal liability of its officers and employees. You agree that you will not bring any claim personally against Avance’s officers or employees in respect of any losses you suffer in connection with the Platform.
Without prejudice to the foregoing paragraph, you agree that the limitations of warranties and liability set out in this Agreement will protect Avance’s officers, employees, agents, subsidiaries, successors, assigns and subcontractors.
If any provision of this Agreement is, or is found to be, unenforceable under applicable law, that will not affect the enforceability of the other provisions of this Agreement.
You hereby indemnify Avance and undertake to keep Avance indemnified against any losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including legal expenses and any amounts paid by Avance to a third party in settlement of a claim or dispute on the advice of Avance’s legal advisers) incurred or suffered by Avance arising out of:
You agree to:
Without prejudice to Avance’s other rights under this Agreement, if you breach this Agreement in any way, Avance may take such action as it deems appropriate, including:
Avance reserves the right to suspend or terminate access if:
Avance may revise or update this Agreement from time to time.
Revised terms and conditions will apply to the use of the Platform from the date of publication of the updated version on the website or mobile application.
Continued use of the Platform constitutes acceptance of any updates.
Please check this page regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version.
Avance may transfer, subcontract or otherwise deal with Avance’s rights and/or obligations under this Agreement without notifying you or obtaining your consent.
You may not transfer, subcontract or otherwise deal with your rights and/or obligations under this Agreement.
If a provision of this Agreement is determined by any court or competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other provisions will continue in effect.
If any unlawful and/or unenforceable provision would be lawful or enforceable if part of it were deleted, that part will be deemed deleted, and the rest of the provision will continue in effect.
This Agreement, together with the Privacy Policy, constitutes the entire agreement between you and Avance in relation to your use of the Platform and supersedes all previous agreements relating to your use of the Platform.
This Agreement is governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of South Africa.
Any disputes relating to this Agreement will be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of South Africa.
Avance is a trade mark owned by Supa Tech Software (Pty) Ltd, a private company incorporated in South Africa with registration number: 2022/586059/07.
Registered Address:
5 Ypsilanti Avenue
Glenashley, Durban, 4051
South Africa