terms of service

1. acceptance of these terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Ligare Gatherings LLC. By visiting our website, completing a Connection Profile, registering for or attending a gathering, joining a text program, making a pledge, or otherwise using our services, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy.

If you do not agree, please do not use our services.

2. eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a binding contract. Gatherings at venues serving alcohol may require you to be 21 or older, and you may be asked for identification. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you give us.

3. what we provide

Ligare designs and runs structured social gatherings. Depending on the offering, this may include a pre-event profile survey, algorithmic table pairing, printed personalized materials, facilitated conversation prompts, curated games, and follow-up communication. We also provide private and corporate events, host licensing, speaking, and consulting.

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of our services. Gatherings may be rescheduled or cancelled; if we cancel a gathering and cannot offer you a comparable alternative, we will refund what you paid for it.

4. tickets, passes, and payment

• Prices are shown at the point of purchase and are payable in advance unless we agree otherwise in writing.
• Refunds on public gatherings. You may cancel and receive a refund any time up to the day before a gathering. On the day of the gathering, tickets are non-refundable — by then we have seated the tables, printed your materials, and committed the headcount to the venue.
• Transfers. Tickets are transferable. If you cannot come, tell us and we will move you to a future gathering or transfer your seat to someone else, subject to availability.
• No-shows. A seat you do not use is not refundable, for the reasons above.
• Season passes. Non-refundable and transferable. A pass admits you to the gatherings described at the time of purchase. Where we offer a pass part-way through a season, it is priced for the gatherings remaining at the time you buy it. If we shorten or end a season early, we will provide a refund or a credit, at your choice, for the gatherings not held.
• Private and corporate events. A deposit is due at booking and is non-refundable once the engagement is confirmed. The final invoice is issued after the event and is based on actual headcount and expenses. Where a separate written agreement or statement of work exists, its terms control over these Terms.
• Payment processing is handled by a third-party processor. We do not store your full card details.

5. pledges and neighborhood campaigns

We sometimes gauge interest in bringing gatherings to a new area before scheduling them.

• An expression of interest ("soft pledge") is not a purchase and does not obligate you to anything. We collect your contact information and location so we can tell you if a season becomes possible near you.
• A campaign pledge may involve providing a payment method that is saved but not charged. We will tell you clearly at the time whether your card is being saved.
• A saved payment method is charged only if the campaign reaches its stated threshold and we notify you before charging. If the threshold is not met by the stated deadline, your card is not charged and the authorization is released.
• You may withdraw a pledge at any time before it is charged by emailing us.
• If a season is charged for and then cancelled by us before it begins, we refund in full.

6. conduct at gatherings

Our gatherings depend on people feeling safe enough to be honest. You agree to:

• Treat other guests, hosts, and venue staff with respect.
• Refrain from harassment, intimidation, slurs, unwanted physical contact, or unwanted romantic or sexual pursuit.
• Respect the privacy of what other people share. What is said at the table is not yours to publish or repeat with attribution.
• Refrain from using our gatherings primarily to sell, recruit, solicit, or promote.
• Follow the rules of the venue and comply with applicable law.

We may remove you from a gathering, decline your future registrations, or terminate your access to our services, at our discretion, if you violate these expectations. Where we remove someone mid-event for cause, we do not owe a refund.

If someone at a gathering makes you uncomfortable, tell us. Email questions@ligaregatherings.com or speak to whoever is running the event. We take it seriously.

7. other guests and assumption of risk

We design gatherings with care and we pair tables deliberately. We do not conduct background checks, screen for criminal history, or verify what guests tell us about themselves. We do not vouch for any guest.

You understand that attending a social gathering with people you do not know involves ordinary risks, including the risk that another guest behaves badly. You are responsible for your own decisions about whom you spend time with, what you disclose, and whether you continue contact with someone after a gathering.

To the extent permitted by law, you agree that Ligare is not responsible for the conduct, speech, or actions of other guests, hosts, venues, or third parties, whether at a gathering or afterward. Nothing in this section limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including for our own gross negligence or willful misconduct.

You are also responsible for your own physical safety at a venue, for your consumption of alcohol if served, and for arranging safe transportation.

8. photography and media

We photograph and occasionally record our gatherings, and we use those images to show people what a Ligare gathering feels like — on our website, social media, email, printed materials, and advertising.

By attending, you grant Ligare a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to use your likeness captured at a gathering for these purposes, without further compensation.

• If you would rather not be photographed, tell us when you arrive. We will make reasonable efforts to keep you out of frame, and we will honor a later request to remove a specific image from our active use.
• We do not use images in a way that misrepresents you, and we do not attach your name to an image without asking.
• Guests may take their own photos at gatherings. We ask that you get permission before photographing other guests, and we cannot control what other guests do with their own cameras.

9. your account and information

You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide and for maintaining the confidentiality of any credentials we issue you. Tell us promptly if you believe your access has been compromised.

10. what you write

You keep ownership of everything you write to us — your profile answers, your feedback, your messages, and anything you contribute to a shared or relayed feature.

You grant Ligare a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, transferable license to use, reproduce, adapt, display, publish, and distribute that writing in connection with our services and our communications about them, including in relayed messages to other participants, printed materials, publications, and marketing.

• We exercise this license anonymously by default. We do not attach your full name to your writing without asking you.
• You may ask us to stop circulating something you wrote. We will honor that going forward. We cannot retrieve what has already been delivered to another person or printed.
• You represent that what you submit is yours to submit, that it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that it does not disclose someone else’s private information.
• We may decline to relay, publish, or retain any submission, for any reason.

11. community content rules

Where you write something intended to reach another participant, the following apply:

• No harassment, threats, hate speech, sexual content, or content targeting a protected class.
• No identifying information — yours or anyone else’s. Do not include full names, phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, or social handles.
• No advertising, solicitation, or recruitment.
• No content that is unlawful or that infringes someone’s rights.

We screen submissions before relaying them, using automated tools with human review of flagged material. Screening is imperfect. We are not responsible for content written by other participants, and we do not endorse it. If you receive something that troubles you, tell us and we will act.

12. text messaging terms

Our messaging programs are operated by Ligare Gatherings LLC.

• Consent. By providing your mobile number and affirmatively agreeing, you consent to receive text messages from us, which may include automated messages. Consent is not a condition of any purchase.
• Program description and frequency. We tell you at signup what a given program includes and how many messages to expect. Frequency varies by program.
• Opting out. Reply STOP to any message to stop. You will receive one confirmation, and then no further messages from that program. Reply HELP for assistance, or email questions@ligaregatherings.com.
• Costs. Message and data rates may apply. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
• Changing numbers. If you give up or change your mobile number, tell us. You agree not to give us a number that is not yours.
• Supported carriers. Delivery depends on your carrier and is not guaranteed.

13. our intellectual property

Ligare owns the Ligare name and marks, the Connection Suits framework and the Keeper, Igniter, Explorer, and Challenger designations, our pairing methodology and software, our Spark Cards and conversation prompts, our gathering guides, programs, letters, and all associated content and design. These are protected by copyright, trademark, and trade secret law.

We grant you a limited, personal, non-transferable license to use our materials for the purpose of participating in a gathering. You may not copy, adapt, reproduce, distribute, publish, reverse engineer, or create derivative works from our materials or methods, or use them to run your own events, without our written permission.

Licensed hosts operate under a separate written license agreement, which controls what they may do.

14. prohibited uses

You agree not to: use our services unlawfully or for any harmful purpose; interfere with or attempt to gain unauthorized access to our systems; scrape, harvest, or extract data from our services; impersonate anyone; use our services to send unsolicited commercial messages; or use our services to identify, locate, or contact another guest who has not agreed to be contacted.

15. third-party services and links

Our services rely on third-party platforms, and our site may link to third-party websites. We do not control them and are not responsible for their content, practices, or availability. Your use of a third-party service is governed by that service's own terms.

16. disclaimers

Except as expressly stated in these Terms, our services are provided "as is" and "as available." To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that our services will be uninterrupted or error-free, that any gathering will produce any particular outcome, or that you will form any particular connection. We are in the business of making connection more likely. We cannot promise it.

17. limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Ligare Gatherings LLC and its members, employees, contractors, and agents will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or relating to your use of our services or attendance at a gathering, whether based in contract, tort, or any other theory, and whether or not we were advised of the possibility of such damages.

Our total liability for all claims arising out of or relating to these Terms or our services will not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount you paid Ligare in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred dollars ($100).

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, fraud, or personal injury caused by our negligence.

18. indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Ligare Gatherings LLC and its members, employees, and contractors from any claims, damages, losses, and reasonable legal fees arising out of your violation of these Terms, your violation of any law or the rights of another person, your conduct at a gathering, or content you submit to us.

19. suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to our services, decline your registration, or remove you from a gathering, at our discretion, including for conduct that violates these Terms or that we reasonably believe puts other guests at risk. You may stop using our services at any time, and may request deletion of your information as described in our Privacy Policy.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including intellectual property, license grants, disclaimers, limitation of liability, and indemnification — survive.

20. governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict of laws principles. You and Ligare agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or our services will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Harris County, Texas, and you consent to the jurisdiction of those courts.

Before filing anything, we ask that you contact us at questions@ligaregatherings.com so we can try to resolve it directly. Most things can be resolved by a conversation.

21. changes to these terms

We may update these Terms. The current version and its effective date will always be posted here. If we make a material change, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you. Continuing to use our services after a change takes effect means you accept the revised Terms. If you do not accept them, stop using our services and contact us.

22. general

These Terms and our Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and Ligare regarding our services, and they replace any prior version. If a provision is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

23. contact

Ligare Gatherings LLC
815 Robin Street, Houston, Texas 77019
questions@ligaregatherings.com