1. Club Rules

   1.1. The Sorority Club
   1.2. Club Objectives
   1.3. Club Management
   1.4. The Committee
   1.5. Applications for Membership
   1.6. Membership
   1.7. Proposing New Members
   1.8. Registration Fees and Membership Fees
   1.9. Code of Conduct
   1.10. Sanctions
   1.11. Complaints Procedure
   1.12. Members Website
   1.13. Privacy and Security
   1.14. Liability
   1.15. Amendments and Interpretation

2. Acceptable Use Policy

3. Network and Other Abuse

4. Illegal Content

5. Spam or Unsolicited Commercial Email

6. Our Administrative Login and Management Software

7. Fair Usage of Shared, Burstable Resources

8. Account Cancellation

9. Disclaimer

10. Commercial Communications Submissions: Warranties

 

 

Club Rules

The Sorority is an exclusive club for inspiring professional women. Our mission is to shape a visionary future for professional women. Celebrating style and femininity in business, The Sorority seeks to promote the formation of business, professional and social relationships; to cultivate networks and relationships in professional industries; to highlight the contribution of women in the professional community and to support inspiring professional women of the future.

 

The Sorority Club

  1. The Sorority Club is a proprietary club (the “Club”) and the proprietor is The Sorority Ltd (the “Proprietor”) whose registered office is at 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom (company number 06873825), a company limited by shares regulated by the laws of England and Wales and subject to the Companies Acts 1985 and 2006.
  2. “THE SORORITY” is a UK registered trademark (the “Trade Mark”) and “The Sorority Wisdom” is the trade name of the Club magazine (the “Magazine”). The Proprietor has the exclusive right to use the Trade Mark and all trade names and all intellectual property of the Club.
  3. The Proprietor has a website at www.thesorority.org (the “Website”) and www.thesororityhouse.org (the “Members Website”). The Proprietor owns all copyrights and other intellectual property rights in the Website, Members Website and their databases and the Magazine and in content posted by the Club on the Website.

 

Club Objectives

  1. The Proprietor has established the Club as a private club for women who agree to join and be subject to these rules (the “Rules”) who shall be members.
  2. The objectives of the Club are to develop, maintain and provide services and privileges to its members.

 

Club Management

  1. The Proprietor shall be responsible for all actions and management of the Club and may delegate the management or any aspect thereof to its servants and agents as it deems fit, including powers and rights exercisable by the Club and its Committee under these Rules. Only the Proprietor and its director, servants and agents may bind the Club but they may not make any pledge on behalf of members.
  2. The Proprietor may terminate any delegation, in whole or in part, at any time and assume direct responsibility for any Club or Committee function or determination and its decisions shall be final.

 

The Committee

  1. The Committee shall comprise Club managers appointed by the Proprietor and Club members invited to join by the Proprietor from time to time.
  2. The Proprietor delegates to the Committee and the Committee shall deal with; the activities of the Club, promoting the Club’s mission and objectives, Club membership and other business arising from the Club’s activities. The Committee cannot bind the Club or the Proprietor to third parties nor enter contracts or pledge their credit.
  3. The Chair of the Committee will be appointed by the Proprietor.
  4. The Committee may establish sub-committees as required to deal with matters such as discipline and membership and any other matters, and shall determine their terms of reference. Sub-committees may appoint their own Chair. References below to Committee meetings shall include sub-committee meetings.
  5. If a Committee Member misses three consecutive meetings she will forfeit her place on the Committee.
  6. The quorum for all Committee meetings shall be 4 Committee Members.
  7. In determining attendance at Committee meetings, it is immaterial whether any two or more Committee Members attending are in the same place provided they are able to speak and vote.
  8. Committee meetings will be held at such intervals as the Committee may decide. Meetings shall be called on 14 days written notice to Committee Members, however shorter periods of notice can be given if required. The notice shall give the date and time and the general nature of the business.
  9. A resolution put to the vote of a meeting must be decided on a show of hands by Committee Members if attending in the same place or by the Chair calling the names of those present and making a record of their vote if not in the same place. Resolutions shall be passed by 50% of the Committee Members at the meeting. The Chair shall have a casting vote, in addition to her ordinary vote.
  10. The Committee shall take minutes of their meetings however all matters dealing with membership are to be kept confidential by the Committee and the Club.
  11. Non Members of a Committee may attend and speak at Committee meetings by invitation.

 

Applications for Membership

  1. Eligibility for membership of the Club will be dependent on the prospective member being able to demonstrate a unique achievement as a business woman, entrepreneur, leader or pioneer together with a desire to promote the Club’s mission and objectives.
  2. Prospective members must be eighteen years or older.
  3. Club members in good standing may propose new members to the Club. Prospective members who have been proposed will then be invited to complete an application form.
  4. Independent applications must be made by submitting a completed application form.
  5. Upon receipt of a completed application form, an applicant will be added to the waiting list and their application will be considered at the next Committee meeting.
  6. The Committee may request further information or a face to face meeting in order to determine an application.
  7. Admission to membership shall be at the sole discretion of the Committee. In exercising its discretion, the Committee shall have regard to the furtherance of the good name and reputation of the Club.
  8. No reason shall be given for refusal of any application at any stage and all information relating to an application shall be treated in strictest confidence by the Club and the Committee.
  9. New members will receive a Club Insignia and Membership Pack.

 

Membership

  1. There are three classes of membership of the Club: Honorary members, Founding members and general members. Admission to a class of membership is entirely at the discretion of the Committee and no reasons shall be given.
  2. Every member binds herself to abide by the Rules. Members shall be entitled to the rights, privileges, and benefits of the relevant class of Club membership. Members have no liability to any third parties in connection with the Club or its activities. Members have no proprietary or other rights in the Club, Club assets and property and no authority to contract on its behalf.
  3. All Club activities, events and information are private and confidential to members.
  4. The benefits of general membership include:
    • Invitations to and admission to exclusive Club events (subject to event fees as determined from time to time).
    • Exclusive opportunities to participate in Club Projects.
    • Membership privileges with selected Club Partners (subject to Club or partner fees) on such terms as the Club may from time to time have agreed; such agreements being subject to termination or modification from time to time.
    • A personal profile for each member on the Member Website.
    • Members may communicate and receive information on the Member Website and send messages to other members subject to individual privacy settings and preferences.
  5. Additional benefits for Honorary and Founding members, if any, shall be as advised to such members from time to time and shall be subject to amendment on notice from time to time at the Club’s discretion.
  6. The duties of members are to pay the annual subscription membership fee (“Membership Fee”) and comply with the Rules, including the Code of Conduct and Acceptable Use Policy, which is incorporated by reference. Members must also inform the Club of any change of address and contact information including fax, telephone and email. It shall be the responsibility of members to keep their contact information current. Any notices required by the Rules to be given to members shall be given to the address furnished to the Club.
  7. The duration of Club membership shall be annual and run from the day your personal account is activated on the Members Website on receipt of the Membership Fee, and shall expire 12 calendar months from that day (a Membership Year).
  8. A formal register of members will be maintained by the Club at the registered office of the Proprietor.
  9. Any member wishing to resign her membership may do so at any time by giving written notice to the Club. Refunds will be at the discretion of the Committee.

 

Proposing New Members

  1. Members have the privilege of inviting new members to join the Club. Members can direct their nominations to complete an online application form on the Website and reference their support.
  2. Members are welcome to invite guests interested in membership to their first Sorority event for an introductory experience and subsequent events will be subject to Sorority membership.

 

Registration Fees and
Membership Fees

  1. In consideration for the privileges and benefits of membership, the Club shall charge members an annual subscription Membership Fee for the Membership Year and it is an entire fee and shall be due and owing in full at the commencement of the Membership Year.
  2. New members will be charged a one-off registration fee (“Registration Fee”) with the first Membership Fee payment.
  3. The Club in its sole discretion reserves the right to amend or waive all or part of any Registration Fee or Membership Fee due from any member.
  4. The amount of the Registration Fee and the Membership Fee will be determined annually by the Club.
  5. The current Registration Fee is £500.00 plus VAT and the Membership Fee is £1100.00 plus VAT per annum payable on notification of membership acceptance. Payments may be made by transfer, cheque, or credit/debit card (fees apply) to The Sorority Ltd.
  6. Membership is personal and non-transferable and members must not share their personal subscription with another person either by sharing the membership benefits, Card or Member Website access information.

 

Code of Conduct

  1. Club activities, events and information are private and confidential to members and members must maintain this confidence. The communication of information concerning the Club, its affairs, and its members to the media is strictly prohibited.
  2. Unless agreed otherwise, information on members or members’ guests, matters raised in conversation between members (both where the parties are physically in the same place or at a distance communicating electronically) are strictly private and not to be used for journalistic purposes.
  3. No member may use the Club’s intellectual property rights or the Trade Mark without the express permission of the Club. In particular, no member shall make any representation of endorsement by the Club without the express permission of the Club.
  4. Members shall deal with other members with respect and courtesy in all encounters and conversations, including when communicating electronically. Members must respect the privacy of others and refrain from repeating unsolicited approaches to members, where approaches are unreciprocated.
  5. Abusive or inappropriate content and/or conduct will not be tolerated by the Club.
  6. Members must comply with our Acceptable Use Policy and UK law in their Members Website use and contributions, including member to member communications. Such use and content must not be defamatory of any person, be obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age. It must not infringe any intellectual property rights of any other person. It must not threaten, abuse or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety or be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person. It must not be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent any identity or affiliation.
  7. Members must not extract data from the Members Website for inappropriate commercial uses (by harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) or knowingly introduce viruses, trojans, worms or other material which are malicious or technologically harmful.

 

Sanctions

  1. Any member who behaves in a manner which falls below the Code of Conduct or Acceptable Use Policy may be asked to furnish an explanation to the Club.
  2. Members may be warned, suspended or expelled from the Club, an event or activity, including access to the Members Website, for failure to pay Membership Fees, a breach of the letter and/or spirit of these Rules, including the Code of Conduct, or if the Club considers in its absolute discretion that the conduct of a member is contrary to the interests of the Club or the Club considers they are unfit to remain a member. The Club is not obliged to provide reasons for sanctions decisions, including expulsion, and any deliberations and other information on the same shall be in strict confidence.
  3. Any member expelled, for whatsoever reason, shall forfeit all privileges and benefits of membership and all rights against the Club and shall not be entitled to a refund of any subscription monies paid prior to expulsion.

 

Complaints Procedure

  1. Member’s complaints shall be made in writing to the Committee and the resolution of the complaint shall be at the sole discretion of the Club. There shall be a right of appeal to the Proprietor against either the finding or the sanction and the decision of the Proprietor shall be final and binding.

 

Members Website

  1. By posting data on the Members Website or consenting to the same, members grant the Club a non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, worldwide licence to publish it as posted subject to their privacy settings and the right of any member at any time to request the Club cease to publish the same. This license ends when members delete their content or their membership subject to retention (but not further publication) for regulatory purposes as below.
  2. The Club is not responsible for the actions, content, information, or data of members or third parties. The Club will immediately remove content on receipt of an Abuse Report and any Website content in breach of the Code of Conduct or Acceptable Use Policy should be reported immediately to the Club by email to AbuseReport@thesorority.org. The Club tries to keep the Members Website operational secure, bug-free, and safe, but members use it at their own risk and it is provided “as is” without any express or implied warranties including warranties of performance, quality merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Third Party software or applications, if any, are provided strictly on third party terms.
  3. The Website and Members Website may collect information about member computers, including IP addresses, operating systems and browser types, for system administration and performance maximisation. The Club may obtain information about Members Website use by a cookie file which is stored on the computer hard drives to help improve the Members Website and to deliver a better and more personalised service. They enable the Club to store information about member preferences, and allow it to customise the Members Website according to member’s interests and speed up searches.

 

Privacy and Security

  1. How we collect and process your personal data and safeguard your privacy is governed by our Privacy Policy and which forms part of these Terms.

 

Liability

  1. The Proprietor, its servants and/or agents, shall not be liable to any member or guest of a member for any loss, damage or injury suffered by them or their property howsoever caused save in respect of death or personal injury to a member or guest caused by the gross negligence of the Proprietor, its servants and/or agents. Any liability of the Club for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage of whatsoever nature suffered or incurred by any member of the Club is expressly excluded.

 

Amendments and Interpretation

  1. The Rules shall be amended by displaying notification of the change for seven days on the Website. Any issues arising as to the interpretation of the Rules shall be referred to the Committee. These Rules are governed by English law and the English Courts will have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim arising from, under or in connection with the same.

Questions, comments, concerns and requests regarding these rules are welcomed and should be addressed to The Sorority Ltd of 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom. Email at info@thesorority.org

 

Acceptable Use Policy

We reserve the right to make changes to this Acceptable Use Policy at any time, and any changes will be effective immediately upon posting to the Member Website. Members are responsible for regularly reviewing the Policy. Continued use of the Member Website following any changes shall constitute acceptance of the changes.

This policy recognises the fundamental fact that no one owns or controls the Internet. We cannot monitor or control all the activities of our Members. We do not intend to actively screen, review, censor, edit or take responsibility for the activities or content of our Members. The Members assume all responsibility relating to their Internet activities including, but not limited to:

  • Aspects of the Member’s business.
  • Content and data provided by or through a Member for use with the Club services.
  • Decisions about Member’s computer and communications systems needed to access the Services.
  • Results obtained from using Club services.
  • Compliance with all applicable laws and governmental regulations regarding Member’s business or use of Club services.
  • Use of the Club services by Members as end users.
  • Compliance with this Acceptable Use Policy by Members.

Activities conducted on the Internet are subject to many of the same laws and regulations applicable to the offline environment. Members must exercise a high degree of judgment and responsibility with respect to their use of the Club services, including the responsibility to comply with this Acceptable Use Policy. Members will violate this Policy when they or their affiliates engage in any of the following activities:

Network and Other Abuse

Using the Club network or other Club resources in any way that adversely affects other Members is strictly prohibited. This includes but is not limited to:

  • Gaining or attempting to gain unauthorised access to Club servers or services. Such attempts include “Internet scamming” (tricking other people into releasing their personal information), password robbery, security hole scanning, port scanning, probing, monitoring or testing for system or network vulnerabilities.
  • Introducing viruses, Trojan horses, trap doors, back doors, Easter eggs, worms, time bombs, packet bombs, cancel bots or other computer programming routines that are intended to damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or personal information.
  • Intentionally omitting, deleting, forging or misrepresenting transmission information, including headers, return addressing information and IP addresses. Using IP addresses which were not assigned to them or without the assignee’s permission.
  • Maintaining an Open Email Relay/Open Data Relay or allowing any data to be sent through one’s server by an unrelated third party, including, but is not limited to, via open email gateways and open proxy servers.

 

Illegal Content

Membership accounts may be terminated that include content or which have links to content that:

  • Is unlawful or is considered offensive by the web community. Promotes injury or physical harm against any group or individual.
  • Promotes or teaches illegal activities.
  • Exploits or depicts children in a negative/sexual way.
  • Infringes on copyright, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, or other intellectual property including pirated computer programs, cracker utilities, warez and software serial numbers or registration codes.
  • Violates any law, statute, ordinance or regulation governing the Member’s business or activities, including without limitation the laws and regulations governing export control, unfair competition, false advertising, consumer protection, issuance or sale of securities, trade in firearms, privacy, data transfer and telecommunications.

 

SPAM or Unsolicited Commercial Email

We have zero tolerance for the sending of SPAM or Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) over our network. Members cannot send UCE and cannot host sites or information advertised in UCE. Members are also responsible for the actions of their clients and must take all reasonable precautions to secure their servers and sites against SPAM exploits (e.g. open email relays and insecure cgi scripts).

Violating our UCE or SPAM policy will result in penalties. Upon detection or notification of a violation of our UCE policy, we will initiate an immediate investigation. During this time, outgoing mail may be suspended from the offending ip address to prevent further violations. If a Member is found to be in violation of our UCE policy, we will impose penalties and/or, at its discretion, restrict or terminate the offending account and the Member’s access to our network. Repeated or serious violations may result in the immediate termination of the account. SPAM is a very serious matter. PLEASE DO NOT SPAM. EDUCATE YOUR CLIENTS and TAKE ALL PRECAUTIONS against SPAM EXPLOITS.

Our Administrative Login and Management Software

To facilitate network/server management, inventory and related activities, all our Servers include an administrative account and password and/or a daemon. All reasonable precautions are taken by us to maintain the security of these tools and the privacy of Member data. Members must not tamper, hinder, delete, or in any way change the functioning of these tools. To do so intentionally or otherwise is grounds for the immediate suspension of a Member’s account.

Fair Usage of Shared, Burstable Resources

For some shared resources we require that Members do not continuously use an unreasonable excess of those resources (using them in a burstable fashion is, of course, entirely acceptable). Examples of an excess might include continuously & actively using swap on Miniserver® VM rather than upgrading RAM, running software that uses all available CPU constantly (such as SETI@Home) or continuously using many times the base-allocation of unmetered bandwidth. In such circumstances we reserve the right, at our discretion, to request that the Member cease such activities or be forcibly upgraded to a more suitable package or, in the case of excess use of unmetered bandwidth, be moved to a metered bandwidth connection.

Account Cancellation

This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is not exhaustive. We have the right to refuse service to anyone at any time WITHOUT WARNING OR PRIOR NOTICE. No refunds of fees paid will be made if account termination is due to a violation of the Acceptable Use Policy as outlined above.

 

Disclaimer

This Website and Member Website contains material (including but not limited to advertisements) submitted and created by members and third parties. All advertisements published on the site are subject to the warranties below. All member and third party material is published by The Sorority Ltd in good faith. The Sorority Ltd do not accept any responsibility for the accuracy of such material (nor is any warranty expressed or implied by publication) and The Sorority Ltd specifically disclaims and excludes all liability to any person (be they advertiser, reader or user or member) for any loss or damage of any nature whatsoever or however arising from any error, omission or inaccuracy in such material and The Sorority Ltd takes no responsibility for such material.

In the event that you purchase or obtain any goods or services from another member or a third party then your acquisition of such goods or services will be in accordance with the third party’s terms and conditions and The Sorority Ltd will have no liability to you in respect of the same.

This Website and Member Website also contains links to other websites which are not under the control of and are not maintained by The Sorority Ltd. The Sorority Ltd is not responsible for the content of those sites. The Sorority Ltd provides these links for your convenience only but does not necessarily endorse the material on these sites.

Commercial Communications Submissions: Warranties

The person submitting the material for dissemination (the Advertiser) warrants that in relation to a commercial communication, promotion or advertisement (the Advertisement) submitted to The Sorority Ltd:

  1. the reproduction and/or publication of such Advertisement will not breach any legislation, regulation (governmental or otherwise) or contract or infringe or violate any copyright, trademark, or other personal or proprietary right of any person or render The Sorority Ltd liable to any proceedings whatsoever;
  2. all advertising copy submitted to The Sorority Ltd is legal, decent, honest and truthful and complies with the British Code of Advertising Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (the CAP Code) at http://copyadvice.org.uk/CAP-Code.aspx1and all other relevant codes under the general supervision of the Advertising Standards Authority, OFCOM or any other applicable body; and
  3. in relation to any financial promotion the Advertiser is, or the contents of the Advertisement have been approved by, an authorised person within the meaning of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and related legislation including but not restricted to Financial Services and Markets 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2001 or that the Advertisement is otherwise permitted under that Act or related legislation.

The copyright for all purposes in all artwork, copy and other material which The Sorority Ltd or its agents or employees have originated or reworked shall vest in The Sorority Ltd. The Advertiser grants The Sorority Ltd a licence to reproduce all material not so vesting unless specifically agreed otherwise.

The Advertiser agrees to check the correctness of the Advertisement. Any complaint, whether about the Advertisement (and of each individual Advertisement if part of a series) or the details contained in the invoice or email confirmation of booking (as the case may be), must be raised with The Sorority Ltd within 7 days of publication.

The Advertiser will indemnify The Sorority Ltd and keep it indemnified against all claims, costs, proceedings, demands, losses, damages, expenses or liability whatsoever incurred by The Sorority Ltd arising directly or reasonably foreseeably as a result of any breach or non-performance by the Advertiser of any of the representations, warranties or other terms herein contained or implied by law.

All material contained in The Sorority Ltd site at www.thesorority.org and www.thesororityhouse.org is published in good faith, The Sorority Ltd does not in any circumstances accept responsibility for the accuracy or otherwise of any Advertisement or message published or its compliance with any legal or regulatory requirements (nor is any kind of warranty expressed or implied by such publication). The Sorority Ltd specifically disclaims all and any liability to the Advertiser, Advertisers, readers and users and members of any kind (other than death or personal injury caused by the Publisher’s negligence or breach of statutory duty) for loss or damage of any nature whatsoever and however arising, whether due to inaccuracy, error, omission or any other cause, and whether on the part of The Sorority Ltd or its employees or agents or any other person. Save in the case of death or personal injury caused by the Publisher’s negligence or breach of statutory duty, under no circumstances shall The Sorority Ltd be liable to the Advertiser or any other party for any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages of any kind, including, without limitation, those resulting from loss of sales, loss of goodwill, loss of profits, whether or not The Sorority Ltd was advised of the possibility of such losses. In all other respects, The Sorority Ltd’s liability shall be limited to the placement of a new Advertisement.

1If in doubt, please seek advice from the free copy service at http://copyadvice.org.uk/.