The rules of using Govona.

By using Govona, you agree to these terms. They are written to be readable. They are still legally binding.

1. What Govona is

Govona is a non-partisan civic-information service that scores public officials and figures on a left/right ideology scale based on public data, and matches that data against your stated political positions. We provide information; we do not provide political advice, legal advice, financial advice, or voting instructions.

2. Your account & data

You agree that the information you provide (name, ZIP, email, quiz answers) is accurate to the best of your knowledge. You're at least 13 years old. You agree we may collect, store, and process this data as described in our Privacy Policy, including your IP address, device data, and quiz responses (even partial responses).

You grant Govona a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use your de-identified, aggregated quiz responses for product improvement, research, and public reporting. We will not publish anything that identifies you personally.

3. Acceptable use

Don't: scrape, reverse-engineer, or hammer our servers; impersonate other people; submit false ZIP codes en masse to skew our data; use Govona to harass anyone; attempt to break our security; use Govona for any illegal purpose. We may suspend access for any of the above.

4. Our content

Ideology scores, compatibility ratings, and visualizations are © Govona and are provided under a CC-BY-NC license for non-commercial sharing. The underlying public data (votes, donations, etc.) is sourced from public records and remains in the public domain.

Scores are estimates derived from public records. They are not statements of fact about a person's private beliefs and should not be cited as such. For non-officeholders, scores are explicitly labelled “Public-Statement Estimate” and are based on public endorsements, donations, and on-record statements.

5. No endorsement, no political activity

Govona is not a Political Action Committee, Super PAC, 501(c)(4), or campaign-affiliated entity. Nothing on Govona constitutes an endorsement of, or opposition to, any candidate or party. We do not coordinate with campaigns. We do not accept campaign contributions.

6. Donations

Govona accepts voluntary contributions through our donation page. Donations support platform operations — servers, data collection, and development — and are not payments for goods or services. Because Govona is not a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization, contributions are not tax-deductible.

All donations are processed by PayPal. By donating, you authorize the listed amount (and, for recurring contributions, future monthly amounts until you cancel) to be charged to your selected payment method. Govona never receives or stores your payment card details.

Donations are voluntary and generally non-refundable. Refunds for duplicate, accidental, or unauthorized charges, and cancellation of recurring contributions, are handled under our Refund Policy.

Govona is not a Political Action Committee, Super PAC, 501(c)(4), candidate committee, or party committee, and donations made through Govona are not campaign contributions. Donations do not entitle the donor to influence editorial decisions, ideology scoring methodology, or which officials are covered.

7. Disclaimers

Govona is provided “as is.” We don't warrant that scores are perfect, that the site will always be available, or that data will never have errors. We update data as fast as we can but you should always verify critical decisions against primary sources (we link to them).

8. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Govona and its operators are not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages arising from your use of the service. Our total liability for any claim is capped at $100 USD or the amount you've paid us (whichever is greater).

9. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify Govona against any claim arising from your misuse of the service, your violation of these terms, or your violation of any law.

10. Governing law & disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA. Disputes will be resolved by binding individual arbitration (not class action) in Delaware, except where prohibited by law. You may opt out of arbitration within 30 days of accepting these terms by emailing hello@govona.org.

11. Changes

We may update these terms. We'll post the change and update the “Last updated” date. Continued use means you accept the new terms.

12. Contact

Reach us at hello@govona.org.