How Advocates Work

This page is the complete, authoritative explanation of Advocate status on Frega. It forms part of Frega's Terms of Service by reference. If you have read anything about Advocacy elsewhere that conflicts with this page, this page is correct.

Read this first: Most Advocates receive nothing or very small amounts. Advocacy is incidental, not a programme. You should not join Frega or use the platform with the expectation of receiving Advocate payments. Advocate payments are not a reliable source of income. All variable payments are taxable income.

What Is an Advocate?

An Advocate is a community member who is automatically designated as such when their normal platform activity — such as issuing Growth Points, sending an invoice, or initiating a chat — leads to another person registering on Frega.

The primary reason people use Frega is the platform's practical utility for running a business or engaging with a community. Advocacy is a secondary, incidental outcome of normal use, not a purpose or programme.

There is no application for Advocate status. There is no Advocate programme to join. Status is assigned automatically by the platform when an introduction occurs through use of the platform's tools, resulting in a new registration.

How Advocate Payments Work

Advocates have no requirements, targets, or obligations. When someone they have naturally interacted with chooses to register and later uses paid Frega services, the Advocate may receive variable payments funded from Frega's service revenue.

These payments are tied strictly to actual service usage by the person introduced. They stop automatically if usage stops. They are not triggered by the introduction itself, by registration, or by any action of the Advocate.

Payment Rates

Year one: 20% of service fees generated by the introduced party
Year two: 15% of service fees generated by the introduced party
Year three onwards: 10% of service fees generated by the introduced party, continuing indefinitely at this rate

There is one tier of payments only — from direct introductions. There are no payments from introductions made by those you have introduced.

Portfolio Cap

Advocate payments are subject to a flat monthly cap. This cap ensures the programme remains incidental and does not become a structured income activity.

The monthly cap. Advocate payments to any individual Advocate are capped at $3,000 per month across all accounts they have introduced, regardless of the number of accounts or the total service fees those accounts generate.

Caveat — personal service fee spend. Where an Advocate is themselves spending more than $3,000 per month on Frega services across their own accounts, their Advocate payment cap is set at 100% of their own combined service fee spend rather than the flat $3,000 limit. This ensures that high-value platform users are not penalised by the cap.

Personal and business accounts. Where a user holds both a personal and a business account on Frega, the $3,000 monthly cap applies across both accounts combined. Equally, where the service fee spend caveat applies, it is calculated on the combined service fees paid across both accounts.

Example: An Advocate holds a personal account and a business account. Their combined Frega service fee spend is $1,200 per month. Their Advocate payments from all introduced accounts are capped at $3,000 per month — the flat cap applies, as their personal spend does not exceed it.

If their combined service fee spend were $4,000 per month, their Advocate payment cap would be $4,000 — 100% of their combined spend — rather than the flat $3,000.

Revenue Outside the Cap

Where an Advocate's total monthly payments from introduced accounts would exceed the applicable cap, the excess service revenue is retained by Frega as its own revenue. No Advocate has any claim over revenue beyond their cap.

Frega designates the full amount of this retained revenue to the Frega Community Benefit Reserve. The Reserve is a disclosed, segregated, and auditable fund constituted for a defined commercial purpose: to finance value-added services and platform improvements made available free of charge to all community members, with the direct objective of increasing the number of active Frega users and expanding the platform's service fee base. Expenditure from the Reserve is incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of Frega's trade and is treated accordingly in Frega's accounts.

The Reserve is not a charitable fund, nor is its purpose purely altruistic. It is a structured, business-led reinvestment mechanism — one that benefits the community as a direct consequence of serving Frega's commercial growth objectives. The Reserve balance, all deployments from it, and the business rationale for each deployment are disclosed in Frega Limited's annual accounts and subject to independent audit. A plain-language annual summary is published and made available to all community members.

Following the Relationship — KYC and Organic Growth

Frega uses standard Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols to verify the identity of its users. This process also serves an important purpose in preserving the integrity of genuine Advocacy relationships as they naturally evolve.

Where a business rewards a customer who initially registers using a personal email address, and that customer subsequently registers a separate business account and begins using paid Frega services through it, the Advocacy relationship follows the person — not just the account. Once the KYC process confirms that the personal account holder and the business account holder are the same individual, the originating business is automatically recognised as the Advocate for both accounts. Advocacy payments then apply to service fees generated by the customer's personal account and their business account alike.

This principle extends to corporate entities. Where the KYC process identifies that the principal shareholder of a registered company is the same individual as an existing personal account holder, the Advocacy relationship carries through to that company's account. The corporate structure does not sever the connection — Frega's KYC process looks through the corporate entity to the individual behind it, and the originating Advocate is recognised accordingly.

This process is fully automated in all cases. It requires no action from the Advocate or the customer and reflects Frega's commitment to preserving genuine, organic business-to-business relationships as they grow.

Scenario — a relationship that grows: A florist uses Frega to run a Growth Point loyalty scheme. One of their regular customers collects points using their personal email address. Some months later, that customer launches their own small catering business and registers a separate Frega business account to manage invoicing and run their own loyalty programme. As their business grows, they begin paying for additional Frega services through their business account.

When the KYC process confirms the two accounts belong to the same person, the florist is automatically recognised as the Advocate for both. They receive Advocacy payments on service fees generated by the customer's personal account and their business account — without any manual intervention and without either party needing to do anything.

If the customer subsequently incorporates their catering business as a limited company and registers a corporate Frega account, the KYC process identifies them as the principal shareholder and extends the same Advocacy recognition to the corporate account. The florist's Advocacy relationship follows the individual through every stage of their growth — from personal customer, to sole trader, to incorporated business.

What Most Advocates Actually Experience

Many introductions — the majority — do not lead to ongoing paid service usage by the person introduced. A person might register but never use paid services. Or they might use paid services briefly and then stop. In either case, the Advocate receives nothing, or a very small amount.

A small number of Advocates, whose introductions happen to include businesses or individuals who go on to become consistent, active platform users, will receive more meaningful payments over time. This is an incidental outcome of those introductions — not a predictable or guaranteed result.

No income projection, earnings estimate, or typical earnings figure is provided or implied by Frega. Variable payments are exactly that — variable.

What Advocates Are Not Asked to Do

Frega does not ask Advocates to:

Actively recruit others to the platform
Meet any targets or quotas
Attend meetings or training sessions
Purchase any product or service
Build a network or downline

Advocate payments arise from incidental introductions within existing relationships. They are not a reward for promotional behaviour, and Frega does not market the Advocate role as an income opportunity.

Opting Out

Advocates may opt out of receiving variable payments at any time. Opt-out options include emailing customer-support@frega.co.uk, using the account dashboard, or requesting that payments be redirected to a charity. Opting back in can be done via support. Payments already made are not reversed upon opt-out.

Tax

All Advocate payments are taxable income. Frega does not provide tax advice. Advocates are responsible for understanding and meeting their own tax obligations in their jurisdiction.

Scenarios

Scenario 1: A business using Frega

A local café owner uses Frega to issue Growth Points to customers. One of those customers — someone the café owner knows — registers on Frega and then sets up their own business account, using paid tools. The café owner becomes an Advocate in relation to that person and may receive variable payments based on the fees that person pays for Frega services. The café owner did not recruit the customer. They simply used the platform.

Scenario 2: An introduction that leads to nothing

A Frega user sends an invoice to a contact. The contact registers on Frega. The contact uses the free features only and never uses any paid services. The Frega user is an Advocate but receives nothing, because no paid service fees were generated.

Scenario 3: A personal user

A Frega user refers a friend in order to chat via Frega Chat. The friend registers. The friend later subscribes to a $3.00/month tool. The original user becomes an Advocate and receives a small variable payment — 20% of the service fee in month one, declining to 10% from year three. The amount is genuinely small.

Integrity and the Spirit of Advocacy

Advocate status exists to recognise and reward the natural, incidental effect of genuine platform use — not to provide a mechanism for structured income-building or recruitment activity. Frega takes the integrity of the Advocate framework seriously and will not tolerate conduct that misrepresents or works against its purpose.

The following conduct is strictly prohibited and may result in the permanent loss of all Advocate benefits, account suspension, or termination:

Introducing people to Frega dishonestly — including by misrepresenting what the platform offers, overstating likely payments, or using pressure, inducement, or deception to secure a registration
Encouraging registrations from people who have no genuine interest in using the platform, or facilitating the creation of accounts that are not intended for active, genuine use
Misrepresenting Frega or the Advocate payment structure to encourage registrations
Coordinating with others to structure account activity in a way designed to maximise Advocate payments artificially
Any conduct that, in Frega's reasonable judgement, is inconsistent with the utility-first nature of Advocacy

Frega reserves the right to review Advocate payment activity at any time. Where patterns of activity suggest deliberate exploitation of the Advocate framework rather than genuine incidental use, Frega may suspend payments pending investigation or permanently remove Advocate payment eligibility. Decisions of this kind are made at Frega's reasonable discretion and are not subject to appeal where clear misuse is identified.

If you are uncertain whether a particular activity is consistent with the spirit of Advocacy, contact customer-support@frega.co.uk before proceeding.

For Partners — Overview of all independent service roles.

Definitions — Official definition of Advocate and all related terms.