Privacy Policy

Account information. When you register, we collect your name, email address, password (stored as a secure hash), and account role (parent, donor, school, or admin).

Parent scholarship applications.If you apply as a parent, we collect household and financial information you submit, including address and program area, household composition, occupation and income bands, savings estimates, special circumstances, children's names and school details, and verification documents such as tax returns uploaded to our secure storage.

School partnership applications. If you apply as a school representative, we collect school name, EIN, enrollment and tuition data, contact name and phone, and your account email as the official contact address.

Donor activity. If you donate or sponsor a student, we collect gift amounts, payment method selections, sponsorship preferences, and transaction identifiers from our payment processors (Stripe and The Donors Fund). Guest recurring donors may provide an email for receipt and portal access.

Technical data. Our hosting provider and application logs may record IP addresses, browser type, and request metadata needed to operate and secure the Service. Address geocoding for program mapping may use OpenStreetMap Nominatim with an identifying user agent as required by their usage policy.

We use personal information to:

• Review scholarship and school partnership applications and communicate decisions.
• Match approved students with donors and administer monthly sponsorships and general gifts.
• Send transactional emails such as application confirmations, status updates, receipts, and password resets.
• Notify program staff of new submissions requiring review.
• Operate program geography tools (towns, neighborhoods, and map clusters) used in eligibility and listings.
• Prevent fraud, enforce our Terms, and maintain the security of the Service.
• Comply with legal and accounting obligations for a charitable program.

With donors — limited student listings.When a family's application is approved, we may display a privacy-conscious student profile to prospective and active sponsors. Listings use anonymous student numbers, grade, gender, and neighborhood-level map placement — not student names, school names, full home addresses, or other unnecessary identifying details.

With service providers. We use trusted vendors to run the Service, including:

• Hosting and database infrastructure (for example, Vercel and PostgreSQL providers).
• Stripe for card payments.
• The Donors Fund for authorized grant transactions.
• Resend for transactional email delivery.
• Secure file storage for uploaded tax returns and similar documents.

These providers process data only as needed to perform their services and are bound by their own privacy and security obligations.

With schools. Participating schools may receive information necessary to administer tuition assistance for approved students, consistent with program policies and confidentiality standards described in school partnership materials.

With professionals and committee members. Application and school financial information shared for oversight and transparency reviews is kept confidential and reviewed only by the committee and relevant professionals involved in program oversight.

Legal requirements. We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or to protect the rights, safety, and integrity of the program, users, or the public.

We do not sell personal information.

We send automated emails for account creation, application milestones, sponsorship activity, password reset, and administrative notices. These messages come from our configured sender address via Resend. Please do not reply to automated messages unless we have invited you to do so.

The Service uses session cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in and to protect authenticated routes. Payment flows may set additional cookies required by Stripe or The Donors Fund. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but disabling them may prevent you from signing in or completing checkout.

We retain application records, donation history, and related documents for as long as needed to administer the program, meet legal and tax record-keeping requirements, resolve disputes, and enforce our policies. Draft applications and expired checkout records may be deleted or anonymized sooner according to operational rules.

We use industry-standard measures including hashed passwords, HTTPS, role-based access controls, and secure storage for sensitive uploads. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure; please use a strong, unique password and keep it confidential.

The Service is not directed to children to create their own accounts. Parents submit information about minor children as part of a scholarship application. We collect that information only from the parent or guardian and use it solely for program administration and the limited donor listings described above.

You may:

• Update certain account details by signing in and using available profile or application tools.
• Request correction of inaccurate application information during review or by contacting the program.
• Cancel active sponsorships or recurring gifts through donor account tools where available.
• Sign out of your account on shared devices.

Because we maintain records for a charitable program subject to review and audit, we may need to retain certain information even after you stop using the Service.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top will reflect the latest version. Material changes may also be communicated through the Service or by email where appropriate.

Privacy questions or requests may be submitted through the contact channels provided in official program communications or by replying to emails sent from our verified sender address.