We collect as little as possible, and we never sell any of it.

Effective date: reviewed annually. Contact hello@hopeinthedarkproject.org with any question about this policy.

The short version

• We never sell, rent, trade, or exchange your information. Not ever, at any donation level.
• We do not require identifying information from anyone receiving a kit.
• We collect the minimum needed to do the thing you asked us to do.
• You can ask us to delete your record at any time and we will.

People who receive kits or services

We track kits, not people. Receiving a kit, hygiene supplies, or a workshop requires no name, no ID, no address, and no intake form. Outreach volunteers record only how many kits were given out and what was requested that we didn't have.

If you voluntarily give us contact information — for example, to arrange a kit delivery or a follow-up — we use it only for that purpose and delete it when it's no longer needed. We do not build case files, and we do not share what you tell a volunteer with police, landlords, employers, or immigration authorities. The single exception is mandatory reporting law regarding children at risk, which applies to us as it does to everyone; our volunteers are trained to say so up front.

We do not photograph or record people receiving services.

Donors

When you donate we receive your name, contact details, donation amount, and any designation you chose. Payment card details are handled entirely by our PCI-compliant payment processor — we never see or store a card number.

We use donor information to process the gift, send a receipt and acknowledgment, meet legal and tax reporting requirements, and (if you opted in) send updates. We do not sell, rent, trade, or share donor data, and we do not participate in list exchanges.

Volunteers

We collect the information on the volunteer form plus, for roles working with minors, background check results handled by a third-party provider. Volunteer data is used for scheduling, training, and safety, and is retained while you are active plus a reasonable period afterward.

Website visitors

This website is deliberately lightweight. We do not run advertising trackers, and we do not sell or share any visitor data.

• Server logs. Our host records standard request data (IP address, user agent, page requested) for security and reliability. These are retained for a short period.
• Analytics. If we use analytics, we use a privacy-respecting, cookie-free service that does not build cross-site profiles.
• Fonts. Web fonts are requested from Google Fonts, which receives the request. If you prefer to avoid this, blocking that domain leaves the site fully readable in system fonts.
• Forms. Form submissions are transmitted to our form provider and emailed to us. Only send what you're comfortable sending.
• Cookies. We do not set advertising or profiling cookies.

Email

If you subscribe, we send about one email a month plus an annual impact summary. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe, and unsubscribing takes effect immediately.

Sharing

We share information only with service providers who process it on our behalf under contract — payment processing, email delivery, form handling, hosting, background checks — and only what they need. We may disclose information where required by law, and we will push back on overbroad requests. We do not share with data brokers, advertisers, or other nonprofits.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you may ask us to tell you what we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or stop contacting you. Email hello@hopeinthedarkproject.org and we'll respond within 30 days. Residents of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and other states with privacy statutes, and individuals in the EEA and UK, have these rights by law; we extend them to everyone as a matter of policy. We will never charge you or make you jump through hoops to exercise them.

Security

This site is served over HTTPS. We limit access to personal data to those who need it, use reputable providers, and keep the amount of data we hold deliberately small — the most effective security measure available to an organization our size.

Children

This website is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their information online. Our Youth Bridge program serves minors in person under specific safeguarding protocols described on our Programs page.

Changes

If we change this policy materially, we'll note it here and, for anything that affects donors or volunteers, tell you by email. We won't make a quiet change and hope nobody notices.