Privacy policy

1. Who we are

Adopt a Student is a program of Educational Assistance Fund Inc, a 501(c)(3) public charity registered in Ohio, United States (EIN 87-2532101). In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Educational Assistance Fund Inc. We are responsible for the personal information described here.

2. What this policy covers

This policy explains what personal information we collect through this website and our related services, how we use and share it, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. It applies to donors, visitors, the staff of our partner schools, and the children and families those schools enrol with us.

3. Information we collect

Information you give us

• Donors: your name, email address, the amount and date of each gift, which child or fund it supports, and how you would like your name to appear publicly.
• People who contact us: your name, email address and the content of your message.
• Partner school staff: name, work email address, phone number, and the school’s details, including the bank details the school provides for receiving funds.

Information about children and families

Partner schools enrol children with us. For each child we hold their name, date of birth, gender, school and grade, their story for the school year, and photos. For each child’s guardian we hold their name, relationship to the child and contact details, and the consent form they signed. See section 6 for how children’s information is protected.

Information collected automatically

When you use the site, our systems record technical information such as your IP address, browser and device type, and the pages you visit, to keep the service working and secure. When staff sign in, we also record sign-in times and devices to protect their accounts.

Information from others

Our payment processor tells us whether a payment succeeded, along with limited payment details such as the card type and last four digits. We never receive or store full card numbers.

4. How we use information

• to process gifts, send receipts, and show donors their giving history;
• to pay school fees to partner schools on behalf of the children we support;
• to show children’s profiles to the public, as limited in section 6;
• to answer messages and provide support;
• to keep accounts, payments and the platform secure, and to prevent fraud;
• to keep the records a charity is required to keep for tax and accounting.

We do not use personal information for advertising, and we do not sell or rent it.

5. How we share information

We share personal information only as follows:

• Payment processing: card payments are processed by Stripe, under its own privacy policy.
• Service providers: trusted companies that help us run the platform, such as hosting, email delivery, security and file storage. They may use the information only to provide those services to us.
• Partner schools: a school sees the information about its own children and the gifts made to them, never donors’ contact details.
• Legal reasons: when required by law, or to protect the rights and safety of children, donors, our partners or us.

6. Children’s information

A child is shown on this site only after their guardian has signed a consent form in person. In public we show their first name, the initial of their last name, their age, grade and school, their story for the school year, and a blurred photo. The clear photo is shared only with people sponsoring that child, and only if the guardian agreed to it. Photos are stored without location or camera information. Guardians’ names and contact details are never shown to donors or to the public.

If a family withdraws consent, the child’s photos are removed from display immediately, everywhere on the site. The signed consent form and the original photo are kept internally, with access limited to senior administrators and every access recorded, as the record that consent was given.

This site is not directed at children, and children do not create accounts on it.

7. Cookies

This public site does not set cookies for advertising or tracking. Staff and donor accounts use only the cookies needed to stay signed in securely and to recognise a device that has signed in before, so account holders can be warned about sign-ins from new devices.

8. How we protect information

We use encryption, access controls that limit each person to what their role needs, password and email-code sign-in, and a permanent record of access to sensitive information such as bank details and original photos. No system is perfectly secure, and we review our safeguards regularly.

9. How long we keep information

We keep personal information for as long as it is needed for the purposes in this policy, including the records a charity must keep for tax and accounting, and then delete it. Signed consent forms are kept as the record that consent was given.

10. Where information is stored

We are based in the United States. Our service providers may store and process information in the United States and other countries, with safeguards appropriate to the information.

11. Your choices and rights

You can ask to see, correct or delete the personal information we hold about you, or to stop receiving our emails, by writing to contact@adoptastudent.net. Depending on where you live, you may have further rights under the law of your state or country, and we will honor them. Some records, such as receipts we are required to keep, may be retained where the law requires it.

12. Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we will publish the new version here with its date. If the change is significant, we will tell account holders by email.

13. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your information: contact@adoptastudent.net.