Privacy Policy

This Policy was last revised: July 25, 2023.

Introduction

Pledgeling Technologies, Inc. d/b/a Pledge ("Pledgeling", "we", "us", or "our") has prepared this Privacy Policy to describe our practices regarding the Personal Information (as defined below) we collect from persons using:

  • our user-facing interfaces, such as donation forms, fundraising tools, widgets, browser plug-ins, Shopify app, or other front-end interfaces to our services, whether hosted on our sites or elsewhere

  • our other online services, including donation and payment processing

  • online stores where the merchant has added our app their their e-commerce platform

  • our public websites, including pledge.to and pledgeling.com, any other websites operated by us, and websites associated with the Pledgeling Foundation (the "Sites"), whether public or restricted

  • our services for signing up for, sending, or receiving text (SMS) or multimedia (MMS) messages (the "Mobile Services")

  • our customer support tools, including third party chat and forms

  • users of our mobile application ("App")

  • users accessing any API connected to our back-end services

Collectively, all of the above are the "Services," and each individually is a "Service."

Pledgeling provides services to the Pledgeling Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) (the "Foundation"), which is an independent, tax-exempt nonprofit that is the initial recipient of all donations made through the Services. This Privacy Policy applies to both Pledgeling Technologies and Pledgeling Foundation.

When we use the phrase "Personal Information" in this Privacy Policy, we mean information that allows someone to identify or contact you, including, for example, your name, address, telephone number, email address, as well as any other non-public information about you that is associated with or linked to any of the foregoing information.

By using the Services and/or providing us with information, you acknowledge and agree that your Personal Information may be processed for the purposes identified in the Privacy Policy. You authorize us to use and disclose any new or modified information that you provide to us, provided that such disclosure is in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Information from Donations

When you make a donation using any of the Services, we collect the following information:

  • Your name and email address, donation amount, any optional note or memo, and IP address, and your regrant recommendation identifying a nonprofit or qualified organization.

  • Other information described in "Information from Website Visitors" below

Please note that we do not collect or have access to your payment card information – we use the service Stripe for processing credit card transactions, and the card information that you submit is routed directly and securely to them. However, we do share your name and email address with Stripe, to reduce fraud. See below.

We use the information we collect to:

  • Process the transaction, including screening for potential risks or fraud

  • Distribute the funds to the organization you identified in your regrant recommendation

  • Communicate with you about the transaction, including providing a receipt

  • Provide donation information to recipient charitable organizations, consistent with your preferences and subject to the ability to opt-out of such sharing

  • Provide donation information to organizations sponsoring or promoting the donation, consistent with your preferences and subject to the ability to opt-out of such sharing

  • Contact you in the event you have disputed a transaction

  • Display the following on a "ticker" on our public website: 1) the name of the organization you identified in your regrant recommendation, 2) your city, and 3) your state, province, or similar region

We share your information with third parties for the following reasons:

  • Recipient Charities. For any donation you make, the recipient charity has access to your name and email address unless you a) elect to keep the donation anonymous, or b) opt-out of such sharing when you provide us with your name and email address, or c) are in the EU, and you did not elect to share that information. In all cases, the recipient charity has access to the regrant recommendation, donation location (country, state / province / region, and city), optional note or memo, donation date, and donation amount. If you use the optional note or memo field to designate a specific use of funds, do not add personal information, as it is shared with the charity. They use this information to send donation acknowledgements and to support future fundraising. We do not control how the Charity uses your name and email address, including in its publications – refer to their privacy policy for details.

  • Commercial Sponsors. If a donation collection tool such as a widget or form is hosted on one of our commercial sponsor's websites or other platforms, the commercial sponsor will have access to the same information as the recipient charity using the same rules above. They use this to data to analyze the success of their fundraising partnerships. The commercial sponsor's use of the information is subject to their own privacy policy.

  • Stripe. We provide Stripe, our payments processor, with your name (to increase anti-fraud protection) and email address (to assist with any possible disputed charges). Stripe separately obtains your location, via IP address, to detect fraudulent activity, and interacts with the financial institution that issued your card. Stripe's Privacy Policy is available here. Information that Stripe supplies about the GDPR is available here. Your card issuer will have their own privacy policy.

  • Pledgeling Foundation. In order to execute a donation, we share your Information with Pledgeling Foundation, the charitable organization that receives and regrants your funds. We require the Foundation to honor this Privacy Policy.

  • We use certain Amazon Web Services to run our Services and store our data, including your name and email address in the donation transaction record. Amazon Web Services' Privacy Policy is located here

  • If we email you from using our transactional email service, our internal email service, our support service, or our CRM tool, the email address from your donation is stored by them in order to send the message. See the section "Information from Communications Between Us."

Information from Fundraiser Creators

When you create a fundraiser on one of our websites, we collect the following information:

  • Your name, email address, the title of your fundraiser, and its URL

  • Please note that personal information that you add to the publicly visible parts of a fundraiser page is visible to anyone.

    We use the information we collect to:

  • Configure and host the fundraiser on our system

  • Verify your account, where applicable, and log you in, so that you may edit the fundraiser and see information about it

  • Better understand how visitors are using the Services and to improve their utility

  • Contact you in the event of a problem

  • We share your information with third parties for the following reasons:

  • Recipient Charities. The charity/charities you designated to receive net funds raised through your fundraiser have access to your name and email address unless a) you elect to keep that information anonymous via the fundraiser settings, or b) you are in the EU, and you did not elect to share that information. The recipient charity uses this information to send donation acknowledgements and to support their future fundraising. We do not control how the Charity uses your name and email address, including in its publications – refer to their privacy policy for details.

  • If we email you from using our transactional email service, our internal email service, our support service, or our CRM tool, the email address linked to your fundraiser is stored by them in order to send the message. See the section "Information from Communications Between Us."

  • Information from Website Visitors

    In addition to any donations-related information, when you visit any of our websites, we collect the following:

    • Any personal information such as name and email address that you provide on a form, forum post, chat window, or any other user interface feature.

    • If you create an account, you need to provide your email address.

    • Device and browser, IP address, network name, cookies. We may collect information about the computer or device you use to access our Services, including the hardware model, operating system and version, and MAC address or other unique device identifier. Our servers (which may be hosted by a third party such as Amazon Web Services) collect and store information from your device, including your browser type, operating system, Site pages requested and buttons clicked, any link you clicked to come to our site, exit pages, files you downloaded, domain name, Internet Protocol ("IP") address (a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet, which may vary from session to session), Internet service provider ("ISP"), date/time stamps, and clickstream data.

    • Other information about how our site is used. Our sites may have images or small "pixel tags" on webpages that allow us to gather data such as IP address of the device viewing the webpage, time spent viewing the page, and other similar data. This is not linked to your name or email address. We may also use our own or third party javascripts for the same purposes.

    • Links. Links on our Sites may be in a format that allows us to count how many times a particular link has been followed.

    • Cookies. "Cookies" are small pieces of information that a website sends to your computer's storage device while you are viewing the Sites. Like many online services, we use cookies to collect information to make the Sites more useful to you and to tailor the experience with us to meet your special interests and needs. We may use both session Cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent Cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to provide you with a more personal and interactive experience on our Sites. This tracking is anonymous and the cookies do not contain any personally identifiable information. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but if you no longer wish to accept cookies from our Service for any of the purposes described above, then you can instruct your browser, by changing its settings, to stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit (consult your browser's technical information for how to do this). If you do not accept cookies, however, you may not be able to use all portions of the Service or all functionality of the Service. Third parties who display information on our Sites, such as advertisers, may place their own cookies on your computer. Those cookies are controlled by those third parties and are not covered by our Privacy Policy.

    • Other front ends. If you use a Pledgeling widget or browser plugin, it may, in addition to the information above, send us data about its version number, host browser, other data necessary to function properly, the number of times it has been used, and other similar analytic information

    We use the information we collect to:

    • Provide you information about our products and those of third parties that we believe may be of interest to you

    • Verify your account, where applicable, and log you in

    • Respond to support requests, sales inquiries, or other communications

    • Ensure that our Services are performing as expected, alert us to problems, and help us troubleshoot.

    • Better understand how visitors are using the Services and to improve their utility

    We share your information with third parties for the following reasons:

    • We use Google Analytics to analyze information about how people use our sites. This is not linked to personal information such as name or email address. You can read more about how Google uses your Personal Information here: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/. You can also opt out of Google Analytics here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

    • If you request assistance from us via our support web form or chat, our 3rd party customer support tools will receive and store your name and email address as well as the rest of your support record. Those tools also record which support articles you have viewed. Those service's privacy policy is available here. Information about their GRPR compliance is available here.

    • Similarly, if you submit your name and email address via our sales web form and request that we contact you, that information is processed by our 3rd party CRM Hubspot. That service stores sales prospects and active customer names and email addresses, and optionally other contact information such as phone numbers. It also records which web pages you have visited on our site. Their privacy policy is available here. Information about their GRPR compliance is available here.

    • We use a third party service to convert IP address to the associated country, state / province / region, and city

    • Our website includes a chat messaging service in which you may enter text, including any personal information that you choose to provide. Text entered into the chat window is collected, recorded, and used by Pledgeling for its own business purposes, including customer service, as detailed in this Privacy Policy. Our chat messaging service is hosted by our third party vendor, Freshchat/Freshworks, which acts on our exclusive behalf. When we disclose personal information to service providers, including Freshchat/Freshworks, we enter a contract that requires the recipient service provider to both keep that personal information confidential and not to use it for any purpose except performing their obligations to us.

    Information from Give & Grow Users on Shopify

    If you install our Give & Grow app on your Shopify store, we collect the following information:

    • Your store name, email address, and unique Shopify merchant identifier.

    We use the information we collect to:

    • Associate Give & Grow donations with your Shopify account, so that you can see aggregate data about donations generated by your Give & Grow installation.

    • Contact you with a sequence of instructional onboarding emails, which you may opt out of at any time.

    • Provide information about product updates and other news of interest

    We share your information with third parties for the following reasons:

    • We share your email address and Give & Grow installation status with our 3rd party email service providers, including Mailgun and Hubspot, so that they can send the onboarding emails and product update news.

    Shopify Order Data:

    • The Give & Grow app (AKA Fashion Makes Change) uses order data to calculate donations on behalf of the shop, or the shop's customer. Give & Grow does not receive or store the customer's personal information (name, email, location) associated with the order. We only use the line item detail (SKU, quantity, price) to calculate the donations and then immediately discard all remaining data pertaining to the order.

    Information from Zoom Meeting Hosts

    If you install our Zoom integration, you will have to create a Pledgeling account in order for it to function. How we use that information is described in the section “Information from Website Visitors.”

    Once you have a) created a Pledgeling account, b) created a Pledgeling fundraising event, and c) granted us permission to access your Zoom account, we collect the following non-personally identifiable information from Zoom:

    • Your Zoom User ID (with related access tokens);

    • any Zoom meeting or webinar ID linked to your Pledgeling fundraiser(s).

    We use the information we collect from Zoom to associate your Pledgeling account and fundraiser with your Zoom account and any meetings or webinars you host.

    • This allows you, from within your Pledgeling account, to create and manage Zoom meetings or webinars in your Zoom account;

    • This allows us to a) show a live “feed” of donations on guests’ screens during your Zoom event or webinar, b) provide analytics regarding donations made via the integration, and c) add future functionality.

    We do not share your Zoom account or meeting IDs with any third party.

    Although we may request that you install additional third party software in order to make our Zoom integration work, we do not share your information with those third parties. You should review their privacy policies if you have questions about their practices.

    Information from Text Messaging Services

    In addition to any donations-related information, we collect the following:

    • Phone number. We (or our mobile service provider) automatically collect your mobile phone number when you use the Mobile Services from a mobile device, such as texting in a keyword like "DONATE" to one of our shortcodes. We do not link that phone number to other personal information that we may have, such as name or email address.

    • If you send text, image, audio, or video to us, that content is stored by us (or our mobile service provider) for a varying length of time, and depending on what you sent, it could include personal information.

    • If you have opted in to a text messaging campaign with an organization via a form controlled by them, they may send us your phone number and other information so that we can send you a message on their behalf.

    • If we are processing a message from one mobile phone to another, we (or our mobile service provider) store both the sender and recipient's phone numbers.

    • Information about your phone and carrier. Prior to delivering a multimedia message (MMS) via the Mobile Services, we (or our mobile service provider) query the carrier's systems in order to collect information about the recipient's mobile carrier and, where possible, their phone make and model. We do this to format the content properly. We (or our mobile service provider) store this information to speed processing of subsequent messages.

    We use the information we collect to:

    • Deliver the content you requested

    • Deliver subsequent messages, if you signed up for recurring messages

    • Respond to your text with help instructions or confirmation of your opt-out to a recurring message program

    • Optimize video, image, or audio content for your device and carrier

    • Record traffic for billing purposes

    We share your information with third parties for the following reasons:

    • Phone number information with "aggregators" who interface between us and your carrier; in turn, they share this information with your carrier so that we can determine your phone make and model and optimize content for your device.

    • Message transmission data with our customers for analysis, customer support, billing, proof of performance, and portability if they shift their text messaging programs to another provider.

    Aggregators and carriers have their own access to message content and information about sending and receiving phone numbers. They are required to retain this information for regulatory reasons. Our aggregator's Privacy Policy is here.

    Information from iOS Application

    In addition to any donations-related information, we collect the following:

    • Login information, which is linked to your user account and any donations.

    • Device Information. We may collect information about the device you use to access our Services, including the hardware model, operating system and version, unique device identifier, phone number, and mobile network information.

    • App Analytics. We may also use third party tracking services to help us analyze how users use the App and Services. These services collect only the unique device identifier assigned to your mobile device, rather than your name or other personally identifying information, and use it to collect information such as how often users open the App, whether they encountered crashes or problems, tasks performed, buttons clicked, screens viewed, and other actions within the App. We only use this information to improve our App and Services. We do not combine the information generated thereby with your Personal Information and we do not associate you in any way with your device identifier. Only these services know and associate you (on a non-identifiable basis) with your identifier.

    We use the information we collect to:

    • Provide the Services on the iOS application

    • Better understand how visitors are using the iOS application and to improve its utility

    • Provide customer support

    We share your information with third parties for the following reasons:

    • If we use third party services that track user activities on the iOS app, anonymized data about button presses, screens viewed, and other user activity is processed and stored by them. We do not currently use such a service.

    • If we use third party services to identify and resolve "bugs," data about the issue and your device – such as the OS version – is processed and stored by them. We do not currently use such a service.

    • If you have a support issue, we may store some of your device's unique information to help us resolve the problem. This information may be stored at our customer support service. See "Information from Website Visitors" above.

    Information from API Services

    If a customer is using our APIs (application programming interfaces) to initiate a donation, they send us the same information described in "Information for Donations" and we use and share it the same way.

    Note: that customer may have access to your information before they transmitted it to us, so their use of that information is subject to their privacy policy.

    Information from Communications Between Us

    When we communicate with each other, we collect the following information:

    • When we communicate with each other via email, text message, chat, form submission, or other form of written communication, we will collect and store any information that is contained in that message, which could include your name, email address, phone number, and address.

    • Our third party providers collect and store "metadata" about the written communication depending on the communications medium used. In the case of email, this includes your email address , IP address, and host network.

    • If you sign up for recurring reports, email newsletters, or notifications, you will provide your email address or other unique means of contacting you.

    • For any phone calls between us, typically for support or sales, we collect your phone number and may link it to other personal information such as name and email address that we either ask for in the course of the call or that already exists in one of our systems. In certain cases our phone service may automatically generate a transcript of the call.

    • In some cases, our email service Hubspot receives your name and email address when you submit this information to us on our Sites in order to sign up for newsletters. In some cases, Hubspot will determine your location if you interact with emails that you receive from them on behalf of us. Hubspot's Privacy Policy is available here.

    We use the information we collect to facilitate communication between us, answer questions, provide information about our company and products, and provide you with the Services.

    We share your information with our third party communications service providers in order to send email, place phone calls, send texts, chat, send newsletters, or otherwise communicate with you. This includes text that you may enter into our website’s chat messaging service, which is hosted by our third party vendor, Freshchat/Freshworks, acting on our exclusive behalf as further detailed in the “Information From Website Visitors” section above.

    Other Information Shared With Third Parties

    We also share your information with third parties for the following reasons:

    • We may work with other third parties and service providers not identified above in order to provide you with the Services. These third parties include 'cloud' hosting services, telecomm networks and ISPs, payment processors other than Stripe, content delivery networks, mobile aggregators, mobile carriers, email providers, chat services, and more. We may share some of your personal information with them to provide the Services, process or deliver information to you, provide support, tailor the features and content of the Services to you, and verify your compliance with your obligations in our Terms of Use. Any third party transmitting, storing, or processing your information may in turn pass your information on to other third parties, such as your bank or credit card company. We expect these third parties to comply with a Privacy Policy equivalent to this one and to undertake appropriate confidentiality and security measures, but their policies are not under our control.

    • When you use the Services, the Personal Information you provide will be shared with third parties that you authorize to receive such information. If you provided information, such as a mobile phone number or information you filled out on a web form, in order to receive communications from one of our clients, we may share that information with that specific client in order for them to deliver the specific information you requested. You may provide other information to us so that we can forward it on to our clients and charity partners; for instance, if we are hosting a donations page on our charity partners' behalf and they ask for your date of birth. The use of that information is governed by the individual client's Privacy Policy. You may opt out of this sharing at the time of donation.

    • Social Network logins. We may create interfaces that allow you to connect with social networking services such as Facebook and LinkedIn ("SNS") through our Sites and Services. We work with the SNS's application protocol interface (API) in a way that allows you to authorize us to access your account on that SNS on your behalf. In order to provide this authorization, you do not provide us with your user name or password to the SNS, but you will need to log-in to that SNS directly through our Site. Once authorized by you, the SNS provides us a token that allows the SNS to recognize us when we ask, on your behalf, for access to your account information or to post information. For example, when you click "Connect" to grant us access to your Facebook account, we will import your name and other information from Facebook. You can revoke our access to any SNS at any time by amending the appropriate settings from within your account settings on the applicable SNS. The SNS's own privacy policy covers how they use your data.

    • Social Network content sharing. Some of our Services may enable you to post content to social networks (SNSs) (e.g., Facebook or Twitter). If you choose to do this, we will provide information to such SNSs in accordance with your elections. You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for your use of those websites and that it is your responsibility to review the terms of use and privacy policy of the third party provider of such SNSs. We will not be responsible or liable for:

      • the availability or accuracy of such SNSs;

      • the content, products or services on or availability of such SNSs; or

      • your use of any such SNSs.

    • Other Affiliates. We may share some or all of your Personal Information with our parent company, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under a common control ("Affiliates"), in which case we will require our Affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy. As of the date of this Privacy Policy, there are no Affiliates.

    • Corporate Restructuring. We may share some or all of your Personal Information in connection with or during negotiation of any merger, financing, acquisition or dissolution, transaction or proceeding involving sale, transfer, divestiture, or disclosure of all or a portion of our business or assets, solely for the purpose of evaluating and facilitating that transaction, and subject to the receiving party having a Privacy Policy equivalent to this one. In the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership, Personal Information may also be transferred as a business asset. If another company acquires our company, business, or assets, that company will possess the Personal Information collected by us and will assume the rights and obligations regarding your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy.

    • Other Disclosures. Regardless of any choices you make regarding your Personal Information, we may disclose your personal information if we have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to:

      • satisfy a request by a court, law enforcement or governmental authority, such as a court order, warrant, or subpoena;

      • investigate, assist, or comply with preventing any suspected, actual or potential violation of an applicable law, regulation, or legal process;

      • protect or defend the rights, property, or safety of Pledgeling, its employees, or other users of the Services;

      • enforce the Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy for the Services, including any investigation of potential violations thereof,

      • detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues associated with the Services.

    Sharing of Anonymous Information

    When we use the phrase "Anonymous Information" in this Privacy Policy, we mean information that is not associated with or linked to your Personal Information. Anonymous Information does not enable identification of or contact with individual persons.

    We may use your Personal Information to create Anonymous Information records by excluding information that makes the information personally identifiable to you.

    We use the Anonymous Information we collect to analyze how users interact with the Services. We use this information to optimize and improve the Services, track progress towards goals, administer the Services, and gather demographic and analytic information about our user base as a whole.

    We reserve the right to disclose Anonymous Information publicly without restriction. We may share aggregated, anonymous information with third parties such as clients, prospective clients, industry trade groups, and the press. This anonymous information may include, for example, usage, volume, trends, preferences, and other collective characteristics of our users. Disclosure of this information serves to help us and our partners evaluate and tailor our communications, advertisements, services and general business practices to the needs of users of the Services.

    Opting Out of Future Communications​

    You may opt out of receiving future communications by doing one of the following:

    • Follow the opt out directions included in the messages we send. This might mean clicking the unsubscribe link in a newsletter or submitting an unsubscribe web form. For text messages, simply reply STOP.

    • Submit a support request by visiting help.pledgeling.com or help.pledgeling.org and clicking "New Support Ticket." Please detail which communications you no longer want to receive and which email address(se) or mobile phone number(s) the opt out applies to.

    • Send a written request to the following mailing address: attn: Unsubscribe, Pledgeling, 2100 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Suite E, Venice, CA 90291

    • Despite your indicated email preferences, we may continue to send you service related communications, which you may not opt out of.

    We may choose not to fulfill any request that we determine is unreasonable, unduly burdensome or impractical or that constitutes a threat to the privacy or rights of others.

    Data Retention

    We will maintain your information in our records for as long as necessary to provide the Services and fulfill the transactions you have requested, or for other legitimate purposes such as complying with our tax and legal obligations, resolving disputes, and enforcing our agreements, except when we receive a valid erasure request. See the section "Reviewing, Changing, and Removing Your Information."

    If Personal Information is removed, we will continue to store anonymous or anonymized information in order to improve our Services.

    Reviewing, Changing, and Removing Your Information

    You can review and/or change certain of your Personal Information by logging into the Sites and accessing your Account. You may also review, update, correct or delete the Personal Information in your Account by detailing your request using the "New Support Ticket" form at help.pledgeling.com (Pledgeling Technologies) or help.pledgeling.org (Pledgeling Foundation). Use this same procedure to request that we close your Account.

    Even if you request that we delete your Personal Information, certain data is necessary in order for us to provide the Services and maintain the integrity of our records and can not be deleted in its entirety. For instance, we may need to retain certain Personal Information to comply with laws, prevent fraud, resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms of Use, and take other actions otherwise permitted by law or for our legitimate business purposes. If for these or other reasons we can not delete all of your Personal Information, we will convert it to Anonymous Information where possible.

    If some or all of your Personal Information is deleted, then your account may become deactivated.

    If we have already disclosed some of your Personal Information to third parties, we cannot access that Personal Information any longer and cannot force the deletion or modification of any such information by the parties to whom we have made those disclosures, including Charities. See the section "This Policy Doesn't Cover Third Parties" below.

    This Policy Doesn't Cover Third Parties

    This Privacy Policy addresses only our use and disclosure of information we collect from and/or about you on the Services. If you disclose information to others, or authorize us to do the same under this Privacy Policy, the use and disclosure restrictions contained in this Privacy Policy will not apply to any third party. We do not control the privacy policies of third parties, and you are subject to the privacy policies of those third parties where applicable.

    Please be aware that each charity has its own policies regarding privacy of donor information. please contact the charity you recommend directly to learn about their privacy policies. We are not responsible for any use of personal information by a charity. If you wish to stop receiving communications from a charity, please contact the charity directly.

    Similarly, if you made a donation on one of our commercial partner's websites, please refer to their privacy policy, and contact them with any questions.

    The interfaces to the Services that you see may contain content or links to other websites that are not owned or controlled by us. We have no control over, do not review and are not responsible for the privacy policies of or content displayed on such other websites. When you click on such a link, you will leave our Sites and go to another site. During this process, another entity may collect Personal Information or Anonymous Information from you. The Sites may also contain links to other websites controlled by us but which operates under different privacy policies. Please review the privacy policy of any new site you visit.

    Information Security

    We takes measures reasonably necessary to protect against unauthorized access, use, alteration, or deletion of personally identifiable information. The personal information that you provide to us is stored on servers which are located in secured collocation facilities with restricted physical and network access. Our hardware, applications, databases, and networks are protected by protocols and procedures designed to ensure the security of the information they contain. We restrict access to personal information under our control to our employees, independent contractors and agents who need to know this information in order to develop, operate and maintain the Services, all of whom are bound by agreements requiring them to keep all our data, including personal information, confidential. The consequences of a breach of this confidentiality obligation may include termination and criminal prosecution.

    As noted above, we never have access to any payment card information. That is handled by our third party processor Stripe. A description of their security policies is here: https://stripe.com/docs/security/stripe

    We endeavor to maintain the security of your information on our systems and those of our service providers. However, we can not protect user information all along the multi-party delivery chain. No server, computer or communications network or system, or data transmission over the Internet, can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect user information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us through your use of the Services. By your use of the Services, you acknowledge and agree that you provide such information and engage in such transmissions at your own risk.

    Other Matters

    Children. Our Services are not directed to children and children are not eligible to use our Services. Protecting the privacy of children is very important to us. We do not collect or maintain Personal Information from people we actually know are under 16 years of age, and no part of our Services is designed to attract people under 16 years of age. If we later learn that a user is under 16 years of age, we will take steps to remove that user's Personal Information from our databases and to prevent the user from utilizing the Services. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 16, please contact us at privacy@pledgeling.com or attn: California Privacy Inquiry, Pledgeling, 2100 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Suite E, Venice, CA 90291.

    Do Not Track / California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA). We do not track visitors over time and across third party websites to provide targeted advertising, so we do not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals. Some third party sites do track your browsing activities so that they can tailor what content they display to you. If you are visiting such sites, set the DNT signal on your browser so that third parties (particularly advertisers) know you do not want to be tracked.

    California Privacy Rights. California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, information about the personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year. However, companies that have a Privacy Policy that allows you to opt-in or opt-out of the sharing of your personal information do not need to provide you with disclosure about the categories of personal information that were shared and with whom. We believe that we fall into this category -- so our obligation is to provide you with a copy of our opt-in or opt-out policy, which is this document. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit it in writing to: attn: California Privacy Inquiry, Pledgeling, 2100 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Suite E, Venice, CA 90291.

    Where We Store and Process Your Personal Information

    Personal data collected by us may be stored and processed in your region, in the United States, and in any other country where we or our service providers operate facilities. We take steps to ensure that the data we collect under this privacy statement is processed according to the provisions of this Privacy Policy and the requirements of applicable law wherever the data is located. By providing your information, you consent to such storage and transfer.

    We transfer personal data from the European Economic Area and Switzerland to other countries. The European Commission may have not determined that some of these countries provide an adequate level of data protection. For example, their laws may not guarantee you the same rights as residents of the European Union. When we engage in such transfers, we use a variety of legal mechanisms, including contracts, to help ensure your rights and protections travel with your data. To learn more about the European Commission's decisions on the adequacy of the protection of personal data in the countries where we process personal information, please visit this European Commission page.

    Your Rights Under the GDPR

    If you are from the European Economic Area, the legal basis upon which we collect and use your Personal Information is determined by the nature of the Personal Information and the precise context in which we collect it. Typically, we will collect and use the Personal Information that we have from you if the processing is in our legitimate interests and such interests are not outweighed by your data-protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. Our legitimate interests include fulfilling the transactions that your request, enhancing and maintaining our Services and our Site, complying with applicable law, complying with agreements that we have with you and third parties.

    If you are from the European Economic Area, you have the right under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (GDPR), the right to request from us access to and rectification or erasure of your personal data, the right of data portability, the right of restriction of processing of your personal data, the right to object to processing of your personal data, and the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. If you reside outside of the European Economic Area, you may have similar rights under your local laws.

    To request access to or rectification, portability or erasure of your personal data, or to delete your account with us, please make your request using the "New Support Ticket" form at help.pledgeling.com (Pledgeling Technologies) or help.pledgeling.org (Pledgeling Foundation), or write us at: Pledgeling, Attn: Data Controller, 2100 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Suite E, Venice, CA 90291.

    Whether you live in the European Union and you wish to exercise your right to restriction of processing or your right to object to processing or do not live in the European Union but you believe you have a right to restriction of processing or a right to object to processing under your local laws, please make your request using the "New Support Ticket" form at help.pledgeling.com (Pledgeling Technologies) or help.pledgeling.org (Pledgeling Foundation), or write us at: Pledgeling, Attn: Data Controller, 2100 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Suite E, Venice, CA 90291.

    Your Rights Under the California Consumer Privacy Act

    Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California consumers have a right to knowledge, access, and deletion of their personal information, as well as a right to opt out of the sale of their personal information. As stated elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, we do not sell consumer’s personal information – whether they are based in California or elsewhere.

    Elsewhere in this Privacy Policy we describe the data we collect. California consumers have the right to know, over the last 12 months, what categories of personal information we collected about them, the sources of that personal information, the categories of personal information we may have disclosed for business purposes, the categories of third parties with whom such personal information was shared, the business purpose for which the information was collected or shared, and the specific pieces of personal information we collected.

    California consumers who want to exercise their rights under the CCPA may make their request by:

    • using the "New Support Ticket" form at help.pledgeling.com (Pledgeling Technologies) or help.pledgeling.org (Pledgeling Foundation), or

    • emailing privacy@pledgeling.com, or

    • writing Pledgeling, Attn: Data Controller, 2100 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Suite E, Venice, CA 90291.

    In order to prevent fraud, we will first verify your identity, which may include asking for your name, email address, phone number, the last four digits of any payment card you used to transact with us, and / or your physical address. The exact information we request will vary depending on the nature of your previous interactions with us and the data linked to those interactions.

    If you request that we delete your data, we may elect not do so if we need the personal information to:

    • complete the transaction for which we collected the personal information

    • comply with data retention obligations mandated by statute or regulation, or other legal requirement, including recordkeeping required by tax agencies

    • detect security incidents; protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; or prosecute those responsible for that activity

    • resolve an error that impairs existing product functionality

    • enable solely internal purposes that a California consumer might reasonably expect, based on our relationship

    If we are able to comply with a California consumer's request that we delete their personal information, we will render their personal information some combination of permanently unrecoverable and de-identified. Such requests may be made no more often that twice in any twelve month period.

    California consumers have a right not to be discriminated against for exercising any of their California privacy rights.

    EU Data Controller and Processor Information

    Pledgeling makes decisions about how your information will be used. Our contact information is: Pledgeling, Attn: Data Controller/Processor, 2100 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Suite E, Venice, CA 90291. You can also contact us by email at privacy@pledgeling.com.

    Changes to this Privacy Policy

    This Privacy Policy is effective as of the date set forth on this web page. We reserve the right, at any time, to add to, change, update or modify this Privacy Policy by placing the changes on this page and changing the "Last Updated" date above. We will provide no other notice to you. Any such change, update or modification will be effective immediately. It is your responsibility to review this page from time to time to ensure that you continue to agree with all of its terms.

    Questions?

    If you have any questions or concerns or complaints about our Privacy Policy or our information collection or processing practices, or if you want to report any security violations to us, please submit your question using the "New Support Ticket" form at help.pledgeling.com (Pledgeling Technologies) or help.pledgeling.org (Pledgeling Foundation).