Privacy policy and terms of use

Information you give us

The only personal information this site collects is what you type or attach yourself:

• The contact form asks for your name, your email address, what your message is about, and the message itself. If you are sharing a memory, a story or a photograph, you may attach up to five photographs.
• The mailing-list signup, once it is switched on, asks only for your email address.
• Email you send us directly reaches the same mailbox and is handled the same way.

Your address is used to write back to you, and for nothing else. Fields marked with a star on the form are the only ones we need.

Information collected automatically

Like almost every website, this one learns a little about each visit without you typing anything:

• Google Analytics. The site loads Google Analytics through Google Tag Manager. It sets cookies on your browser and records which pages are viewed, roughly where in the world the visit comes from, what kind of device and browser you are using, and how you arrived. We use this only to understand, in aggregate, how the site is used. Google’s handling of this data is described in Google’s privacy policy. You can opt out with Google’s browser add-on, or by blocking cookies in your browser; the site works fully either way.
• Google Fonts. The typefaces on this site are served by Google. Your browser requests them from Google’s servers, which see your IP address as part of that request, as with any file fetched over the web.
• Server logs. The company that hosts the site keeps ordinary server logs (the address a request came from, the time, and the page requested) for security and troubleshooting.

How the contact form travels

When you press Send message, the form goes to a small relay the Foundation runs on Cloudflare. The relay checks the message, refuses anything that is not a photograph or is too large, and passes it to an email delivery service (Sender.net) that delivers it to the Foundation’s mailbox. The relay keeps nothing; it exists only so that the mail service’s key never has to sit in your browser. From then on your message and any photographs live in the Foundation’s mailbox like any other email. The form also contains a hidden field that people never see; a robot filling it in causes the message to be dropped unread.

How we use what you share

• To reply to you.
• To consider a photograph or memory for the gallery, on the terms set out below, and only with your permission.
• To send mailing-list news about gatherings, if you signed up for it. Every message includes a way to unsubscribe.
• To keep the site working and secure, and to understand in aggregate how it is used.

What we do not do

We do not sell, rent or trade your information. We do not run advertising, and we do not share your information with anyone except the service providers named on this page, who handle it only on our behalf, or where the law requires it.

Donations

Gifts are made through Venmo. The whole transaction takes place in Venmo’s app or website under Venmo’s privacy policy; this website never receives your card, bank or account details. The Foundation sees what Venmo shows any recipient: your Venmo name, the amount, and the note you attach. One thing worth knowing: Venmo can show payments in its social feed depending on the privacy setting in your Venmo account, so check that setting if you would rather a gift stayed between you and the Foundation.

Donor information is kept for the Foundation’s own records. No donor’s name or gift is published anywhere without asking first, and if you would rather not be thanked, or not be contacted again, say so and that is what will happen.

Cookies

The only cookies this site sets are the Google Analytics ones described above. There is no login, no shopping cart, and nothing of our own stored on your device. The QR code on the Donate page is drawn on your own device, not fetched from anywhere. Your browser lets you view, block and delete cookies; every page here works with cookies switched off.

How long we keep things

• Messages and photographs you send are kept in the Foundation’s mailbox for as long as we need them to reply and for the Foundation’s records.
• A photograph you have agreed to share stays on the site for as long as it is displayed, and comes down when you ask.
• Mailing-list addresses are kept until you unsubscribe.
• Analytics data is kept for the limited period set in our Google Analytics account, then deleted by Google.

Your choices and your rights

Whatever the law where you live says, we treat everyone the same way: write to us and we will tell you what we hold about you, correct it, delete it, stop contacting you, or take down a photograph you sent. Visitors in the European Union, the United Kingdom, California and some other places have these as legal rights; you are welcome to exercise them, and you also have the right to complain to your local data-protection authority.

Children

This site is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has sent us something, tell us and we will remove it.

Security

The site is served over HTTPS, and the credentials that send mail are held on a server rather than in any page. No method of sending or storing information is perfectly secure, and we do not promise otherwise; what we can promise is that the site asks for as little as possible.

Where your information lives

The Foundation is in the United States and its service providers operate there. If you write to us from elsewhere, your message is processed in the United States.

Changes to this policy

If the way the site works changes, this page changes with it, and the date at the top is updated. We will not quietly change how information already shared is used.