Privacy Notice

Effective Date and Last Updated: Aug 3, 2023

PennyFundMe operates the https://www.Pennyfundme.com website (the "Service(s)"). This website provides information about PennyFundMe, and explains how users can post a campaign, accept monetary donations, and details our related services to users and visitors.

This Privacy Notice describes and governs how we collect, use, share, and protect information collected in the context of our Services. Before you use or submit any information through or in connection with the Services, please carefully review this Notice. By using any part of the Services, you acknowledge the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as outlined in this Notice. To the extent allowed by law, the English version of this Notice is binding and its translations in other languages are for convenience only; in case of discrepancies between the English version of this Notice and its translations, the English version shall prevail.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

As further described below, when you use or otherwise access the Services, we collect information in multiple ways, including when you provide information directly to us, and when we passively collect information from your browser or device.

A. Information That You Provide Directly to Us:

i. Registration information:

When you register for our Service or open an account, we collect your email address and login details, as shared by our authetication service providers. One of the special features of our website is that it allows you to enable or log into it via various authetication applications / services, like Google or Discord. By directly integrating these services, we aim to make your online experiences richer and more personalized. To take advantage of these features, we will ask you to provide your credentials for the applicable authetication Service in order to log in to our website. When you add a authetication provider Services account to the website or log into the website using your authenticated Service providers account, we will collect relevant information necessary to enable the website to access that authentication Service. As part of such integration, the authetication Service provider will provide us with access to certain information that you have provided to the authentication provider (for example, your name and email, as well as other information that you permit the authentication provider to share with us). We will use, store, and disclose such information in accordance with this Notice. However, please remember that the manner in which authentication Service providers use, store, and disclose your information is governed by the policies of such third parties, and PennyFundMe shall have no liability or responsibility for the privacy practices or other actions of any authentication Service providers that may be enabled within the website.

ii. Creation of a campaign:

When you create a campaign on the website, we collect the information you choose to provide us in relation to your campaign and we display it through our website. For example, you can provide a campaign title, upload imageurls, and describe your campaign goal(s). You might, in creating a campaign, choose to provide us with information relating to other parties by organizing a campaign for a family member or friend, and in doing so, you disclose the name or circumstances of that family member or friend. By providing information in a campaign, you consent to our collection, storage and use of your data. If you upload personal data related to other parties, you acknowledge and agree that you have the authority of the relevant other parties for us to access and use the relevant data and that you have notified the other parties and informed them of how their information is collected and used by Pennyfundme to provide the Services.

iii. Donation information:

On the website, when you donate to a campaign, we do not collect your contact details. Our payment processors however collect your credit card details and other information necessary to process the donation such as your home address.

iv. Sensitive information:

You can also provide us with information about yourself or other parties that are considered sensitive, such as political opinions, race, ethnicity, health information or religious beliefs. If you post this information in a campaign, you choose to provide such information to be published publicly in relation to your campaign, donation or otherwise. PennyFundMe may use any information which has manifestly been made public, including processing information about you that reveals sensitive information. When you provide such information to us, directly or indirectly, you consent to the processing of this data by PennyFundMe and/or its service providers. We collect the information listed in this section for the purposes described below in the sections “Our Use of Information Collected” and “Our Disclosure of Information Collected Through the Services.

B. Information That is Passively or Automatically Collected:

i. Cookies

When you interact with our Services, we try to make that experience simple and meaningful. When you visit our website, our web server, business providers, and/or the Social Networking Services are integrated into the Service, we use cookies for various purposes. Cookies are small pieces of information that are issued to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website, or access or use a mobile application. That information regarding your use of the website is stored and sometimes tracked.

* Type of Cookies

Some Cookies are strictly necessary to make our Services available to you (“Essential Cookies”). For example, Essential Cookies are used to provide the login functionalit. We cannot provide our Services without these Essential Cookies. We also use Cookies for functional purposes in order to maintain and improve our Services or your experiences, and for marketing purposes (collectively, “Non-Essential Cookies”). Some of the Non-Essential Cookies used are set by us to collect and process certain data on our behalf and some are set by third parties.

ii. Analytics

We use web analytics vendors on our Services, such as those of Google Analytics, to help us analyze how users use the Services, including by noting the website from which you arrive, and providing certain features to you including Google Signal features such as user id tracking, dynamic remarketing, interest-based advertising, audience targeting, behavioral reporting, demographics and interests reporting, user segment analysis, device reporting, display advertising, and video ads reporting. The information (including an anonymized IP address) collected by the technology will be disclosed to or collected directly by these service providers, who use the information to evaluate your use of the Services. This information can be used to place interest-based advertisements on the website. This may result in you seeing advertisements for our website when you visit other websites. To limit Google Analytics from using your information for analytics, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

iii. Why We Use Cookies

We use Cookies to collect information about your access to and use of our website, including to: (1) allow you to navigate and use all the features provided by our website; (2) customize elements of the layout and/or content within our website and remember that you have visited us before; (3) identify the number of unique visitors we receive; (4) improve our website and learn which functions of the website are most popular with users; and (5) understand how you use our website (e.g., by learning how long you spend on the website and where you have come to the website from). As we adopt additional technologies, we may gather additional information through other methods. We will notify you of such changes with updates to this Notice.

iv. Your Cookie Preferences

Most web and mobile device browsers automatically accept Cookies but, if you prefer, you can change your browser to prevent that or to notify you each time a cookie is set.

OUR USE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED

PennyFundMe uses the information collected from the Services in a manner that is consistent with this Notice. We use the information that you provide (or otherwise permit the website to access) for the following purposes:

A. Communicating With You

We use the information we collect to contact you for administrative purposes (e.g., to provide services and information that you request or to respond to comments and questions). For instance, if you contact us by email, we will use the information you provide to answer your question or resolve your problem.

We also use the information we collect to send you communications relating to the Services, such as updates on events, communications relating to products and services offered by us and by third parties, and communications about services we believe will be of interest to you. For example, we can send periodic emails to registered users of the Services relating to their recent interactions with the website, such as creating a campaign.

C. Providing the Services

We use the information we collect to operate, maintain, and provide our Services such as enabling access to the Platform, customer support, or to complete transactions.

If you are located in Europe, we process this information as necessary (i) to fulfill our obligations under our contract with you or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, or (ii) for our legitimate interest, such as, to maintain our relationship with you or to protect you and us against fraud.

D. Security and Fraud Prevention

We use the information we collect to secure our Services and to verify identity, prevent fraud, and to continually improve these aspects of our Services.

If you are located in Europe, we process this information as necessary for our legitimate interest in maintaining the security or our systems, protecting our business, and/or protecting you and us against fraud.

E. Analytics, Research and Product Development

We use the information we collect to analyze data usage trends and preferences in order to improve the accuracy, effectiveness, security, usability or popularity of our Services. We further use data in connection with our research on our customer demographics, interests, and behavior.

If you are located in Europe, we process this information (i) to fulfill our obligations under our contract with you or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, or (ii) for our legitimate interest to monitor and improve our Services and your experience on the Platform or to maintain our relationship with you; or (iii) to protect our business or protect you and us against fraud.

G. Legal

We use information we collect to defend our legal rights, comply with state, local, federal or international laws, and to enforce our Terms of Service and this Notice.

If you are located in Europe, we process information to comply with legal obligations.

OUR DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED THROUGH THE SERVICES

There are certain circumstances in which we disclose information collected through the Services with certain other parties without further notice to you, as set forth below.

A. Business Transfers:

As we develop our business, we might sell or buy businesses or assets. In the event of a corporate sale, merger, reorganization, dissolution, similar event, or steps taken in anticipation of such events (e.g., due diligence in a transaction), user information may be part of the transferred assets.

B. Affiliates and Subsidiaries:

We disclose your personal information among the PennyFundMe entities, including our affiliates and subsidiaries, in order to provide our Services including marketing and publicizing campaigns; providing you with customer support; sending you communications; and conducting the other activities described in this Notice.

C. Agents, Consultants, Vendors and Related Third Parties:

PennyFundMe contracts with other companies to perform certain business-related functions on PennyFundMe's behalf, and we provide access to or disclose your information with these companies so they can perform services for us. Examples of such functions include marketing, mailing information,data storage, security, identity verification, fraud prevention, payment processing, legal services, and maintaining databases.

D. Unaffiliated Parties that Partner With Us or our Affiliate or Other Services You Choose to Link:

PennyFundMe discloses personal information with third parties that partner with us on various initiatives and/or that offer services you choose to link to your PennyFundMe campaign or that are linked to a PennyFundMe campaign to which you may donate. Examples of this are Social Networking Services and their integrated social media tools or “plug-ins,”. When PennyFundMe shares personal information with third parties, we require those third parties to handle the information in accordance with relevant laws. When you link to or interact directly with third-party companies (or you donate to PennyFundMe campaigns that are linked), their use of your personal information and your use of their features are governed by the privacy notices of those companies. We encourage you to carefully read their privacy notices.

E. Legal Requirements:

PennyFundMe may access, disclose, transfer and preserve your information when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to: (i) comply with the law including with subpoenas, search warrants, court orders, and other legal process; and respond to inquiries or requests from government, regulatory, law enforcement, public authorities, or content protection organizations; (ii) protect and defend the legal rights, privacy, safety or property of PennyFundMe, its affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, agents, contractors, or its users; (iii) permit us to pursue available remedies, commence, participate in, or defend litigation, or limit the damages we may sustain; or (iv) enforce this Notice or any applicable Terms of Service.

F. Aggregated Data

We aggregate, anonymize and/or de-identify information collected actively or passively about you so that the information no longer relates to you individually. We then use that data for various lawful purposes, including but not limited to our research on our customer demographics, interests and behavior. We also disclose this information with our affiliates, agents, business partners, research facilities or other third parties (e.g., Google Analytics).

G. Other Users of Our Services

We provide your information to other users of our Services if you choose to make your information publicly available in a publicly accessible area of the Services, such as in your campaigns.

CHILDREN

Our Services are not designed for use by individuals under the age of 13 (or 16 for children located in Europe). If you are under the age of 13 (or 16 for children located in Europe), please do not use the website and/or submit any information through the website. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 13 (or 16 for children located in Europe) has provided personal information to PennyFundMe through the website, please contact us at info@pennyfundme.com, and we will delete that information from our databases to the extent required by law.

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

This Notice applies only to our website. The website can contain links to other web sites not operated or controlled by PennyFundMe (the “Third-Party Sites”). The policies and procedures we described here do not apply to the Third-Party Sites. The links from the Services do not imply that PennyFundMe endorses or has reviewed the Third-Party Sites. We suggest contacting those sites directly for information on their respective privacy policies.

SECURITY

While no organization can guarantee perfect security, PennyFundMe has implemented and seeks to continuously improve technical and organizational security measures to protect the information provided via the website from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. For example, limiting access to information only to employees and authorized service providers who need to know such information for the purposes described in this Notice.

RETENTION OF YOUR INFORMATION

We retain your information for as long as we deem necessary for the purpose for which that information was collected and for our legitimate business operations; provided, however, that your information is only retained to the extent permitted or required by applicable laws. When we no longer need to retain your information, we will take reasonable steps to remove it from our systems and records and/or take steps to anonymize it so that you can no longer be identified from it in accordance with our internal document retention policies. When determining the retention period for your information, we take into account various criteria, such as the type of products and services requested by or provided to you, the nature and length of our relationship with you, possible re-enrolment with our products or services, the impact on the Services we provide to you if we delete some information about you, mandatory retention periods provided by law and the statute of limitations.

CROSS BORDER DATA TRANSFERS

PennyFundMe is a global organization, which processes your information in servers in a number of countries, including the United States.

USERS FROM OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES

The website is hosted in the United States. If you are visiting the website from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located, and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using the website, you consent to your information being transferred to our facilities and to the facilities of those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Notice.

OTHER TERMS

Your access to and use of the website is subject to PennyFundMe’s Terms of Service and such other terms, which may be made available to you in connection with your use of the website.

CHANGES TO PENNYFUNDME’S PRIVACY NOTICE

PennyFundMe reserves the right to update or modify this Notice at any time and from time to time. We will notify you of any material updates or changes we make to this Notice. If you disagree with our revisions to the Notice, you can deactivate your account or discontinue the use of our Services. please review this Notice periodically for any updates or changes to this Notice.

By using our website and Services after any such update or modification, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the terms of the Notice as updated or modified.

CONTACTING PENNYFUNDME

Please also feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this Notice or the information practices of the Services.

You can contact us as follows:

Email:

info@pennyfundme.com