Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
Effective Date: July 20, 2026
Hearts For The Hungry, Inc., publicly known as Hearts for the Hungry, respects the privacy of our donors, supporters, volunteers, website visitors, ministry partners, and the people whose stories are connected to our work. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, when we disclose it, how long we generally retain it, the choices available to you, and how to contact us about your information.
This Policy applies to www.heartsforthehungry.org and to personal information submitted through our website. It does not control the independent privacy practices of third-party websites or services.
1. Information We Collect
Information you provide
We may collect personal information when you:
Make a one-time or recurring donation.
Subscribe to newsletters or ministry updates.
Submit a contact form.
Request information.
Send us an email.
Submit a dedication, prayer request, message, or special instruction.
Express interest in volunteering, partnering, or becoming involved.
Ask us to update or remove information.
Communicate with us by another method.
The information may include:
Name.
Email address.
Telephone number.
Billing or mailing address.
Donation amount, date, frequency, and designation.
Transaction status and identification number.
Communication preferences.
Dedications, prayer requests, questions, and messages.
Information about your relationship with Hearts for the Hungry.
Other information you voluntarily provide.
Please do not provide personal information that is not reasonably necessary for your request or interaction with us.
Payment information
Online donations are processed through Wix and payment-service providers integrated with or made available through the website.
The payment provider may collect payment-card information, expiration date, security code, billing information, bank information, digital-wallet information, or other payment credentials.
Hearts for the Hungry does not directly store or have unrestricted access to complete payment-card numbers.
We may receive transaction-related information such as donor name, contact information, donation amount, donation date, donation frequency, payment status, transaction identifier, designation or message, and limited payment information such as the payment type or last digits of a card.
Payment providers process information under their own privacy notices and security practices.
Sensitive information in messages and prayer requests
A prayer request, dedication, or message may reveal sensitive information concerning health, religious beliefs or activities, family circumstances, financial hardship, children, personal relationships, or another person.
Please do not submit complete medical records, Social Security numbers, passwords, complete bank-account information, complete payment-card information, government identification numbers, or sensitive personal information about another person without permission.
We use prayer requests and similar messages for the reason they were submitted, such as responding, praying, administering a donation, or addressing a request.
Information collected automatically
When you use the website, Wix and other service providers may automatically collect:
Internet Protocol address.
Browser type.
Device type.
Operating system.
General location derived from an IP address.
Referring page or website.
Pages viewed.
Links or buttons selected.
Date, time, and duration of a visit.
Website-performance information.
Diagnostic and security information.
Cookie identifiers and similar technical and usage data.
We use this information to operate, secure, measure, troubleshoot, and improve the website.
2. Cookies and Similar Technologies
The website may use cookies, pixels, local storage, and similar technologies.
These technologies may be used for:
Essential website operation.
Website security and fraud prevention.
Donation and form functionality.
Remembering visitor choices.
Website analytics.
Performance measurement.
Embedded content.
Social-media features.
Essential cookies may be placed because they are necessary for the website to function. Where required, nonessential cookies will be used only after appropriate visitor consent. Our cookie-preference tool allows visitors to accept nonessential cookies, reject nonessential cookies, select cookie categories, and review or change previous selections.
You may also control cookies through your browser or device settings. Blocking certain cookies may affect website functionality.
A Cookie Settings link should remain available through the website so visitors can review or revise their choices.
3. How We Use Information
We may use personal information to:
Process and document donations.
Administer recurring donations.
Provide donation acknowledgments and receipts.
Respond to questions, messages, and prayer requests.
Send newsletters, ministry updates, impact stories, prayer updates, and fundraising communications.
Record and honor communication preferences.
Maintain donor and supporter records.
Administer programs, partnerships, and nonprofit operations.
Improve website content, accessibility, and usability.
Protect the website, donors, and organization from fraud, misuse, and security threats.
Detect and respond to technical problems.
Comply with tax, accounting, charitable-registration, legal, and regulatory obligations.
Establish, exercise, or defend legal rights.
Carry out another purpose disclosed when the information is collected.
Where applicable law requires a legal basis for processing, our basis may include your consent, performance of a transaction or service you requested, compliance with a legal obligation, and our legitimate interests in operating and protecting our charitable organization.
4. Email Communications
If you subscribe to newsletters, ministry updates, prayer updates, impact stories, fundraising communications, or similar messages, we may use your email address and related information to send those communications.
You may unsubscribe from general communications by using the unsubscribe link in an email or contacting info@heartsforthehungry.org.
We may retain limited information on a suppression list so that we can honor your unsubscribe request.
Unsubscribing from general communications does not prevent us from sending necessary transactional or administrative communications, including donation receipts, recurring-donation notices, responses to messages, security notices, information about an active request or transaction, and legally required communications.
5. How We Disclose Information
We do not sell or rent donor or supporter information.
We do not provide donor names, contact information, or donation histories to unrelated organizations for their independent marketing.
We may disclose information to service providers that help us operate, including:
Wix and website-hosting providers.
Donation and payment processors.
Email and newsletter providers.
Form and database providers.
Analytics and website-performance providers.
Information-technology, security, and backup providers.
Accounting, legal, insurance, auditing, and other professional advisors.
Mailing and communication vendors.
Government, regulatory, tax, or law-enforcement authorities when legally required.
These providers may access information only as reasonably necessary to perform services for us, comply with law, protect their systems or legal rights, or complete a transaction you requested.
We may also disclose information at your direction or with your consent; to investigate or prevent fraud, abuse, or harm; to respond to a security incident; to enforce agreements or protect legal rights; to comply with a subpoena, court order, or lawful government request; or in connection with a lawful restructuring, merger, transfer, or similar organizational event, subject to appropriate protections.
6. Donor Privacy
We use donor information to process gifts, provide acknowledgments, maintain financial and tax records, communicate with donors, administer recurring donations, and support our charitable mission.
We do not publish donor names or donation amounts without permission, except when disclosure is legally required.
A donor may request anonymous public recognition, correction of donor information, a change in communication preferences, or removal from public donor materials by contacting info@heartsforthehungry.org.
Anonymous public recognition does not prevent us from retaining information required for payment processing, donation records, accounting, tax compliance, fraud prevention, audits, or other lawful nonprofit purposes.
8. Information Security
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures intended to protect personal information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure.
These measures may include access limitations, password and account controls, use of established website and payment providers, encryption during transmission where supported, record-retention practices, staff and volunteer guidance, security monitoring, and backups.
No website, payment system, email service, database, or electronic transmission is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.
Please do not send complete payment-card numbers, bank-account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers, or similarly sensitive information through ordinary email or a general message field.
7. Data Retention
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy and to meet legal, accounting, tax, security, and operational requirements.
Our general retention practices are:
Donation, accounting, and tax records are ordinarily retained for at least seven years after the applicable transaction or reporting period and longer when legally required.
Recurring-donation records are retained while the recurring gift remains active and afterward as needed for financial, tax, and legal records.
Newsletter contact information is retained until you unsubscribe or the information is no longer reasonably needed.
A limited suppression record may be retained after you unsubscribe so that we do not inadvertently add you back to a mailing list.
Routine inquiries, prayer requests, and general messages are ordinarily retained only while needed to respond or maintain an ongoing relationship and may generally be deleted or archived within approximately 24 months.
Website analytics, security logs, and technical records are retained according to operational needs and service-provider settings.
Backup copies may remain temporarily after information is removed from active systems.
We may retain information longer when necessary for legal proceedings, audits, tax obligations, fraud prevention, safeguarding concerns, security investigations, disputes, or enforcement of agreements.
9. Your Privacy Choices and Requests
You may contact us to:
Ask what personal information we maintain about you.
Correct inaccurate contact information.
Update communication preferences.
Unsubscribe from general communications.
Request deletion of certain information.
Request a copy of certain information.
Ask that we stop a particular use of your information.
Ask about donation or recurring-payment records.
Request review or removal of a photograph or personal story.
We will consider and respond to reasonable requests consistent with applicable law.
Certain information may not be deleted when needed for donation records, tax reporting, accounting, fraud prevention, legal obligations, safeguarding, security, disputes, or enforcement of agreements.
We may need to verify your identity before completing a request. Requests may be sent to info@heartsforthehungry.org.
10. State Privacy Rights
Residents of certain states may have additional privacy rights under applicable state law.
Some nonprofit organizations and some categories of nonprofit information may be exempt from portions of state consumer-privacy laws.
Where an applicable law grants you rights that apply to Hearts For The Hungry, Inc., we will honor those rights.
We will not unlawfully discriminate against a person for making a valid privacy request.
11. Do Not Track Signals
Some web browsers transmit “Do Not Track” signals.
Because there is no universally accepted standard for responding to these signals, the website may not respond to every Do Not Track request.
You may use our cookie-preference tool and your browser or device settings to control certain cookies and tracking technologies.
12. Children’s Privacy
This website is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under 13.
We do not knowingly collect personal information online directly from a child under 13 without appropriate authorization or consent.
If we learn that a child under 13 submitted personal information without appropriate permission, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.
A parent or legal guardian who believes a child has submitted information may contact info@heartsforthehungry.org.
13. Photographs, Videos, and Stories
Our website may include photographs, videos, names, stories, testimonials, or program information involving children, families, schools, communities, volunteers, donors, and ministry partners.
We seek to obtain appropriate permission before publishing identifiable photographs, videos, or private personal stories.
We also seek to protect personal dignity; avoid unnecessary identifying information; avoid disclosing precise locations when doing so could create a safety concern; use particular care with children and vulnerable individuals; and avoid publishing a private prayer request without permission.
A person who believes that a photograph, video, story, name, or identifying detail should be reviewed, corrected, or removed may contact info@heartsforthehungry.org.
We will review the request and take reasonable action, considering identity verification, available consent records, safety, historical documentation, public-interest considerations, and applicable law.
14. Third-Party Websites and Services
The website may link to or incorporate services provided by Wix, payment providers, email providers, social-media platforms, video or media platforms, ministry partners, and other third parties.
Those services may collect or process information under their own privacy policies.
We do not control and are not responsible for the independent privacy or security practices of third parties. Review the privacy notice of a third-party service before providing information directly to it.
15. International Visitors
Hearts For The Hungry, Inc. is based in Pennsylvania in the United States.
If you access the website from another country, your information may be processed in the United States and in other countries where Wix or our service providers operate.
Those countries may have privacy and data-protection rules that differ from those in your country.
Where legally required, we will use appropriate safeguards for international processing or transfers.
16. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may revise this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our website, programs or services, technology, service providers, privacy practices, or legal obligations.
The revised Policy will be posted on this page with an updated effective date. When appropriate, we may provide additional notice of a material change.
17. Contact Us
Questions or requests concerning this Privacy Policy or our handling of personal information may be directed to:
Hearts For The Hungry, Inc.
Publicly known as Hearts for the Hungry
PO Box 10701
Erie, PA 16514-0701
Email: info@heartsforthehungry.org
