Privacy Policy

Policy effective as of 02/13/2025

1. Introduction

Welcome to VoteMate ("we," "our," "us"). Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information when you visit our website (votemateus.org) and use our services. This policy applies to all visitors, users, and others who access our services.

2. Information We Collect

We may collect the following types of information:

Personal Data You Provide: When you sign up for an account, donate, subscribe to our newsletter, or interact with our services, we may collect information such as your name, email address, phone number, and payment details.
Donations through Zeffy: We facilitate donations through an integration with Zeffy, a third-party service. VoteMate does not store or process any payment information directly. Users should refer to Zeffy's privacy policy for details on how their payment information is handled. When you make a donation, Zeffy processes your payment details, and we receive limited transaction information, such as your name and email, for record-keeping purposes.
CRM Data Collection: We collect and store email addresses and other user-provided information in our CRM system, HubSpot, for communication, outreach, and marketing purposes. Users can opt out of marketing emails at any time by following the unsubscribe link in our emails or by contacting us directly.
Career Interest Data: We collect and store basic information from individuals interested in careers with us, which is stored in HubSpot for hiring and recruitment purposes. If an applicant wishes to have their information removed from our records, they may contact us at help@votemateus.org.
Automatically Collected Data: We collect certain information automatically when you interact with our website, including your IP address, browser type, pages visited, and device details.
Cookies and Tracking Technologies: We use cookies and similar technologies to improve your experience, analyze website traffic, and provide relevant content. We also use analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, to gather anonymized website usage data. You can manage cookies through your browser settings.

3. How We Use Personal Data

To collect and manage donation records processed via Zeffy.
To manage and store email addresses and user-provided information in our CRM system, HubSpot, for communication and outreach purposes.
To collect and store basic information from individuals interested in careers with us, which is stored in HubSpot for hiring and recruitment purposes.
To provide, maintain, and improve our services.
To process donations and financial transactions securely.
To communicate with you, including responding to inquiries and sending updates, newsletters, and research surveys (where applicable).
To protect against fraud, security threats, and unauthorized access.
To analyze trends and user interactions to enhance our platform.
To comply with legal obligations and enforce our policies.

4. How We Share Personal Data

We do not sell your personal information.

However, we may share information in the following cases:

With Service Providers: We may share personal data with trusted third-party vendors who help us operate, such as payment processors, email marketing providers, and website hosts.
Legal Requirements: We may disclose personal data when required by law, to comply with legal processes, or to protect our rights, users, and the public.
With Your Consent: We may share personal data when you provide consent or request us to do so.

5. Data Security and Retention

We implement industry-standard technical, administrative, and organizational safeguards to help protect your personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Our platform is hosted on Microsoft Azure, which provides robust security measures, including encryption, access controls, and continuous monitoring to help protect stored data. However, no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. We retain your personal data only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy or as required by law. Where applicable, we follow data minimization and retention best practices.

6. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location, you may have rights regarding your personal data, including:

The right to access, update, or delete your information.
The right to object to or restrict certain processing activities.
The right to opt out of marketing communications.
The right to withdraw consent for processing where applicable.
The right to disable cookies through your browser settings.

To exercise these rights, please contact us at help@votemateus.org. We will respond to requests in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

7. Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for their privacy practices and encourage you to review their privacy policies before sharing your personal data with them.

8. Children's Privacy

VoteMate is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. We request that individuals under 13 refrain from using our website. If we discover that we have unintentionally collected data from a child, we will take steps to delete it promptly.

9. Automated Decision-Making and Profiling

We do not use automated decision-making processes or profiling that have significant legal effects on users.

10. Security

We use commercially reasonable technical, administrative, and organizational safeguards to help protect your personal data. However, no method of transmission or storage over the Internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You should exercise caution when sharing sensitive information online. Additionally, we are not responsible for any breaches resulting from circumvention of our security measures or those of third-party services linked to our platform.

11. State-Specific Privacy Rights

Residents of certain states, such as California, Virginia, and Colorado, may have additional rights regarding their personal data, including the right to request information about data collected, request deletion, and opt-out of certain processing activities. If you are a resident of one of these states and wish to exercise your rights, please contact us at help@votemateus.org.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If changes are significant, we will notify users through our website, email, or other appropriate means. The latest version will always be available on this page with an updated effective date.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: help@votemateus.org