Privacy Policy for Texas Spirit Initiative

Effective Date: August 3, 2025

At Texas Spirit Initiative, we respect and protect your privacy. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal data. By interacting with our website or participating in our programs (such as donating, volunteering, applying for aid, or purchasing event tickets), you consent to the data practices outlined here.

Who We Are

Our website address is: https://texasspirit.org.

1. Aid Assistance Application

Data Collection for Aid Assistance
If you apply for assistance through our aid application process, we collect personal information you provide, such as your name, contact details, and information related to your request for assistance. This data is used solely for the purpose of processing your application and providing assistance. We do not share this information with third parties unless required by law or for the purpose of fulfilling your request.

How Your Data Is Used
The data we collect during the aid application process may be used to:

  • Review and process your application for assistance.

  • Contact you regarding your application status and the assistance available.

  • Verify your eligibility for aid.

How Long We Retain Your Data
Your personal data related to the aid application will be retained for as long as necessary to process your application and provide assistance. If your application is successful, your data will be stored in our records for as long as required to support any future follow-up or reporting requirements. If your application is not successful, we will retain your data for a period necessary to comply with any legal obligations and administrative needs.

Your Rights Over the Data Collected in the Aid Application
If you have submitted an application for aid, you have the right to:

  • Request access to the personal data we hold about you.

  • Correct any inaccuracies in the data provided.

  • Request the deletion of your personal data, subject to any legal or administrative retention requirements.

2. Volunteer Data

Data Collection for Volunteers
If you apply to volunteer or are involved in volunteer activities, we collect personal data such as your name, email address, phone number, availability, and any relevant skills or experience. This information is used to assign you to specific tasks, communicate with you about volunteering opportunities, and ensure that we can safely and efficiently carry out our initiatives.

How Your Data Is Used
We use volunteer data to:

  • Schedule volunteer shifts and roles.

  • Communicate event details, scheduling updates, and other volunteer-related information.

  • Ensure volunteer safety and coordinate activities.

How Long We Retain Your Data
Volunteer data will be retained for the duration of your involvement with Texas Spirit and for a period afterward as necessary to comply with any legal or administrative needs.

Your Rights Over the Data Collected for Volunteering
Volunteers have the right to:

  • Access and correct any volunteer-related personal data we hold.

  • Request that we erase personal data, subject to any legal or operational requirements.

3. Comments and Website Interactions

Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, as well as the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help with spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to check if you are using it. The Gravatar service’s privacy policy can be found here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture will be visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media
If you upload images to the website, please avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

4. Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site, you may opt-in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me,” your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after one day.

5. Embedded Content from Other Websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

6. Who We Share Your Data With

We do not sell or share your personal data with any third parties for marketing purposes. However, we may share your data with trusted third-party providers as necessary to fulfill our operations:

  • Payment Processors: For donation or ticket transactions (e.g., Stripe, Square, PayPal).

  • Email Services: For communication and marketing purposes (e.g., MailChimp, Constant Contact, etc).

  • Event Services: For event registration or ticketing (e.g., Eventbrite).

  • Volunteer Coordination: If volunteer management platforms or third-party services are used.

7. How Long We Retain Your Data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely to recognize and approve follow-up comments automatically. For users that register on our website, we store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

8. What Rights You Have Over Your Data

If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

9. Where Your Data Is Sent

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Effective Date.” Please review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your data.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your rights, please contact us at:

Texas Spirit Initiative
info@texasspirit.org