Your information. Handled with care.

1. Scope and organization

This Privacy Policy applies to the public website operated by Open Gates Association (OGA), including Ask Open Gates AI. It does not govern the independent websites of donation providers, partners, or other third parties linked from this site.

The website is intended to inform donors, volunteers, partners, journalists, and other members of the general public about OGA's mission and programs.

2. Information we process

OGA does not collect payment-card numbers or online-banking credentials on this website. Donations are completed on external provider websites.

• Technical delivery and security data, such as an IP address, browser or device information, requested page, request time, and diagnostic information.
• Information you choose to include when you email OGA, including your email address, message, and any attachments.
• Questions submitted to Ask Open Gates AI, the selected program context, and the answer returned to you.
• Heart to Heart campaign greetings you choose to submit, including your email address, optional name and written message, or an optional video file and note.
• A pseudonymous security identifier derived on OGA's server. Raw network identifiers are not included in the identifier sent to OpenAI.
• If you allow site analytics, Google Analytics 4 may process page and interaction information, approximate geography, browser or device information, consent state, and limited donation-funnel events. OGA does not send names, contact details, payment credentials, donor messages, Ask Open Gates AI questions, or information about children through GA4.
• If you allow Google Ads measurement, limited information needed to measure a completed donation after OGA's server verifies that Stripe reports the Checkout Session as paid. The conversion event may include a transaction identifier, amount, currency, advertising click identifier, and browser or device information. OGA does not send a donor's name, email address, telephone number, postal address, card details, message, or other personal information through this event.

3. How information is used

• Deliver, maintain, secure, and troubleshoot the website.
• Respond to messages and route questions to the appropriate OGA contact.
• Generate source-based answers through Ask Open Gates AI.
• Review Heart to Heart greetings and, only with the submitter's consent, decide whether an approved greeting may be shared with campaign partners or children.
• Understand, with the visitor's permission, how people use public pages and move through the donation journey so OGA can improve content, accessibility, and navigation.
• Measure, with the visitor's permission, a completed Stripe donation only after OGA's server verifies the paid Checkout Session. OGA may separately count an outbound visit to another hosted giving provider, but does not represent that provider visit as a completed donation.
• Prevent abuse, enforce service limits, and protect visitors and OGA systems.
• Meet legal, accounting, security, and recordkeeping obligations where applicable.

4. Service providers and external services

OGA uses service providers to host and secure the website and to operate the AI assistant. These providers process information only as needed to supply their services under their own contractual and legal obligations.

Ask Open Gates AI sends the visitor's question and selected excerpts from OGA's approved public knowledge base to the OpenAI API. OGA requests that Responses API application state not be stored. OpenAI may retain abuse-monitoring data under its API data policy unless different account-level controls apply.

YouTube videos use privacy-enhanced embed URLs. Playing embedded media or continuing to Stripe, PayPal, DAF Direct, Donorbox, YouTube, or another third party may allow that service to process information under its own privacy policy. For an ordinary online donation, OGA's server validates the selected campaign, amount, and one-time or monthly selection, creates a Stripe Checkout Session, and redirects the donor to Stripe-hosted Checkout. PayPal is available as an alternative, and Donorbox may be used for designated peer-to-peer, member, or participant fundraising.

Heart to Heart greeting files are uploaded directly to private Amazon S3 storage. They are not stored in the public website repository or used as part of the Open Gates AI knowledge corpus.

Google Analytics and Google Ads conversion measurement use separate optional choices and remain storage-denied until a visitor allows the corresponding purpose. OGA's GA4 property is linked to Google Ads for reporting, with personalized advertising, Google Signals, User-ID, user-provided data collection, enhanced conversions, and embedded Analytics editing from Ads disabled. For a Stripe donation, OGA sends a completed-donation event only after server verification of the paid Checkout Session. The direct Google Ads completed-donation action remains the bidding conversion; GA4 events are not imported as a duplicate primary conversion.

5. Sharing and sale of information

OGA does not sell personal information and does not use this website for targeted advertising. Information may be disclosed to service providers, professional advisers, or public authorities when reasonably necessary to operate the service, protect rights and safety, or comply with law.

6. Retention and security

OGA keeps information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was received, to protect the service, and to meet legal or recordkeeping obligations. Retention periods can differ by category and provider.

OGA's GA4 property is configured to retain event and user data for 14 months. Aggregated reporting may remain available under Google's product controls after underlying user-level retention periods expire.

Heart to Heart submissions are configured to expire from private storage after 180 days. OGA may delete a greeting earlier after review or at the submitter's verified request, subject to legal or operational requirements.

OGA uses reasonable administrative and technical safeguards, but no website or transmission method can be guaranteed completely secure. Please do not send payment credentials, private medical information, or sensitive information about children or beneficiaries through email or the AI assistant.

7. Choices and privacy requests

The Privacy choices control lets visitors separately allow or decline site analytics and donation conversion measurement. A previous Google-Ads-only choice is not treated as permission for GA4. Changing or declining either optional purpose does not restrict access to public pages or donation options.

Depending on your location, you may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, restriction, or objection regarding personal information held by OGA. Email info@opengatesassn.org with enough detail to identify the request. OGA may need to verify the requester before acting.

8. Children's privacy

This general-audience website is designed for adults and is not directed to children under 13. OGA does not knowingly collect personal information directly from a child under 13 through the website or AI assistant. A child should not submit personal information. A parent or guardian who believes a child has provided information should email OGA so the matter can be reviewed.

9. International processing

The website is operated from the United States. Visitors in other countries should understand that information may be processed in the United States and other locations where OGA's service providers operate, subject to applicable safeguards and law.

10. Changes and contact

OGA may update this policy when the website, providers, or legal requirements change. The current revision date appears at the top of this page. Privacy questions and requests may be sent to info@opengatesassn.org.