Home > Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
Effective Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2025
1. Introduction
The Mattie J.T. Stepanek Foundation, Inc., doing business as Mattie Stepanek Peace Foundation (“we,” “us,” or “our”), is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy outlines our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing your information when you visit our website, https://www.mattiespeacefoundation.org (our “Website”), and interact with our services.
By using our Website, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. This policy is intended to comply with major privacy regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), and the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA).
2. Information We Collect
We collect information to operate effectively and provide you with the best experiences on our Website. We collect two main types of information:
A. Personal Information You Provide to Us:
This is information that you voluntarily provide to us and that identifies you personally. This includes:
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Contact Data: Your first and last name, email address, postal address, and phone number.
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Financial Data: Payment information, such as credit card details and billing address, when you make a one-time donation, purchase a membership (which may involve recurring payments), or make any other payment to us. Please note that all payments are processed by our secure payment provider, Stripe, and we do not store your full credit card information on our servers.
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Correspondence: Any information you provide when you contact us with questions, feedback, or inquiries.
B. Information Collected Automatically:
As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns. This includes:
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Log and Usage Data: Information such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, browser version, operating system, the pages of our Website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, and other diagnostic data.
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Tracking Technologies Data: We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on our Website and hold certain information. (See Section 5 for more details).
3. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for various purposes, including:
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To Provide Our Services: To process your donations, memberships, or other payments, send you receipts and acknowledgements, and fulfill your requests.
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To Communicate With You: To respond to your inquiries, provide customer service, and send you newsletters, updates, and other information about our mission and activities, from which you can opt-out at any time.
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To Manage Our Operations: To manage our donor and community member relationships using third-party providers such as CircleCo, Inc. (Circle.so), Hostinger, and Givebutter.
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To Analyze and Improve our Website: To understand how our users interact with the Website, improving its functionality, content, and user experience.
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To Ensure Security: To monitor for and prevent fraudulent activity and to maintain the security and integrity of our Website.
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To Meet Legal Obligations: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, and legal processes.
4. How and Why We Share Your Information
We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to others. We may share your information in the following limited circumstances:
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With Trusted Service Providers: We share information with third-party vendors and partners who perform services on our behalf. These include:
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Stripe: For secure payment and donation processing.
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Givebutter: For donor contact management and fundraising campaigns.
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CircleCo, Inc. (Circle.so): For hosting and managing our Peace Community platform at community.mattiespeacefoundation.org.
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Hostinger: For website hosting services. These providers are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
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To Comply with Legal Obligations: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or a government agency).
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To Protect Our Rights: We may disclose information to protect and defend the rights, property, or safety of the Foundation, our users, or the public.
5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
Our Website uses “cookies,” which are small text files placed on your device, to enhance your browsing experience. We use cookies to:
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Enable Core Functionality: Some cookies are essential for the Website to function properly.
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Analyze Performance: We use cookies to analyze user activity in order to improve the Website.
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Remember Your Preferences: We use cookies to remember your settings and preferences.
Your Choices: You can control and manage cookies through your browser settings. You can set your browser to refuse all or some cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. However, if you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of the Website may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
6. Data Retention
We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as for tax, accounting, or other legal requirements).
7. Data Security
We have implemented industry-standard administrative, technical, and physical security measures designed to protect your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. However, please remember that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
8. International Data Transfers
Our Website is hosted in and our operations are based in the United States. If you are accessing the Website from the European Union or other regions with laws governing data collection and use, please be aware that your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States. By using our Website, you consent to the transfer of your information to the U.S. and the use and disclosure of your information as described in this privacy policy. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this policy.
9. Your Privacy Rights
Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:
A. For Residents of the European Economic Area (EEA) under GDPR:
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Right to Access: You have the right to request copies of your personal data.
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Right to Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate or complete information you believe is incomplete.
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Right to Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
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Right to Restrict Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
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Right to Data Portability: You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
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Right to Object to Processing: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
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Right to Withdraw Consent: You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time where we relied on your consent to process your personal information.
B. For Residents of California under CCPA/CPRA:
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Right to Know: You have the right to request that we disclose what personal information we collect, use, disclose, and sell.
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Right to Delete: You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information that we have collected.
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Right to Correct: You have the right to request the correction of inaccurate personal information.
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Right to Opt-Out of Sale/Sharing: We do not “sell” or “share” your personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA/CPRA.
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Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA/CPRA rights.
How to Exercise Your Rights:
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details provided below. We will respond to your request in accordance with applicable law.
10. Children's Privacy
Our Website is not intended for children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 16. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from children under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to remove that information from our servers.
11. Links to Other Websites
Our Website may contain links to third-party websites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services. We strongly advise you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit.
12. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the “Last Updated” date at the top of this policy. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.
13. Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
Mattie Stepanek Peace Foundation
402 King Farm Boulevard #125
Rockville, Maryland 20850
Email: info@mattiespeacefoundation.org
Phone: +1 (202) 888-MJTS (6587)