This Privacy Policy describes how The Help Relief Project (referred to as “THRP,” “we,” us,” or “our”) collects, uses, and discloses your personal information. This Privacy Policy applies to www.thehelpreliefproject.org (collectively, our “website”), our mobile application, in-person events, and any communications we may send to you. The words “user,” “you,” and “your” mean users of this website or our other services. To the extent permitted by applicable law, you consent to the use of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy each time you visit our website or use our services.

CATEGORIES OF INFORMATION WE COLLECT ONLINE

We collect information when you interact with us online, in person, or on a mobile device, for example, when you visit our website, mobile application, contact us, or make a donation online. We may collect the following categories of information from or about you:

• Information you provide to us: We collect the information you provide when you choose to contact us, submit an application, make loan payments, make a donation, or submit an online or mobile form. This may include personally identifying information, such as your name, form of identification, email, address, phone number, birth date, geographic location, credit score, payment information, income, debt, and other financial information necessary to process your request. Disclosure of this information is voluntary; however, if you choose not to provide the requested information, you may be unable to access the service in question. THRP may also compile aggregate, non-personally identifiable loan information for educational and information purposes in furtherance of THRP’s mission.
  
• Information about your use of our website and mobile application: THRP employs third-party services, such as Google Analytics, to passively collect general user information so we can calculate how many visitors come to our website or mobile application, how they find us and how they interact with or services while there. We use this information to help us make the website and mobile application more responsive to your needs. Such information may include IP address, location information, type of device, platform-related information, and browsing history.

HOW WE USE INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Generally speaking, we use personal information to communicate with you, to inform you of programs and services that may be of interest, to provide, improve, and develop our services, and to protect us and our users. THRP collects and processes your personal information for the following purposes:

• Communicating with you: We may use your personal information to communicate with you, process your requests, applications or donations, send you payment reminders, and to inform you about our policies and terms. If you participate in our programs, you agree that all communications from THRP relating to your use of the website and participation in our programs may be provided or made available to you electronically via the e-mail address you provide us or via the website. You may withdraw your consent to receive communications electronically by contacting THRP in the manner described below. However, if you withdraw your consent to receive communications electronically from THRP (other than for optional promotional emails described below), THRP will not have the ability to permit you to borrow or lend any additional loans. The withdrawal of your consent will not affect the legal validity and enforceability of electronic communications provided by us in connection with any of your loans that have not been fully paid, or any electronic communications provided by THRP prior to the time you withdraw your consent. It is your responsibility to keep THRP informed of any changes in your email address so that you don’t miss important communications. THRP will not disclose your email address to other borrowers or lenders. THRP may also communicate with you through physical mail, and, with your prior consent, by text message at any telephone number that you have provided to us, and in a manner as described further below; if you do not want to receive text messages from THRP, please contact us at support@thehelpreliefproject.org or as described below in the SMS Notification section.
  
• Informing you about programs or services that may be of interest: We may use your personal information to send you THRP promotional communications; for example, we may periodically send you emails about new THRP programs and services, content or services that may be of interest to you, or upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive such emails in the future, you can contact us at support@thehelpreliefproject.org to opt-out of receiving such communications. Note that if you decide to opt-out, we may still send you non-promotional communications, such as communications about your existing loan, donation, or online account.
  
• Providing, improving, and developing our services: We use your information to help us provide, improve, and develop our services, which is necessary for us to pursue our legitimate interest, provide you with quality services, and to further THRP’s mission to create a more fair marketplace. This includes using aggregate, non-personally identifiable information for purposes such as data analysis, research, and education. The information we receive allows us to tailor our service offerings, improve your online experience, educate and inform you, and customize the content and layout of our pages.
  
• Promoting safety and security: We use your information to pursue our legitimate interest in helping verify accounts and user activity, as well as in promoting safety and security, such as by monitoring fraud, investigating suspicious or potentially illegal activity or violations of our terms or policies, protecting our rights, or pursuing available remedies.
  
• SMS Notifications: THRP may also communicate with you, with your prior consent, through text message to inform you about your participation in our programs, or to notify you about programs or services that might be of interest for you. You can cancel the SMS service at any time. Just text “STOP” to the short code, or email us at support@thehelpreliefproject.org After you send the SMS message “STOP” to us, we will send you an SMS message to confirm that you have been unsubscribed. After this, you will no longer receive SMS messages from us. If you want to join again, just sign up as you did the first time and we will start sending SMS messages to you again. If you are experiencing issues with the messaging program you can reply with the keyword HELP for more assistance, or you can get help directly at support@thehelpreliefproject.org Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. As always, message and data rates may apply for any messages sent to you from us and to us from you. You will receive up to 5 messages per month. If you have any questions about your text plan or data plan, it is best to contact your wireless provider.

THIRD PARTIES TO WHOM WE DISCLOSE INFORMATION

THRP will not rent or sell your personal information to third parties. We may disclose personal information we collect online to the following categories of third parties:

• Vendors and Service Providers: We use third-party companies to help us provide our services to you, for example, to process payments and transactions, operate our mobile application, interface with credit bureaus or financial institutions, communicate with you, and send THRP promotional materials. Some of these companies are given access to some or all of the information you provide to us. All such access shall be under appropriate confidentiality agreements and limited to use to provide services to THRP to help THRP further its mission. Personal information will not be shared with these third parties for their own marketing purposes.
  
• Credit Bureaus: THRP may disclose some or all of the information you provide us to credit bureaus (i.e. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) to provide our services and help you build a credit history. This may include your name, address, social security number, and information about your loan balance and payments. The information provided to credit bureaus may be used in consumer credit reports. Credit bureaus are regulated by federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations intended to protect consumers’ privacy, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and credit bureaus may only use and disclose personal information subject to applicable legal restrictions and requirements.
  
• Local Governments: Certain city and county governments, including in San Francisco, utilize THRP to provide financial services to their residents. If you obtained a loan from THRP that is funded in whole or in part by one of these local governments, that government may be given access to some or all of the information you provide to us. All such access shall be under appropriate confidentiality agreements and limited to specific uses.
  
• Partner Organizations: THRP currently partners with third-party non-profit organizations across the country to provide its programs and services to a broader range of individuals. If you access THRP’s programs or services through a partner organization, that partner may be given access to some or all of the information you provide to us. These partner organizations are bound by an agreement to comply with the terms of this Privacy Policy, except in limited circumstances where they have obtained the prior written consent of THRP and, if applicable, the affected individuals.
  
• Other Website and Mobile Application Users: THRP may publicly display and disclose aggregate, non-personally identifiable, anonymous loan information for educational, informational or promotional purposes in furtherance of THRP’s mission. THRP will never include any personally identifying information without your express consent.
  
• Legal Compliance and Security: In certain special cases, we may disclose your personal information when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify or contact you or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to you, THRP, or someone else. We may disclose your personal information when we believe the law requires it, in response to any demand by law enforcement authorities in connection with a criminal investigation, in response to civil or administrative authorities in connection with a pending civil case, governmental authorities or administrative investigation, or in connection with an investigation conducted by THRP.

COOKIES & WEB BEACONS

Cookies are small text files created by a website that store information on your computer, such as your preferences when visiting that website. Similar to many websites, if you have enabled cookies in your browser, THRP, independently and through enabled third-party tools and programs, collects certain technical information using cookies, such as how a user got to our website, what pages are visited, originating IP address, browser type, browser language and the date and time of the user’s visit. This information helps THRP track trends and improve areas of the website and services. A cookie does not identify you personally, but only identifies your browser. Many browsers maintain a default setting to allow cookies. You have the ability to modify this setting so as to decline cookies. The “Help” tab on your toolbar may guide you to the settings for your browser that will allow you to change your browser settings with regard to cookies. Please note that if you decline cookies, your use of our website may be impaired.

Web beacons are tiny graphics with a unique identifier that are similar in function to cookies but, instead of being stored on your computer, are embedded invisibly on web pages and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Web beacons are used to track the online movements of internet users and help THRP better understand who is interacting and engaging with the website and our programs and services.

COMPANIES OTHER THAN THRP

Our website and mobile application may contain links to or the ability for you to access third-party websites, products, and services (e.g. Classy, Facebook, Twitter, Salesforce, Citibank). We are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by those third parties, nor are we responsible for the information or content their products and services contain. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by THRP. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any third parties before proceeding to use their websites, products, or services.

If you use THRP web features that are integrated with third-party websites or services (e.g. Twitter and Facebook) to share information about your activity (e.g. information about recently completed loan payments or distributions and whether you “like” THRP), THRP will share this information with the third-party website or service and additional information, if any, that you choose to provide to THRP to use these features (for example, your username for the third party website or service). If you use interactive features on THRP to indicate that you “recommend” a particular feature or listing on THRP, that information will be collected, may be displayed on the website, and may be shared on any applicable third-party websites and services to which you have authorized such information sharing.

CHILDREN

We do not knowingly collect information directly from children under the age of 13. As stated in our Terms of Use, to access and use our services under our program requirements, you have to be over the age of 18. In certain limited circumstances (e.g., when an individual is applying for a Petition for an Immigrant Relative and the relative is a minor), we may collect the first and last name of a minor under the age of 13, but we collect that information from the minor’s parent or legal guardian. If you believe that we have any information from a child under age 13 without consent from a parent or legal guardian, please contact us at support@thehelpreliefproject.org.

OUR DATA LOCATION

THRP is headquartered in the USA. Your personal information may be accessed by THRP, our affiliates, service providers, agents, and representatives in the USA or elsewhere in the world. To the extent permitted by applicable law, you consent to this transfer when you provide us with personal information. THRP will protect the privacy and security of personal information according to this Privacy Policy regardless of where the personal information is processed or stored.

YOUR RIGHTS

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• See what data we have about you, if any, and access the data
• Change/correct any data we have about you.
• Have us delete any data we have about you.
• Receive your personal information in a structured and standard format.
• Express concerns you have about our use of your data.

If you are a California resident, California law permits you to request information regarding the disclosure of your personal information to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. THRP does not share personal information with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

You may contact us at support@thehelpreliefproject.org to exercise your rights. We will respond to your request in a reasonable timeframe, and in any event in less than one month or 45 days, depending on the law applicable where you live. You may also lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority regarding the processing of your personal information.

To protect the privacy and the security of your personal information, we may request information from you to enable us to confirm your identity and right to access such information, as well as to search for and provide you with the personal information we maintain. There are instances where applicable laws or regulatory requirements allow or require us to refuse to provide or delete some or all of the personal information that we maintain.

SECURITY

We have implemented reasonable physical, technological, and organizational safeguards and security measures designed to protect against the loss, misuse, or unauthorized access or disclosure of your personal information under our control. Please be aware that, despite our efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. In the event of a security breach, we will promptly notify you and the proper authorities if required by law. We will retain your personal information for as long as it is necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may periodically change this Privacy Policy. Any non-material changes will take effect immediately upon posting of an updated Privacy Policy. For any significant changes to the Privacy Policy, we will provide you with a prominent notice of such changes. To the extent permitted by applicable law, your continued use of our website and services after the effective date of such notice means that you accept the revised Privacy Policy.

CONTACT

For additional information, or if you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or the privacy practices at THRP, please submit your questions or comments directly to support@thehelpreliefproject.org or call us at (760) 303-5111