Privacy Policy

MEYFUND ("we", "us", "our") is a nonprofit corporation incorporated in California and a 501(c)(3) organisation in the United States, supporting children and their families in Ghana through play-based early childhood education. We are committed to collecting and using your personal data responsibly, in line with the United States federal and state laws that apply to us, including the California Online Privacy Protection Act and California's data breach notification law. Where we collect or process personal data in Ghana, we also comply with Ghana's Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843).

This policy covers personal data we collect through our website, our online forms, our donation and event pages, and our social media channels. For this data, MEYFUND is the data controller: we decide why and how it is used.

When a child takes part in a MEYFUND programme, we collect information about the child and their family through a separate enrolment process, with written consent from a parent or guardian. That consent form explains how we use that information. Where we rely on your consent for a specific purpose, such as using photographs or videos in our communications, we ask for it separately and clearly. You can withdraw consent at any time, and doing so will not affect your child's place in our programmes.

By using our website or contacting us, you confirm that you have read and understood this policy.

We collect only the data we need for each purpose below, and we keep it only as long as stated.

Payments: card and bank details are handled directly by our payment providers. MEYFUND never sees or stores your full card details.

We use cookies and similar technologies to keep our website working and to understand how visitors use it. Where cookies are not essential, we ask for your consent before setting them. You can manage or withdraw your cookie preferences at any time through your browser settings.

Do Not Track: some browsers send a "Do Not Track" signal. Our website does not currently respond to these signals, because there is no agreed standard for doing so. We do not track you across other websites over time.

Other parties: the service providers that run parts of our website, such as our form, donation and analytics tools, may set their own cookies when you use them. We do not allow other parties to collect personal information about your activity across different websites through our site for advertising.

We use your personal data to answer your questions, manage our waitlist and programmes, process donations and event bookings, send updates you have asked for, and meet our legal obligations. We will never send you marketing messages without your prior consent, and you can unsubscribe at any time. We do not use your data for any wholly automated decision-making that affects you.

Our website is for parents, caregivers, supporters and partners; it is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from anyone under 18 through our website.

Our waitlist asks a parent or guardian for their child's age and programme of interest only. When a child joins a MEYFUND programme, any further information about them, including photographs or videos, is collected only with verifiable written consent from their parent or legal guardian. We never publish a child's surname, school or home location. If you are a parent or guardian with questions about your child's data, please contact us using the details below.

We share personal data only when we need to, and only with:

• Service providers who help us run our work, such as our website host, online form provider, donation and event platform, and email provider. They may use your data only to provide their service to us.
• Programme partners in Ghana, where needed to deliver a programme you or your child are part of.
• Legal or regulatory authorities, where the law requires it.

We share information with donors and evaluators only in anonymised or summary form, unless you have separately agreed to be identified. Wherever we share personal data, we make sure the receiving party protects it appropriately. We never sell or rent your personal data.

MEYFUND is based in the United States and runs its programmes in Ghana, so your data may be stored or accessed in either country. Some of our service providers also store data in other countries. Wherever your data is transferred, we take reasonable steps to ensure it is protected to the standard set out in this policy and as required by applicable law.

We keep each type of personal data only for the period shown in the table above, or longer only where the law requires it.

If you ask us to delete personal data you have shared with us, we will do so promptly from our systems, unless the law requires us to keep it, and will take reasonable steps to have it deleted by any service provider we shared it with.

If we have reason to believe your personal data has been accessed or acquired without authorisation, we will notify you as soon as possible and, for California residents, within 30 days of discovering the breach, as California law requires. We will tell you what happened, what it may mean for you, and what we are doing to fix it and reduce any harm. Where a breach affects more than 500 California residents, we will also notify the California Attorney General. We will notify other authorities as required by law, including Ghana's Data Protection Commission for data collected in Ghana.

You have the right to:

• Ask what personal data we hold about you, and receive a copy
• Correct personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete
• Ask us to delete your personal data when we no longer need it
• Withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent
• Object to receiving marketing messages
• Complain to us, and to the relevant regulator

To use any of these rights, contact us using the details below. We may need to confirm your identity first.

We take reasonable steps to keep your personal data secure and to prevent unauthorised access or misuse, including:

• Limiting access to people who need it for their work
• Using secure, password-protected systems from trusted providers
• Collecting only the data we need, and deleting it when we no longer do

If you have a concern about how we handle your personal data, please contact us first through our contact form. We will respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the California Attorney General's office (oag.ca.gov) or the Attorney General in your own US state. If you are in Ghana, you also have the right to complain to Ghana's Data Protection Commission (dataprotection.org.gh).

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make important changes, we will let you know through our website or the channels you use to contact us. The date at the top is this policy's effective date and shows when it was last updated.

For any questions about this policy or your data, please get in touch through our contact form.