Privacy Policy

Effective Date: June 13, 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how the Karmapa Center ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and protects your information when you visit our website and make a charitable donation. We are deeply committed to protecting donor privacy and maintaining transparency about our data practices.

1. Information We Collect

We only collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when making a donation or contacting us. This includes:

Contact Information: Your name, email address, physical mailing address, and phone number.
Donation History: Donation amounts, payment dates, and giving history.
No Cookies or Tracking: Our website does not use cookies, tracking pixels, or analytics scripts to monitor your browsing behavior or collect background data. [1]

2. Secure Payment Processing via Givebutter [2]

All online donations are securely processed through our third-party fundraising platform, Givebutter. [3]

Financial Data Security: When you input your credit card, debit card, or bank account information, it goes directly to Givebutter's secure payment processors (such as Stripe). [4, 5]
No Data Stored Locally: Karmapa Center does not view, process, or store your full credit card numbers or financial account details on our own servers.
Platform Policy: Your data is also subject to Givebutter’s secure infrastructure. You can review how they protect data in the Givebutter Privacy Policy. [6, 7]

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your collected contact and donation details strictly to:

Process your contributions and send tax-deductible donation receipts.
Communicate with you regarding news, center updates, and upcoming events (only if you opt-in).
Comply with state and federal financial reporting regulations. [8]

4. Sharing of Information

We highly value your trust. We will never sell, rent, trade, or share your personal information with any outside organizations for marketing purposes.

We only share data under these strict exceptions:

Service Providers: Sharing details with Givebutter solely to execute your transaction.
Legal Requirements: Disclosing data if required by law, such as to comply with an IRS audit or a valid subpoena.
Donor Recognition: We may occasionally list donor names in annual reports. You will always be given the option through Givebutter to make your donation completely anonymous.

5. Illinois State Compliance

As an Illinois-based nonprofit, we comply with state privacy frameworks:

No Biometrics: We do not collect, store, or use biometric identifiers or biometric information (such as fingerprints or facial geometry) as regulated by the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
Data Retention: We retain your contact and donation records only as long as necessary to fulfill accounting requirements and comply with statutory legal retention periods.

6. Your Rights and Opt-Out Options

You maintain full control over your personal data. You may contact us at any time to:

Opt out of receiving future emails or physical mailings.
Review, update, or correct the contact information we have on file.
Request that your details be permanently removed from our internal outreach lists.

7. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect future changes in our operations or legal duties. Any updates will be published directly on this page with a revised "Effective Date."