Effective Date: May 27th, 2026
Trace of Hope respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how Trace of Hope collects, uses, shares, and protects information when you visit our website, make a donation, nominate a student, sign up for updates, submit information, or otherwise interact with us online.
Trace of Hope is a New York nonprofit organization and a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Our mission is to provide needs-based, tax-deductible grants that help students pursue higher education, reduce financial pressure, and continue working toward their personal, educational, and community impact goals.
By using our website, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
1. Who We Are
Trace of Hope operates this website to share information about our mission, accept donations, collect student nominations, display student grant recipient profiles with consent, and allow visitors to sign up for updates.
For privacy-related questions, donor questions, nomination questions, or removal requests, you may contact us at:
Trace of Hope
New York, NY 10003
Email: donations@traceofhope.org
2. Information We Collect
The information we collect depends on how you interact with our website.
Donation Information
When you make a donation through our website, we may collect information such as your first name, last name, email address, donation amount, optional company name, optional message, and whether you choose to make your donation anonymous publicly.
Donations are processed through GiveWP and Stripe or other third-party payment processors. Trace of Hope does not store full credit card numbers or full payment card details on our website. Payment information is processed by third-party payment processors according to their own privacy policies and security practices.
If you choose to make a donation anonymous, this means your name will not be publicly displayed in connection with the donation. Anonymous donations are not anonymous to Trace of Hope, GiveWP, Stripe, payment processors, or others who need access to donation information for processing, compliance, recordkeeping, or legal purposes.
Nomination Information
When you nominate a student, we may collect information such as your name, the student’s name, the student’s location, and information you choose to provide about the student. This may include information about the student’s educational goals, financial need, personal growth, community involvement, or reasons you believe the student should be considered for support.
Anyone may nominate a student, including teachers, mentors, family members, friends, or community members. By submitting a nomination, you confirm that the information you provide is truthful to the best of your knowledge and that you have the right or appropriate permission to share the information you submit.
Student and Grant Recipient Information
Trace of Hope may collect information from students or grant recipients through questionnaires, emails, interviews, consent forms, or other communications. This may include first name, photo, education-related information, personal goals, financial need, community impact, and other personal details voluntarily provided by the student or, where applicable, a parent or legal guardian.
Student profiles displayed on the website include first name only, a photo provided by the student, and personal details submitted through a questionnaire or related communications. Public student profiles do not include the grant amount.
Trace of Hope only publishes student stories, photos, or profile information with written consent. If a student is under 18, Trace of Hope requires written consent from a parent or legal guardian before publishing the student’s name, image, story, or profile information.
Students or guardians may request that a student profile be removed by contacting donations@traceofhope.org.
Newsletter and Communications Information
If you sign up for our newsletter or updates, we may collect your name, email address, and related signup information. Newsletter signups are handled through a WordPress plugin or related website tool. We only add you to our newsletter or email updates when you opt in.
Our emails may include nonprofit updates, student impact stories, donation opportunities, grant updates, and other information related to Trace of Hope’s mission. You may unsubscribe from marketing or newsletter emails at any time by using the unsubscribe link in the email or by contacting us.
Website and Analytics Information
When you visit our website, we may collect certain technical and usage information automatically, including IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited, referring pages, approximate location information, interactions with the site, and other analytics data.
We use Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, cookies, tags, analytics tools, embedded content, and similar technologies to understand how visitors use our website, improve the user experience, measure performance, and support website security and functionality.
Information You Choose to Provide
You may also provide information when you contact us by email, submit a form, respond to a questionnaire, request information, ask a question, or otherwise communicate with Trace of Hope.
3. How We Use Information
Trace of Hope may use information for the following purposes:
- To process donations and recurring donations
- To send donation confirmations and receipts through GiveWP, Stripe, or related tools
- To communicate with donors, nominators, students, parents, guardians, and website visitors
- To review student nominations
- To evaluate potential grant recipients
- To administer grantmaking and charitable programs
- To create and publish student profiles with written consent
- To share mission-related updates, impact stories, and newsletters with people who opt in
- To maintain, improve, and secure our website
- To understand website traffic and engagement
- To comply with legal, tax, accounting, nonprofit, charitable solicitation, and recordkeeping obligations
- To protect Trace of Hope, our donors, students, grant recipients, website visitors, and the public
4. Donations, Receipts, and Records
Trace of Hope is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Donations support Trace of Hope’s charitable mission and grantmaking work.
Donation receipts are generally provided through GiveWP, Stripe, or related donation processing tools. Trace of Hope may also use donation records for tax, accounting, donor stewardship, audit, legal, and nonprofit compliance purposes.
Trace of Hope retains discretion and control over all charitable funds. Nominations do not guarantee funding, and donations support Trace of Hope’s charitable mission rather than creating a direct legal entitlement for any specific student.
5. How We Share Information
Trace of Hope does not sell personal information.
We may share information with trusted service providers and partners who help us operate the website, process donations, manage forms, send emails, analyze website usage, maintain records, provide accounting support, provide legal or compliance support, or otherwise operate our nonprofit.
These may include website tools, WordPress plugins, GiveWP, Stripe, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, email tools, hosting providers, payment processors, accountants, legal advisors, contractors, consultants, website developers, and other service providers.
We may also share information when required by law, regulation, subpoena, legal process, tax obligation, audit, nonprofit filing, charitable solicitation requirement, or to protect the rights, safety, and property of Trace of Hope, our users, students, donors, and others.
6. Student Privacy and Consent
Student privacy matters to Trace of Hope. We aim to share student stories in a way that is respectful, consent based, and aligned with our mission.
We only publish student profiles, photos, stories, quotes, or related information with written consent. If the student is under 18, we require written consent from a parent or legal guardian.
Trace of Hope may edit student stories or profile information for clarity, length, grammar, privacy, dignity, and consistency with our mission. We do not publicly list grant amounts on student profiles.
A student, parent, or legal guardian may request removal of a student profile by emailing donations@traceofhope.org. We will review removal requests and take reasonable steps to remove or update the applicable profile from our website. Please understand that content previously shared online may have been copied, cached, screenshotted, archived, or shared by others outside of our control.
7. Children and Minors
Our website is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under 13.
Trace of Hope may support students who are minors, but we do not knowingly publish information about minors without written parent or legal guardian consent. If we learn that we have collected personal information online from a child under 13 without appropriate consent, we will take reasonable steps to delete that information or obtain appropriate consent where required.
If you believe a child has submitted personal information to Trace of Hope without appropriate consent, please contact us at donations@traceofhope.org.
8. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
Our website may use cookies, tags, pixels, analytics tools, embedded content, and similar technologies. These technologies help us operate the website, understand visitor behavior, improve performance, measure the effectiveness of our content, and protect the website.
You may be able to disable or limit cookies through your browser settings. If you disable cookies, some parts of the website may not function properly.
Third-party tools, such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, GiveWP, Stripe, embedded content providers, or other plugins, may use their own cookies or tracking technologies according to their own policies.
9. Third-Party Links and Services
Our website may include links, tools, forms, embedded content, donation processors, or plugins operated by third parties. These third parties may collect information directly from you and handle it according to their own privacy policies.
Trace of Hope is not responsible for the privacy practices, content, security, or policies of third-party websites, platforms, plugins, or services.
10. Data Security
Trace of Hope uses reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information. However, no website, online service, database, email system, or payment system is completely secure.
You submit information at your own risk. If you believe your information may have been compromised in connection with Trace of Hope, please contact us at donations@traceofhope.org.
11. Data Retention
Trace of Hope retains information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including donation processing, nonprofit operations, grant administration, legal compliance, tax records, accounting, donor stewardship, audit obligations, dispute resolution, and website administration.
We may retain certain records even after a deletion request if retention is necessary for legal, tax, accounting, nonprofit, charitable solicitation, audit, fraud prevention, safety, or legitimate operational purposes.
12. Your Privacy Choices
Depending on where you live and how you interact with Trace of Hope, you may have certain rights or choices regarding your personal information. These may include requesting access to information, correction of inaccurate information, deletion of certain information, removal from email lists, or withdrawal of consent for certain uses.
To make a privacy request, contact donations@traceofhope.org.
We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests. We may also decline or limit requests where permitted or required by law.
13. California and Other State Privacy Notices
Trace of Hope is a nonprofit organization. Some state privacy laws may not apply to nonprofit organizations, or may apply only in limited circumstances. Even where a specific law does not apply, Trace of Hope aims to handle personal information responsibly and transparently.
Trace of Hope does not sell personal information. If you have questions about your information or would like to make a privacy request, contact donations@traceofhope.org.
14. International Visitors
Trace of Hope is based in the United States. If you access our website from outside the United States, you understand that your information may be collected, processed, stored, and used in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your country.
15. Changes to This Privacy Policy
Trace of Hope may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make updates, we will revise the effective date above. Your continued use of the website after changes are posted means you accept the updated Privacy Policy.
16. Contact Us
For privacy questions, donor questions, nomination questions, student profile removal requests, or other website-related questions, contact:
Trace of Hope
New York, NY 10003
Email: donations@traceofhope.org