Privacy Policy

Overview

Elevate.gift ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our donation platform.

As a registered Australian charity, we adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and are committed to handling your personal information responsibly.

Information We Collect

Personal Information

• Name and contact details (email, phone, address)
• Payment information (processed securely via Stripe)
• Donation history and preferences
• Profile information you choose to provide
• Communications between donors and beneficiaries

Automatically Collected Information

• IP address and device information
• Browser type and operating system
• Usage data and analytics
• Cookies and similar tracking technologies

Sensitive Information

For beneficiaries, we may collect sensitive information such as:

• Health information (for medical fundraising)
• Financial hardship details
• Educational or employment status

Note: We only collect sensitive information with your explicit consent and use it solely for the purposes you've authorized.

How We Use Your Information

• Process donations and facilitate gift recycling
• Provide tax receipts and donation records
• Connect donors with beneficiaries (when authorized)
• Send transaction confirmations and important updates
• Improve our platform and user experience
• Comply with legal and regulatory requirements
• Prevent fraud and maintain platform security
• Send marketing communications (with your consent — see below)
• Aggregate and anonymise donor data for sector research and publication — for example, comparing recoverable-giving impact via Elevate's recycling infrastructure against single-pass giving by larger establishment foundations. Used to challenge the narrative that philanthropic impact is determined by net worth and to credit ordinary donors using Elevate for the cumulative impact they generate (with your consent — see below)

Information Sharing

We Share Information With:

• Beneficiaries: Donor names (unless anonymous) and messages
• Service Providers: Stripe (payments), Resend (email), Clerk (authentication)
• Regulatory Bodies: As required for tax and charity compliance
• Legal Authorities: When required by law or court order
• Sector publications and media (with your explicit, opt-in consent):Anonymised or named donor activity data — total cumulative impact, number of recoverable cycles, regions and causes supported — may be shared with philanthropy publications, sector media, researchers, and campaign partners (e.g., Philanthropy 50 lists, sector benchmarks, research papers, our own marketing). Purpose: to position recoverable giving and ordinary Elevate donors alongside (or above) traditional multi-million-dollar single-pass donors based on cumulative cycled impact. You can opt in or out at any time via your account settings. Default is opt-out.

We Never:

• Sell your personal information
• Share your information with third parties for their marketing without your consent
• Disclose sensitive beneficiary information without consent
• Publish your name, donation amount, or impact data publicly without your explicit opt-in

Marketing & Publication Consent

Elevate is building a public case that recoverable giving — where the same dollar funds many projects across cycles — outperforms traditional single-pass giving even when the donor amounts are smaller. To make this case credibly, we need to publish real numbers: how many cycles a real donor's capital has gone through, how much cumulative impact has been delivered, how many beneficiaries reached.

When you sign up or donate, we ask you to opt in (separate, granular checkboxes) to:

• Marketing communications — email, occasional updates on the platform and the recoverable-capital field
• Aggregate / anonymised use of your activity — your data combined with others' in totals; no identifying details
• Named publication — your name, organisation (if applicable), and your specific cumulative-impact figures may be cited in our marketing, philanthropy publications (e.g., Philanthropy 50 lists, sector benchmarks), research papers, and case studies. Always with your explicit opt-in.

Default for all three is opt-out. You can change your preferences at any time in your account settings, or by emailing privacy@elevate.gift. Withdrawing consent does not retroactively unpublish — it stops future use only.

Your Rights

You Have the Right to:

• Access your personal information
• Correct inaccurate information
• Request deletion of your information (subject to legal requirements)
• Opt-out of marketing communications
• Opt-out of aggregate/anonymised data sharing for sector research
• Withdraw consent for named publication and marketing use of your impact data
• Donate anonymously
• Lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures including:

• Encryption of data in transit and at rest
• Secure payment processing via PCI-compliant providers
• Regular security audits and monitoring
• Virus scanning for uploaded documents
• Access controls and authentication
• Regular backups and disaster recovery procedures

Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as necessary to:

• Provide our services
• Comply with legal obligations (7 years for tax records)
• Resolve disputes and enforce agreements
• Support platform analytics and improvements

Children's Privacy

Our platform is not directed to individuals under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If you become aware that a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us.

Cookies and Tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies to:

• Keep you logged in
• Remember your preferences
• Analyze platform usage
• Prevent fraud

You can control cookies through your browser settings, though some features may not function properly without them.

Third-Party Services

Our platform integrates with third-party services that have their own privacy policies:

• Stripe: Payment processing
• Clerk: Authentication
• Resend: Email delivery
• Vercel: Hosting and analytics
• Google Gemini: AI-powered search

Changes to This Policy

We may update this 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.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal information: