Privacy Policy
Effective date: 2023
What this policy covers
Your privacy is important to us, and so is being transparent about how we collect, use, share and protect information collected in the context of our services. This policy thus covers and governs how we handle your information on our service platform, which covers how you use or submit any personal detail or information through or in connection with our services. By using any part of the services, you acknowledge the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as outlined in this policy. “We”, “us” and “our” refers to CommunityFundMe or that which belongs to CommunityFundMe as a service of AFRIPOINT CONSULT.
This policy is intended to help you understand:
• The Information we collect about you
• How we use the information collected
• How we disclose information collected
• How to access and control information collected
• Volunteered information
• Our Cookies Policy
1. The information we collect about you
We collect information
about you when you use our Services, and when other sources provide it to us,
as further described below.
A. The information you provide to us directly.
Upon registering for our Services or opening an account, we collect information like your email address and login details, your phone number, your country, your city (for purposes of multi-factor authentication and to provide you with important messages) and any information you choose to provide us (such as a profile picture).
a) The Registration information:
When you register for our Services or open an account, we collect your email address and login details, your city, your country, your phone number (for purposes of multi-factor authentication and to provide you with important messages) and any information you choose to provide us (such as a profile picture).
If you are a charity or nonprofit organization and are established as such under the applicable laws of incorporation (“Charity”), and you are located in Nigeria or other African countries, then we collect your name, email address and other necessary information. Thereafter, we will ask that you select your Charity and provide information to verify that you are a representative of the said Charity. Alternatively, if you have any questions about, or wish to review or correct the information we maintain about you, please, visit our contact page.
b) Fundraiser Creation:
When you create a fundraiser on the Platform, we collect the information you choose to provide us in relation to your fundraiser and we display it through our Platform. For example, you can provide a fundraiser title, choose a fundraiser category, upload images and describe your fundraiser goal(s). You might, in creating a fundraiser, choose to provide us with information relating to third parties by organizing a fundraiser for a family member or friend, and in doing so; you disclose the name or circumstances of that family member or friend. By providing information in a fundraiser, you consent to our collection, storage and use of your data. If you upload personal data related to third parties, you acknowledge and agree that you have the authority of the relevant third parties for us to access and use the relevant data and that you have notified the third parties and informed them of how their information is collected and used by CommunityFundMe to provide the Services. We reserve the right to identify you as the person who has made the referral in any messages that are sent to them.
Our payment processors also collect and maintain information related to your withdrawal of funds from any fundraiser.
c) Setting Up Withdrawals:
When you are the beneficiary (or the recipient of funds from a fundraiser), we collect your contact details (such as name and email address), your city, your country, your phone number (for purposes of multi-factor authentication and to send you important messages) and any information you choose to provide us.
Our payment processors collect your bank details as well as other information necessary to set up the withdrawals.
d) Donation Information:
On the Platform, when you donate to a fundraiser, we collect your contact details (such as name and email address), city, country, and any information you choose to provide us (such as a description of why you have donated). Our payment processors collect your debit/credit card details and other information necessary to process the donation such as your home address.
e) Communications with The Public:
You can post comments, leave feedback, send thank-you notes or otherwise communicate with other users through our Platform. Any content, including such comments, feedback, and notes that you choose to post through our Platform are available to the public by default.
Kindly note however that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information for both us and other users to use and share. Take care not to share personal data unless you intend for that data to become public. Please also be considerate and respectful of others while using the community to share your opinions. We reserve the right, but do not have the obligation, to review and monitor such posting or any other content on our Services, and to remove postings or content that may be viewed as inappropriate or offensive to others.
f) Communications with CommunityFundMe:
You may contact us via a contact form, email, by chat services or by other means (for example, with questions about our Services, for customer support, or to let us know your ideas for new products or modifications to existing products). You may also choose to respond to surveys that we send out, or queries about your fundraisers. When you do so, we collect the information you choose to provide us, such as your contact details, any images you choose to upload and the contents and nature of your message.
We would ask that you take care not to send financial information or other sensitive personal data to us through our chat services or other means. When you provide sensitive information to us directly, you consent to the processing of this data by CommunityFundMe and/or our service providers. We collect the information listed in this section for the purposes described below in the sections “How we use information we collect” and “How we disclose information we collect.” While you are under no obligation to provide us with sensitive information, should you choose to withhold such information, we may be limited with some or all of the Services to you.
g) Third party Information:
You can choose to provide us with information relating to third parties. For example, if you choose to share your fundraiser with family and friends through our Platform’s texting services. If you decide to do that, we give you the option to either add information to our Platform or to provide us access to information stored in mobile device’s contact list (collectively, “Third-Party Data”).
If you use any feature of the Services that allows you to communicate with third parties (such as to refer a third party to the Services or to communicate with them regarding a fundraiser or a donation), either by submitting Third-Party Data to the Services or otherwise permitting the Services to automatically access Third-Party Data in your possession, you acknowledge, represent, and agree (a) that you have the authority of the relevant third party for us to access and use the relevant Third-Party Data, and (b) that you have notified these third parties and informed them how their information is collected and used by CommunityFundMe to provide the Services.
We reserve the right to identify you as the person who has made the referral in any messages that are sent to them. We use Third-Party Data to (1) contact such third party using the provided data, and/or (2) provide you with an editable template message designed to facilitate communication between you and such third party through the Services. In addition to sending the foregoing communications, we may also send reminders or related messages to you and to third parties on Communication sent to third parties using Third-Party Data will provide a means to “opt out” of receiving further communication of the same nature.
h) Sensitive information: You can also provide us with information about yourself or third parties that is considered sensitive, such as political opinions, health information or religious beliefs. If you post this information in a fundraiser, you may choose whether such information can be published publicly in relation to your fundraiser, donation or otherwise.
When you provide such information to us directly, you consent to the processing of this data by CommunityFundMe and/or its service providers. We collect the information listed in this section for the purposes described below in the sections “How We Use Information Collected” and “How We Use the Information Collected”.
i) Identification information: We use third-party services for identity verification and fraud prevention purposes. These biometric information services, acting as our processors, may collect/scan a copy of your government-issued ID card (i.e., your driver’s license, national ID card, voter’s card or international passport) for identification purposes (“biometric information”) and employ facial recognition technology to verify your identity. These biometric information services provide us with a confirmation as to whether your identity has been validated or not. Except as stated here, CommunityFundMe does not retain any biometric information, and instead that information is maintained by the processors performing the services.
j) Bio-Metric
Information: By sharing your information with these biometric information
services, you consent to the collection, processing, sharing and storage of
your biometric information for identity verification and fraud prevention
purposes. If you do not consent to the collection and use of your biometric
information in accordance with applicable law, we will use a copy of any valid
ID card and other information to verify your identity. Please contact us as
detailed in the contacting CommunityFundMe section to the extent you have any
questions regarding your biometric information.
k) Data from Other Services: CommunityFundMe may use other third-party services to improve the quality of our own customer database so that we might improve our Services to you. If you would like to opt out of these efforts, please contact us at the email address or mailing address set forth under “Contacting CommunityFundMe.” In addition, Community Fund Me obtains contact details and other personal information regarding media contacts and influencers from various other groups which are not listed here.
B. Information Indirectly or Automatically Collected:
a) Device & Usage Information:
When you interact with CommunityFundMe through the Services, we automatically receive and store certain information from devices that you use to access the Services. This information is collected passively by using various technologies, and includes the type of internet browser or mobile device you use, any website from which you have come to the Services, your operating system, and location data through an IP address that identifies the city, state and country where you logged into the Platform or your precise geo-location if you have permitted your mobile device to provide that information to us. CommunityFundMe either stores such information itself or such information is included in databases owned and maintained by CommunityFundMe, and/or its agents or service providers. Other device and Usage Information include our Cookies which may be found in our “Cookies policy” below.
b) Location Information:
When you use the Services to organize a fundraiser, the Services request that you provide your city or town, state of residence and Country. Please keep in mind that other users of the Services can view your state of residence and Country in connection with the fundraiser, if it is made available within CommunityFundMe’s Public Search Directory. We also use your location information for the purpose of our fundraiser Service as described in our Terms and Condition.
2. How we use the information collected.
CommunityFundMe uses the information collected from the Services in a manner that is consistent with this Policy. We use the information that you provide (or otherwise permit the Services to access) for the following purposes:
A. Communicating with you
we use the information we collect to contact you for administrative purposes (e.g., to provide services and information that you request or to respond to comments and questions). For instance, if you contact us by email, we will use the information you provide to answer your question or resolve your problem. In addition, we may call you if you are not responding to email and your fundraiser is subject to refunds.
We also use the information we collect to send you communications relating to the Services, such as updates on events, communications relating to products and services offered by us and by third parties, and communications about services we believe will be of interest to you. For example, we can send periodic emails to registered users of the Services relating to their recent interactions with the Services, such as donating to a fundraiser.
We are processing this information as necessary (i) to fulfill our obligations under our contract with you or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, or (ii) for our legitimate interest, such as, to maintain our relationship with you (including direct marketing) or to protect you and us against fraud.
B. Mobile Services
If you access the Services through a mobile device and if you have chosen to provide us with your mobile number, or other electronic means to your mobile device, you agree that we can communicate with you regarding your CommunityFundMe account by MMS or text message. Further, when setting up your CommunityFundMe account, if you click “Send code” by “Text Message,” you agree to receive automated text messages related to your account from or on behalf of CommunityFundMe at the phone number provided. You can reply STOP to such text messages to cancel, except for automated text messages related to the security of your account. Message frequency will vary. Message and data rates may apply. In the event you change or deactivate your mobile telephone number, we advise you promptly update your CommunityFundMe account information to ensure that your messages are not misdirected. Please note that your wireless service carrier’s standard charges, data rates, and other fees may apply where you access the Services through a mobile device. In addition, downloading, installing, or using certain Services on a mobile device may be prohibited or restricted by your carrier, and not all Services may work with all carriers or devices.
We process this information as necessary (i) to fulfill our obligations under our contract with you or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, or (ii) for our legitimate interest, such as, to maintain our relationship with you or to protect you and us against fraud.
C. Providing the Services
We use the information we collect to operate, maintain, and provide our Services such as enabling access to the Platform, customer support or to complete transactions.
We process this information as necessary (i) to fulfill our obligations under our contract with you or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, or (ii) for our legitimate interest, such as, to maintain our relationship with you or to protect you and us against fraud.
D. Security and Fraud Prevention
we use the information we collect to secure our Services and to verify identity, prevent fraud, and to continually improve these aspects of our Services. This includes our request for your mobile telephone number to conduct multi-factor authentication when you create an account and/or at the time you set up withdrawals as a beneficiary.
We process this information as necessary for our legitimate interest in maintaining the security or our systems, protecting our business, and/or protecting you and us against fraud.
E. Analytics, Research and Product Development
We use the information we collect to analyze data usage trends and preferences in order to improve the accuracy, effectiveness, security, usability or popularity of our Services. We further use data in connection with our research on our customer demographics, interests and behaviour.
We process this information (i) to fulfill our obligations under our contract with you or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, or (ii) for our legitimate interest to monitor and improve our Services and your experience on the Platform or to maintain our relationship with you; or (iii) to protect our business or protect you and us against fraud.
F. Customization
We use the information we collect, such as device identifiers, to learn how users interact with our Services in order to personalize the content of our Services, such as customizing the language and fundraisers on our homepage based on your location.
We process this information (i) to fulfill our obligations under our contract with you or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract; or (ii) for our legitimate interest to monitor and improve your experience on the Platform.
G. Legal
we use information we collect to defend our legal rights, comply with state, local, federal or international laws, and to enforce our Terms and Conditions and this Policy.
We process information to comply with legal obligations. However, in the case of potential litigation or corporate conflict resolution, please, refer to our ‘Procedure for Potential Litigation’
3. How we disclose information collected.
There are certain circumstances in which we share information collected through the Services with certain third parties without further notice to you, as set forth below.
A. Business Transfers:
As we develop our business, we might sell or buy businesses or assets. In the event of a corporate sale, merger, reorganization, dissolution, similar event, or steps taken in anticipation of such events (e.g., due diligence in a transaction), user information may be part of the transferred assets.
B. Affiliates and Subsidiaries:
We share your personal information among the CommunityFundMe entities, including our affiliates and subsidiaries, in order to provide our Services including: hosting, marketing and publicizing fundraisers; providing you with customer support; administering funds in connection with fundraisers; authenticating donors; sending you communications; and conducting the other activities described in this Policy.
C. Agents, Consultants, Vendors and Related Third Parties:
CommunityFundMe contracts with other companies to perform certain business-related functions on CommunityFundMe’s behalf, and we provide access to or share your information with these companies so they can perform services for us. Examples of such functions include marketing, mailing information, data storage, security, identity verification, fraud prevention, payment processing, legal services, and maintaining databases. We limit the personal information provided to these service providers and entities to that which is reasonably necessary for them to perform their functions, and we require them to agree to maintain the confidentiality of such information.
D. Third Parties that Partner With Us or our Affiliate or Offer Services You Choose to Link:
CommunityFundMe shares personal information with third parties that partner with us on various initiatives and/or that offer services you choose to link to your CommunityFundMe fundraiser or that are linked to a CommunityFundMe fundraiser to which you may donate. When CommunityFundMe shares personal information with third parties, we require those third parties to handle the information in accordance with relevant laws. When you link to or interact directly with third-party companies (or you donate to Community Fund Me fundraisers that are linked), their use of your personal information and your use of their features are governed by the privacy notices of those companies. We encourage you to carefully read their privacy policies.
E. Legal Requirements:
Community Fund Me can access, disclose, transfer and preserve your information when we have a good faith; and belief that doing so is necessary to: (i) comply with the law including with subpoenas, search warrants, court orders, and other legal process; and respond to inquiries or requests from government, regulatory, law enforcement, public authorities, or content protection organizations; (ii) protect and defend the legal rights, privacy, safety or property of Community Fund Me, its affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, consultants, agents, contractors, or its users (as stated in Procedure for Potential Litigation) ; (iii) permit us to pursue available remedies, commence, participate in, or defend litigation, or limit the damages we may sustain; or (iv) enforce this Policy or any applicable Terms and Conditions of Service.
F. Sharing of Information:
We may share information of the fundraisers, beneficiaries and donors with payment processors or any authorised third party. For example, if you donate to as a fundraiser, we might share your name, email address and donation information you have provided in connection with the donation amount with the fundraiser or beneficiary, who may decide to contact you unless otherwise stated by you. For instance, if an individual starts a fundraiser for a Charity and you donate to that fundraiser, then if the information is requested, (i) the Charity can receive information about both the fundraiser, if not the same, as the beneficiary, and (ii) fundraiser can receive donor information. In the same scenario, the beneficiary may communicate with you about your donation and/or may rely on your information in order to comply with its legal and auditing requirements.
G. Your Consent
In certain situations, we may share your information in the event that you consent to the sharing of your information. For example, we may partner with third party organizations to arrange for specific fundraisers. If you consent to our providing your contact information to a specific partner, we share, with the partner organization, your name, email address and other information you have provided in connection with your donation to the specific fundraiser.
H. Aggregated Data
We aggregate, anonymize and/or de-identify information collected actively or passively about you so that the information no longer relates to you individually. We then use that data for various lawful purposes, including but not limited to our research on our customer demographics, interests and behaviour. We also share this information with our affiliates, agents, business partners, research facilities or other third parties (e.g., Google Analytics).
J. Other Users of Our Services
We provide your information to other users of our Services if you choose to make your information publicly available in a publicly accessible area of the Services, such as in your fundraiser or in the comments.
4. How to access and control information collected
In order to access or control information our service platform through our Analytics and Cookie preferences, the following applies and can be adopted.
Alternatively, please visit the terms of use/terms and condition and privacy policy of the relevant Social Networking Service to learn more about your rights and choices, and to exercise your choice about these technologies.
i. Analytics
We use third-party web analytics services on our Services, such as but not limited to Google Analytics, to help us analyze how users use the Services, including by noting the third-party website from which you arrive, and providing certain features to you including Google Signal features such as user id tracking, dynamic remarketing, interest-based advertising, audience targeting, behavioural reporting, demographics and interests reporting, user segment analysis, device reporting, display advertising, and video ads reporting. The information (including an anonymized IP address) collected by the technology will be disclosed to or collected directly by these service providers, who use the information to evaluate your use of the Services. This information can be used to place interest-based advertisements on the Platform. This may result in you seeing advertisements for our Platform when you visit other websites. To prevent Google Analytics from using your information for analytics, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on by clicking here. You can also adjust your advertising settings by clicking here. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to the Platform is restricted by the Google Analytics terms of use and the Google policy.
You can also consult the “Help” section of your browser for more information (e.g., Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari). If you receive tailored advertising on your computer, you can generally control Cookies from being put on your computer by visiting the following:
You can also manage the use of Flash technologies, including Cookies and local storage objects with the Flash management tools available at Adobe’s website. Please note that by blocking any or all Cookies, you may not have access to certain features or offerings of the Services.
If you are accessing our Services through a mobile device, you can also update your privacy settings on your device by setting the “Limit Ad Tracking” and Diagnostics and Usage setting property located in the settings screen of your Apple iPhone or iPad, or by resetting your Android ID through apps that are available in the Play Store. You can also limit information collection by uninstalling the App on your device and you can use the standard uninstall process available as part of your device for this purpose. Finally, and in connection with the Social Networking Services, you can visit your settings with each of the Social Networking Services to exercise your choice about those technologies.
5. Volunteered Information.
Please be advised that some information you provide may be publicly accessible, such as information posted in forums or comment sections. We also collect information through forums and communities, surveys and customer support communications, your communication to us of ideas for new products or modifications to existing products, feedback and other solicited or unsolicited submissions (collectively, with publicly-accessible information, “Volunteered Information”). By sending us Volunteered Information, you further (a) agree that we are under no obligation of confidentiality, express or implied, with respect to the Volunteered Information, (b) acknowledge that we may have something similar to the Volunteered Information already under consideration or in development, (c) grant us an irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide license to use, modify, prepare derivative works, publish, distribute and sublicense the Volunteered Information, and (d) irrevocably waive, and cause to be waived, against Community Fund Me and its users any claims and assertions of any moral rights contained in such Volunteered Information. This Volunteered Information section shall survive any termination of your account or the Services.
CHILDREN
Our Services are not designed for use by individuals under the age of 18, please do not use the Services and/or submit any information through the Services. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 18 has provided personal information to Community Fund Me through the Services, please contact us at Community Fund Me, and we will delete that information from our databases to the extent required by law.
LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
This Policy applies only to the Services. The Services can contain links to other web sites not operated or controlled by Community Fund Me (the “Third-Party Sites”). The policies and procedures we described here do not apply to the Third-Party Sites. The links from the Services do not imply that Community Fund Me endorses or has reviewed the Third-Party Sites. We suggest contacting those sites directly for information on their respective privacy policies.
SECURITY
While no organization can guarantee perfect security, Community Fund Me has implemented and seeks to continuously improve technical and organizational security measures to protect the information provided via the Services from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. For example, limiting access to information only to employees and authorized service providers who need to know such information for the purposes described in this Notice.
RETENTION OF YOUR INFORMATION
We retain your information for as long as we deem necessary for the purpose for which that information was collected and for our legitimate business operations; provided, however, that your information is only retained to the extent permitted or required by applicable laws. When we no longer need to retain your information, we will take reasonable steps to remove it from our systems and records and/or take steps to anonymize it so that you can no longer be identified from it in accordance with our internal document retention policies. When determining the retention period for your information, we take into account various criteria, such as the type of products and services requested by or provided to you, the nature and length of our relationship with you, possible re-enrolment with our products or services, the impact on the Services we provide to you if we delete some information about you, mandatory retention periods provided by law and the statute of limitations.
CROSS BORDER DATA TRANSFERS
Community Fund Me is an African organization headquartered in Nigeria, which processes your information in servers in a number of countries, including Nigeria. Community Fund Me has implemented other appropriate cross-border transfer solutions, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by appropriate regulatory authorities, to provide adequate protection for transfers of certain personal data from other African countries to Nigeria.
MARKETING OPT OUT
Each marketing communication we send you will contain instructions permitting you to opt out of receiving future marketing communications. In addition, if at any time you wish not to receive any future marketing communications or you wish to have your name deleted from our mailing lists, please contact us at the email address or mailing address set forth under “Contacting CommunityFundMe.” If you opt out of receiving marketing communications or other information we think may interest you, we can still send you emails about your account or any Services you have requested or received from us.
OTHER TERMS
Your access to and use of the Services is subject to CommunityFundMe’s Terms and Condition of Service and such other terms, which may be made available to you in connection with your use of the Services.
CHANGES TO COMMUNITYFUNDME’S PRIVACY POLICY
CommunityFundMe reserves the right to update or modify this Policy at any time and from time to time. We will notify you of any material updates or changes we make to this Policy. If you disagree with our revisions to the Policy, you can deactivate your account or discontinue the use of our Services. Please review this Policy periodically for any updates or changes to this Policy.
By using our Platform and Services after any such update or modification, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the terms of the Policy as updated or modified.
You can also consult the “Help” section of your browser for more information (e.g., Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari). If you receive tailored advertising on your computer, you can generally control Cookies from being put on your computer by visiting the following:
If you are accessing our Services through a mobile device, you can also update your privacy settings on your device by setting the “Limit Ad Tracking” and Diagnostics and Usage setting property located in the settings screen of your Apple iPhone or iPad, or by resetting your Android ID through apps that are available in the Play Store. You can also limit information collection by uninstalling the App on your device and you can use the standard uninstall process available as part of your device for this purpose. Finally, and in connection with the Social Networking Services, you can visit your settings with each of the Social Networking Services to exercise your choice about those technologies.
CONTACTING COMMUNITY FUND ME
Please also feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this Policy or any information relating to our operations.
You may contact us as follows:
Community Fund Me,
Legal Department
legal@afripointconsult.com
OR
For the Platform, please contact us through our Email address:
info@communityfundme.com.
