Blessed Are They ("BAT," "we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through this Privacy Policy. This policy explains what information we collect through blessedarethey.com (the "Site"), how we use, disclose, retain, and protect it, and the choices available to you. By using the Site, you agree to the practices described here.
Blessed Are They is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our mailing address is 106 Public Square, Gallatin, TN 37066.
1. Information We Collect
Information you give us directly
When you interact with the Site, you may voluntarily provide the following information:
- Contact form submissions: Your name, email address, and any message you send us.
- Newsletter and email signups: Your name and email address, so we can send updates about our mission and curriculum.
- Donations: We accept gifts through Givebutter, Venmo, and Zelle.
- Givebutter hosts our online donation form and collects your name, email address, billing address, and payment details directly. We receive your name, email address, and donation amount and date from Givebutter, but we do not collect or store your complete card or bank-account details ourselves.
- Venmo and Zelle are peer-to-peer payment services. If you give through one of these services, the transaction is handled by your bank or the Venmo or Zelle application, rather than by us. We generally see only the sender name or username, amount, and any note you include. Venmo transaction visibility may depend on your personal Venmo privacy settings. Donors who prefer a private transaction should set Venmo payments to private or use Givebutter or Zelle instead.
- Event or curriculum inquiries: Information you include if you contact us about bringing a program to your school or parish, or about our curriculum.
Information collected automatically
Like most websites, we and our service providers may automatically collect certain information when you visit the Site, including your IP address, browser type, device type, pages viewed, referring website, approximate location derived from your IP address, and time spent on the Site. We use cookies and similar technologies for these purposes. See Section 4 for more information.
Sensitive personal information
We do not ask visitors to submit sensitive personal information through the Site. If you voluntarily include sensitive information in a message or inquiry, please do not include more information than is necessary. Donation payment information is collected and processed by the applicable payment platform, rather than by BAT, as described above.
Information we do not intentionally collect
We do not use the Site to knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13. Our educational curriculum is designed to be delivered to children through parents, educators, and parishes. The individuals who interact with the Site itself—for example, by signing up for updates, donating, or submitting a contact form—are expected to be adults. See Section 7 for more information about children’s privacy.
2. How We Use Information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
- Process and acknowledge donations and provide related tax receipts.
- Send the newsletter and other updates you request or sign up to receive.
- Respond to contact-form submissions and other inquiries.
- Operate, maintain, secure, and improve the Site.
- Understand how visitors use the Site in aggregate through analytics tools.
- Communicate important notices, including changes to this Privacy Policy.
- Comply with legal obligations and protect against fraud, misuse, and security incidents.
We do not sell personal information. We do not use personal information for targeted advertising or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning consumers.
3. How We Disclose Information
We disclose personal information only as needed to operate the Site and support our mission, including with the following categories of recipients:
- Donation platforms: Givebutter and, when you choose to give through them, Venmo or Zelle. These platforms process your gift, and their own privacy policies govern their handling of payment information.
- Email service provider: Kit (formerly ConvertKit), which sends our newsletter and email communications and stores subscriber contact information, such as names and email addresses, on our behalf.
- Analytics providers: Google Analytics or a similar provider, which helps us understand aggregate Site traffic. See Section 4.
- Service providers generally: Vendors that help us with website hosting, information technology, communications, security, and similar operational services. These providers may access personal information only as needed to perform services for us and are expected to protect it appropriately.
- Legal and safety reasons: We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or other legal process, or when reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of BAT, our supporters, or others.
- Organizational transfers: If BAT reorganizes, merges, or transfers its operations, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this Privacy Policy or a successor policy.
We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own independent marketing purposes.
4. Cookies and Analytics
The Site uses cookies and similar technologies to support basic website functionality and to understand how visitors use the Site, primarily through Google Analytics or a similar analytics service. These tools may collect information such as pages visited, time spent on the Site, referring website, device and browser information, and general location at the city or regional level derived from an IP address.
You can control cookies through your browser settings, including by blocking or deleting them. Doing so may affect some Site functionality. We do not currently use advertising or retargeting pixels, such as the Meta/Facebook Pixel, and we do not sell personal information or process personal information for targeted advertising. If those practices change, we will update this Privacy Policy and, where required, provide applicable opt-out choices.
5. Retention and Security
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary and proportionate to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including to maintain records, meet legal, tax, accounting, or reporting obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. For example:
- Newsletter subscriber information is generally retained until you unsubscribe or request deletion, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.
- Contact and inquiry information is retained for as long as reasonably needed to respond to and manage the inquiry and related relationship.
- Donation records are retained as needed for tax, accounting, audit, and legal purposes.
- Website and analytics information is retained in accordance with the settings and retention practices of the applicable analytics provider and BAT’s operational needs.
We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards designed to protect the information we collect. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
6. Privacy Rights and Requests
Depending on where you live and to the extent applicable law applies to BAT and the information at issue, you may have the rights described below. We honor reasonable privacy requests consistent with applicable law, even where a particular state law may not apply to us.
Your rights
You may have the right to:
- Confirm and access: Confirm whether we process personal information about you and request access to it.
- Correct: Request correction of inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.
- Delete: Request deletion of personal information we collected from you, subject to legal and other permitted exceptions.
- Portability: Request a portable copy of certain personal information you provided to us, where applicable.
- Opt out: Opt out of the sale of personal information, processing for targeted advertising, or certain profiling. BAT does not currently engage in these activities.
- Limit certain sensitive-information uses: Request limits on certain uses or disclosures of sensitive personal information, where applicable. BAT does not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that would trigger this right.
- Non-discrimination: Receive equal service and treatment for exercising your privacy rights, subject to lawful limitations.
- Appeal: Appeal a decision we make about your privacy request, where applicable.
How to submit a request
To submit an access, correction, deletion, portability, opt-out, limitation, or other privacy request, email hello@blessedarethey.com with the subject line “Privacy Request.” Please describe your request and provide enough information for us to reasonably verify your identity and locate relevant records. We may ask for additional information when reasonably necessary to verify your identity or authority to act for another person. We will use verification information only for that purpose.
If you are an authorized agent submitting a request on another person’s behalf, please identify yourself and provide written authorization from the consumer, unless otherwise permitted by applicable law. We may also ask the consumer to verify their identity directly with us.
We will respond to a verifiable request within the time required by applicable law. If we need additional time, we will tell you the reason for the extension and the expected response period. Some information may be retained or withheld when permitted or required by law, including for tax, accounting, fraud prevention, security, legal, or recordkeeping purposes.
Appeals
If we deny your privacy request, you may appeal our decision by replying to our response or emailing hello@blessedarethey.com with the subject line “Privacy Request Appeal.” Please state why you believe the decision should be reconsidered. We will review and respond to your appeal in accordance with applicable law. If your appeal is denied and applicable law provides a right to complain to a regulator, we will provide information about how to do so in our response.
California residents
California residents may have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, if that law applies to BAT. Those rights may include the right to know, access, correct, and delete personal information; to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information; to limit certain uses and disclosures of sensitive personal information; and to be free from unlawful discrimination for exercising privacy rights.
BAT is a nonprofit organization and does not currently sell or share personal information as those terms are defined under California law. BAT also does not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that would trigger a right to limit. Accordingly, BAT does not currently provide a “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link. If our practices change, we will provide required notices and opt-out mechanisms, including honoring applicable opt-out preference signals where required by law.
Colorado and Virginia residents
Colorado and Virginia residents may have rights to confirm processing, access, correct, delete, and obtain a portable copy of personal data, as applicable. They may also have the right to opt out of the sale of personal data, targeted advertising, or certain profiling. BAT does not currently sell personal data, process personal data for targeted advertising, or engage in the covered profiling activities described above.
Colorado law may apply to certain nonprofit organizations that meet its statutory applicability thresholds. Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act generally exempts nonprofit organizations. Regardless of whether a particular law applies, BAT provides the request and appeal process described in this section as a practical way for individuals to contact us about their privacy information.
7. Children’s Privacy
The Site is directed to parents, educators, parishes, and donors—not to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through the Site, including through newsletter signups, contact forms, or donations. If we learn that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information without parental consent, we will delete it. A parent or guardian who believes their child has provided us with information may contact us using the details in Section 9.
Our video curriculum is intended to be delivered to children by a parent, teacher, or parish leader in a supervised setting. Delivery of the curriculum itself does not involve a child submitting personal information to the Site.
8. Third-Party Services
The Site may link to or use third-party services, including donation platforms and social or payment services. Those services operate under their own terms and privacy policies. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing information directly to them.
9. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise any of the rights described above, contact us at:
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal or operational reasons. We will post the revised policy on this page with an updated effective date and encourage you to review it periodically.
Blessed Are They
Email: hello@blessedarethey.com
Mailing Address: 106 Public Square, Gallatin, TN 37066