Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Zane's Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Stow, Ohio (P.O. Box 1642, Stow, OH 44224). We provide quarterly funding assistance to children and adults with lifelong special needs across 20 Northeast Ohio counties. For privacy questions, contact us at office@zanesinc.org.

2. What We Collect

We collect information only when you choose to share it with us:

• Application forms: Family information, diagnosis documentation, income verification, provider quotes — only what's required to review your funding application.
• Contact forms: Your name, email, phone (if provided), and message content.
• Newsletter signup: Your email address.
• ZanesBot chat: Messages you type into our AI chatbot. We don't ask for or store personal identifying information through the chat.
• Donations: Processed entirely by PayPal — we never see or store your card details.
• Site analytics: Aggregate traffic data (page views, browser type, country, referring site) via Vercel Analytics (cookieless) and Google Analytics 4. We've configured Google Analytics with advertising features and Google Signals turned off — so your visit isn't used for ad personalization or added to Google's advertising graph. Google Analytics does set cookies to count unique visitors; see Section 8.

3. How We Use It

• Application data is used by our all-volunteer board to review your funding request.
• Contact form messages go directly to office@zanesinc.org so we can respond to you.
• Newsletter emails are used only to send the monthly Zane's Inc. newsletter. Unsubscribe at any time using the link in every email.
• Chatbot conversations help the AI generate relevant answers. They are not used for marketing or shared with third parties beyond the AI provider.
• Site analytics help us understand which pages help families most.

We never sell, rent, or trade your information. Ever.

4. Third-Party Services

We use a small number of trusted third-party providers to run the site:

• Formspree — receives and forwards form submissions (Apply, Contact, Newsletter, Get Involved). Formspree privacy policy.
• Anthropic — powers the ZanesBot AI chatbot via Claude Haiku. Messages sent to the chatbot are processed by Anthropic. Anthropic privacy policy.
• Vercel — hosts the site and provides cookieless analytics. Vercel privacy policy.
• Google Analytics — measures aggregate site traffic. Configured with Google Signals and ad personalization disabled, so your visit is not used for advertising. You can opt out via the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. Google privacy policy.
• PayPal — processes all donations. We never see your payment details. PayPal privacy policy.
• YouTube & Brightcove — host embedded videos on our Community Meetings and Testimonials pages. These platforms may set their own cookies when you press play.
• Sanity — hosts our news and blog content.

5. Children's Privacy

Because we serve families with children who have special needs, we take children's privacy especially seriously. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13. Application information about a child is always submitted by a parent or legal guardian. If you believe we've inadvertently collected information from a child, please contact us immediately and we will delete it.

6. Data Retention

• Application records are kept for our internal records and grant reporting requirements (typically 7 years).
• Newsletter subscribers stay on the list until they unsubscribe.
• Chatbot conversations are not permanently stored on our servers; they live only in your browser session.
• Analytics data is aggregated and anonymous; no individual visitor profiles.
• Offline submission buffer: If a form submission fails because of a network interruption, your browser temporarily saves the submission in local storage on your device for up to 24 hours so we can retry delivery when you come back online. Nothing is sent to our servers during that time, and the buffer clears automatically. If you are using a shared or public computer, you can clear it immediately by clearing your browser's site data for zanesinc.org.

7. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Ask what information we have about you and request a copy.
• Ask us to correct or update inaccurate information.
• Ask us to delete your information (subject to legal retention requirements).
• Unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, email office@zanesinc.org. We respond within 5 business days.

8. Cookies

We do not use cookies for advertising or to build a profile of you. The cookies you may encounter on our site:

• Google Analytics sets a small number of cookies (commonly _ga and _ga_*) so it can count returning visitors and measure aggregate traffic. These expire automatically (typically within 2 years). We have ad personalization and Google Signals disabled, so these cookies are not used to target ads to you.
• Vercel Analytics is cookieless by design.
• Third-party embeds (YouTube, Brightcove, PayPal) may set their own cookies when you interact with them.

You can opt out of Google Analytics on every site you visit with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, or block analytics cookies in your browser settings.

9. Security

The site is served entirely over HTTPS with strict transport security and modern security headers. Form submissions, chat messages, and donations are encrypted in transit. Our backend has rate limiting and abuse protection. We are an all-volunteer organization — no permanent staff have access to applicant data beyond what's needed to review applications.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy occasionally. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be announced in our newsletter.