PRIVACY POLICY
Our commitment to transparency, ethical data stewardship, and safeguarding the personal information of our donors, students, volunteers, and community members.
📅 Effective Date: September 2026 • Charitable Reg. No: 81152 3919 RR00011. Organizational Overview & Commitment
Guru Shardha Welfare Charity ("the Charity", "we", "us", or "our") is a registered non-profit organization operating in Canada (Charitable Registration Number: 81152 3919 RR0001) with community outreach chapters internationally.
We are deeply committed to maintaining the accuracy, confidentiality, and security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, handle, store, and protect your personal information across our website (gurushardhawelfarecharity.com), program registrations, donation portals, and community services in compliance with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial privacy standards.
2. Information We Collect
We only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary to fulfill program administration, volunteer coordination, donation processing, and community support. Information collected includes:
Contact & Identity Information
Full name, personal email address, phone number, and physical mailing address collected via inquiry forms, event RSVPs, or registration forms.
Donation & Financial Data
Billing address, donation amount, and payment token details. Note: All credit card transactions are processed through PCI-compliant payment gateways (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, GiveWP). We never store raw credit card numbers.
Volunteer & Student Records
Areas of interest, availability schedules, educational goals, volunteer references, and non-clinical program intake notes.
Logistics & In-Kind Pickups
Pickup locations, photographs of donated furniture/appliances uploaded for condition assessment, and access notes.
3. How We Use Your Data
At Guru Shardha Welfare Charity, we treat your information with high ethical standards. Your data is used strictly for legitimate charitable, operational, and administrative purposes:
To register students into our free literacy, computer, and vocational programs, manage class scheduling, and issue completion certificates.
To process monetary gifts through GiveWP, maintain legally audited financial ledgers, and issue official charitable tax receipts compliant with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) guidelines.
To verify the condition of in-kind donations from uploaded photos, schedule collection routes, and coordinate driver dispatches to your address.
To review volunteer registrations, match candidates with community outreach drives (e.g., food drives, senior companion care, tutoring), and verify credentials where needed.
To respond directly to your messages submitted via our Contact Us portal, provide requested resources, and notify participants of event confirmations.
To satisfy non-profit regulatory auditing standards and ensure safety protocols within our non-clinical community care initiatives.
4. Non-Disclosure & Strict "No-Sale" Policy
We only share data with vetted third parties under strict confidentiality agreements solely for operational necessity, including:
- Financial Processing Providers: Encrypted payment gateways to process donations.
- Cloud & Hosting Infrastructure: Secure servers and email communication systems that store website data.
- Legal & Regulatory Authorities: Only when strictly required by law, subpoena, or to comply with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) reporting requirements.
5. Data Storage, Security & Retention
We implement technical, organizational, and physical security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, alteration, loss, or disclosure:
- Encryption: All web traffic is encrypted using 256-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL/TLS) protocols.
- Access Controls: Access to donor, student, and volunteer records is strictly limited to authorized coordinators on a need-to-know basis.
- Retention Timelines: Personal information is retained only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was gathered. Financial and tax receipt records are retained for a minimum of six (6) years as required by the Income Tax Act (Canada).
7. Your Rights & Consent Withdrawal
Under Canadian privacy legislation, you maintain rights regarding your personal information:
- Right to Access: You may request an account of the personal information we hold about you.
- Right to Rectification: You may request corrections to any inaccurate, outdated, or incomplete details.
- Withdrawal of Consent: You may opt-out of receiving newsletter communications or ask to withdraw your volunteer/student application at any time by contacting our Privacy Officer.
8. Privacy Officer Contact Information
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data management practices, please contact our designated Privacy Officer:
Guru Shardha Welfare Charity • Privacy Office
Headquarters Address: 3016 5 Ave NE Ground floor, Calgary, AB T2A 6K4, Canada
Primary Phone: +1 403-975-0417 | +1 403-463-0301
Email: info@gurushardhawelfarecharity.com
Website: gurushardhawelfarecharity.com
We review and respond to all formal privacy inquiries within 30 business days.