Website Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: May 2025

The Stand and Face East Foundation (“we”, “our”, or “the Foundation”) is committed to protecting your privacy and safeguarding any personal information shared through our websites, including https://standandfaceeast.org and https://sophikon.standandfaceeast.org.

1. Who We Are

Our primary website address is: https://standandfaceeast.org.
We are a Canadian-based unincorporated nonprofit association founded for the purpose of Orthodox Christian charitable work, education, and creative initiatives such as Sophikon.

2. What Personal Data We Collect and Why

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect:

  • The data entered in the comments form,
  • The visitor’s IP address,
  • Browser user agent string (for spam detection purposes).

An anonymized hash of your email address may be submitted to the Gravatar service (by Automattic Inc.) to determine if you have an associated profile image. You may review Gravatar’s Privacy Policy here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. Once your comment is approved, your profile image becomes publicly visible next to your comment.

Media

If you upload images to our site, you should avoid uploading images with embedded EXIF GPS location data. Visitors may download and extract such location data from publicly displayed media.

Cookies

We use cookies to enhance user experience and manage session authentication:

  • When you leave a comment, you may opt-in to saving your name, email, and website in cookies. These persist for 1 year.
  • A temporary cookie is set if you visit the login page to verify your browser’s cookie compatibility. It contains no personal data and is discarded upon browser closure.
  • When you log in, multiple cookies are set:
    • Login cookies: last 2 days.
    • Display preferences (screen options): last 1 year.
    • “Remember Me” login: lasts 2 weeks.
  • If you edit or publish an article, a cookie will be stored in your browser indicating the post ID. This expires after 1 day.

Disabling cookies in your browser may impact functionality of comment sections or login access.

3. Embedded Content from Third-Party Websites

Articles and posts on this site may include embedded content (e.g., YouTube videos, maps, images, external articles). Such content behaves identically to direct visits to the external websites, which may:

  • Collect data about you,
  • Use cookies,
  • Include third-party tracking,
  • Monitor your interaction with the embedded content (especially if you are logged in to those services).

We encourage you to consult the privacy policies of those third-party platforms directly.

4. Who We Share Your Data With

We do not sell or rent your personal data. Data may be shared only as necessary for site operation or legal obligations:

  • If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
  • Visitor comments may be analyzed by automated spam detection services such as Akismet.
  • Web hosting and security partners (e.g., Hostinger, Cloudflare) may retain anonymized traffic data for performance and threat mitigation purposes.
  • Donation transactions made via GiveWP, PayPal, GoFundMe, GiveSendGo, or other payment processors are subject to their respective privacy policies.

5. How Long We Retain Your Data

  • Comments and associated metadata are stored indefinitely, to allow automated recognition and approval of follow-up comments.
  • Registered users (if any) have their personal data stored in their user profile. Users can view, edit, or delete this data at any time (except their username). Site administrators may also view and edit that information.

6. What Rights You Have Over Your Data

If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you may request:

  • An exported file of all personal data we hold about you, including any data provided by you.
  • Deletion of all such personal data, excluding data we must retain for legal, security, or administrative obligations.

Data access or erasure requests for website account holders can be made by contacting: contact@StandAndFaceEast.org.

7. Where Your Data Is Sent

  • Comment submissions may be scanned by automated spam detection systems.
  • Donation-related data may be transmitted through secure channels to third-party payment processors (e.g., PayPal, Stripe, Zeffy).

These services may store data in jurisdictions outside of Canada (e.g., the United States or European Union) and are responsible for their own compliance with international data protection laws.

8. Data Security and Integrity

We follow best practices to secure all data collected:

  • SSL encryption on all pages;
  • Regular updates and vulnerability scans;
  • Very Limited administrative access;
  • Use of reputable third-party plugins and services.

Despite these efforts, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Children’s Privacy

We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children under the age of 13. If we discover such data has been collected without parental consent, it will be deleted promptly. Any data collected from children under the age of 18 without parental or guardian consent will be deleted immediately upon request from parents or guardians.

10. Contact Us

For privacy concerns, questions, or data access requests:

Email: contact@StandAndFaceEast.org
Mailing Address:
Data Protection Officer: [TBD], interim via President of Stand And Face East Foundation

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. When updates are made, the revised policy will be posted on this page with the “Effective Date” modified accordingly.

We encourage users to review this page regularly to stay informed.