What we do with what you tell us

The short version

We collect the least we can get away with, we keep it to ourselves, and we delete what we no longer need. We do not sell, rent, or trade anybody’s information — least of all a phone number.

If you would rather we did not hold something, write to Hello@BunkerofLight.org and we will remove it by hand.

What we collect

Only what a form asks for, and only because something has to be done with it:

• Your name, email address and phone number, when you give them to us on a form — to reply to you, and to know who is coming.
• What you tell us in a message, referral, housing application, or retreat registration — because we cannot help without knowing the situation.
• Donation details, when you give. Card numbers are handled entirely by our payment processor and never reach our server or our staff; we see only the amount, the last four digits, and whether it went through.
• A one-way scrambled record of the network address a form was submitted from, used only to stop automated abuse. It cannot be turned back into an address.
• Basic, aggregate information about which pages are visited, so we know what people are looking for.

Text messages and your mobile number

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. No mobile opt-in data or consent is shared with any third party. Your phone number is used only to send you the messages you asked for.

You are only on our texting list if you asked to be, by entering your number on our sign-up page and ticking a box that was not ticked for you. Agreeing to texts is never a condition of receiving help from us.

Message frequency varies — most weeks there is nothing at all. Message and data rates may apply, depending on your plan. Reply STOP at any time and the texts end immediately. Reply HELP and we will tell you how to reach a person.

We share your number with our messaging provider only to the extent needed to actually deliver the message to your phone. That is delivery, not marketing, and they may not use it for anything else.

Sensitive information

Emergency and temporary housing applications ask for things nobody should have to write down twice — medical, guardian, school, insurance and, in some cases, a social security number. Those answers are encrypted where they are stored, are visible only to the people who have to act on them, and are never used for anything other than responding to the request.

Social security numbers are deleted automatically thirty days after an application is submitted, whether or not anybody has got round to it.

Who else sees it

Almost nobody. We use outside services to run the website, send email, deliver text messages, and process donations, and each of them sees only the piece it needs to do its job. None of them are permitted to use your information for their own purposes.

We will share information without asking only where the law requires it, or where somebody is in immediate danger and sharing it is how we keep them safe.

How long we keep it

For as long as it is useful to the person it belongs to, and no longer. Social security numbers go after thirty days. Saved but unfinished forms expire after seven days. Everything else is kept while there is a live reason to and removed on request.

Children

Much of our work is with teenagers, and some of them contact us themselves. We do not knowingly collect information from a child under 13. Where a young person reaches out, we hold what they tell us with the same care as anybody else, and involve a parent or guardian where that is the right and safe thing to do.

Asking us to remove something

Write to Hello@BunkerofLight.org and tell us what to remove. You do not need a reason, and asking will not affect whether we help you. Every email we send also carries an unsubscribe link, and STOP ends texts on the spot.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, the date at the top of this page changes with it.