Privacy policy

Effective October 29, 2026

This policy describes the information used by the PolePay Android app, group administration portal and public website. For privacy questions, contact info@polepay.org.

Information you provide

• Account information: your account identifier, name, email address, verification status and any optional profile information or photo you provide.
• Group information: group memberships, roles, invitation and access requests, group settings, campaign content and updates.
• Contribution information: requested amounts, payment attempts and statuses, contribution records, provider references, adjustments and reports associated with your account and groups.
• Preferences and support: notification choices, registered notification-device identifiers where enabled, and messages or references you provide when requesting support.

Why we use this information

We use information to authenticate accounts, verify access, operate groups and campaigns, maintain contribution records, provide account and service messages, respond to support requests, and protect the service from abuse. Operational and security records may include account or resource identifiers, timestamps, network information and error information needed to diagnose failures and prevent misuse.

Payments and service providers

Where payment processing is enabled, Stripe handles card entry and payment processing. Card numbers and card security codes are submitted through Stripe’s payment components; PolePay stores provider references and permitted display details such as card brand, last four digits and expiry. Saving a payment method does not authorize a contribution.

Payment components may also process billing country or postal code, IP address and approximate region inferred from it, device and session identifiers, payment interactions, and error or diagnostic information. This supports payment operation, fraud prevention, security and payment-component reliability. Stripe may act as a service provider or in its own capacity for different activities, as described in its privacy policy. These payment-component activities are separate from PolePay’s public information pages, which do not include advertising trackers.

Google Firebase and Google Cloud provide authentication, database, file-storage and hosting services. Configured email and notification services process the information needed to deliver requested account or service messages. These providers process relevant data to provide their services. You can read Stripe’s privacy policy and Google’s privacy policy.

Who can see group information

Your account and group data are subject to access controls. Authorized group administrators can access information needed for their assigned group responsibilities, which may include membership and financial records. Member access is scoped to supported group content and the member’s own private records. Platform access approval is separate from group membership. Information you share in a campaign or support request is available to the authorized people responsible for that resource.

We may disclose information when necessary to comply with a lawful obligation, protect account security, investigate abuse or respond to a request you authorize. Do not include another person’s private information in group content unless you have authority to share it.

Storage, security and retention

We use authenticated access and encrypted network connections for account and service operations. No system can guarantee protection against every threat. Information may be processed where our infrastructure and service providers operate.

Account and group information is retained as needed to provide the service and resolve support or security issues. Some contribution, transaction and audit information may need to remain after account closure for group recordkeeping, fraud prevention or legal obligations. Account deletion is therefore distinct from deleting a group’s financial history. A deletion response will explain any information that must be retained and the reason.

Your choices

You can update supported profile fields, manage available notification preferences, and contact support to request access to or correction of your information. Your operating system also controls notification permissions and files you choose to export. An exported document is under your control once saved or shared outside PolePay.

Website storage and updates

The public information pages do not include advertising trackers. The signed-in application uses browser or device storage for authentication, account-scoped drafts and recovery of supported interrupted operations. We will publish policy updates on this page with an updated effective date.