Privacy Policy

We collect the following categories of information:

• Information you provide. When you make a donation or contact us, you may provide your name, email address, postal address, phone number, gift amount, and payment information. Payment card details are entered directly into our donation processor and are not stored on our servers.
• Information collected automatically. When you browse the Site, we and our service providers may collect your IP address, browser and device type, operating system, referring page, pages viewed, links clicked, and the date and time of your visit.
• Usage and session-replay data. Our analytics provider may record anonymized session activity — such as mouse movement, clicks, scrolling, and page interactions — to help us understand how the Site is used. Fields containing personal or payment information are masked from these recordings.

• To process and acknowledge your donations and send receipts.
• To respond to your questions and requests.
• To analyze and improve the Site’s performance, content, and usability.
• To measure the effectiveness of our fundraising and outreach.
• To maintain the security of the Site and comply with legal obligations.

The Site uses cookies and similar technologies. We group them into three categories:

• Essential — necessary for the Site to function, including remembering your cookie choice and supporting secure donation forms. These are always active and are not subject to consent.
• Analytics — help us understand how visitors use the Site (currently Microsoft Clarity).
• Marketing — advertising and remarketing technologies used to measure campaigns. None are active on the Site today; the category is reserved for the future.

Visitors located outside the United States are shown a consent banner on their first visit and are not tracked by analytics or marketing technologies unless they opt in. Visitors in the United States are tracked by default and can opt out at any time using the Privacy Settingspage (also linked in the footer as “Manage Cookie Preferences”). Consent must be as easy to withdraw as to give, and you may change your choice at any time.

Cookies we use

We do not sell your personal information. We share information with the service providers below only as needed to operate the Site and process your gifts. Each operates under its own privacy policy.

• Virtuous / RaiseDonors — processes donations made through the Site, including your name, contact details, and gift information.
• Microsoft Clarity — provides analytics and anonymized session-replay. Session recordings are retained for 30 days, while aggregated usage and heatmap data is retained for up to 13 months.
• Vercel — hosts the Site and processes standard server request logs (including IP address).
• Wistia and Vimeo — deliver embedded video; they may set cookies when a video loads or plays.
• Social media platforms (Facebook/Meta, Instagram, X, YouTube, LinkedIn) — when you follow links to or interact with embedded content from these platforms, they may collect data under their own policies.

We retain donation and contact records for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy and to meet legal, accounting, and reporting requirements. Analytics data is retained according to each provider’s defaults — for example, Microsoft Clarity keeps session recordings for 30 days and aggregated usage and heatmap data for up to 13 months.

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, or delete the personal information we hold about you, to opt out of analytics and marketing tracking, and to object to or restrict certain processing.

• California residents (CCPA/CPRA).You have the right to know what personal information we collect, to request its deletion, and to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information. We do not sell your personal information. You can manage tracking on the Privacy Settings page.
• EU/UK residents (GDPR). Analytics and marketing technologies are off by default and load only with your consent, which you may withdraw at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at privacy.officer@avemaria.edu.

The Site is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, please contact us so we can remove it.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date above. Material changes will be reflected on this page.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, contact:

Office of Advancement
Ave Maria University
5050 Ave Maria Blvd., Ave Maria, FL 34142 USA
Phone: (239) 280-2500
Email: privacy.officer@avemaria.edu