Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 7 January 2019

This Privacy Policy explains how information about you is collected, used, and disclosed by Open Collective, Inc. ("Open Collective" or “we”). This Privacy Policy applies to information we collect when you use our websites and online services (collectively, the “Services”) or when you otherwise interact with us.

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make changes, we will notify you by revising the date at the top of the policy and, in some cases, we may provide you with additional notice (such as adding a statement to our homepage or sending you a notification). We encourage you to review the Privacy Policy whenever you access the Services or otherwise interact with us to stay informed about our information practices and the ways you can help protect your privacy.

Collection of Information

Information You Provide to Us

We collect the information you provide directly to us. For example, we collect information when you create an account, participate in any interactive features of the Services, fill out a form, make a payment, request customer support or otherwise communicate with us. The types of information we may collect include your name, email address, payment method information and any other information you choose to provide.

Information We Collect Automatically

When You Use the Services When you access or use our Services, we automatically collect information about you, including:

  • Log Information: We collect log information about your use of the Services, including the type of browser you use, access times, pages viewed, your IP address and the page you visited before navigating to our Services.

  • Information Collected by Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies: We use various technologies to collect information, including cookies, local storage and web beacons. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive or in device memory that help us improve our Services and your experience, see which areas and features of our Services are popular and count visits. Local Storage similarly enables our Services to store data (like login tokens) securely in your browser and unlike cookies, it's not sent to the server on every request. Web beacons are electronic images that may be used in our Services or emails and help deliver cookies, count visits and understand usage and campaign effectiveness. For more information about cookies, and how to disable them, please see "Your Choices" below.

Information We Collect From Other Sources

We may also obtain information from other sources. For example, if you connect your account with an account you have with a third-party service (such as GitHub), we will have access to certain information from that service, such as your profile information, in accordance with the authorization procedures determined by that service. Additionally, we may collect information about you from third-party sources that help us to learn more about you, like for example your profile picture or social media handles.

Use of Information

We may use information about you for various purposes, including to:

  • Provide, maintain and improve our Services, and develop new products and services;

  • Provide and deliver the products and services you request,

  • Send you notices, updates, and support and administrative messages;

  • Communicate with you about products, services, offers, promotions, rewards, and events offered by Open Collective and others, and provide news and information we think will be of interest to you;

  • Monitor and analyze trends, usage and activities in connection with our Services;

  • Detect, investigate and prevent fraudulent transactions and other illegal activities and protect the rights and property of Open Collective and others;

  • Personalize and improve the Services and provide, content or features that match user profiles or interests;

  • Facilitate contests, sweepstakes and promotions and process and deliver entries and rewards;

  • Link or combine with information we collect about you; and

  • Carry out any other purpose described to you at the time the information was collected.

Sharing of Information

We may share information about you as follows or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy:

  • With hosts and organizers of a collective, if you are a contributor, or request reimbursement for expenses made in support, of that collective

  • We will share your name and image with GitHub if you participate in a collective that is also working on a software project through GitHub.

  • With vendors, consultants and other service providers who need access to such information to carry out work on our behalf. If you submit a request to us, we will provide you with a list of the third-party service providers with which we have shared information about you for the 12 months prior to your request;

  • In response to a request for information if we believe disclosure is in accordance with or required by, any applicable law, regulation or legal process;

  • If we believe your actions are inconsistent with our user agreements or policies, or to protect the rights, property and safety of Open Collective or others;

  • In connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of Open Collective assets, financing or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another Open Collective;

  • With your consent or at your direction.

  • We may also share aggregated or de-identified information, which cannot reasonably be used to identify you.

Social Sharing Features

The Services may offer social sharing features and other integrated tools, which let you share actions you take on our Services with other media, and vice versa. Your use of such features enables the sharing of information with your friends or the public, depending on the settings you establish with the entity that provides the social sharing feature. For more information about the purpose and scope of data collection and processing in connection with social sharing features, please visit the privacy policies of the entities that provide these features.

Analytics Services Provided by Others

We engage other companies to provide analytics services via the Services. These companies may use cookies, web beacons, device identifiers and other technologies to collect information about your use of the Services and other websites and applications, including your IP address, web browser, mobile network information, pages viewed, time spent on pages or in apps, links clicked and conversion information. This information may be used by Open Collective and others to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, and better understand how our services are being used.

Security

Open Collective takes reasonable measures to help protect information about you from loss, theft, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.

Transfer of Information to the U.S. and Other Countries

Open Collective is based in the United States and the information we collect is governed by U.S. law. By accessing or using the Services or otherwise providing information to us, you consent to the processing, transfer and storage of information in and to the U.S. and other countries, where you may not have the same rights and protections as you do under local law.

Your Choices

Account Information

You may update the profile information you provide by logging into your online account.

Cookies

Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove or reject browser cookies. Please note that if you choose to remove or reject cookies, this could affect the availability and functionality of our Services.

Promotional Communications

You may opt out of receiving promotional or notification emails from Open Collective by following the instructions in those emails. If you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional emails, such as those about your account or our ongoing business relations.

GDPR

Open Collective is GDPR compliant. We are not in the business of selling data to any 3rd party. Our business model is to take a commission on the money raised by Collectives (like most other crowdfunding platforms). Companies that sponsor Collectives don't get access to private information. Only the admins of the Collective (core contributors) and of the organization that is legally hosting the Collectives (fiscal sponsor) get access to your email address. We don't store credit card information on our servers (we only store a token if you have decided to save it to your profile). We don’t store any passwords. Since our entire code base is open source, anyone can easily audit it.

Data Removal

If you haven't made any transactions, you can easily delete your profile account on Open Collective from the settings. If your profile or collective has transactions, we can't delete them since we need to keep the integrity of our ledger and accounting system.

For individual/organizations profiles: please contact us and please request for your personal information to be removed and the transaction(s) anonymized.

For collectives, follow these steps.

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Ⓒ Open Collective 2024