Legal

Privacy Policy

Effective as of 19 August 2026

Websites located at www.swellfundraising.com, swellcircles.com, swell.gives, littleblackdress.gives, smartparty.org, and homerunfundraising.com (the "Site(s)") are operated by Swell Fundraising, LLC ("Company," "us," "we," or "our"). Swell Circles is a feature of the Company's platform, offered through swellcircles.com, and this Policy applies to it in the same way it applies to our other Sites. Company has created this privacy policy to demonstrate our commitment to the privacy of our visitors and customers. We are committed to respecting your privacy and recognizing your need for appropriate protection and management of personally identifiable information you share with us (the phrases "personally identifiable information," "PII," and "personal information" mean any information by which you, individually, can be identified, such as your name, address, telephone number, etc.). The purpose of this privacy policy is to inform you, when you visit our Sites, how we use such information, and the choices you have regarding our use of, and your ability to review and correct, your information.

As a valued client, donor, Circle Organizer, Circle Member, or guest of a Site, we are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy addresses our privacy practices relating to the general use of our Sites by anyone who visits, browses, or otherwise uses a Site (collectively, "You"). Before submitting information to a Site, please read this Privacy Policy. By visiting a Site, submitting information, making a donation, joining or organizing a giving circle, or using any of our products or services, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Privacy Policy and consent to having your data transferred to and/or processed in the United States. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Sites.

1. Security

The security of your personal information is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. If you have any questions about security on our Sites, you can contact us at privacy@swellfundraising.com. When you enter sensitive information (such as a credit card number) on our order forms, we encrypt the transmission of that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).

2. International Data Transfers

Company adheres to generally accepted privacy principles of notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement in how it handles personal information, including information transferred to the United States from other countries. If you have any questions regarding this policy, contact Company through a Site or write to us at Swell Fundraising, Attn: Privacy Questions, 2901 2nd Avenue South #220, Birmingham, AL 35223.

3. Modifying Your Personal Information

If your personally identifiable information changes, or if you wish to update, delete, or remove it, simply email our Customer Support at privacy@swellfundraising.com or contact us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

4. Opt Out

You may "opt out" of receiving our newsletter or marketing e-mails by simply unsubscribing from the service. Additionally, you can opt out by providing us written notice identifying which communications you choose by emailing us at privacy@swellfundraising.com.

5. Information Collected by the Sites

Swell software is utilized by nonprofit organizations to create online events, sell tickets, accept donations, organize giving circles, use the peer network of guests, create social media awareness, and project information on screens during an event. The interactivity and transparency of donor activity is a key part of the Swell experience. In doing so, we seek to create this experience with the least personal information possible. In some cases the information we seek is necessary for the processing of donations and, in those cases, is only provided to the recipient nonprofit organization and not displayed publicly. The following information states what information is collected, for what purpose, and how it can be used.

a. Information Collected from Individuals (Events)

The following actions and information are used to generate an event ticket and a fundraising page with your name and the amount of any transactions referred by you to the Swell site. In some instances, you may choose to link your picture to the Personal Fundraising Page.

1. Your Name: As a registered attendee of the event (and site), your first name and last name as entered on the site will appear in the custom URL link to your personal fundraising page and on the top header of the personal fundraising page.
2. Your Phone Number: Attendee phone numbers are provided to the nonprofit client and are not used by the Company any further, except in an instance where you might seek assistance from Swell support.
3. Your Email: The attendee email address is not displayed publicly but is provided to the nonprofit host for communication before and after the event. This email may be used by Swell clients via the Swell platform to send tickets, communications, and confirmation of activity.

We may obtain address information about you from third-party sources for fraud prevention or for legal compliance.

b. Information Collected for Swell Circles

If you sign up for early access to Swell Circles, or become a Circle Organizer, we collect your first and last name, work email address, organization, your role at that organization, and, optionally, whether you already run a giving circle. We ask for this information to respond to your request, tailor what we send you, and understand which nonprofits are interested in Swell Circles. We do not ask for, and swellcircles.com does not handle, payment details, donor financial account numbers, or information about the people your organization serves, at the early access stage.

Once a Circle Organizer creates a Circle, we collect the same categories of information from Circle Members that we collect from Event participants under section 5.a above — principally name, email address, and the amount of any donations made through the Circle. As with Event participants, a Circle Member's name may appear on the Circle's page as a "Circle Member" or similar designation unless the Circle Member elects to be anonymous or a Circle Organizer or Swell Support hides that visibility, consistent with our Terms of Use.

c. Passive Gathering of Information Electronically

Cookies. During the course of any visit to a Site, the pages you see, along with something called "cookies," are downloaded to your computer. Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer's hard drive. These cookies do not contain or collect any PII, but they do enable us to provide features such as personalization. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you usually can change your browser to limit or prevent cookies. Cookies in themselves do not personally identify the individual user, but rather the computer that is being used to access the Site. You may have the opportunity to set your computer to accept all cookies, to notify you when a cookie is issued, or to not receive cookies at any time. Different browsers may address cookies differently. If you set your browser to not accept cookies, it may result in certain personalized services not being provided to you when you use that computer.

Web Beacons. A web beacon is a transparent image file. Web beacons enable the Company to track website usage information, such as the number of times a given web page has been viewed. Web beacons are invisible to you and (unlike cookies) are not placed on your computer. They may be used in association with cookies to understand how visitors interact with the pages and content on the pages of a Site. Web beacons also may be used to track whether you have opened an HTML email. When the email is opened, a part of the code that makes up the HTML page calls a web server to load the web beacon that then generates a record showing that the email has been viewed. Web beacons may also recognize when the email was opened, how many times it was forwarded, and which URLs (links within the email) were clicked. The Company does not use web beacons to collect or otherwise record any type of PII provided by or about any User.

Pixel Tags. In addition, we use "Pixel Tags" (also referred to as clear GIFs, web beacons, or web bugs). Pixel Tags are tiny graphic images with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, that are used to track online movements of web users. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user's computer hard drive, Pixel Tags are embedded invisibly in web pages. Pixel Tags also allow us to send e-mail messages in a format users can read, and they tell us whether e-mails have been opened, so that we send only messages that are of interest to our users. We may use this information to reduce or eliminate messages sent to a user. We do not tie the information gathered by Pixel Tags to our Users' personal information.

How We Respond to Do Not Track Signals. We do not currently respond to "do not track" signals or other mechanisms that might enable consumers to opt out of tracking on our Sites.

Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics to help analyze how users use certain Sites. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect information such as how often users visit the Site, what pages they visit, and what other sites they used prior to coming to the Site. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve our Sites and services. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit the Site, rather than your name or other personally identifying information. We do not combine information generated through Google Analytics with your personal information. Although Google Analytics plants a persistent cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit the Site, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google. Google's ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to a Site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. swellcircles.com does not currently run Google Analytics or any other analytics or tracking script; if that changes, we will update this policy before it does.

Web Data Collection. We also may automatically collect Site usage information, such as the numbers and frequency of users to a Site, pages visited, and similar data. This data is used in the aggregate, that is, as a statistical measure, and not in a manner that is intended to identify you personally. Aggregate information generally is collected through the use of cookies and web beacons as discussed above. This aggregate information is provided to Swell nonprofit clients to determine the awareness generated by the online activity of their event or Circle. Swell clients may, in turn, provide this aggregate data to their event sponsors.

d. Third Party Hosting

Company contracts with third parties to maintain and host the Sites, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), which hosts swellcircles.com and records standard server logs (including IP addresses) as part of delivering and protecting the service. Any information you submit, including personal information, will be placed and stored on servers maintained by these third-party hosts. Our hosts have agreed to implement technology and security features and strict policy guidelines to safeguard the privacy of your personal information from unauthorized access or improper use. swellcircles.com's typeface is served by Google Fonts; your browser requests the font files directly from Google, which means Google receives your IP address in that process. No cookie is set for this purpose.

e. How We Use Information

When you provide us with your PII, we may use such information for a number of purposes, including:

If you do not want us to collect personally identifiable information about you, you can simply decide not to submit it to us.

6. A Special Notice about Children

Children (under the age of 18) are not eligible to use a Site unsupervised, and we ask that children do not submit any personal information to us. If we become aware that a child under 18 has provided us with personal information, we will delete their information promptly and terminate the child's account. If you are under the age of 18, you may only use a Site in conjunction with, and under the supervision of, your parents or guardians.

7. Disclosure of Information to Third Parties

The personal information disclosed by participants of a Swell event, or by Circle Members of a Swell Circle, will only be provided to and utilized by the nonprofit host or Circle Organizer. The Company may, on a limited basis, utilize the data gathered to operate the software on your behalf and applications that directly impact the guest's or Circle Member's experience.

8. Compliance with Law and Fraud Protection

We may disclose any information, including, without limitation, PII, that we deem necessary, in our sole discretion and without your prior permission, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request. We may also exchange information, including, without limitation, PII, with other companies and organizations for credit fraud protection, risk reduction, and related activities, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Company, its agents, employees, or affiliates or others. The Company reserves the right to disclose PII for a user who we believe is in violation of our Privacy Policy or other terms of service as posted on a Site, even without a subpoena, warrant, court order, or other governmental request.

9. Sale or Transfer of Information

In the event of a sale, merger, liquidation, dissolution, or sale or transfer of substantially all of the assets of the Company or its associated applications (including Swell Circles), personal information and/or other information collected about you from a Site may be assigned or transferred to the party acquiring all or substantially all of the equity and/or assets of the Company in order to permit the party to continue the operation of the applications. By using a Site and providing personal information to the Company, you consent to the sale and transfer of your information as described in this paragraph.

10. Credit Card Information

The Company does not collect, store, or otherwise maintain any credit card information from individuals who make a donation through a Site. Donations, including information associated with your credit card, are processed by our partners, including Authorize.net and Stripe. Swell Circles is designed to process donations exclusively through nonprofit Stripe Connected Accounts, described below.

a. Stripe

Stripe, based in Palo Alto, CA, is a credit card processor that allows you to access your money faster and have it automatically transferred to your bank account on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Donations will appear on the donor's credit card statement under the name of the nonprofit to whom they contributed. All donations made through Stripe go directly from the donor to the nonprofit's Stripe merchant account, including donations made through a Circle.

All information associated with your use of Stripe will be handled in accordance with the Stripe Privacy Policy. When you donate through the Company and use Stripe to process your donation, you agree to the Stripe Terms of Use, available at stripe.com/legal/ssa.

b. Authorize.net

We have also partnered with Authorize.Net, a payment gateway, to accept credit card and electronic check payments for certain event clients. The Authorize.Net Payment Gateway manages the routing of sensitive customer information through the electronic check and credit card processing networks. The Company adheres to strict industry standards for payment processing, including 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology, industry-leading encryption hardware and software methods and security protocols, and compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). For additional information, please read the Authorize.Net Privacy Policy.

11. Information You Publicly Post

Any PII you post publicly on a Site ("Publicly Available Content") is available to the public without any expectation of privacy or confidentiality. Copies may remain viewable in cached and archived pages, or if other users have copied or stored your Publicly Available Content, even if you remove it. To request removal of your personal information from these areas of a Site, contact us using the information below. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why. A profile you create on a Site will be publicly visible.

12. Information You Provide to Facebook and Other Social Networking Sites

Certain Sites allow users to access Facebook to interact with friends and to share on Facebook through the Wall and friends' News Feeds. We do this currently through a third-party service. That third-party service may store some of the information as part of its provision of services to us. If you do not use Facebook or another social networking site (SNS) to log in, then that third party does not receive any data. If you are already logged into a Site and Facebook or another SNS, when you click on "Connect with Facebook" or a similar connection on another SNS, you will be prompted to merge your profiles. Any information that we collect from your Facebook or other SNS account may depend on the privacy settings you have with that SNS, so please consult the SNS's privacy and data practices. This feature is not used by swellcircles.com.

13. Changes to this Policy

We may update this privacy policy to reflect changes to our information practices. Company reserves the right to modify the terms of this privacy policy at any time and in its sole discretion, by posting a change notice on the applicable page. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices. YOUR CONTINUED USE OF A SITE FOLLOWING OUR POSTING OF A CHANGE NOTICE WILL CONSTITUTE BINDING ACCEPTANCE OF THOSE CHANGES.

14. Important Disclosures, Practices, and Contact Information

a. Outbound Links. A Site may contain links to third-party websites input by Swell clients. Please be aware that the Company cannot control and is not responsible for the information collection practices of such websites, which may differ from those of the Company. We encourage you to review and understand the privacy policies of these websites before providing any information to them.

b. Data Security. We maintain a variety of safeguards designed to protect your PII from unauthorized access and disclosure. For example, we use industry-accepted tools and techniques to protect against unauthorized access to our systems. If you share your computer or use a computer that is accessed by the general public, remember to sign off and close your browser window when you have finished your session. This will help ensure that others cannot access your PII.

c. Contacting Us. If you have any questions about the Company, swellfundraising.com, or Swell Circles, please contact us at info@swellfundraising.com or hello@swellcircles.com.

d. Users From Outside the United States. Our Sites are hosted in the United States and are governed by United States law. If you are visiting a Site from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using a Site, you consent to your information being transferred to our facilities and to the facilities of those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Privacy Policy.

e. No Rights of Third Parties. This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties.

15. Your Choices Under GDPR and CCPA

Depending on where you live — for example, under the GDPR in the UK or European Union, or the CCPA in California — you may have the right to ask us to tell you what information we hold about you, correct anything that's wrong, delete your information, or stop contacting you. Email privacy@swellfundraising.com and we will respond within 30 days; we don't require a particular form of words and won't charge you for exercising these rights.

Visibility

This Privacy Policy is visible and accessible at all times on a Swell-powered event or Circle site.

Contact

privacy@swellfundraising.com
Swell Fundraising, LLC, 2901 2nd Avenue South #220, Birmingham, AL 35223