How Southern Ohio Soles collects, uses, and protects your information, and how we keep the students we serve anonymous.
Southern Ohio Soles, Inc. (“SOS,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Southern Ohio. We are committed to protecting the privacy of everyone who interacts with our organization, donors, volunteers, school staff, student representatives, and especially the students we serve.
This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and the steps we take to keep it secure. By using our website or participating in our programs, you agree to the practices described here.
This is our highest privacy commitment. Students who receive shoes through SOS are never identified by full name in any system, communication, or record. School counselors submit requests using student initials only. No other identifying information is collected or stored.
Student representatives, the people who deliver shoes, receive only a student’s initials, grade level, and shoe size. Deliveries are made privately, and no public acknowledgment of recipients is ever made. Counselor notes included with requests are visible to SOS admin only and are never shared with representatives or any third party.
We operate this way by design, not just as a policy. Protecting the dignity of the students we serve is central to everything we do.
We collect different information depending on how you interact with us:
We may collect basic analytics data such as pages visited, browser type, and general geographic region. This data is aggregated and not tied to individual identities. We do not use tracking pixels or sell visitor data.
When you make a donation, we collect your name, email address, and payment information. Payment details are processed securely by our payment processor and are not stored on our servers. We may use your email to send a donation receipt or an occasional program update. You may opt out of communications at any time.
When a student applies to become a representative, we collect their name, school, grade, contact information, and responses to application questions. Parent or guardian consent is obtained separately via email before any applicant is accepted into the program. Application information is used solely for program management and is not shared externally.
When a school staff member registers for a portal account or submits a shoe request, we collect their name, school, district, and contact email. Request forms collect student initials, grade, shoe size, and optional counselor notes. This information is used only to process requests and communicate about their status.
If you send us a message through the website, we collect your name, email, and the content of your message. We use this information only to respond to your inquiry.
We use the information we collect to:
We do not use your information for advertising, profiling, or any purpose unrelated to operating our nonprofit program.
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We may share information in the following limited circumstances:
We use third-party services such as Cognito Forms for school request submissions. These providers are bound by their own privacy policies and are used only to fulfill specific program functions.
We may disclose information if required to do so by law, court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our organization, program participants, or the public.
In certain circumstances, such as publishing a donor recognition or featuring a student representative in a program update, we will ask for your explicit consent before sharing any identifying information.
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to improve your browsing experience and help us understand how people use the site. These are small text files stored on your device. You can disable cookies through your browser settings; doing so may affect some site functionality but will not prevent you from accessing our content.
We do not use advertising cookies or sell browsing data to any third party.
We take reasonable precautions to protect the information we hold, including using secure, password-protected systems for program data and limiting access to authorized personnel only. Payment processing is handled by a PCI-compliant payment processor, we do not store card numbers on our systems.
No method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a data breach affecting your information, we will notify you as required by applicable law.
Our website is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through our website. Our student representative program requires parental or guardian consent before a minor may participate, which is obtained offline via email.
Students served by our program (shoe recipients) are protected by our strict anonymization policy described in Section 1. We do not collect or store any personally identifiable information about shoe recipients beyond the minimum necessary to fulfill a request (initials, grade, shoe size).
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at southernohiosoles@gmail.com. We will respond within 30 days.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as our programs evolve or as required by law. When we do, we will update the effective date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of our website or participation in our programs after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
If you have questions, concerns, or requests related to this Privacy Policy or how Southern Ohio Soles handles personal information, please reach out: