Privacy Policy — Raising the Barre

Draft notice. This Privacy Policy is currently in draft form and is being reviewed by legal counsel. It is published here for transparency about RTB's intended privacy practices. The binding version will replace this draft once attorney review is complete.

Raising the Barre ("RTB," "we," "us," or "our") is a 501(c)(3) youth-service nonprofit organization (EIN 72-1281893) based in Livermore, California. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard information when you visit our website at raisingthebarredance.org and interact with us through our contact forms and email channels.

This policy applies to information collected through the RTB public website only. Information collected through the Dance Positive research platform (a separate platform operated under University of Pennsylvania IRB Protocol #857840) is governed by the Dance Positive Privacy Policy.

What This Policy Covers

The Raising the Barre website is an informational nonprofit website. We do not operate a user-account system, a mobile application, or a data-collection platform on this website. The information we collect is limited to what visitors voluntarily provide when contacting us.

Information We Collect

Contact information you submit through our forms (name, email address, message contents)
Information you send to RTB email addresses (board, donate, scholarships, programs, contact, press, chapters, research at raisingthebarredance.org)
Standard web server data (IP address, browser type, referring page, pages viewed) collected automatically when you visit the site
Anonymous, aggregate analytics data (if and as enabled on the site)

How We Use Your Information

To respond to your inquiry
To process donation correspondence (note: we are not currently accepting online donations; gifts by check, donor-advised fund, and employer matching are processed offline)
To send organizational updates, only if you have specifically requested them
To improve the website and the organization's communications
To comply with applicable legal obligations

We Do Not Sell or Trade Your Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for commercial purposes. We are a youth-service nonprofit; our work is funded by donations, scholarship gifts, and chapter affiliation activity. Selling user data is not part of our business model and will not become part of it.

Enhanced Children's Protections (COPPA)

Raising the Barre's program serves dancers ages 10–19, a range that includes minors under 13 ("children" or "child" for COPPA purposes). We take child privacy seriously and structure our website accordingly.

The RTB public website does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. We do not target our website to children under 13; the site is directed to parents, donors, dance studio owners, and adult chapter leaders.

If a child under 13 contacts RTB directly:

We will not respond to substantive requests without parental or guardian consent
We will delete any personal information we received from the child within 30 days unless a parent or guardian has provided verifiable consent
We will respond to the contact through the parent or guardian email address

Research participation by minors (including children under 13) is governed by RTB's Dance Positive platform and University of Pennsylvania IRB Protocol #857840, which has its own COPPA-compliant consent process and is described in the Dance Positive Children's Privacy Policy.

Parental Rights Under COPPA

If you are a parent or guardian and you believe RTB has collected personal information from your child under 13, you may:

Request a copy of all information we have collected
Request that we delete the information
Withdraw any consent previously given
Refuse further contact

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@raisingthebarredance.org. We will respond within 10 business days.

Information Sharing and Disclosure

No data sales. We do not sell your personal information.

Service providers. We use third-party services to operate the website (web hosting, email delivery, contact form handling). These service providers may have incidental access to information you submit, but they are contractually obligated to use it only to provide the service to us and to protect it consistent with their own privacy and security standards. Current service providers include:

Netlify (web hosting and content delivery)
Mailchimp (email distribution and mailing list management, only if you have voluntarily subscribed)
Google Analytics or equivalent (anonymous, aggregate website analytics, if and as enabled)
Formspree or equivalent (contact form processing)

Legal compliance. We may disclose information when required by law, court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of RTB, our users, or others.

Business transfers. In the unlikely event of a merger, acquisition, or dissolution of the organization, user information may be transferred, but the privacy protections in this policy will continue to apply.

Research partners. Information submitted through the RTB public website is not shared with our academic research partners (University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University). Research participation is a separate process governed by the Dance Positive platform and IRB Protocol #857840.

Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures appropriate to the type and amount of information we handle:

All web traffic is protected with SSL/TLS encryption
Contact form data is transmitted over encrypted connections
Access to RTB email accounts is restricted to authorized organizational administrators
We periodically review our security practices and update them as needed

No system can be guaranteed completely secure. If you believe your interaction with our website has resulted in a security or privacy concern, please contact us immediately at privacy@raisingthebarredance.org.

Data Retention and Deletion

General retention: Contact form submissions and email correspondence are retained while they are operationally useful, generally not more than three years from last contact, unless legal or fiduciary obligations require longer retention (e.g., donation records under IRS rules).

Children under 13: Information from anyone identified as under 13 is deleted within 30 days unless a parent or guardian has provided verifiable consent.

Donor records: Donation correspondence is retained as required by IRS Form 990 and California nonprofit accounting standards, generally seven years.

Mailing list subscribers: Information from individuals who have voluntarily subscribed to RTB communications is retained for as long as the subscription is active. You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email or by contacting us directly.

Your Privacy Rights

All Users

Access and review the personal information we hold about you
Correct inaccurate or incomplete information
Request deletion of your personal information
Receive your information in a portable format
Opt out of non-essential communications

California Residents

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA), California residents have additional rights, including the right to:

Know what categories of personal information we have collected about you
Know whether we have sold or disclosed your personal information (we do not sell; we disclose only as described in this policy)
Request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain legal exceptions
Opt out of the sale of personal information (we do not sell personal information)
Non-discrimination for exercising these rights

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@raisingthebarredance.org. We will respond within 30 days (or sooner where required by applicable law).

Cookies and Analytics

The RTB website uses minimal cookies and tracking technologies:

Essential session cookies required for the site to function
Anonymous, aggregate analytics (if and as enabled) to understand site traffic patterns
No advertising cookies, no behavioral tracking, no third-party advertising networks

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect some site functionality.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted on this page with a revised "Last Updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Contact Information

Privacy questions or concerns:

Raising the Barre Privacy Team
Email: privacy@raisingthebarredance.org
Mail: Raising the Barre, 4046 East Ave., Livermore, CA 94550

General organizational contact: contact@raisingthebarredance.org

Research ethics questions (Dance Positive research platform):
Email: research@raisingthebarredance.org
IRB Protocol Number: 857840 (University of Pennsylvania)