Legal
Last Updated: 28 September 2026
At The Giving Circle, we respect your privacy and are committed to handling personal data responsibly, transparently and in accordance with applicable law.
This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use and share it, how long we retain it, and the choices and rights available to you when you use www.thegivingcircle.in and related services.
This Privacy Policy applies when you:
This Privacy Policy should be read together with our Terms of Use and any additional privacy notices shown when we collect personal data.
The Giving Circle is a social-impact and community-giving platform that connects individuals and communities with verified NGOs, social causes, fundraising campaigns and volunteer opportunities.
For the purposes of applicable data-protection law, The Giving Circle is responsible for determining how personal data collected through The Giving Circle is processed, unless otherwise stated.
This Privacy Policy applies to website visitors, donors, Cause Champions, volunteers, NGO representatives, beneficiaries where relevant, and other individuals who interact with The Giving Circle.
Depending on how you use The Giving Circle, we may collect the following categories of personal data.
When you make a donation, we may collect:
Payment card, UPI, banking or other payment credentials may be processed directly by authorised payment service providers. The Giving Circle does not store complete card, UPI PIN or online-banking credentials where those credentials are handled directly by the payment provider.
We may collect information you provide when you contact support, submit a form, send us an email, provide feedback, raise a grievance or communicate with us through another channel.
We may collect personal data:
If you provide personal data about another person, you should ensure that you have the appropriate authority or permission to provide that information and, where required, have informed that individual about how their information may be used.
This may apply, for example, to beneficiary stories, photographs, testimonials, volunteer referrals or campaign information submitted by Cause Champions or NGO representatives.
Certain information that you choose to publish through The Giving Circle may be publicly accessible. This may include your name, profile information, Cause Champion details, campaign stories, photographs, videos, testimonials or campaign updates.
Public content may also appear in search-engine results or be shared through social-media platforms. Please avoid submitting personal or sensitive information that you do not want to make publicly available.
We may use personal data to:
We aim to collect and use only the personal data reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.
Donations made through The Giving Circle may be processed by participating NGOs, banks, payment gateways or authorised payment service providers.
Payment providers may collect information directly from you and process that information under their own terms and privacy policies. The Giving Circle may receive limited transaction information such as payment status, transaction reference, amount, donor details and the recipient campaign or NGO.
We do not require access to complete payment credentials where the payment provider can process the transaction independently.
Information provided by Cause Champions may be used to set up or manage campaign participation, communicate campaign updates, provide approved campaign materials, understand campaign engagement and support community-building activities.
Volunteer information may be shared with the participating NGO or organisation responsible for the relevant opportunity where necessary to process registration or participation.
We may collect information from NGO representatives in connection with verification, onboarding, campaigns and ongoing partnerships. This may include:
Such information may be used for due diligence, compliance, campaign management and maintaining platform trust.
We may use your contact information to send service-related communications such as donation confirmations, campaign updates, volunteer information, security notices and responses to support requests.
Where appropriate consent has been obtained, we may also send newsletters, campaign recommendations, fundraising updates or other promotional communications by email, SMS, WhatsApp or similar channels.
You may opt out of promotional communications using the unsubscribe option provided or by contacting us. Essential service or transaction-related communications may still be sent where necessary.
The Giving Circle may rely on external services for functions such as payments, analytics, hosting, communications, forms, email delivery and social-media integrations.
These organisations may process personal data according to their own privacy policies. Users should review the privacy notices of third-party services they choose to use.
We retain personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including:
Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and applicable legal requirements. When personal data is no longer required, we may securely delete or anonymise it, subject to applicable law.
We use reasonable administrative, technical and organisational safeguards designed to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, disclosure and destruction.
However, no online platform or transmission method can guarantee absolute security. Users should also take reasonable steps to protect their own devices and account information.
If we become aware of a personal data breach, we will take reasonable steps to investigate, contain and address the incident and make any notifications required under applicable law.
Subject to applicable law, you may have rights relating to your personal data, including the ability to:
Requests may be subject to identity verification and applicable legal requirements.
Where we rely on your consent to process personal data, that consent should be freely given, specific, informed and indicated through a clear affirmative action.
You may withdraw consent at any time where applicable. Withdrawal of consent will not affect processing that was lawful before the withdrawal.
Where personal data is necessary to provide a particular service, withdrawing consent may affect our ability to continue providing that service. The process for withdrawing consent should be reasonably easy and comparable to the process through which consent was originally provided.
The Giving Circle is not intended to knowingly collect personal data from children without appropriate parental or guardian consent where such consent is required by applicable law.
If we become aware that personal data relating to a child has been collected without the required authorisation, we may take appropriate steps to remove or restrict that information.
Some technology or service providers used by The Giving Circle may process or store personal data outside India. Where personal data is transferred internationally, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that such transfers comply with applicable Indian law and appropriate safeguards.
The Giving Circle may contain links to participating NGOs, payment providers, social-media platforms and other external websites. These websites are operated by third parties and are governed by their own privacy policies. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any third-party site you visit. The Giving Circle is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external websites.