Your information deserves thoughtful care.

Brighter Way Institute (“Brighter Way,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to respecting the privacy of our website visitors, donors, volunteers, supporters, patients, and others who interact with us.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect personal information through:

• www.brighterwaydental.org;
• apps.brighterwaydental.org;
• Brighter Way donation, contact, and registration pages; and
• Other websites or online services that link to this Privacy Policy.

You may browse many areas of our websites without directly identifying yourself. However, certain technical information may be collected automatically when you use our websites.

This Privacy Policy applies primarily to general website, donor, volunteer, supporter, and organizational information.

Information collected from or about patients in connection with dental treatment, payment, or healthcare operations may constitute protected health information. When information is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) or another healthcare privacy law, Brighter Way’s applicable Notice of Privacy Practices governs that information. If this Privacy Policy conflicts with the applicable Notice of Privacy Practices concerning protected health information, the Notice of Privacy Practices controls.

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of information.

Information You Provide

We may collect:

• Your name, mailing address, email address, and telephone number;
• Account information, such as a username, password, or other authentication information;
• Donation information, including donation amount, frequency, designation, donor preferences, and transaction details;
• Payment information submitted through our donation or payment platform;
• Your communication preferences, including whether you wish to receive email, mail, telephone, or fundraising communications;
• Information submitted through contact forms, surveys, event registrations, volunteer forms, or other requests;
• Organization or employer information that you voluntarily provide;
• Messages, comments, questions, and other correspondence; and
• Any other information you voluntarily provide to us.

Information Collected Automatically

When you use our websites or online services, we or our service providers may automatically collect:

• Internet Protocol (“IP”) address;
• Browser and device type;
• Operating system;
• Device identifiers;
• Referring and exit pages;
• Pages viewed and links selected;
• Dates and times of visits;
• General geographic information derived from an IP address; and
• Information collected through cookies, pixels, logs, and similar technologies.

This information helps us operate, secure, evaluate, and improve our websites and services.

Information from Service Providers and Other Sources

We may receive information from organizations that help us process donations, host our websites, manage communications, prevent fraud, organize events, or provide other services on our behalf. We may also receive information from referral or community partners when authorized by the individual or otherwise permitted by law.

We may use personal information to:

• Process and acknowledge donations and other transactions;
• Provide donation receipts and tax-related documentation;
• Administer recurring donations;
• Respond to questions, requests, complaints, or inquiries;
• Manage accounts, registrations, events, volunteers, and supporter relationships;
• Provide information about Brighter Way’s programs, services, impact, events, and fundraising activities;
• Honor communication and donor-recognition preferences;
• Maintain accurate organizational and financial records;
• Operate, maintain, personalize, and improve our websites and online services;
• Authenticate users and protect accounts;
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, misuse, security incidents, and unlawful activity;
• Evaluate website usage and organizational outreach;
• Enforce our agreements and policies;
• Protect the rights, safety, and property of Brighter Way and others; and
• Comply with applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, healthcare, and reporting obligations.

We will not use personal information for materially different purposes without providing appropriate notice and, when required, obtaining consent.

Our websites and service providers may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to:

• Enable website and account functions;
• Remember settings or sign-in information;
• Understand how visitors use our websites;
• Measure website performance;
• Protect our systems and prevent fraud; and
• Improve our communications and services.

Most browsers allow users to block or delete cookies. Blocking cookies may prevent certain website features from functioning properly.

Our websites may not respond to all “Do Not Track” browser signals because there is not a universally accepted standard for responding to those signals.

Brighter Way does not sell or rent personal information to data brokers, advertisers, or other third parties for their independent marketing purposes.

We may disclose personal information in the following circumstances:

Service Providers

We may share information with vendors that perform services for us, including website hosting, donor-management, payment processing, communications, analytics, data storage, cybersecurity, auditing, and professional services. These providers are authorized to use personal information only as necessary to provide services to Brighter Way or as permitted by law.

Our online donation services are currently supported by third-party fundraising and payment technology providers, including Arreva and Bloomerang. Information submitted through those services may be processed by those providers.

With Your Direction or Consent

We may share information when you request or authorize us to do so.

Legal and Safety Purposes

We may disclose information when we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to:

• Comply with a law, regulation, subpoena, court order, or other legal process;
• Respond to a lawful government request;
• Detect, investigate, or prevent fraud or unlawful conduct;
• Protect an individual from death or serious bodily injury;
• Protect the rights, property, security, or operations of Brighter Way or others; or
• Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Organizational Transactions

If Brighter Way undergoes a merger, reorganization, transfer of programs, or other organizational transaction, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law and appropriate privacy protections.

Payment-card information submitted through our donation or payment pages is transmitted using security measures provided by our payment and fundraising technology providers. Payment information is used to complete the requested transaction, prevent fraud, administer recurring payments, and meet legal or accounting obligations.

Brighter Way does not use payment-card information for unrelated purposes. Payment processors may handle information under their own privacy and security terms.

We respect your preferences regarding fundraising and other communications.

You may:

• Use the unsubscribe link in a marketing or fundraising email;
• Follow the instructions provided in a text message;
• Contact us to change your telephone or postal-mail preferences; or
• Ask us not to contact you for future donations.

After an opt-out request, we may retain limited information necessary to honor the request. You may still receive transactional, administrative, safety, or legally required communications, such as donation receipts or notices concerning an account.

You may ask us to:

• Confirm whether we maintain personal information about you;
• Provide access to appropriate personal information;
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• Update your contact or communication preferences; or
• Delete information when deletion is legally and operationally appropriate.

Submit a request using the contact information below. We may need to verify your identity before responding.

Some information cannot be changed or deleted when retention is required for patient-care, tax, accounting, fraud-prevention, contractual, legal, or regulatory reasons. Requests involving protected health information will be handled under Brighter Way’s applicable Notice of Privacy Practices and healthcare-record procedures.

We will respond within a reasonable period and explain any material limitation or denial when appropriate.

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary to:

• Fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy;
• Maintain patient, donation, tax, accounting, and organizational records;
• Honor communication preferences;
• Resolve disputes;
• Prevent fraud;
• Enforce agreements; and
• Meet legal and regulatory obligations.

Retention periods vary according to the type of information and the reason it was collected. When information is no longer reasonably needed, we take appropriate steps to delete, destroy, or de-identify it.

Brighter Way uses reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, destruction, and accidental loss.

Our safeguards may include:

• Secure transmission methods;
• Access controls and authentication;
• Role-based access to information;
• Staff confidentiality requirements and training;
• Vendor-management procedures;
• System monitoring and security testing;
• Secure storage and disposal practices; and
• Incident-response procedures.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security.

Brighter Way provides dental services to children, but our general websites are intended for parents, guardians, donors, volunteers, and other adults and are not designed for children under 13 to submit personal information independently.

We do not knowingly collect personal information online directly from a child under 13 without authorization from a parent or legal guardian. Parents and guardians should submit information on behalf of children through the patient channels designated by Brighter Way.

If we learn that personal information was submitted online directly by a child under 13 without appropriate authorization, we will take reasonable steps to delete or otherwise appropriately handle the information. A parent or guardian who believes a child has submitted information without authorization should contact us.

Our websites may contain links to dental centers, community partners, social-media platforms, payment processors, or other third-party websites and services.

Brighter Way does not control the privacy, security, or content practices of independent third parties. This Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected directly by those parties. We encourage visitors to review the privacy policy of each third-party service they use.

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our services, information practices, technology, or legal obligations.

The revised policy will be posted on our website with an updated “Last Updated” date. If a change materially affects how we use or disclose previously collected personal information, we will provide additional notice when reasonably appropriate, such as a prominent website notice or an email to affected individuals.

If you have a question, wish to exercise a privacy choice, or believe your personal information has been misused, please contact:

Please include enough information for us to understand and respond to your request, but do not send sensitive medical, financial, or identity information through ordinary email.

We will review privacy concerns in good faith and take reasonable corrective action when appropriate.