Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 24, 2026

The short version

• We collect only what you choose to send us (contact, service request and volunteer forms) and, if you allow it, basic visit statistics.
• We never sell, rent or trade your information, and we don't use advertising or tracking cookies.
• Online payments are handled by PayPal or Clover. We never see or store your card number.
• You can ask us to see, correct or delete your information at any time: manager@svtempleco.org.

Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple of Colorado ("the Temple", "we", "us") is a non-profit, tax-exempt religious organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect through our website, svtempleco.org, how we use it, who we share it with and the choices you have. It applies to this website only, not to information collected in person at the Temple or by other websites we link to.

1. Information we collect

Information you give us

• Contact form: your name, email address, phone number, the subject you choose and your message.
• Request a Service form: your name, email address, phone number, the seva you are asking about and your message.
• Volunteer form: your name, email address, phone number, age group, areas of interest, availability and comments. For volunteers under 18, the name and phone number of a parent or guardian.
• Emails and phone calls you send or make to the Temple.

Donations and seva payments

Online donations and seva payments are made on the secure pages of PayPal or the Temple's official Clover online store (svtempleco.cloveronline.com). Those providers collect your payment details under their own privacy policies; the Temple does not receive or store your full card or bank account number. We do receive your name, contact details, the amount and what it was for, so that we can perform the seva, send your receipt and keep the records that the law requires.

Information collected automatically

• Visit statistics, only if you click "Accept" on our cookie banner: a random visitor ID, the pages you view and when, your browser and device type (user agent) and a shortened IP address (the last part is removed, so it can't point to a household).
• Form submissions: the IP address a form is sent from is saved with it, to limit repeated messages and stop spam.
• Server logs: like all websites, our web server briefly records technical details of each request (such as IP address, page and time) to keep the site secure and fix errors.

We do not knowingly collect sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, health information or precise location.

2. How we use it

• To answer your questions and arrange the sevas and services you request.
• To organize volunteers for temple activities and festivals.
• To process donations, send acknowledgements and tax receipts, and keep financial records.
• To understand how the website is used and improve it.
• To protect the website and our forms from spam, fraud and abuse. Our online forms accept messages from within the United States only: when you send one, we look up the country of your IP address in a database kept on our own server (IP geolocation by DB-IP), so your address is not sent to anyone for this. From outside the United States, please email or call us.
• To meet legal, tax and accounting obligations.

We do not use your information for advertising, and we don't send you newsletters unless you ask for them. A reply or acknowledgement to a form you sent is not a marketing message.

3. Cookies and visit statistics

Cookies are small files your browser stores for a website. We use only first-party cookies (set by svtempleco.org) for the purposes below, and no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. Visit statistics are recorded only after you click Accept; if you click Decline, no visitor ID is set and an existing one is removed.

The website also sets a strictly necessary security cookie when you use a form; it is deleted when you close your browser. Our news bar remembers in your browser's local storage if you have closed it. Some services we embed (Google reCAPTCHA and Google Maps, see below) may set their own cookies on the pages where they appear.

Change my cookie choice

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The website will still work, though the forms need the security cookie to submit.

4. Services we use

We rely on a few trusted providers. Each handles information under its own privacy policy:

• Google reCAPTCHA on the Contact, Request a Service and Volunteer forms, to tell people from spam bots. It collects hardware and software information, such as device and application data, and sends it to Google. Use of reCAPTCHA is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
• Google Maps (maps on the Contact and Location pages, and directions links) and Google Calendar (our event calendars).
• An email delivery service that sends the Temple's emails, such as form acknowledgements and donation receipts.
• PayPal and Clover, which process online payments.
• Content delivery networks (such as jsDelivr, cdnjs, unpkg) and Google Fonts, which supply parts of the page; like any web server, they receive your IP address when your browser loads them.
• Our web hosting provider, whose servers store the website and its database in the United States.

Links to our Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages, and the WhatsApp share buttons, take you to those services, whose own policies then apply.

5. When we share information

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information. We share it only:

• With Temple staff, priests and volunteer committee members who need it to respond to you or perform a seva.
• With the service providers listed above, only so they can do their work for us.
• When required by law, court order or a government authority, or to protect the safety of people at the Temple.
• With your consent.

We do not publish donation amounts. Annadanam sponsor names are listed on our website to thank them; if you would rather be listed as "Anonymous", let us know.

6. How long we keep it

We keep form submissions and correspondence only as long as needed to respond and for related temple records, and visit statistics only as long as they are useful for reporting. Donation and financial records are kept as long as tax and accounting rules require (generally seven years). When information is no longer needed, we delete it or remove the parts that identify you.

7. Security

The website uses encrypted connections (HTTPS), access to temple records is limited to the people who need it, and admin accounts are password-protected. No website is completely secure, so please don't send sensitive information such as card numbers or ID numbers through our forms or by email.

8. Children's privacy

The website is meant for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13. Volunteers under 18 must give a parent or guardian's name and phone number, and youth programs such as Bala Vihar register children through their parents. If you believe a child under 13 has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

9. Your choices and rights

• See, correct or delete the information we hold about you: email us and we will respond within 45 days. We may keep records the law requires (for example, donation records).
• Visit statistics: accept or decline them at any time with the button in section 3.
• Emails: ask us to stop contacting you, and we will.
• Global Privacy Control / Do Not Track: we do not sell information or track you across sites, so there is nothing for these signals to switch off. Visit statistics stay off unless you accept them.

Depending on where you live, privacy laws (such as the Colorado Privacy Act) may give you similar rights. We will honor these requests from any visitor, whether or not a law requires it. We will not treat you differently for making a request.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when our website or practices change. The effective date at the top shows when it was last changed; for significant changes, we will also post a notice on the website.

11. Contact us