1. About us and this policy
CongregateHQ is a trade name (DBA) of Jaddar Enterprises L.L.C., P.O. Box 506, Princeton, Louisiana ("CongregateHQ", "we", "us"). This policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect personal information through: - congregatehq.com - the CongregateHQ platform used by church staff - the member portals, giving pages, event pages and forms churches publish with CongregateHQ - the CongregateHQ Ministry App for iPhone and Android - the texts and emails sent through CongregateHQ
CongregateHQ serves churches and ministries in the United States, and our servers are in the United States.
2. Who is responsible for your information
- Church data. Member, family, giving, event, check-in and message records belong to the church that collects them. The church decides what to collect and why, and we process it for the church as its service provider. A church's authorized staff can see and manage its own members' information. If you're a church member, your church's own privacy practices also apply, and your church is the best first contact about your information.
- Our own data. We are responsible for church account and billing information, app sign-in, security records, website visits, and our own emails to church account holders.
3. Information we collect
| Category | Examples | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Identifiers and contact details | name, email, mobile number, mailing address | you, or your church |
| Church account and billing | church name, staff names and roles, plan, billing history, the church's tax ID if it chooses to add it | the church's account holder |
| Membership information | family members, groups, attendance, volunteer schedules, birthday, gender, form answers | your church, or you in the app or portal |
| Giving and payment records | amount, date, fund, receipts, last four digits and expiration of a card | you, through our payment processor |
| Your content | posts, prayer requests, comments, photos, group messages | you, in the member app |
| Children's check-in | child names, rooms, pickup codes, allergy or care notes | a parent or the church |
| Messages | texts and emails a church sends, delivery status, replies, opt-ins and opt-outs | the church, you, and messaging carriers |
| Device and usage | device type, operating system, app version, notification token, screens opened, IP address, sign-in and security logs | your device and browser, automatically |
Card and bank details go straight to our payment processor's secure systems; we never receive or store full card or bank numbers. Sensitive information: being in a church's records can reveal religious affiliation, and churches may record health-related notes such as a child's allergy. We use this information only to provide the features your church uses, never for advertising or profiling, and we never sell it.
We do not collect precise location, your contacts, calendar, or browsing history on other sites, and we don't buy information about you from data brokers.
4. Cookies and similar tools
Our website and church pages use only the cookies needed to sign you in, keep your session secure and remember your settings. We don't use advertising cookies or cross-site tracking pixels. Our own emails may record whether they were opened so we can tell whether important notices arrived. You can delete cookies in your browser, but signing in requires them.
5. How we use information
- To provide CongregateHQ: member records, messaging, giving, events, registrations, check-in, volunteers, forms, the portal and the member app
- To send texts, emails and app notifications for your church, and keep delivery and opt-out records
- To process giving, registrations and subscriptions
- To communicate with church account holders: service notices, receipts, security alerts and, with an easy way to opt out, news about CongregateHQ
- To keep things safe: preventing fraud, spam and abuse, and enforcing our Terms
- To meet legal requirements, including tax, payment-network and phone-carrier rules
- To improve CongregateHQ using totals and trends, not individual profiles
We may create de-identified or aggregated statistics (for example, how many texts are delivered each month). We use them only to run and improve CongregateHQ, and they can't be used to identify you.
We do not sell or rent personal information, we do not share it for advertising, and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.
6. How we share information
- With your church and its authorized staff, for that church's records only.
- With service providers that help us run CongregateHQ: a payment processor, text-message and email delivery providers, a push-notification provider, a hosting provider, a bot-protection service, and an AI provider for optional writing help in the church admin tools. They may use information only to provide their service to us, and must protect it at least as well as we do. The member app does not use AI, and your information is not used to train AI models.
- For legal and safety reasons: to comply with law or a court order, to respond to lawful requests from authorities, or to protect the rights, safety or property of people or of CongregateHQ.
- In a business transfer, such as a merger, acquisition or sale of assets. Any new owner must honor this policy for the information it receives, or give you notice and a choice.
7. Text messages
Churches may only text people who agreed to receive texts, and they must keep that consent. Message frequency varies, and message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to any text to opt out, or HELP for help. We automatically honor STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, QUIT and END, and keep a do-not-contact list. Mobile numbers and text opt-in information are never shared with or sold to third parties for their marketing.
8. Referrals
Churches can share a referral link. When a new church signs up through that link, we record which church referred it so both churches receive their credit. We don't collect anything about people who only open the link.
9. Your choices and rights
- See, correct or delete your information: ask your church, or email us.
- Delete your app account: in the app, go to Me › Sign-in and security › Delete my account, or visit congregatehq.com/delete-account.php.
- Notifications: turn them off in your phone's settings.
- Texts and emails: reply STOP, or use the unsubscribe link.
State privacy rights. Depending on where you live (for example, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Texas and other states with privacy laws), you may have the right to: - know what personal information we have and how we use it - get a copy in a portable format - correct it - delete it - opt out of its sale, of targeted advertising, and of profiling (we do none of these)
How to make a request. Email contactus@congregatehq.com with "Privacy Request" in the subject. We'll verify it's you, and you may use an authorized agent. We respond within 45 days, and if we need up to 45 more, we'll tell you why. We won't treat you differently or charge you for using these rights. If your request is about church data, we'll send it to your church and help it respond. If we decline a request, we'll explain why, and you can reply to appeal.
10. How long we keep information
- Church data: kept while the church's account is open, and permanently deleted within 30 days after the church closes it. Records we must keep for tax, payment-network, legal or fraud-prevention reasons are kept only as long as required.
- A deleted app account: the account and its sign-in information are deleted right away. Your church may keep records it is required to keep, such as giving records needed for tax receipts.
- Security and delivery logs: kept for a limited time, then deleted.
11. Security
We encrypt information in transit and at rest, require sign-in for every admin function, limit each church's data to its authorized staff, keep security logs, and offer two-step sign-in. Card data is handled by a payment processor that meets the payment card industry's security standard (PCI DSS). No system is perfectly secure. If a security incident affects your personal information, we'll notify you and your church as the law requires, which may be by email.
12. Children
CongregateHQ and the member app are not intended for children under 13 to use on their own, and we don't knowingly collect personal information directly from them. Children's information (for example, for check-in or youth events) is entered by a parent or the church, and the church is responsible for any parental consent. If you believe a child under 13 gave us information directly, contact us and we'll delete it.
13. Links and outside services
Church pages may link to other websites, and giving goes through our payment processor's secure pages. We're not responsible for other companies' privacy practices, so please read their policies.
14. Changes to this policy
We'll post changes here and update the dates above. For significant changes, we'll notify church account holders by email at least 30 days before they take effect, unless the law requires a change sooner.
15. Contact us
Questions, requests or complaints: contactus@congregatehq.com Jaddar Enterprises L.L.C. (DBA CongregateHQ), P.O. Box 506, Princeton, LA