Privacy Policy

Account and Contact Information

When you create an account, place an order, or make a donation, we collect your name, email address, shipping address, and phone number. This is necessary to fulfill orders, process donations, send impact updates, and maintain your account.

Pet Photos and Customization Content

When you upload a photo of your pet for custom product creation, we store that image securely on encrypted servers. You retain full ownership of your pet photos. By uploading, you grant Paws & Purpose a limited license to print the image on your ordered products, generate the associated QR code tag, and display the product in your private account dashboard. We never use your pet photos for marketing, advertising, or third-party promotions without your explicit consent.

Purchase and Payment Information

We process payments through PCI-compliant third-party providers. We do not store complete credit card numbers on our servers. We retain transaction records, order details, and shipping information to fulfill orders, handle returns or defects, and maintain transparent financial records as required by our 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.

Donation Records

When you make a donation, we collect your name, email, donation amount, designation preference (general fund, specific shelter, or featured animal campaign), and any dedication message you provide. These records are used for tax receipt generation, impact reporting, donor updates, and nonprofit financial compliance.

Browsing and Device Information

Like most websites, we collect standard log data including your IP address, browser type, pages visited, time spent, and referring URLs. We use cookies and similar technologies to maintain your session, remember your preferences, understand how visitors use our platform, and improve the experience. You can manage cookie preferences through your browser settings.

Order Fulfillment and Product Creation

We use your information to produce, print, and ship your custom products, generate QR code tags linked to shelter animal profiles, and provide order tracking and customer support.

Donation Processing and Impact Reporting

Donation data is used to allocate funds to the correct shelter or campaign, generate tax receipts, send quarterly impact reports, and comply with nonprofit transparency regulations.

Shelter Partner Coordination

With your explicit consent, we may share your contact information with a specific shelter partner if you choose to direct your donation or purchase impact to that shelter. Shelters receive only the information necessary to acknowledge your support. They are contractually prohibited from using your information for independent marketing.

Platform Improvement

We analyze aggregated, anonymized usage data to improve our website, product offerings, shelter tools, and donation flows. We never sell your personal information to data brokers or advertisers.

Service Providers

We engage trusted third-party service providers for payment processing, order fulfillment, printing, shipping, email delivery, and web hosting. These providers have access only to the information necessary to perform their functions and are contractually bound to protect your data.

Shelter Partners

If you choose to support a specific shelter, we share your name, email, and donation amount with that shelter so they can acknowledge your gift and include you in impact updates. If you opt out of this sharing during checkout, we respect that choice fully.

Legal Compliance

We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or governmental request, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, property, or safety, or the rights, property, or safety of our users, shelter partners, or the public.

Business Transfers

In the unlikely event of a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, user information would be transferred subject to the same privacy commitments described here. You would be notified in advance of any such change.

We implement industry-standard security measures including SSL/TLS encryption for all data transmission, encrypted storage for pet photos and personal information, access controls and authentication for internal systems, regular security audits, and PCI-DSS compliance for payment processing. While we take these precautions seriously, no internet transmission is completely secure. We encourage you to use strong passwords and report any suspected unauthorized access immediately.

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. Pet photos associated with completed orders are retained for 24 months to facilitate reorders and support requests, after which they are permanently deleted from our active servers. Backup retention may extend briefly beyond this period.

Access and Update

You can access and update most of your personal information through your account dashboard at any time. This includes your name, email, shipping addresses, and communication preferences.

Deletion

You may request deletion of your account and associated personal data by contacting us through our contact form or messaging us on Instagram. We will process deletion requests within 30 days, except where retention is necessary for legal compliance, ongoing transactions, or legitimate business purposes.

Communication Preferences

All marketing and impact update emails include an unsubscribe link. You can also manage preferences in your account settings. Transactional emails related to orders and donations cannot be opted out of as they are necessary to complete your requests.

Do Not Track

Our platform does not currently respond to Do Not Track browser signals. However, you can control tracking through your browser cookie settings and by opting out of analytics cookies.

Our platform is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child under 13, please contact us immediately through our contact form or on Instagram and we will delete the information promptly.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, platform features, or legal requirements. We will notify you of material changes by email and by posting a prominent notice on our website. The updated policy will indicate the effective date at the top of the page.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us through our contact form or on Instagram. We respond to all privacy inquiries within 48 hours.