PRIVACY POLICY
Effective date: September 1, 2026
Sea to Sky Explorers Association (“STSEA,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, retain, and protect personal information when you visit www.stsea.org, contact us, submit a research or volunteer inquiry, make a donation through a CauseVox fundraising page or form, make a purchase, or otherwise interact with STSEA.
WHO WE ARE
Sea to Sky Explorers Association is a U.S. nonprofit organization that connects trained explorers and technical specialists with researchers who need support for difficult fieldwork, expedition logistics, technical diving, climbing, mapping, and related scientific work.
For privacy questions or requests, contact:
Sea to Sky Explorers Association
Attn: Khaled Allen
2934 King St
Berkeley, CA 94703
United States
INFORMATION WE COLLECT
We collect information you provide directly to us, information collected automatically when you use the website or a donation page, and limited information from service providers that help us operate the website, process donations and purchases, communicate with you, and measure our outreach.
Information You Provide
Depending on how you interact with STSEA, this may include:
- Your name, email address, phone number, organization, and other contact details.
- Information included in a research or project inquiry, including general project needs, location, technical requirements, and message content.
- Volunteer-interest information, including broad experience, qualifications, interests, and availability.
- Donation information submitted through a CauseVox fundraising page or form, such as your name, email address, phone number, mailing or billing address, donation amount, donation date, campaign or fund designation, whether the gift is one-time or recurring, public-recognition or anonymity preference, comments, tribute information, communication preferences, and other information requested on the form.
- Donation and transaction information that STSEA receives from CauseVox or the payment processor, such as a transaction identifier, payment status, amount, date, campaign source, recurring-gift status, receipt information, refund or dispute status, and related communication preferences.
- Store or purchase information that STSEA receives from a commerce or payment provider, such as purchaser name, contact information, transaction date, amount, items purchased, and fulfillment information.
- Messages or other communications you send to us.
Please do not submit protected health information, medical information, government identification numbers, passport details, confidential research-subject information, sensitive third-party information, precise protected locations, payment-card numbers in free-text fields, or other highly sensitive information through a public website, inquiry, donation, or comment form. If sensitive information is necessary for a potential project or volunteer process, STSEA will arrange an appropriate separate process.
Payment Information
Donations made through CauseVox are processed by the payment processor identified at checkout, which may include Stripe, PayPal, or another supported provider. Purchases may be processed through PayPal, Squarespace commerce, or another provider identified at the point of transaction.
STSEA does not receive your full payment-card number, bank-account number, security code, or payment-account password. CauseVox and the selected payment processor may receive payment information directly to complete the transaction, prevent fraud, issue receipts, administer recurring gifts, and handle refunds or disputes under their own terms and privacy policies.
Information Collected Automatically
When you visit STSEA.org, use a CauseVox fundraising page or form, or interact with a payment page, Squarespace, CauseVox, payment processors, and certain approved service providers may collect information such as:
- IP address and general location derived from it.
- Browser type, device type, operating system, language, and network information.
- Referring website, campaign source, and tagged-link information.
- Pages or screens viewed, links or buttons selected, form interactions, donation-page activity, timestamps, and other website or campaign activity.
- Cookie identifiers, advertising identifiers, and similar online identifiers.
- Information used for security, fraud prevention, session management, payment processing, and troubleshooting.
If a CauseVox donation form is embedded in STSEA.org or opened from a link on STSEA.org, CauseVox and the selected payment processor may collect this information directly through their own systems.
HOW WE USE INFORMATION
We use personal information to:
- Operate, secure, maintain, and improve the website, donation pages, forms, and related services.
- Respond to inquiries about research projects, partnerships, volunteering, donations, purchases, or STSEA’s work.
- Evaluate and route project and volunteer-interest inquiries to appropriate STSEA team members.
- Process, acknowledge, administer, and document donations and purchases.
- Send donation receipts, transaction confirmations, recurring-gift notices, service messages, and other communications needed to administer a transaction or relationship.
- Manage donor records in CauseVox or another authorized system, including donation history, communication preferences, refunds, disputes, recurring gifts, and follow-up.
- Maintain records needed for administration, accounting, tax, legal, fraud-prevention, and operational purposes.
- Understand website and donation-page use and the effectiveness of our communications and campaigns.
- Attribute donations and other actions to a campaign, source, advertisement, or referral where technically available.
- Measure and improve outreach and, where permitted by applicable law and your choices, deliver or measure relevant advertising.
- Protect the rights, safety, security, and property of STSEA, our community, donors, service providers, and others.
- Comply with legal obligations and enforce applicable agreements.
Where applicable law requires a legal basis for processing, we process information to respond to a request you make, complete or administer a transaction, fulfill legal obligations, pursue legitimate organizational interests in operating and improving STSEA’s work, protect legal rights and security, or with your consent.
COOKIES, ANALYTICS, AND ADVERTISING
We use cookies and similar technologies on STSEA.org and may configure approved analytics and advertising technologies on CauseVox fundraising pages or forms. The technologies available and the controls presented may differ between STSEA.org, a CauseVox-hosted page, and a payment-processor page.
Necessary Cookies
Necessary cookies and similar technologies help websites and donation pages function securely. They may support site operation, session management, shopping-cart or donation-form functions, payment handoff, fraud prevention, recurring-gift administration, security, and storage of privacy choices. These technologies generally cannot be disabled through a website cookie banner because the requested service may not function without them.
Analytics Cookies
If you accept analytics cookies where a consent choice is presented, we may use Squarespace analytics, Google Analytics, CauseVox reporting, or related measurement tools to understand general website and donation-page traffic and activity. This may include information about your browser, device, pages viewed, referral source, campaign tags, and interactions with the website or fundraising page.
CauseVox may also generate operational and transaction reports for STSEA, including donation-page visits, form activity, completed transactions, campaign performance, and donor records.
Advertising and Campaign-Measurement Technologies
If advertising or campaign-measurement technologies are enabled and applicable law permits their use, STSEA may use Google advertising tools and Meta technologies, including Meta Pixel, on STSEA.org or a CauseVox fundraising page or form.
Depending on the configuration, these tools may receive limited online identifiers, browser or device information, referral or campaign information, page views, donation-page interactions, and an event indicating that a donation or other transaction was completed. This information may be used to measure campaign performance, understand conversion paths, limit or improve advertising, create advertising audiences where permitted, and report aggregated results.
STSEA does not use these tools to transmit full payment-card or bank-account details. We do not intentionally include protected health information, confidential research information, volunteer screening details, precise protected locations, or free-text form content in analytics or advertising events.
Your Cookie and Tracking Choices
You can accept, decline, or manage non-essential cookies through the cookie controls presented on STSEA.org. A separately hosted CauseVox page or payment-provider page may provide its own controls or may require you to use browser, device, or provider settings.
Where applicable law requires consent or an opt-out opportunity, STSEA will configure optional analytics and advertising technologies under its control to operate consistently with the relevant choice. Because third-party pages and services operate under their own systems, their controls and privacy practices may differ from STSEA.org.
We do not sell personal information for money. However, when optional advertising technologies are enabled, limited online identifiers and website or donation-page activity may be disclosed to advertising providers such as Google or Meta. Depending on applicable law, this may be treated as targeted advertising, sharing, or a sale of personal information.
Our website does not currently respond separately to browser “Do Not Track” signals. You can manage optional tracking through available website controls, browser settings, device settings, advertising-provider settings, or by contacting us. When optional third-party analytics or advertising tools are active, those providers may collect information about online activity over time and across different websites under their own policies.
HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION
We share personal information only as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, including with:
- Squarespace, which hosts and supports STSEA.org, website forms, commerce functions, and website analytics.
- CauseVox, which provides fundraising pages and forms, donor and campaign records, donation receipts, fundraising administration, reporting, and configured analytics or advertising integrations.
- Payment processors, such as Stripe or PayPal, when displayed at checkout and used to authorize, process, settle, refund, or dispute a donation or purchase. STSEA does not receive full payment-card or financial-account credentials from these providers.
- Google, when Google Analytics, Google Ads, or related Google measurement tools are enabled and their use is permitted by applicable law and the relevant privacy choice.
- Meta, when Meta Pixel or related Meta advertising tools are enabled and their use is permitted by applicable law and the relevant privacy choice.
- STSEA personnel, volunteers, advisers, accountants, auditors, and service providers who need the information to respond to an inquiry, administer donations or purchases, operate our programs, maintain records, support the website, or provide professional services.
- Government authorities, courts, regulators, payment networks, or other parties when required by law or reasonably necessary to prevent fraud, protect rights, enforce agreements, or address safety and security concerns.
We may also disclose information in connection with a merger, reorganization, dissolution, or transfer of organizational assets, subject to applicable law.
DONATIONS AND PURCHASES
Donations Through CauseVox
Donations may be completed through a CauseVox fundraising page or form that is linked from, embedded in, or otherwise associated with STSEA.org. CauseVox provides the donation interface and fundraising administration, while the payment processor displayed at checkout processes the payment.
STSEA may receive and retain donor information from CauseVox, including contact information, donation amount and date, campaign or fund designation, transaction status, recurring-gift status, comments, anonymity or recognition preference, communication preference, and source information where available. We use this information to acknowledge the gift, provide receipts, maintain required tax and accounting records, administer recurring gifts, respond to donor questions, report on fundraising, and manage the donor relationship.
If a CauseVox page offers public donor recognition, information may be displayed according to the choices presented on that page. Choosing to give anonymously generally limits public display, but it does not prevent STSEA, CauseVox, and the payment processor from receiving information needed to process, document, secure, and administer the donation.
CauseVox or the payment processor may send transactional communications such as receipts, payment confirmations, recurring-gift notices, or notices about a failed payment. These are service communications and may be sent even when you have not opted in to marketing communications.
A donation does not automatically subscribe you to general marketing communications. Where a donation form offers an optional communications choice, STSEA will use the preference recorded through that form, subject to applicable law. You may ask us to stop non-transactional communications at any time.
Purchases
Purchases may be completed through Squarespace commerce, PayPal, or another provider identified at the point of transaction. Those providers process payment information under their own privacy policies and terms.
STSEA may retain purchaser and transaction information needed to fulfill the order, communicate about the purchase, maintain accounting and tax records, process returns or refunds, prevent fraud, and respond to questions.
A merchandise purchase is not necessarily a charitable donation, and its tax treatment may differ from a donation.
RESEARCH AND VOLUNTEER INQUIRIES
STSEA uses research and project inquiries to evaluate the request, respond to the person submitting it, and route the inquiry to appropriate team members.
STSEA uses volunteer-interest information to evaluate interest, broad experience, qualifications, and availability. Health screening, medical disclosure, and other sensitive volunteer-review processes are not handled through the public website and are subject to separate procedures.
Submitting a research or volunteer inquiry does not automatically subscribe you to marketing communications. STSEA does not currently operate a website newsletter.
DATA RETENTION
We retain information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, unless a longer period is required or permitted by law.
- Research inquiries and volunteer-interest information are generally retained for 24 months after the last interaction.
- Donor, purchase, receipt, refund, dispute, and transaction records are retained for as long as needed for tax, accounting, legal, fraud-prevention, and organizational recordkeeping obligations.
- Donation information may remain in CauseVox, the selected payment processor, or related backup systems according to STSEA’s retention needs and the provider’s applicable retention and deletion processes.
- We may retain limited information longer when necessary to resolve disputes, enforce agreements, preserve opt-out or suppression preferences, protect security, prevent fraud, or comply with law.
YOUR PRIVACY REQUESTS
You may contact us at khaled@stsea.org to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information that STSEA holds about you, subject to applicable law and any legal, tax, accounting, fraud-prevention, security, or operational reason we are permitted or required to retain it.
You may also ask us to update communication preferences or to opt out of certain uses of personal information for targeted advertising where applicable. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.
When information is held in CauseVox or by another service provider on STSEA’s behalf, STSEA may coordinate with that provider to respond to a valid request. A payment processor may require you to submit certain requests directly under its own policy.
If you are located in a jurisdiction that provides additional privacy rights, including rights to restriction, portability, objection, withdrawal of consent, or appeal, we will handle your request as required by applicable law.
INTERNATIONAL VISITORS
STSEA is based in the United States. Information collected through STSEA.org, CauseVox, or related service providers may be processed in the United States and in other countries where those providers operate. Those countries may have privacy laws that differ from the laws of your country of residence.
SECURITY
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect personal information. We also rely on established service providers to secure donation, payment, hosting, and transaction systems. However, no website, payment system, internet transmission, or storage system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
STSEA.org and STSEA’s donation pages are not directed to children. STSEA does not knowingly collect personal information from children through the website or donation pages without appropriate authorization. If you believe a child has provided personal information, please contact us so we can review and address the situation.
THIRD-PARTY LINKS AND SERVICES
STSEA.org and STSEA fundraising pages may link to or use third-party websites, social-media platforms, donation services, payment processors, or other services. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies, not this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to review the policies of those services, including:
- Squarespace Privacy Policy:
https://www.squarespace.com/privacy
- CauseVox Privacy Policy:
https://www.causevox.com/privacy-policy/
- Stripe Privacy Policy:
- PayPal Privacy Statement:
https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/privacy-full
- Google Privacy Policy:
https://policies.google.com/privacy
- Meta Privacy Policy:
https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We may update this Privacy Policy when our practices, website features, fundraising tools, payment processors, service providers, or legal obligations change. We will post the updated version on this page and revise the effective date above. If we make a material change, we may provide additional notice where appropriate.
CONTACT US
For questions about this Privacy Policy or STSEA’s privacy practices, contact:
Sea to Sky Explorers Association
Attn: Khaled Allen
2934 King St
Berkeley, CA 94703
United States