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Privacy Policy

Date of update: 03/04/2024

Thank you for visiting the Circle.help website at (the "Site"). Before proceeding to browse the Site and use any of its services, we kindly ask you to review this Privacy Policy (the "Policy").

Circle.Help, Registered CIC No. 16007806, 96 Kensington, London W8 4SG, United Kingdom ("we" or "us") has established this Site with the aim of connecting individuals seeking assistance with volunteers equipped to provide the necessary support. In fulfilling this purpose, we may collect, store, process, and use the personal data of users. In compliance with European data protection legislation, in particular, but not limited to, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of April 27, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as "legislation"), we have developed this Policy, which indicates:

  1. types of personal data we collect;

  2. purposes for collecting your personal data;

  3. our use, processing, and protection of your personal data;

  4. conditions and recipients of personal data transfers;

  5. your consent and withdrawal mechanisms for personal data usage;

  6. contacts for inquiries about your personal data.

If you continue to browse the site and/or use any of the site's services, you confirm your agreement with all the provisions of this Policy.

We may periodically update this Policy and ask you to periodically check the current version on this page of the site in case of changes. Any changes come into effect from the moment they are published, and your continued use of the site after the publication of changes confirms your agreement with all updates. You can always check the date of the last changes in the title of this page. If you disagree with any update to the Policy, please stop using the site.

Terms and Definitions

Personal data of individuals (hereinafter referred to as "personal data"): — data related to a physical person that allows identifying them. These include, in particular, full name, date of birth, IP address, etc.

Data subject: — a physical person whose personal data is being processed.

Data controller: — a physical or legal entity that determines the purposes and methods of collecting personal data, as well as the types of data collected.

Data processor: — a physical or legal entity that stores and processes personal data on behalf of the data controller.

Giver: — a physical or legal entity, public, charitable organization, etc. that has registered on the site and is ready to provide free assistance in the form of informational or legal consultations, or other help as determined by such entity.

Seekers: — people who find themselves in a difficult situation and are in need of advisory or other assistance.

User: — a Giver, Seeker, or any person who has visited the site and is viewing its content and/or using the site's services.

Site services — registration, submitting requests for assistance or to provide help to those in need, communication in online chats.

Cookie files: — text fragments that are transmitted to the browser from the site and allow remembering data about your visits. This tool is used to improve user experience, collect analytics, conduct marketing campaigns, etc.

1. Data Controller, Data Processor, and Storage Location of Your Personal Data

The data controller and processor of personal data collected on this site is Circle.Help, Registered CIC No. 16007806, 96 Kensington, London W8 4SG, United Kingdom, hello@circle.help.
Location of personal data storage: 96 Kensington, London W8 4SG, United Kingdom.

2. Data collection and processing details

2.1. About Givers:

  1. full name;

  2. company name;

  3. contact information: phone, WhatsApp, Telegram, email;

  4. link to a Facebook or Instagram account;

  5. location data: country, locality;

  6. Information in free form about the extent of assistance the Giver is willing to provide for free.

2.2. About Seekers:

  1. full name;

  2. contact information: phone, WhatsApp, Telegram, email;

  3. location data: country, locality, postal address;

  4. description of the situation regarding the necessary assistance in free form.

2.3. Cookies

We use session and persistent cookie files. Session cookies are deleted each time you finish using the site or close the browser. Persistent files will be stored by the browser, and the storage duration of such files depends on their type and can be up to 13 months from the user's last action on the site.

3. The purposes of data collection by the Circle.Help service

We collect users' personal data to take care of providing assistance to people in difficult situations. We use the data obtained during registration or when making a request to find Givers who can provide the necessary assistance for each inquiry, as well as for informational mailings and notifications of acceptance of requests.

4. Granting and withdrawing consent for personal data collection

When registering on the website, the user confirms their consent to the collection, processing, and use of their personal data to the extent and on the terms specified in this Policy by ticking the "I agree to the Privacy Policy" box.

If the user wishes to withdraw previously given consent, a letter with such a request should be sent to us by email: support@joincircles.org. We undertake to delete the data of such a user from our databases and will send a notification about this in response to the letter with the request. Please note that you cannot continue to use our services after your data has been deleted.

If you agree to the use of cookie files, we will ask you to indicate your consent by clicking the "I agree" button in the relevant window. This means that you give us consent to the use of cookie files during each subsequent visit to the site. To withdraw the consent previously given to us for the use of cookie files, please contact us with such a request by email: support@joincircles.org.

5. Utilization of personal data

We analyze each request for help and the questionnaires from our Givers, then show Givers a compilation of requests where they can be most helpful. Givers then provide consultations to Seekers through online chats.

6. Managing access to and correction of personal data

You have the right to access your personal data, update them, make changes, correct or delete them. You can also contact us to verify whether we process your personal data. To do this, simply send the appropriate request by email: support@joincircles.org.

Please note that you will not be able to continue using our services after your personal data has been deleted.

7. Protection measures for users' personal data

We take responsibility for protecting your personal data and take the necessary organizational and technical measures to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, loss, or alteration of users' personal data. To do this, we implement cybersecurity measures (such as protection from malware, protection from hacking, firewall, encryption, storing data on servers protected by a password, and using backup for quick recovery), and our employees follow clear instructions when working with personal data (in particular, sign a non-disclosure agreement for personal data and use a password for authorization in the system).

At the same time, users are fully responsible for the safety of the password created when registering on the website.

8. Communication in online chats

Users are responsible for providing or using personal data while communicating in online chats. The Terms Of Use of this website prohibit users from storing, processing, altering, using, or disclosing the personal data of other users that they have learned without the consent of the data subject. We inform users of the site about the responsibility for unauthorized disclosure of personal data, but we cannot guarantee that all users will follow these rules.

9. Retention periods for personal data

Your data, left during registration, is stored while your account is active or until you contact us with a request to delete your data. If you decide to delete your account, we will delete all the information left during registration along with it.

10. Circumstances and recipients of personal data transfers

10.1. Access to your personal data will be granted to our employees and managers who use personal data on the terms and for the purposes specified in this Policy.

10.2. We pass on the Seeker's name, contact information, and request filled out in the corresponding form to the Givers.

10.3. We do not pass on the personal data of Givers to Seekers unless we have obtained the consent of the Giver.

10.4. When using the website, we may collect information about you, both when you fill out the corresponding forms and when you agree to the use of Cookie files. We will not transfer this information to third parties, except in cases where user information will be necessary for our contractors to improve the operation of the website, as well as cases where disclosure of personal data will be required from us in accordance with applicable law.

10.5. We emphasize that the transmission of information to our website or from our website cannot be confidential, that is, it may be intercepted by other persons, and we cannot guarantee the reliability of such transmission.

10.6. Our activities imply the possibility of transferring data between any countries where Givers and/or Seekers are located. By agreeing to this Policy, you also grant us the right to such transfer of information to the extent and on the terms defined by this Policy.

10.7. Seekers during registration indicate their mailing address (electronic and/or physical) solely at their own will, understanding and accepting all related risks. This information will be available to the moderator and the Giver after the moderator verifies the information provided by the Giver. We are not responsible for the use of information obtained about the Seeker, including their address, by the Giver. The decision to register and provide contact details is solely at the Seeker's discretion and responsibility.

10.8. When Seekers submit a request for assistance, they consent to the publication of their request's text on the main page (provided they have agreed to this during registration) and to the publication of feedback, photographs, and request texts on social networks (subject to their agreement during registration).

11. Procedure for actions in case of data protection violation

If we become aware of unauthorized access to your personal data by third parties who do not have the right to it, we undertake to notify of such a violation within 72 hours after we learned of such a fact.