Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are and What This Policy Covers

Heal The Hero Foundation (“Heal The Hero,” “HTHF,” “we,” “us” or “our”) is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 47-4750390) with a mailing address at 2550 E Rose Garden Ln, Unit 71494, Phoenix, AZ 85050. We support law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMS personnel, military service members, veterans, federal agents and others who serve, primarily through Operation: Heal (a scholarship program) and Operation: Connect (a resource network).

This Privacy Policy describes how we handle personal information when you visit healthehero.org (the “Site”), make a donation, apply for or nominate someone for a program, contact us, subscribe to updates, or otherwise interact with us online. It does not cover websites, apps or services operated by other organizations, including our program and resource partners, even when we link to them.

2. Information You Give Us

We collect information you choose to provide. Depending on how you interact with us, that may include:

• Donations: your name, email address, billing address, gift amount and frequency, and any dedication or “in honor of” message you add. Your card or bank details are entered directly with our payment processor, Stripe, and never reach our servers.
• Operation: Heal applications and nominations: the applicant’s or nominee’s name, contact details, agency or branch of service, role and years of service, and the reasons support is being sought. Because of what the program does, this can include information about stress, sleep, mental health, trauma exposure, injuries or other health and well-being matters. If you nominate someone else, we also collect your name, contact details and relationship to the nominee.
• Contact, partnership and newsletter forms: your name, email address, phone number (if given), organization and the content of your message.
• Stories and testimonials: if you choose to share your experience with us, the words, name and role you agree to have published.
• Correspondence: anything you include when you email, call or message us.

3. Information We Collect Automatically

When you use the Site, we and the service providers below collect certain technical information automatically:

• Device and usage data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, screen size, referring page, the pages you view, the links you click and the dates and times of your visits.
• Cookies and similar technologies: small files and identifiers placed on your device. See “Cookies, Analytics and Advertising Tags” below for what we use and how to control them.
• Form-protection signals: our contact and newsletter forms use Google reCAPTCHA, which analyzes interaction patterns to tell people from automated bots.

4. How We Use Information

We use personal information to:

• Process and acknowledge donations, issue tax receipts, and manage recurring gifts (including letting you update or cancel a monthly gift through Stripe’s secure donor portal).
• Review Operation: Heal applications and nominations, determine eligibility and funding availability, contact applicants and nominators, and coordinate program delivery with our program partner.
• Connect people with resources through Operation: Connect.
• Respond to questions, partnership inquiries and support requests.
• Send program news, hero stories and impact updates to people who have asked for them, and send transactional messages such as receipts and confirmations.
• Understand how the Site is used so we can improve it, fix problems and keep it secure.
• Measure the effectiveness of our outreach and, where we run them, our awareness campaigns.
• Comply with legal, tax and reporting obligations that apply to a charitable organization, and protect our rights, our community and the people we serve.

5. Program, Health and Well-Being Information

Information shared in an Operation: Heal application or nomination is among the most sensitive we hold, and we treat it that way. We use it only to evaluate the request, contact the people involved, and coordinate the scholarship with our program partner, Vitanya Brain Performance, which delivers the program and pairs participants with a coach. We do not use it for marketing and we do not sell it.

Applications are collected through Microsoft Forms, so the information is stored by Microsoft on our behalf under Microsoft’s security and privacy commitments. Access within Heal The Hero is limited to the small number of people who review applications.

Heal The Hero Foundation is a charitable organization, not a healthcare provider or health plan, and the information you share with us is generally not protected health information under HIPAA. If you enroll in a program delivered by a partner, that partner’s own privacy practices apply to the information you share with them directly.

We never publish a participant’s name, likeness or story without their written permission. Testimonials on the Site are shared with consent and are identified by first name and last initial unless the person has asked to be named in full.

6. Our Donor Privacy Commitment

We do not sell, rent, trade or share our donor list with any other organization for their own use, and we do not send mail on behalf of other organizations. Donor information is used only to process gifts, provide receipts, keep you informed about our work if you wish, and meet our legal and accounting obligations.

You may give anonymously. Donors are recognized publicly only with their permission. If you would like your gift to remain anonymous, or you would prefer not to receive updates from us, tell us at cassidee@healthehero.org or by using the unsubscribe link in any email.

7. When We Share Information

We share personal information only in the limited circumstances below:

• Service providers who work on our behalf and may process data only for the purposes we specify: Stripe (donation processing, receipts and the donor portal), Microsoft (application and nomination forms), Google (Tag Manager, Analytics, advertising measurement and reCAPTCHA), Resend and Google Workspace (email delivery and form notifications), Vercel (website hosting) and YouTube (embedded video).
• Our program partner, Vitanya Brain Performance, which receives the application information needed to deliver Operation: Heal to approved participants. Our resource partner, Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, and other Operation: Connect partners receive information only when you ask us to make an introduction.
• Professional advisers such as accountants, auditors and attorneys, under duties of confidentiality.
• Legal and safety reasons: when we believe disclosure is required by law, subpoena or legal process, or is necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Heal The Hero, the people we serve or the public, including in situations involving a risk of harm to someone.
• Organizational changes: if Heal The Hero merges with or transfers its programs to another nonprofit, personal information may be transferred as part of that change, subject to this policy.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing.

8. Cookies, Analytics and Advertising Tags

The Site uses Google Tag Manager to load measurement tags, which currently include Google Analytics and Google Ads conversion measurement. These tools use cookies and similar identifiers to recognize returning browsers, count visits and page views, understand how visitors move through the Site and tell us whether our outreach is reaching the people who need it. Google’s use of this data is described in Google’s Privacy Policy, and you can learn how Google uses information from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

Our videos are embedded from YouTube in privacy-enhanced mode, which means YouTube does not set tracking cookies until you press play.

You can control cookies in several ways: adjust your browser settings to block or delete cookies; install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on; manage personalized advertising at adssettings.google.com; or use the opt-out tools offered by the Digital Advertising Alliance at optout.aboutads.info. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request to opt out of targeted advertising where that right applies. Blocking cookies will not prevent you from donating or applying.

9. If You Share Information About Someone Else

When you nominate a hero, you are sharing another person’s information with us. Please only do so when you believe they would welcome our outreach, and tell them you have made the nomination. We will contact nominees directly, explain how we received their information, and respect their wishes if they do not want to proceed. Nominees may ask us to delete the information shared about them at any time.

10. How Long We Keep Information

We keep personal information only as long as needed for the purposes described here. Donation records are kept for at least seven years to meet IRS and audit requirements. Application and nomination records are kept while a request is active and for a reasonable period afterward so we can report on program outcomes and respond to follow-up questions, after which they are deleted or de-identified. Contact and newsletter information is kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove it. Website analytics data is retained according to the retention settings of the analytics provider and is aggregated or deleted after that period.

11. How We Protect Information

We use administrative, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information we hold, including encrypted connections (HTTPS) across the Site, payment processing by a PCI DSS Level 1 certified provider, access limited to the people who need it, and reputable, security-audited service providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we learn of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law.

12. Your Choices and Rights

You have choices about your information regardless of where you live:

• Email: unsubscribe from updates at any time using the link in any message or by contacting us. We will still send transactional messages, such as donation receipts or responses to a request you made.
• Access, correction and deletion: you may ask us what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. We will honor your request unless we need to keep the information for legal, tax or program-integrity reasons, and we will tell you if that is the case.
• Recurring gifts: update or cancel a monthly gift at any time through the “Manage a monthly gift” link in the footer of every page (it takes you to Stripe’s secure donor portal), or by contacting us.
• Cookies and advertising: see the controls described in the “Cookies, Analytics and Advertising Tags” section.

To exercise any of these choices, email cassidee@healthehero.org or call 888-651-1557. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request, and we will respond within the time required by applicable law (and in any case within 45 days). We will never discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right. Residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws may have additional rights, including the right to appeal a decision; see our State Notices page for details.

13. Children’s Privacy

The Site is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16, and our programs serve adult first responders, service members and veterans. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

14. Links to Other Sites and Social Media

The Site links to partner organizations, resource providers, our Candid and Charity Navigator profiles, and our Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn pages. Those sites and platforms have their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their practices. Anything you post publicly on our social media pages can be seen by others.

15. Visitors Outside the United States

Heal The Hero Foundation operates in the United States and our programs are available to people in the United States. If you access the Site from elsewhere, you understand that your information will be transferred to, stored and processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your country.

16. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as our programs, technology or legal obligations change. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page and, for significant changes, post a notice on the Site or email people whose information is affected. Your continued use of the Site after an update means you accept the revised policy.

17. How to Contact Us

Heal The Hero Foundation · 2550 E Rose Garden Ln, Unit 71494, Phoenix, AZ 85050

Email: cassidee@healthehero.org · Phone: 888-651-1557

If you have a privacy question or concern, we want to hear it. Write “Privacy” in the subject line so it reaches the right person quickly.