Your privacy matters to our community.

1. Who we are and what this policy covers

ASOFI 360 is the website and community-program platform of African Society Foundation, Inc. (ASOFI), a nonprofit organization based in Frederick, Maryland. In this policy, “ASOFI,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the organization in connection with its website and related activities.

This policy covers personal information processed when you browse asofi360.org, give a donation, communicate with us, request information, volunteer, participate in an ASOFI activity, or register for programs offered through our website. A separately operated partner, payment provider, travel provider, or external website may also have its own privacy notice.

This policy does not replace a more specific consent, medical-information notice, travel agreement, or enrollment notice when one is provided for a particular service.

2. What information we collect

The information depends on how you interact with ASOFI. Not every visitor provides or generates every category listed below.

We may receive information directly from you or your authorized representative, from payment processors and registration partners, from your use of our website, or from organizations with which you choose to participate in ASOFI activities. Please do not submit Social Security numbers, full payment-card information, medical records, or a child’s sensitive details through a general website contact form.

3. Why we use personal information

ASOFI uses information for purposes connected to our charitable mission and operations, including:

• Accepting and acknowledging charitable gifts; managing one-time and monthly donations; and maintaining accurate donor, accounting, and audit records.
• Delivering Dhima Day educational programs, Motherland Heritage Tours communications, Golden Strides senior-wellness activities, family and school resources, and other ASOFI offerings when available.
• Responding to inquiries, accommodating accessibility needs, and communicating practical details about activities you request or join.
• Sending optional program updates or fundraising communications in accordance with your choices and applicable law.
• Maintaining website security, investigating fraud or technical problems, and protecting volunteers, donors, and participants.
• Meeting nonprofit tax, recordkeeping, contractual, and other legal obligations, and preparing internal or aggregated impact reports.

We seek to use information for purposes that are relevant to the reason it was collected. If we materially expand a collection purpose, we will provide additional notice and seek consent when legally required.

4. Donations, recurring gifts, and Stripe

ASOFI uses its first-party ASOFI Giving & Donor Management system to organize donor records and Stripe to process eligible online donation payments. Checkout may be hosted by Stripe or embedded securely within an ASOFI page. In either experience, the payment-entry component is provided by Stripe.

ASOFI records the details needed to administer the gift, such as donor identity, amount, campaign, transaction and subscription references, and payment status. ASOFI does not intentionally collect or store your full card number or card security code in the WordPress donation database. Stripe may process payment, device, and fraud-prevention information under its privacy policy.

If you choose monthly giving, Stripe may store a payment method and charge according to your authorization. You may request cancellation or changes to a recurring gift through ASOFI. Cancellation of future gifts does not erase records of payments already completed or legally required financial records.

Donation information is used for receipts, confirmations, reconciliation, tax-related acknowledgments where applicable, donor support, and fraud prevention. A web page saying “thank you” is not alone proof of payment; confirmation is based on verified payment records.

5. Community programs, wellness, and travel

Dhima Day and community education. We may use information submitted by adult registrants, volunteers, educators, and organizers to provide materials, coordinate events, and respond to participation requests. We favor educational activities that do not require children to create personal profiles.

Golden Strides and senior activities. If an activity requires emergency-contact information, accessibility accommodations, or limited health or fitness suitability information, ASOFI will explain the purpose, recipients, and safeguards when that information is requested. Do not send detailed health histories through ordinary website forms. Participation in wellness activities does not by itself mean the ASOFI website is a HIPAA-covered health-care portal.

Motherland Heritage Tours. If travel bookings or applications are offered, additional details may be needed to coordinate reservations, accessibility, itineraries, and travel requirements. We will identify any necessary sharing with tour operators, accommodation providers, insurers, or other travel partners at registration. Please do not submit passport or other government identification through general website forms.

When a service is provided by a separately operated partner, the partner’s privacy terms and registration information may apply in addition to this policy.

6. Children, families, and school resources

ASOFI offers educational content for families and classrooms, but our general donation, inquiry, and administrative forms are intended for adults and authorized educators or guardians. We do not seek to create behavioral advertising profiles about children or require children to submit personal contact information in order to read public educational materials.

We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from a child under 13 without the notice and verifiable parental consent required by applicable law. If we learn that such information was collected improperly, we will take appropriate steps to remove it or obtain lawful authorization. Parents or guardians can contact ASOFI to ask about, review, or request deletion of a child’s personal data as applicable.

If an activity later involves child accounts, personalized games, prizes, photographs, school rosters, or online submissions, ASOFI will first assess the additional safeguards, notices, and consent requirements for that activity. Teachers and parents should avoid entering a student’s identifying details into general-purpose forms.

7. Cookies, WordPress, and anti-abuse tools

Cookies and similar technologies can be used to keep WordPress sessions secure, remember site preferences, support payments, and protect forms. Some are necessary for site operation; others may be optional, depending on the services active at the time of your visit.

ASOFI uses Cloudflare Turnstile on protected forms to help distinguish people from automated abuse. Turnstile may process technical signals such as IP address, browser/device information, and network-security indicators as described in Cloudflare’s Turnstile privacy notice. Stripe may also use cookies and similar technologies to securely process payments and prevent fraud.

You can manage cookies through your browser. Blocking essential cookies or scripts can prevent certain functions, including sign-in, security checks, and payments, from working correctly. Before enabling any optional advertising or analytics technology, ASOFI should update its cookie disclosures and provide any consent or opt-out choices required by law.

8. When information is shared and our donor-privacy commitment

ASOFI’s donor stewardship policy is to not sell or rent donor mailing lists or donation histories and not publish an individual’s contribution amount without permission. We may publicly thank donors or acknowledge sponsors only in accordance with the recognition preferences or authorization provided to us. We may use aggregated or de-identified totals to describe program outcomes and fundraising progress.

Limited data is disclosed where needed for legitimate services or legal requirements:

Service providers should be given information only for appropriate purposes and subject to applicable contractual and confidentiality safeguards. We may disclose information to comply with law, respond to valid legal process, protect safety, or investigate misuse. We do not treat sharing necessary for payment processing as permission to sell donor information for unrelated marketing.

9. How long information is kept and how we protect it

We retain information only for as long as reasonably needed for the purposes described in this policy and any applicable financial, tax, audit, contractual, legal, fraud-prevention, or dispute requirements. Donation records may need to be kept longer than routine inquiries or session logs. We periodically review records for secure deletion or de-identification when they are no longer needed; we may preserve records where a legal hold or active dispute applies.

We use measures appropriate to our systems and the sensitivity of the information, including restricted administrative access, protected financial integrations, and security monitoring. No online system can promise absolute security. If an incident occurs, we will investigate and provide legally required notices to affected individuals and authorities.

10. Your choices and privacy requests

Subject to applicable law and reasonable identity verification, you may ask us to:

• Confirm whether we hold personal information about you and provide access to relevant information.
• Correct inaccurate information or update contact and communication preferences.
• Delete information that is no longer needed, subject to legal and financial retention exceptions.
• Stop optional outreach messages or withdraw consent for a consent-based activity; this does not undo processing already lawfully completed.
• Ask about how your information has been shared, or object to uses where a legal opt-out right applies.
• Request an accommodation or alternative contact method to exercise privacy rights.

We may ask for limited information to verify that a requester is the person concerned or is authorized to act for them. We will not require unnecessary sensitive information merely to handle a privacy request. Donation receipts, taxes, chargebacks, and lawful accounting records may be retained even after an outreach preference or account is removed.

To submit a request or ask for reconsideration of a decision, use the contact method in section 14 and label it “Privacy Request” or “Privacy Appeal.”

11. Maryland residents: additional privacy rights

Maryland’s Online Data Privacy Act (MODPA) took effect October 1, 2025. Nonprofit organizations are not automatically exempt; coverage depends on statutory thresholds and other requirements. Where MODPA applies to ASOFI’s processing, eligible Maryland residents may exercise applicable rights to access, correct, delete, or obtain certain personal data; learn about processing and sharing; limit certain uses of sensitive data; and opt out of applicable sales, targeted advertising, or qualifying profiling.

ASOFI does not adopt the sale of donor lists as a fundraising practice. If any future data use requires a statutory opt-out mechanism or consent, we will provide it before implementing that activity. We will not discriminate against eligible individuals for exercising rights under applicable privacy law.

For a qualifying MODPA request, we will respond within the time required by law, ordinarily within 45 days, subject to legally permitted extensions and exceptions. If a request is denied, we will explain the decision and the appeal route. Eligible appeals will be reviewed through the same privacy contact method and answered within the applicable deadline, generally 60 days. You may also consult the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s privacy resources.

Residents of other jurisdictions may have additional rights. Contact us if you believe a privacy law where you live applies to your information.

12. External websites and international access

This website may link to third-party resources, payment services, educational materials, videos, and future event or tour partners. Their privacy practices are controlled by their own policies. Clicking a link or interacting with embedded external content may cause the external service to receive technical or usage information.

ASOFI operates from the United States. Information submitted from outside the United States may be processed or stored in the United States or other locations used by providers. We will apply legally required transfer protections where applicable; users with questions about a specific program can contact us before submitting information.

13. Updates to this privacy policy

We may update this policy as our programs, tools, practices, or legal obligations change. The “last updated” date at the top will be revised when the policy changes. For material changes, we will take additional notice or consent steps where required by law. A new service requiring materially different personal information may have its own supplemental notice.

14. Contact ASOFI about privacy

For questions, correction or deletion requests, donor-communication preferences, concerns about a child’s information, or an appeal of a privacy decision, contact: