Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Volunteer Abroad collects, uses, shares, and protects your personal information, and the choices and rights you have. It applies to VolunteerAbroad.com, our application and requirement forms, our emails and messages, and our services before and during your placement.

Volunteer Abroad (VolunteerAbroad.com) is a trade name of GoAbroad, LLC, 4309 Fox Grove Dr., Fort Collins, CO 80524, USA, which also operates GoAbroad.com. In this policy, "Volunteer Abroad," "we," and "us" mean GoAbroad, LLC, doing business as Volunteer Abroad. "You" means anyone who visits our website, contacts us, applies, or volunteers with us.

For the purposes of data protection law, we are the controller of the personal information described in this policy. Your partner organization is an independent organization that controls the information it holds about you once we introduce you.

Summary

• We collect what we need to check your eligibility, arrange your placement, and keep you safe.
• We share it with your partner organization only as needed to host you, and with service providers who help us run our business.
• We never sell your personal information for money.
• Health and background check information is handled with your consent, on a need-to-know basis.
• You can ask to see, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your information, and opt out of targeted advertising, by emailing [privacy email].

1. Information we collect

Information you give us

If you give us information about someone else, such as an emergency contact or group members, please make sure they know you are sharing it.

Information collected automatically

When you use our website, we and our providers collect device and usage information through cookies, pixels, and similar tools. This includes IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, links clicked, referring website, approximate location based on IP address, and whether you started or completed a form. See section 4 for how this is used for analytics and advertising, and how to opt out.

Information from others

• Your partner organization: updates about your placement, wellbeing, and any incidents.
• Background check providers or referees: the outcome of a check or reference you arrange.
• Insurers, payment processors, and add-on providers: confirmation of purchases and payments.
• GoAbroad family brands and directories: inquiries you send through GoAbroad or other listings about our programs.

2. How we use your information

We do not use your information to make decisions about you by fully automated means that have legal or similarly significant effects. Eligibility decisions are made by our team.

Sensitive information and your consent

Some information we ask for is sensitive: health and mental health information, background check results, and information that reveals your nationality or citizenship. We collect it only to keep you and the communities you work with safe, and only with your clear, opt-in consent, which you give on the relevant secure form.

• Health information is shared with your partner organization at handoff only on a need-to-know basis, for example dietary needs or a condition the on-site supervisor must know about in an emergency.
• We share whether you have met the background check requirement, not the details of the check, unless local law requires more.
• You can withdraw consent at any time by emailing [privacy email]. Because this information is required to place you safely, withdrawing consent before departure may mean we cannot confirm or continue your placement, and the Deposit Policy applies.

3. Who we share your information with

We share only what each recipient needs.

• Your partner organization. The independent local nonprofit that hosts you receives your applicant file after you pay your Deposit, so it can arrange your accommodation, project, and arrival. This includes your contact details, travel dates and flights, emergency contact, insurer name, policy number, and emergency phone number, and relevant health and dietary information. Your partner organization uses this information under its own privacy practices and the laws of its country.
• GoAbroad family of brands. Volunteer Abroad is operated by GoAbroad, LLC. Team members across the GoAbroad family of brands, including program assistants based in the Philippines, process applications on our behalf under our instructions and confidentiality obligations.
• Service providers. Companies that help us run our business under contract, including website hosting, our customer relationship and email systems, secure form and document storage, live chat, analytics, and payment processing (Stripe for card payments, and providers for Zelle, Wise, and bank transfers).
• Insurance and add-on providers. If you choose to buy travel insurance, an eSIM, a certification, or another add-on through us or our co-branded pages, we share the details needed to complete the purchase. These providers handle your information under their own privacy policies.
• Advertising and analytics partners. See section 4.
• Legal and safety. Authorities, emergency services, insurers, or advisers when required by law, to protect someone's vital interests in an emergency, or to establish or defend legal claims.
• Business changes. A buyer or successor if all or part of our business is sold, merged, or reorganized, subject to this policy.

4. Cookies, analytics, and targeted advertising

We use cookies, pixels, and similar tools from providers such as Google (including Google Analytics 4) and Meta, and may use others such as TikTok, to understand how our website is used and to show you our ads on other websites and apps.

We do not sell your personal information for money. Some states treat sharing data with advertising partners for targeted advertising, or in exchange for other value, as a "sale." You can opt out of this at any time:

• Select Cookie settings in the footer of any page and turn off advertising cookies.
• Use a browser or extension that sends the Global Privacy Control signal. We treat it as a request to opt out of targeted advertising and any sale of your personal information for that browser, with no further steps needed.
• Email [privacy email] with the subject "Opt out."

We never use sensitive information, such as health information, for advertising. Strictly necessary cookies that make our forms and security work cannot be turned off.

5. How we protect your information

• Sensitive documents are collected only through secure upload forms, never as email attachments.
• Sensitive information is stored encrypted, and access is limited by role to the team members who need it.
• Card payments are handled by our payment processor; we never see or store your full card number.
• Our service providers must protect your information and use it only on our instructions.

No system is completely secure. If you think your information has been put at risk, contact us right away at [privacy email].

6. How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purposes in this policy, then securely delete or destroy it.

7. International transfers

We are based in the United States. Your information may be processed in the United States, in the Philippines by our program assistant team, and in your destination country by your partner organization. These countries may have different data protection laws from yours.

If you are in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we protect transfers of your information using appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or where the transfer is necessary to arrange the placement you asked for. Contact us for a copy of the safeguards we use.

8. Your privacy rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you, and confirm whether we process it
• Correct inaccurate information
• Delete your information
• Receive a copy of your information in a portable format
• Opt out of targeted advertising, any sale of your information, and marketing emails
• Withdraw consent for sensitive information, photos and stories, or marketing

We will not discriminate against you for using these rights. Some information must be kept to meet legal obligations, and deleting required information before departure may mean we cannot continue your placement.

Colorado residents

Under the Colorado Privacy Act, you have the rights listed above, including the right to opt out of targeted advertising, the sale of personal data, and profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects. We honor universal opt-out signals such as Global Privacy Control. We process sensitive data only with your opt-in consent.

Residents of other US states

Residents of states with similar consumer privacy laws, such as California, Virginia, Connecticut, Utah, and Texas, have comparable rights. We honor those rights through the same process.

EEA, UK, and Swiss residents

You also have the right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and to restrict processing in certain cases. You can complain to your local data protection authority, such as the UK Information Commissioner's Office, though we would like the chance to help first.

How to make a request

• Email [privacy email] with the subject "Privacy request," or use the form at [link].
• Tell us your name, the email address you used with us, and what you are asking for.
• We will verify your identity before acting, usually by confirming details you have already given us. We will not ask for more information than we need.
• An authorized agent may make a request for you with your signed permission.

We respond within 45 days. If we need more time, we may extend this once by another 45 days and will tell you why. Your first access request in any 12-month period is free. If EEA or UK law applies to you, we respond within one month, extendable by up to two more months for complex requests.

How to appeal

If we decline your request, we will explain why. You can appeal by replying to our decision or emailing [privacy email] with the subject "Privacy appeal" within [45] days. We will respond to your appeal within 45 days. If you are a Colorado resident and are not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Colorado Attorney General at coag.gov.

9. Children and minors

Our programs are for volunteers aged 18 and over. Someone under 18 can take part only with a designated adult guardian, who completes the application with them. Our website is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. We do not use information about anyone we know to be under 18 for targeted advertising or sell it. If you believe a child has given us information, contact [privacy email] and we will delete it.

Our volunteers work alongside communities that include children. We do not collect personal information about project beneficiaries, and our code of conduct prohibits volunteers from posting photos of children from their project without the partner organization's permission.

10. If there is a data breach

If a security breach affects your personal information, we will notify you as quickly as possible and within the time limits set by law. For Colorado residents, that is no later than 30 days after we determine a breach occurred. Where required, we will also notify the Colorado Attorney General and other regulators.

11. Links to other websites

Our website links to other sites, including GoAbroad, insurance and add-on providers, and payment pages. Their privacy practices are their own, so please read their policies.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the new version here with a new "Last updated" date, and tell you by email if the changes are significant and affect how we use information we already hold.

13. Contact us

Questions, requests, or concerns about your privacy:

• Email: [privacy email]
• Mail: GoAbroad, LLC (Volunteer Abroad), Attn: Privacy, 4309 Fox Grove Dr., Fort Collins, CO 80524, USA
• EEA or UK representative: [name and contact, if appointed]