Privacy Policy

At Welter Shelter ("we," "our," or "us"), accessible via https://tierschutzstiftungen.de, protecting your personal privacy and the security of your data is fundamental to our mission. We are committed to transparency in how we collect, process, and safeguard your personal information when you support our direct animal rescue initiatives, make a donation, or browse our platform.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information to process direct donations, maintain donor relationships, send project updates, and ensure the proper technical operation of our website.

A. Personal Information You Provide

• Donor & Contact Details: When you make a donation, sign up for a monthly patron membership, or contact us, we may collect your full name, email address, phone number, and physical billing address.
• Financial & Payment Data: Payment details (such as credit card numbers or bank account details) are collected directly by our third-party PCI-compliant payment processors (e.g., Stripe, PayPal). We do not store your full credit card details on our servers.

B. Automatically Collected Information

• Technical Logs: When you visit our website, our servers automatically record standard device log data, including your IP address, browser type, operating system, access times, and referring pages.
• Cookies & Tracking: We use essential cookies to maintain site functionality (such as managing language preferences across EN, DE, and NL) and secure session processing on donation forms.

2. How We Use Your Information

We process your data strictly to support our 100% direct donation pledge and animal welfare efforts:

• Processing Donations: To securely execute one-time or recurring monthly donations and issue official donation confirmation receipts.
• Donor Management: To provide access to your personal Donor Dashboard, allowing you to review transaction histories and update active subscription profiles.
• Project Updates & Communications: To inform you about the impact of your support (e.g., food deliveries, rescued animals in Germany and Mallorca) where you have consented to receive updates.
• Site Security & Legal Compliance: To prevent fraudulent activity, protect system integrity, and comply with tax regulations governing charitable contributions.

3. Data Sharing & Third Parties

We only share data with trusted service providers who are contractually bound to process information securely for operational necessities:

• Payment Gateways: Secure payment platforms (such as Stripe or PayPal) to process transaction requests.
• Hosting & Security Providers: Infrastructure partners (including Hostinger) that safely store our website database under strict security protocols.

4. Your Rights Under GDPR (EU & International Supporters)

If you are located in the European Union or European Economic Area, you hold the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of Access: You can request a copy of all personal data held about you.
• Right to Rectification: You can update or correct inaccuracies in your profile via your Donor Dashboard or by contacting us.
• Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): You may request that we delete your personal data, subject to statutory record-retention requirements for charitable donations.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: You may opt out of promotional emails or recurring monthly donations at any time.

5. Data Security & Storage

We implement industry-standard encryption protocols (SSL/TLS) across all donation pages and form endpoints to secure data transmissions. While no method of electronic storage or transmission over the internet is completely immune to security risks, we continuously maintain administrative and technical safeguards to keep your information safe.

6. Cookies Policy

Our platform utilizes minimal, essential cookies:

• Session Cookies: Required for language options (English, German, Dutch) and form inputs.
• Security Cookies: Used to prevent cross-site request forgery and secure donor authentication in the dashboard.

7. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements or platform functionality. Updated versions will be published directly on this page with an updated "Effective Date."