Privacy policy

Who we are, and what this covers

Meridian Starboard is a website and back office platform for nonprofits, made by Meridian Group. This policy covers the platform's own surfaces: this marketing site, the signup wizard, draft sites that have not been claimed, and the back office that staff at a nonprofit sign in to.

Each nonprofit's public website is that organization's own site. Once an organization publishes its site, the policies linked in that site's footer describe how that organization handles its visitors' and donors' information.

What we collect

When you start a site, we ask for your organization's name, what kind of organization it is, and optionally a mission sentence, a city and state, a phone number, an email address, and a logo. These answers become the first draft of the website, and the contact details let us reach you about the site you started.

When you claim a site, we ask for your name (optional), an email address, and a password. The email address becomes your sign in. The password is stored only as a hash; we cannot read it back.

When you ask us to change your site's wording or photographs, we keep the text of your request and any files you attach, so the people doing the work can read them.

When an organization applies to accept donations, we collect its employer identification number and legal name and check them against public IRS records.

Cookies

The platform sets only the cookies it needs to work: a session cookie when a staff member signs in, and a short lived cookie that proves which browser created a draft site, so a stranger cannot claim your draft.

There are no advertising cookies and no third party tracking cookies, on this site or on the sites the platform builds. That is why you did not see a cookie banner here: there is nothing to consent to.

Analytics

The analytics built into this product are first party and cookieless. When an organization turns them on for its site, the site counts visits in aggregate, stores those counts in our own database, sets no cookie, and sends nothing to Google or to any other analytics company.

Analytics are off until an organization switches them on. A site whose organization has not opted in collects nothing.

Payments

Donations on sites built with this platform are processed by Stripe, as direct charges to the organization's own Stripe account. Card numbers go to Stripe and never touch our servers. Donated funds go to the organization; Meridian Starboard never takes custody of a donation.

Artificial intelligence

The platform can draft website copy and layouts with the help of a language model. A generated draft is never published on its own: a person at the organization has to review it and approve it first, and a site that carries generated copy says so in its footer.

How we use information

To run the product: build and serve your site, sign you in, and process the changes you request.

To reach you about the site you started or the organization you run.

To verify that an organization applying to accept donations is a recognized charity, using public IRS records.

To prevent abuse of the platform, including rate limiting and screening of new site addresses against impersonation.

What we share, and what we do not

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers.

We use service providers to run the platform: hosting, a database, email delivery, payment processing through Stripe, and abuse prevention on some forms. Each of them handles data only to provide its service to us.

We disclose information if the law requires it.

Search engines and drafts

A draft site, and every site whose charity has not yet been verified, is kept out of search engines: the pages carry a noindex instruction and the site's robots file tells crawlers to stay away. Sites become indexable only after the organization behind them is verified.

Keeping and deleting information

We keep your information while your account or your organization's site is active. Unclaimed draft sites may be deleted after a period of inactivity.

To ask for a copy of your information or to have it deleted, email us at the address below. Some records, such as donation and audit records that belong to a nonprofit's books, may need to be retained on that organization's behalf.

Children

The platform is for organizations and their staff. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information.

Changes and contact

When this policy changes, the version stamp on this page changes with it.

Questions or requests: soo@meridian-group.ai, Meridian Group.