Privacy Policy

Effective: August 5, 2026 · Last updated: August 5, 2026

The Shamu Foundation (“we”, “us” or “our”) is a nonprofit organization that helps pet parents in financial distress afford life-saving veterinary care. We know that asking for help means trusting us with personal, and sometimes difficult, information about your family, your finances and your pet. This policy explains what we collect through shamufoundation.org (the “Site”), what we do with it, and the choices you have.

It applies to the Site, to the applications and enquiries you send us, and to the email and text messages we send you.

Information you give us

We only collect personal information that you choose to provide:

• Contact and enquiry form. When you submit our contact form we collect your first and last name, email address, phone number, your message, and — if you tick the consent box — your consent to receive text messages.
• Requests for assistance. If you apply for help with a veterinary bill, your application may include information about your pet (including their diagnosis, medical records and treatment estimates) and about your circumstances, including information about your financial situation that you choose to share so our committee can assess your request.
• Donations. If you make a donation we collect your name, contact information and donation details. Payment card information is collected and processed directly by our payment processor, [payment processor] — we do not receive or store your full card number.
• Direct communications. If you email, call or text us, we collect the information you choose to share in those communications.

Information collected automatically

Our web host keeps standard server logs — IP address, browser type, and the pages requested — which we use to keep the Site running and secure. We do not use advertising trackers, and the Site sets no analytics or marketing cookies.

Our forms are protected by Google reCAPTCHA, which collects device and software information to distinguish people from automated abuse (see Third-party services below).

How we use your information

We use your information to:

• Reply to you and follow up on your enquiry.
• Review a request for help — which may mean discussing your pet's condition with the licensed veterinarians and independent review committee who assess applications.
• Pay approved grants to the veterinary hospital treating your pet.
• Send you text messages about your request, if you have consented to receive them.
• Process donations, send donation receipts and acknowledgments, and thank our donors.
• Keep records of the grants we make and the donations we receive, and meet our legal, accounting and charitable-reporting obligations.
• Protect the Site and our programs against fraud and abuse.

We do not use your information to make automated decisions about you. Every application is reviewed by people — our veterinarians and review committee.

Your story stays yours. We never publish the details of your case, your pet's story, or your name or photographs without asking you first and receiving your permission.

Text messages and your consent

Ticking the consent box on our contact form opts you in to receiving SMS messages from the Shamu Foundation at the number you provided. Specifically:

• Message frequency varies — we text you about your own enquiry or application, not on a schedule.
• Message and data rates may apply, depending on your mobile plan.
• Reply STOP to any message to opt out. You will receive one confirmation message, and we will not text you again unless you opt back in.
• Reply HELP for customer care contact information, or contact us at info@shamufoundation.org.
• Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
• Consent to receive texts is never a condition of receiving help from us. You can decline or withdraw consent at any time and still apply — we will contact you by email instead.

We do not share mobile information, phone numbers, or SMS opt-in consent with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. No mobile opt-in data is sold, rented, or passed on for anyone else's advertising, under any circumstances.

Who we share information with

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with anyone for their own marketing. We share the minimum necessary, and only with:

• The veterinarians and review committee assessing your application, so a medical and funding decision can be made.
• The veterinary hospital treating your pet, where we are paying part of a bill on your behalf.
• Service providers who operate the Site and our email, messaging and payment processing on our behalf, bound to use the data only for that purpose.
• Authorities, where the law requires it, such as in response to a subpoena or to meet charitable-reporting obligations.
• A successor organization, if the Foundation's programs are ever transferred to another nonprofit, in which case your information would remain subject to protections consistent with this policy.

Some of the veterinarians who review cases, and some partner hospitals in our care network, are affiliated with our founder's veterinary practices. They receive application information solely to assess and deliver care, and grants are never limited to our own network — approved families may use any accredited veterinary hospital.

Third-party services

Google reCAPTCHA. Our forms are protected by Google reCAPTCHA to prevent spam and abuse. reCAPTCHA collects hardware and software information, such as device and application data, and sends it to Google for analysis. Its use is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Payments. Donations are processed by [payment processor], whose handling of your payment details is governed by its own privacy policy.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party services or of websites we link to. We encourage you to review their policies.

How long we keep your information

• Enquiries that do not become applications are kept for up to two years, then deleted.
• Records relating to a grant we funded are kept for seven years to meet accounting and charitable-reporting requirements.
• Donation records are kept as required by tax and charitable-reporting laws.

You can ask us to delete your information sooner, and we will — unless we are legally required to keep it.

Keeping it safe

The Site is served over HTTPS, and access to submissions is limited to the people who need it to do their work. No system is perfectly secure, so please do not send us financial account numbers or government identification numbers through the contact form. If you need to share sensitive documents as part of an application, we will tell you the safest way to send them.

Your choices and rights

You can ask us to:

• Show you the information we hold about you.
• Correct it if it is wrong.
• Delete it, subject to the legal retention requirements described above.

You can opt out of text messages at any time by replying STOP, and out of email communications by contacting us or using the unsubscribe link where one is provided.

California residents. California law may provide you these rights explicitly — the right to know, access, correct and delete personal information, and the right not to be treated differently for exercising your rights. We do not “sell” or “share” personal information as those terms are defined in the California Consumer Privacy Act.

To make a request, contact us using the details below. We may need to confirm your identity before we act on it. You may also designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf.

Do Not Track. Because there is no common industry standard for “Do Not Track” browser signals, the Site does not currently respond to them. We do not track visitors across third-party websites in any case.

Children

The Site is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us at info@shamufoundation.org and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle your information, we will update this page and the “Last updated” date at the top. Material changes — especially to how we use text messaging — will be announced before they take effect.

Contact us

Questions about this policy, or about anything we hold on you:

• Email: info@shamufoundation.org
• Or use the contact form on our home page.