Privacy Policy

1. Information You Give Us Directly

We only collect what a specific request requires. Depending on the form you use, that may include:

• Contact form: your name, email address, subject, and the content of your message.
• Adoption application: your name, email, phone, home address, housing type and whether you rent or own, landlord contact where applicable, household composition including whether children live in the home, current and previous pets, veterinary reference, and your description of the daily routine an adopted animal would join.
• Volunteer and foster applications: your name, contact details, areas of interest, availability, and relevant experience.
• Donations: your name, email, mailing address, and gift amount as reported back to us by our donation processor.
• Correspondence: anything you voluntarily include when you email, call, or write to us.

We do not require you to create an account to browse this site, and we do not ask for Social Security numbers, government identification numbers, or health information.

2. Payment Information

We never see, handle, or store your full credit card, debit card, or bank account details. Online gifts are completed on Every.org, an independent 501(c)(3) donation platform, which processes the transaction on PCI-compliant infrastructure and then reports the donor name, amount, and date back to us so we can thank you and issue an acknowledgment. Charity Navigator, Candid, and the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search host our public charity profiles; visiting those sites is governed by their own privacy policies, not this one.

3. Why We Use Your Information

We use what you give us to answer your question, review and process an adoption, foster, or volunteer application, verify references and landlord permission where required, coordinate transport and meet-and-greets, follow up on the wellbeing of an adopted animal, acknowledge donations and issue tax receipts, keep the records our nonprofit status requires, and send updates only to people who asked for them. We do not use your information to build advertising profiles.

4. We Do Not Sell Your Data

Barks of Love Animal Rescue does not sell, rent, trade, or lease donor, adopter, foster, or volunteer information to anyone, for any price, under any circumstances. We do not participate in donor-list exchanges with other nonprofits.

5. When We Share Information

Limited sharing happens only in these situations:

• Approved volunteers. Adoption coordinators and foster leads see application details for the animals they are responsible for, and are expected to keep them confidential.
• Veterinary references and landlords. Only with your application, and only to confirm the specific facts you provided.
• Service providers. Our email, form, hosting, and donation providers process data on our behalf under their own security obligations.
• Legal requirements. When required by law, a valid subpoena, an animal-welfare investigation, or to protect the safety of an animal or a person.

6. Cookies and Analytics

This site uses only the cookies needed for the pages to function correctly, plus aggregate analytics that tell us which pages visitors read and which adoption listings get attention. Analytics data is looked at in aggregate; we do not use it to identify individual visitors. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings and every part of this site — including the adoption application and the donation flow — will continue to work. We honor Global Privacy Control and "Do Not Track" browser signals where our providers support them.

7. How Long We Keep Information

Adoption records are retained for the life of the animal so we can honor our lifetime return commitment and answer medical-history questions. Donation records are retained for at least seven years as required for nonprofit financial reporting and audits. Volunteer records are kept while you are active and for two years afterward. General inquiries are deleted once the conversation has concluded and nothing further is needed.

8. How We Protect Information

This site is served over encrypted HTTPS connections. Access to application and donor records is limited to the volunteers whose role requires it, and paper records are stored in a locked location. No system is perfectly secure, and we will not claim otherwise; if a breach ever affects your personal information, we will notify affected individuals as required by California law.

9. Your Rights and Choices

You may ask us at any time to tell you what information we hold about you, correct anything inaccurate, delete your record where we are not legally required to keep it, stop contacting you, or exclude your name from any public donor acknowledgment. California residents have these rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, and we extend the same rights to everyone who contacts us regardless of where they live. Exercising them will never affect your ability to adopt, foster, or volunteer with us. Email info@boflar.org and we will respond within thirty days.

10. Children's Privacy

This website is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. Youth volunteers under 18 participate through a parent or guardian, whose contact details we collect instead. If you believe a child has submitted information to us, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Links to Other Websites

Our pages link to outside resources such as Every.org, Charity Navigator, Candid, the IRS, and partner shelters. Once you follow one of those links you are on a site we do not operate and this policy no longer applies. We encourage you to read their policies before entering personal information.

12. Changes to This Policy

If we change how we handle personal information, we will revise this page and update the "last updated" date above. Material changes will also be noted in our news and updates section so returning supporters can see what changed and when.

13. Contact Us

Questions, requests, or complaints about this policy can go to info@boflar.org, 714-282-1768, or Barks of Love Animal Rescue, PO Box 4156, Fullerton, CA 92834. A real volunteer reads every message.