Our Commitment to Privacy

Aunt Bertha, a Public Benefit Corporation (“Aunt Bertha” or “we”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. Aunt Bertha is a software application designed to match interested persons with need-based service providers. Persons may search our website, www.auntbertha.com or www.findhelp.org (collectively the “Website”), to learn about federal, state, and local need-based government and charitable programs and services in their area (each a “Benefit” and collectively, “Benefits”), and, depending upon the provider, may be able to apply for Benefits through our Website (the “Services”).

Aunt Bertha is a certified B Corporation (Certified B Corporations meet higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability).

In this Privacy Policy Statement (“Policy”), we describe the information that we collect from visitors to our Website. This Policy governs the use of our Website, as well as company.auntbertha.com, and our products and services offered through this Website (collectively, “Services”). Your use of our Website or the Services, and any dispute over privacy, is subject to this Policy and our Terms of Service, including its applicable limitations on damages and the resolution of disputes. This Policy is incorporated by reference to the Terms of Service of our Website.

This Website and the Services are designed for persons in the United States.

What Information Do We Collect from You and How Do We Use Your Information? 

We may collect information about you directly from you and from third parties, as well as automatically through your use of our Website or Services.

Information We Collect Directly From You

You are free to search through and use the Website without providing any information about yourself. If you would like to save programs or providers to your personalized favorites list or apply for Benefits through our Website, then we will require you to create an account. To create an account, we will collect your email address and a password you create.  

You may apply for, or contact a third party concerning, certain third party Benefits through our Website; the third party – not Aunt Bertha — determines the scope of the information that it would like for us to collect from you. Depending upon the particular Benefit, and in accordance with the third party’s instructions, we may request information such as the following from you through our Website:

  • Name
  • Mailing Address
  • Phone number
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Whether you have proof of identification, such as a Social Security Number, passport or state driver’s license (but not the details associated with that identification)
  • Information about children (include birthdate)
  • Living situation (house/apt., shelter, etc.)
  • Additional program specific eligibility criteria, which will vary depending upon the program
    • Whether the person is pregnant
    • History of drug/alcohol abuse
    • Insurance coverage
    • Criminal history
    • Income information (employment, government benefits, child support, etc.)

The program/agency determines the application process; if you do not want to apply through our Website, please contact the program/agency to determine if there is an alternative application process.

We also may collect information from you in order to update your account. For example, if you think that information on our Website is inaccurate or out-of-date, you may click on the “Report A Change” button and provide us additional and/or revised information. We use this information only for the purpose of reviewing and updating our Website. The comments that you submit in this section are not publicly available, but we may share your comments (anonymously) with the Benefit provider so that we may update our Website.

When you enroll in our Short Message Service (“SMS”) program, we will collect information such as your mobile phone number, mobile carrier, date, time, and content of the messages, and other information provided by you. Your mobile carrier may also collect data from you, as reflected in their own privacy policies.

Information We May Receive from You about Others

We may receive your information from a third party, including receipt of your name, contact information and other details as part of sharing information found on our website or a referral to a Benefit through the website.

We may also collect information from you about someone else. If you provide information about someone else, you must ensure that you are authorized to disclose that information to Aunt Bertha, and that, without Aunt Bertha taking any further steps required by applicable data privacy laws, Aunt Bertha may collect, use and disclose that information for the purposes described in this Policy.  

Information We Collect Through Your Use of Our Website

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to automatically collect information about you when you visit our Website or use our Services. Specifically, we may collect the following information: your IP address, browser type, domain name, operating system, date and time of visit, referring website, time spent on and/or logged in to the Website, and pages viewed. Please see the section below entitled “Cookies & Other Tracking Technologies” for additional information.

Use of Your Information

We use your information primarily to apply for the Benefits that you have requested. We may use your profile information to identify other programs and services that we believe would be of interest to you, and we may email you about those programs and services. We will not, however, apply for any Benefits on your behalf without your knowledge. We also may use your information to respond to your requests or inquiries from users, to communicate with you about your use of our Services, and for similar customer-service-related purposes. We also may use your information to assist us in maintaining our Website, such as for troubleshooting and technical support purposes, and to improve our Website and Services and to better understand how users access and use our Website and Services, on an aggregated and individualized basis.

We also may use aggregate information to assist us in determining products and services needed to add to our Website.

Sharing Your Information

We share your information at your direction; with the limited exceptions discussed below, we do not share your information with third parties unless you agree in advance. We will not share your personal information under any circumstance with any third parties for their direct marketing purposes unless you are first notified. In this section, we describe the potential uses of your information in greater detail:

With Third Parties That Provide Benefits:  As stated above, we primarily share your information, including your personal information, with the third parties that provide the Benefits that you would like to receive. Specifically, at your direction, we will submit your application to the appropriate third parties. The third party, not Aunt Bertha, will evaluate your eligibility to obtain service from its program. The third party’s use of your personal information will be governed by the third party’s privacy policy. Aunt Bertha does not have any control over your information once it is submitted to a third party for receipt of Benefits. For example, if you are interested in transportation services, then we will share your information, at your direction, with agencies that provide transportation that may fit your particular situation.  In some instances, your information may be shared with third-parties who are providing grants,  financial assistance, or other support for the programs you are applying for.

In sharing your personal information with third party providers, as stated above, such information will be provided to each and every third party that you request. By consenting to this sharing, you further agree that the third parties themselves may also collaborate and share your information solely in support of the service that you are seeking. To the extent that any other information is generated from the collaboration and such information is stored in the Aunt Bertha Platform, such information will be deemed to be covered by this privacy policy. ALTHOUGH WE SHARE INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES AT YOUR DIRECTION, WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTS AND OMISSIONS OF THIRD PARTIES.

To Perform Services on Our Behalf: We may hire vendor companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as website hosting, payment processing, sending postal and electronic mail, providing technical support, and to assist us in providing the products and services that you request from us. We only provide those service providers with the information necessary to perform the requested service.

Third Party Support System: If you submit a support request via Zendesk, you will be asked to provide certain information including without limitation your name and email address. Support requests are operated by Zendesk, a third party support and contact request management service provided by Zendesk, Inc. Participation in this service is entirely at your discretion and governed by Zendesk’s Privacy Policy located at https://www.zendesk.com/company/privacy.

With Your Friends and Other Persons at Your Direction: You have the option of sending a friend information about Benefits listed on our Website. We will collect your email address, your friend’s email address, and a message that you would like to share with your friend. We will send the Benefit information to your friend along with your message and email address.

Consolidation of Company: If we are acquired by or merged with another company, if substantially all of our assets are transferred to another company, or as part of a bankruptcy proceeding, we may transfer the information we have collected from you to the other company.

To Protect Ourselves/For Legal Purposes: We also may disclose your information to protect our rights and property, to prevent against fraud and abuse, and to protect other users of our services. For example, if we believe that you are misusing our Website or taking an action that is harming our Website (e.g., uploading a virus to our Website), we may share your information with law enforcement to protect our Services. We also may disclose your information as permitted or required by law, for example, in response to court orders, subpoenas, or other requests from government agencies.

Cookies & Other Tracking Technologies

We and our third party service providers use cookies and other tracking mechanisms to track information about your use of our Website or Services. We may combine this information with other personal information we collect from you (and our third party service providers may do so on our behalf).

Currently, our systems do not recognize browser “do-not-track” requests. You may, however, disable certain tracking as discussed in this section (e.g., by disabling cookies).

  • When you come to the Website, our web server sends a cookie to your computer. Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser for record-keeping purposes. There are two types of cookies: session-based and persistent-based cookies. We also may permit certain third party cookies to be placed on our Website.  
  • Session Cookies. Session cookies exist only during an online session. They disappear from your computer when you close your browser or turn off your computer. We use session cookies to allow our systems to uniquely identify you while you are logged into the Website. This allows us to process your online transactions and requests, and to verify your identity, after you have logged in, as you move through our Website.
  • Persistent cookies. Persistent cookies remain on your computer after you have closed your browser or turned off your computer. We may use persistent cookies to track aggregate and statistical information about user activity, which may be combined with other user information.

Third Party Analytics. We may use automated devices and applications, such as Google Analytics, to evaluate usage of our Website. We also may use other analytic means to evaluate our Services. We use these tools to help us improve our Services, performance and user experiences. These entities may use cookies and other tracking technologies to perform their services. We do not share your personal information with these third parties. We do not have access to or control over these third party cookies nor does this Privacy Policy cover such third parties’ use of data.  In addition, Aunt Bertha offers functionality that allows certain customers with their own site integration to use automated devices and applications, such as Google Analytics.  For additional information about the Customer’s use of third party analytics, please visit the privacy policy of the Aunt Bertha customer that is associated with your use of Aunt Bertha.  You may be able to opt-out or restrict the collection or use of information by some commonly used tracking pixels and services. The following links are provided for your convenience:

  • Google Analytics – https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/

Disabling Cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but if you prefer, you can edit your browser options to block them in future. The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your computer from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Website visitors who disable their web browsers’ ability to accept cookies will be able to browse the Website; however, you must enable cookies to use most of our Services.

Opting Out of Communications

Email. If you have created an account with us or requested to receive information from us, we may send you email about topics and opportunities that we believe may be of interest to you. At any time, you may unsubscribe from our emails by using the link contained in the email. If you opt-out of receiving emails about recommendations or other information we think may interest you, we may still send you e-mails about your account or any Services you have requested or received from us.

Phone. If you no longer wish to receive information from us, please email [email protected] or call 512-717-0518.

Text Messages. If you no longer wish to participate in our SMS program, send a text message with one of the keywords: STOP, END, QUIT, CANCEL, OR UNSUBSCRIBE to 512-942-0530. You may receive one final message from us confirming that you have been inactivated in our system. Following such confirmation message, no additional messages will be sent by us unless you reactivate your SMS subscription.

Updating Your Information

You may edit your profile information at any time by signing into your account.

Security of Your Information

We want the information that you submit to us to be secure. We use industry-standard techniques to safeguard the information that you provide to us through our Website. Notwithstanding our commitment to your information, please be aware that there is a risk that others could find a way to thwart our security systems or the security systems of the third parties that host our server. As a result, we cannot ensure or warrant the security or privacy of any information that you choose to submit to us. 

You should take steps to protect against unauthorized access to your password, phone, and computer by, among other things, signing off after using a shared computer, choosing a robust password that nobody else knows or can easily guess, and keeping your log-in and password private. We are not responsible for any lost, stolen, or compromised passwords or for any activity on your account via unauthorized password activity.

Short Message Service

You may opt to enroll in our SMS program. By enrolling, you represent that you are the account holder for the mobile telephone number(s) that you provide to us.  You are responsible for notifying us immediately if you change your mobile telephone number. 

We provide this service without a fee; however, message and data rates may apply from your mobile carrier. By providing your consent to participate in this program, you approve such charges from your mobile carrier. Aunt Bertha is not responsible for any charges related to the use of this service.

Aunt Bertha does not guarantee the successful or timely delivery of text messages by your mobile carrier. Delivery of information and content to a mobile device may fail due to a variety of circumstances or conditions.  You understand and acknowledge that network services, including but not limited to mobile network services, are outside of Aunt Bertha’s control, and Aunt Bertha is not responsible or liable for issues arising from them.

If you request to be referred to a program, and you use text messages as your primary form of communication with Aunt Bertha, in certain circumstances text messages may include protected health information (“PHI”), by the nature of the programs you are referred to.  Since text messaging is unencrypted, there is a risk that this PHI could be intercepted or viewed by third parties, including others who access your device. When you choose to receive text messages from us, you do so at your own risk. 

Aunt Bertha reserves the right to terminate the SMS program in whole or in part, at any time and without notice.  

User Generated Content

We maintain a blog on our Website open to public comment. Interested persons also may comment on programs after creating a username; we do not permit anonymous comments. Aunt Bertha.com is not responsible for the privacy of any information that you choose to submit through our blog, or for the accuracy of any information contained in those postings. Any information that you disclose through our blog becomes public information. We cannot prevent such information from being used in a manner that may violate this Policy, the law, or your personal privacy.

Children’s Privacy

Our Website is not intended for persons under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from persons under the age of 13. If we learn that a person under the age of 13 has created an account or directly applied for programs through our Website, then we will remove that information from our systems. Please be advised, however, that certain programs offered by third parties may be applicable to persons under the age of 13 or may require us to provide information about the children in your household. In those situations, we only collect information about persons under the age of 13 directly from the registered user, which must be a person over the age of 13.

Your California Privacy Rights

The CCPA provides consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their personal information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights. For consumers where we operate as a service provider, we will direct you to exercise your rights through our customer.

We have collected and shared the following categories of personal information under the CCPA within the past 12 months, as more fully described above;

  • A. Identifiers;
  • B. Personal information categories listed in the California Customer records statute;
  • C. Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law;
  • D. Commercial information;
  • F.  Internet or other similar network activity.

You also have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you or take other actions concerning your personal information, including:

  • The right to know the personal information collected about you, including the right to receive it in a data portable format;
  • The right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information, although we currently do not sell your personal information and thus do not offer the right to opt-out;
  • The right of deletion of your personal information, subject to certain limitations under applicable law;
  • The right not to be discriminated against for individuals who choose to exercise any of their rights under the CCPA.

To exercise these rights, please submit a request by emailing [email protected], including your email address and phone number. Once we receive your request, we will review it, determine whether we can verify your identity, and process the request accordingly. If we need additional information to verify your identity, we will let you know. We will respond to your request within 45 days of receipt, or notify you if we require additional time.

If you would prefer, you may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf.

 If you are a California resident under the age of 18, and a registered user of any website where this policy is posted, California Business and Professions Code Section 22581 permits you to request and obtain removal of content or information you have publicly posted. To make such a request, please send an e-mail with a detailed description of the specific content or information to [email protected]. Please be aware that such a request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information you have posted and that there may be circumstances in which the law does not require or allow removal even if requested.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We will post changes to this Policy to this Website. Changes will become effective upon posting. If we make a material change to this Policy, we will endeavor to notify our account holders by highlighting the change upon posting and sending an email address to our account holders at the most current email address.

Contact Us

Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions regarding this Policy.
Last Revised: December 30, 2020