Privacy Policy

Bethany Church of the Nazarene

Bethany Church of the Nazarene (“BCN,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website at bethanynazarene.org. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you visit our site or interact with us online, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. We are committed to handling your information responsibly and collecting only what we need.

If you have any questions about this policy, contact us at tech@bethanynazarene.org or by mail at 1605 Parkway West, Harrisburg, PA 17112.

Information We Collect

Information you provide directly

We collect information you choose to give us, including:

  • Contact and inquiry forms. When you fill out a form on our site, we collect your name and email address, along with any message or details you include.
  • Online giving (donations). When you make a donation through our website, we collect the information needed to process it, such as your name, email address, billing address, and donation amount and frequency. Payment card details are entered on and processed by our third-party payment processor and are not stored on our website or servers. We keep a record of your donation (amount, date, and the contact details above) for receipting, accounting, and stewardship purposes.

Information collected automatically

When you visit our site, certain information is collected automatically through standard web technologies:

  • Log and device data, such as your IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited, and the date and time of your visit.
  • Cookies and similar technologies. Our site and the services we use may place cookies on your device to keep the site secure, remember your preferences, and understand how the site is used. See the Cookies section below.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

  • Respond to your inquiries and communicate with you.
  • Process donations and send donation receipts and acknowledgments.
  • Maintain accurate giving and contact records for church administration and accounting.
  • Operate, secure, maintain, and improve our website.
  • Comply with applicable legal, tax, and record keeping obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for third-party advertising.

How We Share Your Information

We share personal information only as needed to operate our site and ministry, including with:

  • Payment processors. Online donations are handled through GiveWP using a third-party payment gateway such as Stripe or PayPal. These providers process your payment and handle your card details under their own privacy policies and security standards.
  • Service providers. We use third parties to host and support our website and email, including our web host, Cloudflare (which provides security and content delivery and may set cookies for those purposes), and Microsoft 365 (through which form submissions and inquiries may be received and stored as email).
  • Legal and safety reasons. We may disclose information if required by law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our church, our members, or others.

We do not share your information with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

Cookies

Cookies are small files stored on your device. We and the services we use rely on cookies to:

  • Keep the site secure and protect against malicious traffic (for example, cookies set by Cloudflare).
  • Support online giving and remember information during a donation session.
  • Help us understand how visitors use the site.

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling some cookies may affect how parts of the site function, including online giving.

How We Protect Your Information

We take reasonable measures to protect your information, including serving our site over a secure (HTTPS) connection and relying on payment processors that maintain industry-standard security for handling card data. No method of transmission or storage over the internet is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Data Retention

We keep contact information for as long as needed to respond to you and to maintain our records. We retain donation records for as long as required for accounting, receipting, and legal or tax purposes. You may ask us to delete your information, and we will do so unless we are required to keep it.

Your Choices and Rights

You may:

  • Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
  • Ask us to correct or update your information.
  • Ask us to delete your information, subject to records we are legally required to keep.
  • Unsubscribe from any non-essential emails we send by following the instructions in the message or contacting us.

To make a request, email us at tech@bethanynazarene.org. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

Children’s Privacy

Our website is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through the site. If you believe a child has provided us information through the website, contact us and we will delete it.

Links to Other Sites

Our website may link to other websites that we do not operate or control. This policy does not apply to those sites, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the effective date at the top of this page. Significant changes may be communicated through our website.

Contact Us

If you have questions or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your information, contact us:

Bethany Church of the Nazarene
tech@bethanynazarene.org
1605 Parkway West,
Harrisburg, PA 17112