Privacy Policy

Sneh Asha Foundation ("we", "our", or "us") is dedicated to transparency, ethical governance, and safeguarding the personal data of our students, partners, donors, volunteers, and website visitors. This Privacy Policy is formulated in accordance with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act, 2023), the Information Technology Act, 2000, and applicable Indian data protection principles. As a Data Fiduciary under the DPDP Act, this policy outlines how we collect, process, store, retain, and protect your digital personal data when you visit our website (Sneh asha.org) or engage with our educational and CSR programmes. We are committed to data minimisation: we only collect data necessary for delivering our non-profit educational mission and statutory compliance. We never sell, rent, or trade your personal information.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when submitting forms, making a contribution, applying for Educational Scholarships, exploring career openings, or partnering with our initiatives: • Contact Information: Full name, email address, phone number, organisation name, postal address, and city. • Contribution & Statutory Data: Transaction references, donation amounts, and Permanent Account Number (PAN) details required exclusively for generating 80G receipts for tax deduction. We do not directly collect or store sensitive payment card details or net banking credentials on our servers; all financial transactions are processed through accredited, secure payment partners. • Student & Academic Records: Student names, school enrolment records, grades, attendance, and baseline-to-endline learning assessment metrics necessary for delivering and assessing digital literacy and scholarship programmes. • Volunteer & Employment Details: Curriculum vitae, educational qualifications, background experience, and employment history submitted through our careers and volunteer application forms.

The digital personal data collected is processed lawfully, fairly, and transparently for specified institutional and educational purposes: • Contributions & Compliance: Processing donations, issuing 80G receipts for tax deduction, generating Form 10BD filings, and maintaining audited statutory accounts in compliance with the Income Tax Act, 1961. • Responding to Enquiries: Answering general enquiries, donor questions, CSR partnership submissions, and volunteer requests. • Programme Delivery: Enrolling students, setting up school digital labs, tracking learning milestones across Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar, and evaluating educational outcomes. • Communications & Reporting: Sharing periodic organisational updates, audited impact reports, newsletters, and annual summaries where you have consented to receive them.

We believe in transparent technology practices: • Cookies & Tracking: Our website uses strictly essential session cookies to enable core website navigation and functional performance. We do not deploy invasive third-party tracking, cross-site profiling, or behavioral advertising cookies. • Website Analytics: We may utilise privacy-respecting website analytics tools to measure aggregate website traffic patterns, visitor counts, and page load performance. These metrics are processed in anonymised or aggregated format and do not identify individual visitors. • Payment Gateway (Razorpay): Online contributions made on Sneh asha.org are securely processed through Razorpay Software Private Limited ("Razorpay"), an accredited PCI-DSS compliant payment aggregator regulated by the Reserve Bank of India. When you make a donation, your financial credentials (such as UPI IDs, debit/credit cards, and banking details) are transmitted directly to Razorpay's encrypted checkout infrastructure and are never stored on Sneh Asha Foundation's servers.

We maintain strict technical and administrative safeguards to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, accidental loss, alteration, disclosure, or destruction: • Restricted Staff Access: Access to student databases and donor records is limited exclusively to authorized, named personnel on a strict, verifiable need-to-know basis. • Password-Protected Systems: Multi-factor authentication, secure password vaults, and role-based access restrictions are enforced across all internal platforms. • Encrypted Transmission: Industry-standard SSL/TLS (HTTPS) encryption is implemented across our entire website and digital forms to safeguard data in transit. • Infrastructure Safeguards: Secure cloud infrastructure with periodic security audits, automated vulnerability scanning, and secure backup protocols.

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the specific purposes for which it was collected, or as required by applicable Indian laws: • Donor & Tax Records: Donor identification, PAN, transaction dates, and 80G receipts for tax deduction are retained for a minimum period of 7 years in compliance with statutory audit and record-keeping mandates under the Income Tax Act, 1961. • Student & Assessment Data: Retained throughout the student's active programme cycle and for a reasonable archival period to verify longitudinal educational impact. • General Enquiries & Feedback: Retained for up to 2 years following resolution of the query, after which records are purged. • Data Disposal: When data is no longer required, it is permanently erased, securely shredded, or irreversibly anonymised in accordance with DPDP Act, 2023 standards.

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you (as a Data Principal) have specific, legally enforceable rights regarding your personal data: • Right to Access: You have the right to request a summary of the personal data held by us, the processing activities undertaken, and the identities of any authorized third parties with whom data has been shared. • Right to Correction & Completion: You may request the correction of inaccurate personal data, updating of obsolete information, or completion of incomplete records. • Right to Erasure: You may request the deletion of your personal data where its retention is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was processed, provided retention is not required by statutory or tax laws. • Right to Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by emailing our Grievance Officer at connect@Sneh asha.org. Consent withdrawal will be processed promptly and will not affect the lawfulness of any processing undertaken prior to the withdrawal. • Right of Grievance Redressal: You have the right to an accessible, timely grievance redressal mechanism provided by our Data Protection and Grievance Officer.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. We disclose personal data only under the following limited circumstances: • Essential Service Providers: To vetted technology infrastructure providers, audited database hosts, and certified payment partners (including Razorpay) strictly for executing institutional operations on our behalf under confidentiality covenants. • Legal & Regulatory Mandates: To Indian government authorities, law enforcement agencies, or courts of law when mandated by statutory compliance (such as Section 80G filing with the Income Tax Department) or judicial orders.

In compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Sneh Asha Foundation has appointed a designated Grievance Officer to address questions, consent withdrawals, and grievances regarding your personal data: • Grievance Officer: Designated Data Protection & Grievance Officer, Sneh Asha Foundation • Email: connect@Sneh asha.org • Phone: 022-65027795 • Postal Address: Office No. 8-B, Anand Nagar Co-Operative Housing Society, Sitladevi Temple Road, Near Saraswati Mandir School, Mahim, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400016, India • Response Timeline: All data privacy requests, consent withdrawal notices, and grievances will be acknowledged and resolved within 30 working days. For terms governing the use of this website, please review our Terms & Conditions.