Last updated: 17 October 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how the Africa Help Foundation processes the personal data of people who use https://ah20.org, make donations, subscribe to the newsletter, contact the Foundation, apply to volunteer or use other forms or services on the website.
This Policy provides information required in particular by Articles 13 and 14 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).
The controller of your personal data is:
Fundacja „Africa Help” (Africa Help Foundation)
ul. Feliksa Nowowiejskiego 52/4
61-732 Poznań
Poland
The Foundation’s office is located at:
ul. Kramarska 32, unit 15
61-765 Poznań
Poland
You can contact the Foundation by email at africahelp@ah20.org or by post at the office address above. The Foundation may also use news@ah20.org for newsletter matters.
We may obtain data directly from you, including through contact, newsletter or volunteer forms and correspondence; from payment providers such as Stripe or Przelewy24 when you donate online; from a bank transfer; from technical systems such as server logs, security and anti-spam tools and cookies; or from publicly available sources where needed for contact, accounting, security, protecting the Foundation’s rights or managing a relationship with a person or organisation.
Depending on how you interact with the Foundation, we may process:
We do not collect payment card details on the Foundation’s website. Card and other payment method details are processed by the payment provider.
We may process technical data to operate and secure the website, prevent misuse, diagnose errors and maintain basic technical statistics. The legal basis is the Foundation’s legitimate interest in operating, protecting and developing the website, together with your consent for optional cookies where required.
We retain technical data for as long as needed for security, troubleshooting and protection of the Foundation’s rights, and then delete or anonymise it, unless a longer period is required by law or for legal claims.
When you contact us by email, contact form, telephone, post or social media, we process data to respond, handle your enquiry, maintain correspondence, protect the Foundation’s rights and archive the matter where necessary.
The legal basis is our legitimate interest in handling correspondence and enquiries. Where the contact concerns a contract, processing may also be necessary to take steps before entering into a contract or to perform it.
We retain correspondence for the time needed to handle the matter and subsequently for claims, accountability and archiving, unless the law requires longer retention.
You can make an online donation through Stripe Payment Links. Selecting a donation amount takes you to Stripe’s payment form.
Stripe may process the payer’s email address, donation amount and currency, payment status, technical transaction data, transaction identifier and information needed for payment processing, security, fraud prevention, refunds, complaints and regulatory obligations.
For the Foundation’s simple donation links, we do not additionally enable collection of postal addresses, telephone numbers, company or tax details, automatic tax, PDF invoices or newsletter subscriptions in Stripe checkout unless required for a particular payment.
Data provided through Stripe is used to handle the donation, payment and confirmations, accounting, transaction security, refunds, complaints and enquiries, legal obligations and legal claims.
The Foundation’s legal bases are processing necessary to handle the donation, its legal obligations, particularly accounting and tax requirements, and its legitimate interests in payment administration, security, accountability, contact about a specific donation and protecting legal claims.
An email address provided to Stripe is not newsletter consent. Subscribing is a separate, voluntary action, including through the form on the thank-you page after payment.
Stripe may act as a processor for the Foundation and as an independent controller where it determines its own processing purposes and methods, including security, fraud prevention, regulatory compliance and payment services.
Donation data is retained for the periods required by accounting and tax law and as necessary to protect the Foundation’s rights and handle claims, complaints and settlements.
When you donate by bank transfer, we may receive the sender’s name, account number, amount, date, payment reference and bank details. We use this information to receive and record the donation, confirm it where needed, maintain accounts, meet legal obligations, protect the Foundation’s rights and contact you about that payment where necessary.
The legal bases are processing necessary to handle the donation, legal obligations and our legitimate interests. We retain transfer data for the periods required by accounting and tax law and as needed for legal claims.
If a Przelewy24 payment option is available on the website or you use a payment handled by Przelewy24, payer data is processed to the extent required by the provider. This may include identification, contact, transaction and technical data needed for payments, confirmations, security, refunds, complaints and legal obligations.
The Foundation’s legal bases are the same as for other donations: handling the donation, legal obligations and legitimate interests, including protecting legal claims. The provider may act as an independent controller for its own services, regulatory obligations and security.
You can voluntarily subscribe through the Foundation’s newsletter forms, including the ADM form accessible by scanning a QR code and the form on the thank-you page after a donation. The newsletter is separate from payment and is not a condition for making a donation.
Newsletter forms may collect:
The newsletter form for Afrykański Dom Mody (ADM), also available through a QR code, requires your first name and email address. Your first name is used to personalise messages, while your email address is used for delivery and subscription confirmation. This form does not ask for your surname or gender.
You may optionally choose a preferred form of address: “Po imieniu” (by first name), “Pani” (a Polish feminine courtesy form), “Pan” (a Polish masculine courtesy form), or “Neutralnie” (neutral wording). This is a language preference, not a declaration of gender. We do not infer gender from your name or selection. Leaving this field blank does not prevent subscription and is not recorded as an explicitly chosen preference. In that case, we may use your first name or neutral wording without assigning a gender.
We may use your first name and stated preference to adapt the language of messages. We do not use them to infer other personal characteristics. If information needed for a particular personalisation is missing, we use neutral wording rather than guessing. You can correct, change or remove your first name or preference by contacting africahelp@ah20.org. Removing an optional preference does not require unsubscribing.
Newsletter consent is separate and unticked by default. It is not a condition for donating or attending an event. Registering for an event, applying to volunteer or providing an email address during payment does not constitute newsletter consent. The ADM newsletter form does not reserve a place at an event.
The newsletter covers the impact of our work, the Foundation’s projects, statutory activities, fundraising, events, volunteering, ways to support the Foundation, opportunities to donate or allocate 1.5% of Polish income tax, and other activities related to the Foundation’s statutory purposes.
The legal basis for processing data to send the newsletter is your consent. This also covers using the email address you provide for electronic communications concerning the newsletter and the Foundation’s fundraising activities.
Subscription uses double opt-in. After submitting the form, you receive an email asking you to confirm. Your subscription becomes active only after you click the confirmation button.
We use MailerLite to manage the newsletter. MailerLite processes subscription data on the Foundation’s behalf as a processor. The native ADM form is hosted by MailerLite and records your first name, email address, optional preference and subscription source in that system. Newsletter forms on the Foundation’s website send subscription data to MailerLite. Further information is available in MailerLite’s Privacy Policy.
You can withdraw consent at any time using the unsubscribe link in a newsletter email or by contacting the Foundation. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
Newsletter data is retained until you withdraw consent or unsubscribe. After that, we may retain limited records needed to demonstrate consent and its withdrawal, handle objections, maintain security or defend legal claims.
If enabled in MailerLite, we may analyse basic newsletter statistics, including deliveries, opens and link clicks. We use these to assess communication effectiveness, improve content and reduce unhelpful messages.
If you use a volunteer form, we process data to receive your application, contact you, assess opportunities to work together, organise volunteering, prepare related documents and ensure the safety of people involved.
The scope depends on the form and may include your name, email, telephone number, experience, availability, preferred area of activity and your answers to questions.
The legal basis may be steps before entering into a volunteer agreement, performance of that agreement, a legal obligation, our legitimate interests in organising volunteering, contact and safety, or consent where required for particular data or purposes.
We retain volunteer and applicant data for as long as needed to handle applications and cooperation, meet legal obligations and protect legal claims. The specific period depends on the relationship and documents involved.
If forms, comments or other submission fields are available, we may process data to handle submissions, prevent spam, detect misuse and protect the website. We may use anti-spam tools such as Akismet and security tools. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in protecting the website and forms and handling submissions.
We may process IP addresses, server request information, security events, login attempts, errors and activity suggesting misuse to protect the website and systems. This may involve Wordfence, hosting systems, server logs and other WordPress safeguards. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in protecting the website, data, infrastructure and users.
We may use tools such as Google Site Kit or Google Analytics if they are active and configured in accordance with cookie requirements. Analytics may help us measure visits, website performance, content and button effectiveness, errors, accessibility, usability and visits to payment providers, thank-you pages or newsletter forms.
We do not send names, email addresses, telephone numbers, postal addresses, message content, payment card details or transaction identifiers to analytics tools.
The legal basis may be consent given through the cookie banner or our legitimate interest where the specific configuration and applicable law allow it.
The Foundation may maintain profiles on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or other platforms. If you contact us, comment, react or send messages there, data is processed under the platform’s rules and to communicate with you, handle messages, share information about the Foundation, promote its statutory activities and use profile statistics where available. Social media operators may act as independent controllers.
We may process data for accounting, donation records, settlements, reporting, legal obligations, inspections, audits and enquiries from public authorities. The legal basis is the Foundation’s legal obligations. We retain data for the periods required by applicable law, particularly accounting and tax law.
We may process data to establish, pursue or defend legal claims and handle complaints, court, administrative or enforcement proceedings. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in protecting our rights. Data is retained for the duration of the matter and until applicable limitation periods expire.
Making a donation does not subscribe you to the newsletter. Providing an email address to Stripe, Przelewy24, in a bank transfer or in correspondence is not newsletter consent.
Subscribing requires a separate action: completing the newsletter form, ticking the consent box, submitting it and confirming the subscription by email. The Foundation does not automatically transfer payment email addresses to an active newsletter list.
Data may be shared only where needed for the purposes described or required by law. Recipients may include hosting and IT infrastructure providers, WordPress support, security and anti-spam providers, payment providers including Stripe and Przelewy24, banks, MailerLite, email providers such as Microsoft 365, analytics providers such as Google where active, cookie consent providers such as Complianz, accountants, lawyers, auditors, advisers, social media operators and public authorities where required by law.
Some act as processors on our behalf. Others may act as independent controllers where they determine their own purposes and methods, including payment providers, banks, social media operators and analytics providers for their own services.
The Foundation does not sell the personal data of donors, newsletter subscribers, volunteers or website users. It does not provide donor data to beneficiaries, partners or third parties for their own marketing without a separate legal basis or your explicit consent.
Some providers may process data outside the European Economic Area (EEA), particularly in the United States or other countries where their affiliates, servers or subcontractors operate. This may concern Stripe, MailerLite, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Automattic/Akismet, Wordfence or other security tools.
Where data is transferred outside the EEA, the Foundation relies on appropriate legal mechanisms, such as adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, data processing agreements and other safeguards required by data protection law.
The website uses cookies and similar technologies: small files or identifiers stored on or read from your device. They may support website operation, preferences, security, forms, analytics, external content and consent management.
Categories may include essential cookies for operation and security; functional or preference cookies; statistical cookies; marketing cookies if marketing or remarketing tools are enabled; and third-party cookies for embedded content, maps, videos or social media.
The website’s consent mechanism lets you accept, reject or change settings for categories requiring consent. Refusing optional cookies should not prevent basic website use, but may limit statistics, embedded content or some external functions. You can also manage cookies in your browser settings.
The Foundation does not make decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal effects or similarly significantly affect you. It does not use donation data for automated marketing profiling.
If analytics, newsletter or advertising tools are active, they may process technical and activity data for statistics, segments or basic communication effectiveness analyses. This depends on configuration and, where required, your consent.
Providing data is generally voluntary but may be necessary for a particular purpose. For example:
Not providing necessary data may prevent a payment, response, subscription or application from being handled.
You have the right to access your data and obtain a copy, request rectification, erasure or restriction, portability where applicable, object where processing is based on legitimate interests, withdraw consent at any time where it is the legal basis, and lodge a complaint with the President of the Polish Personal Data Protection Office.
To exercise your rights, contact africahelp@ah20.org or write to Fundacja „Africa Help”, ul. Kramarska 32, unit 15, 61-765 Poznań, Poland. You can also unsubscribe using the link in each newsletter email.
We respond without undue delay, generally within one month of receiving a request. This may be extended by two further months where necessary because of complexity or the number of requests; we will explain the reasons for an extension.
If we do not act on a request, we will explain why and inform you of your right to complain to the supervisory authority and seek a judicial remedy.
Communications about your rights are generally free. For manifestly unfounded or excessive requests, particularly repetitive requests, we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to act in accordance with the GDPR.
You can lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority:
President of the Personal Data Protection Office (Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Danych Osobowych)
ul. Stanisława Moniuszki 1A
00-014 Warszawa
Poland
We use organisational and technical measures to protect data against loss, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. These include limiting collection and access to what is needed; WordPress security tools; keeping credentials, API keys, tokens and secrets out of public website code; not storing payment card details; backups and technical rollback procedures; and providers supporting the security of the website, payments, newsletter and email.
The website is not directed at children independently providing personal data without a legal guardian’s involvement. Where the Foundation organises activities involving children or young people, data is processed only as needed for that activity, participants’ safety and legal obligations, on the basis of appropriate consent or other legal grounds where required.
We may update this Policy, particularly following changes to law, website tools, payment providers, the newsletter system, forms or how the website operates. The current version is published on the Foundation’s website.
