Legal

Privacy Policy

How The 23 Project Foundation collects, uses, and protects your information.

Effective date: April 25, 2026

The 23 Project Foundation ("23 Project," "we," "us," or "our") is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Gastonia, North Carolina. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you visit our website, apply for a grant, make a donation, or otherwise interact with us — and what we do with that information.

We have written this in plain language because we want you to actually read it. If anything is unclear, please reach out and we will be glad to walk you through it.

1. Information We Collect

Information you give us directly

You may share information with us when you:

  • Apply for a church planting or sabbatical grant. Applications include personal information about you, your spouse, your family, your church, your ministry, your finances, and your story. Some questions are sensitive by design — we read every word with care.
  • Make a donation. We collect the information needed to process your gift and provide a tax-deductible receipt — typically your name, email, mailing address, and payment details.
  • Sign up for our prayer team, newsletter, or "notify me when applications open" list. We collect your name and email address.
  • Contact us through the website, by email, or by phone. We retain the message and any context you provide so we can respond well.
  • Submit a prayer request. We treat prayer requests as confidential by default and only share them with our prayer team in the form you submit.

Information collected automatically

When you visit our website, our hosting provider and analytics tools automatically log standard technical information, including:

  • Your IP address and approximate location (typically city or region).
  • Your browser type, device, and operating system.
  • The pages you visit, how you arrived at the site, and how long you stay.
  • Cookies and similar technologies (see "Cookies & Tracking" below).

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

  • Review and respond to grant applications.
  • Process donations and send tax receipts and acknowledgements.
  • Send the email updates you have asked to receive — newsletters, prayer requests, or application reminders.
  • Pray for you, when you have asked us to.
  • Communicate with you about your application, partnership, or message.
  • Operate, secure, and improve our website and our work.
  • Comply with legal, accounting, and tax obligations as a 501(c)(3) organization.

3. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. Ever. We share information only in the following limited situations:

With trusted service providers

We use a small set of vendors to run the website and our operations. They only access the information needed to do their job, and they are bound by their own privacy and security commitments. The main ones are:

  • Pressable / WordPress hosting — website hosting and security.
  • WPForms — application forms, contact forms, and notify-me signups.
  • Mailchimp — newsletter, prayer team, and applicant notification emails.
  • FundraiseUp — donation processing.
  • Google Analytics 4 (via MonsterInsights) — aggregated website analytics.
  • WP Mail SMTP — transactional email delivery.

On the public website

If you become a partner church planter or sabbatical recipient, we list your name, your church, and a brief profile on the 23 Project website. This is part of our partnership agreement and is communicated up front in the Memorandum of Understanding.

When required by law

We may disclose information if we are legally required to do so — for example, in response to a subpoena, court order, or to comply with our reporting obligations as a non-profit. We will not voluntarily share your information with law enforcement without legal process unless we believe there is an imminent risk to someone's safety.

In the event of a transition

If 23 Project ever merges with or transfers operations to another organization, your information may transfer as part of that change. We would notify affected parties and ensure that any successor organization is bound by the same standards described here.

4. Donations & Payment Information

Donations made through our website are processed by FundraiseUp and its underlying payment processors (such as Stripe). Your full credit card or bank account information is sent directly to the processor and is not stored on our servers. We retain the information necessary for tax receipts, donor records, and acknowledgement letters.

5. Cookies & Tracking

We use a small number of cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, remember your preferences, and understand how the site is being used. These include:

  • Essential cookies — required for the site to function (form security, login sessions, etc.).
  • Analytics cookies — used by Google Analytics to measure site usage in aggregate. We do not use this data to identify individual visitors.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers let you block, delete, or warn before accepting cookies. Blocking essential cookies may prevent parts of the site from working correctly.

6. How Long We Keep Your Information

We retain personal information only as long as we genuinely need it:

  • Grant applications are retained for the duration of the discernment process and for a reasonable period afterward, in case future conversations are warranted.
  • Donor and tax-receipt records are retained as long as required by IRS rules and our accounting practices (typically at least seven years).
  • Newsletter and prayer-team subscriptions are retained until you unsubscribe.
  • Analytics data is retained according to the default retention period of our analytics provider.

7. Your Rights

Wherever you live, you can:

  • Ask us what personal information we hold about you.
  • Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or out of date.
  • Ask us to delete your information, subject to our legal and tax record-keeping obligations.
  • Unsubscribe from any marketing email at any time using the link at the bottom of every message.

If you live in California, the European Union, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with additional privacy rights (such as the right to data portability or the right to object to certain processing), those rights apply too. To exercise any of these rights, reach out through our contact page and we will respond promptly.

8. Children's Privacy

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

9. Security

We take reasonable steps to protect the information you share with us — encrypted connections (HTTPS), reputable service providers with their own security programs, and limited internal access. No system is perfectly secure, but we treat your information with the care we would want shown to our own.

Our website may link to other websites — partner churches, articles, books, or resources we recommend. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. Please read their policies before sharing information with them.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as our practices evolve or as the law requires. When we make changes, we will update the "Effective date" at the top of this page. Material changes will be communicated more directly — by email if you are on our list, or with a notice on the website.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your information, we would love to hear from you.

The 23 Project Foundation
PO Box 550262
Gastonia, NC 28055
Contact us through our website