Calvary Church (“Calvary,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) values your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, share, and protect information in connection with our website, online services, mobile applications, ministries, programs, and events.
This Privacy Policy applies to information we collect both online (through toledocalvary.org and related digital channels) and offline (through paper forms, in-person events, and other ministry interactions), unless a separate notice or consent form is provided to you at the point of collection.
By using our website, providing information through our forms, participating in our programs, or otherwise interacting with us, you acknowledge that you have read and understand this Privacy Policy.

We collect only the information necessary to operate our ministries, communicate with the people we serve, and comply with applicable law. The categories of information we may collect include:

• Contact Information: name, postal address, email address, telephone number(s), and similar identifiers.
• Demographic and Family Information: age range, marital status, family relationships, household composition, and similar information voluntarily provided through Connection Cards, registration forms, or membership processes.
• Financial Information: bank account or payment card details when you make a donation, register for an event with a fee, or purchase materials. Calvary does not retain full payment card numbers, full bank account numbers, or card security codes; payment card processing is handled by our third-party merchant processor (Vanco) and the resulting transaction records are maintained in our church management system (Ministry Platform). Vanco is responsible for securing payment card information in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).
• Health and Medical Information: limited health-related information you choose to provide for specific activities — for example, allergy information, emergency medical contacts, dietary needs, or accommodation requests submitted in connection with youth, camp, or event participation forms. This information is collected only for the safety and well-being of participants and is used solely for that purpose.
• Pastoral and Counseling Information: information shared with our pastors, ministers, or staff during pastoral care, counseling, prayer requests, or confidential ministry interactions. This information receives heightened protection (see Section 5).
• Volunteer and Background Information: information you provide when applying to serve in volunteer roles, including responses to volunteer applications and, where applicable, background-check information collected through our screening provider.
• Photographs, Audio, and Video: images and recordings captured during worship services, ministry events, and church activities. (See Section 9).
• Technical Information: when you visit our website or use our digital services, we may automatically collect IP address, device type, browser type, operating system, referring URL, pages visited, time spent on pages, and similar usage information.

We collect personal information in the following ways:

• Directly from you — when you fill out a Connection Card (online or paper), register for an event, sign up to volunteer, make a donation, attend a counseling session, or otherwise interact with us.
• Automatically — when you visit our website or use our digital services, through cookies and similar technologies (see Section 7).
• From third parties — for example, from event partners, ministry partners, or service providers (such as our church management system, giving platform, or background-check vendor) acting on our behalf or with your authorization.

We use personal information for purposes consistent with our religious and charitable mission, including to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve our ministries, programs, and events.
• Communicate with you about services, events, volunteer opportunities, prayer requests, and ministry updates you have asked to receive.
• Process donations, registrations, and other financial transactions, and provide tax-deductible giving statements.
• Connect you with pastoral care, small groups, classes, and ministry leaders.
• Maintain accurate records of attendance, membership, giving, and ministry participation.
• Operate, maintain, and secure our website, mobile applications, and digital systems.
• Provide for the safety and well-being of our members, visitors, volunteers, and staff.
• Comply with legal, tax, audit, regulatory, and recordkeeping obligations.

We share personal information only as described below.
With service providers. We work with third-party vendors that help us operate our ministries — for example, our church management system, online giving platform, email and text messaging providers, livestream platform, mobile app provider, website host, analytics provider, and background-check provider. These providers may access information only as necessary to perform services on our behalf and are required by contract or by law to protect it. Current key service providers include:

• Ministry Platform (church management system and system of record for giving, attendance, and membership)
• Vanco (merchant processor for online giving and payment card processing)
• Fellowship One (prior giving provider; still processes certain pre-existing recurring donations while we complete migration to Vanco, and is being phased out)
• Subsplash (mobile app and media)
• Resi (worship service streaming)
• Twilio, Inc. (SMS messaging delivery)

 
With ministry partners. With your knowledge or consent, we may share limited information with affiliated ministries, partner camps, or other organizations you have asked to connect with through Calvary.

For legal and safety purposes. We may disclose information when we reasonably believe it is necessary to comply with applicable law, respond to lawful requests from public authorities, enforce our terms or policies, protect the safety of any person, or protect against legal liability. As clergy and ministry staff, we are also mandated reporters of suspected child abuse or neglect under Ohio law and will report as required.

With your consent. We may share information in other circumstances when you have given us permission to do so.

Special protection for pastoral and counseling communications. Information shared with our pastors and ministers in the context of pastoral care, confession, prayer requests, or spiritual counseling is treated as confidential consistent with religious tradition and applicable clergy-penitent privilege protections under Ohio law. We do not share, transfer, or disclose pastoral counseling information to third-party vendors, ministry partners, analytics providers, or other parties except (a) with your express consent, (b) where disclosure is required by law (such as mandated child abuse reporting), or (c) where we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to prevent imminent harm to you or another person.

What we do not do. Calvary does not sell your personal information, and we do not share your information with third parties for their own marketing or promotional purposes.

No mobile opt-in or SMS consent data — including mobile phone numbers, opt-in records, or message logs collected through our Mobile Alerts SMS program — will be shared with, sold, rented, or transferred to any third party or affiliate for marketing or promotional purposes. Such data is shared only with our SMS delivery provider (Twilio, Inc.) solely to transmit the messages you have requested, or as required by applicable law. See our SMS Privacy Policy for full details.

When you make a donation, register for an event with a fee, or otherwise transact with us online, your payment card or bank account information is collected and processed by our third-party merchant processor, Vanco. A limited number of pre-existing recurring gifts are still processed through our prior provider, Fellowship One, while we complete migration to Vanco. Calvary does not retain full credit/debit card numbers, full bank account numbers, or card security codes; that information is handled by these payment processors in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).
On occasion, a donor may ask us to process a gift by telephone. In those limited cases, authorized staff enter the payment details directly into Vanco on the donor's behalf, at the donor's request and with the donor's express permission, at the time of the call. Calvary does not write down, store, or otherwise retain full card numbers, bank account numbers, or card security codes when processing a gift by phone; the information is entered into Vanco solely to complete the requested transaction and is not kept afterward.
Our church management system (Ministry Platform) maintains transaction records (date, amount, fund designation, and donor identification) for tax receipting, audit, and recordkeeping purposes consistent with applicable law and IRS guidance for nonprofit organizations.

When you visit our website, we and our service providers may use “cookies” and similar technologies (such as pixels, web beacons, and analytics scripts) to:

• Remember your preferences and settings.
• Understand how visitors use our site so we can improve content and functionality.
• Measure the effectiveness of communications and outreach.
• Help our digital platforms (such as our mobile app and livestream) function properly.

A cookie is a small text file stored on your device that helps the website recognize your browser and remember information about your visit. Most cookies do not contain personally identifiable information about you.
You may set your web browser to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. The “help” function on your browser will tell you how. Please note that some features of our website may not function properly if you disable cookies. Some browsers transmit a “Do Not Track” signal; because there is no consensus industry standard for responding to such signals, our website does not currently respond to them differently from other browsers.
If our site uses interactive features such as chat, chatbot, or session-replay technology, by using those features you agree that we may record and retain a transcript of your interactions and activity for support, quality, training, and verification purposes. We may work with trusted service providers to analyze, store, and use this data on our behalf.

Our website and digital services are not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent. If you are under 13, please do not submit any information to us through our website or online forms. Children’s ministry registration, check-in, and similar activities involving minors are conducted with the participation and consent of a parent or legal guardian.
If we learn that we have collected personal information online from a child under 13 without verifiable parental consent, we will delete that information promptly. If you believe we may have collected such information, please contact us using the information in Section 16.

Worship services, ministry events, and church activities are regularly photographed, audio-recorded, and video-recorded for ministry, livestream, communication, social media, and archival purposes. Notice is posted on our premises informing attendees that recording is taking place. By attending a service or event, you acknowledge that you may be photographed or recorded, and that such recordings may be used by Calvary for these purposes.

Children's Images
We take additional care with images of minors. This section describes how the church uses images in its own publications and official accounts. It does not govern photos taken or shared by individual attendees.
Where we have consent. For programs with a registration or enrollment process, we request a photo release from a parent or guardian at the time of enrollment. We rely on those releases when publishing images of children in those programs.
Where individual consent isn't practical. At worship services, open events, and other public gatherings, we are often unable to identify each child's parent or guardian. In those settings we post notice that photography and recording may occur, and we limit publication as follows:

• We do not publish a minor's image alongside their full name, or alongside information that would identify them individually, such as their address, school, or regular schedule.
• We do not tag or caption minors by name.

Requests to remove. A parent or guardian may ask us not to publish images of their child, or ask us to remove an image already published, at any time by contacting our business office. We honor these requests and remove the image from materials under our control within 10 business days. We cannot control copies already downloaded or reshared by others.
Standing requests. A parent or guardian may register an ongoing request that we not publish images of their child. We note these requests in the child's ministry record so that staff and volunteers can honor them going forward.

Security and facility cameras. For the safety of our members, guests, staff, and property, we operate security and facility cameras at our church location. Camera footage is used for security, incident review, facility operations, and similar safety purposes. Footage is retained for a limited period in the ordinary course of operations and is accessed only by authorized personnel.

Attendance tracking. We track attendance at worship services and ministry events to support ministry planning. For adult attendance, we use anonymous people-counting methods that produce aggregate counts only and do not identify individual attendees. For children’s ministry, attendance is recorded through our check-in process (see Section 2), which is used for child safety, secure pickup, and family communication.

No facial recognition. Calvary does not use facial recognition technology to identify individuals attending services, events, or visiting our facilities.

We retain personal information only for as long as needed for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, or for longer if required by applicable law, IRS recordkeeping requirements, audit obligations, litigation hold, or legitimate ministry needs (such as long-term member, giving, and attendance records). When information is no longer required, we destroy or de-identify it in accordance with our internal data retention practices. When our relationship with a service provider ends, we arrange for the return or secure deletion of personal information held by that provider on our behalf, consistent with our agreement with that provider and our legal recordkeeping obligations.

We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These safeguards include role-based access controls, secure transmission of sensitive information using encryption (HTTPS/TLS) where appropriate, restricted physical access to records, and the use of reputable third-party providers for activities such as online giving, church management, and digital communication.
While we work to protect personal information, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is fully secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, and you provide information to us at your own risk.

You have several choices about how we use your information:

• Email communications: You may unsubscribe from email lists at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email or by contacting us directly.
• Text messages (SMS): You may opt out of our Mobile Alerts SMS program at any time by replying STOP to any message. See our SMS Privacy Policy for full details.
• Account and contact updates: You may request that we update or correct inaccurate contact information at any time.
• Information requests: You may contact us to ask what categories of information we maintain about you and to request reasonable corrections, updates, or deletion of information that is no longer needed for ministry purposes, subject to our legal recordkeeping obligations (such as IRS donor-records requirements).

We honor these requests regardless of where you live. Some U.S. states provide additional privacy rights to their residents; while many of those laws contain exemptions for nonprofit and religious organizations, we are committed to working with you in good faith to honor reasonable requests. To exercise any of these choices, please contact us using the information in Section 16.

Our website and digital services may include links to third-party websites or applications, including affiliated ministries, partner organizations, livestream and media providers, and social media platforms. This Privacy Policy applies only to Calvary Church and does not apply to those third parties. We encourage you to review the privacy practices of any third-party site or service before providing them with your information.

This Privacy Policy is supplemented by the following policies that govern specific Calvary programs:

• SMS Privacy Policy — governs our Mobile Alerts text messaging program. Available at www.toledocalvary.org/sms_policy
• SMS Terms & Conditions — sets the terms of participation in our Mobile Alerts text messaging program. Available at www.toledocalvary.org/sms_terms

Where another notice or consent form is provided to you at the time information is collected (for example, an event waiver, camp medical form, volunteer application, or background-check disclosure), that notice will govern the specific information collected through that form.

Calvary Church may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the Effective Date and Latest Revision dates above and post the updated policy at www.toledocalvary.org/privacy. If a change is material, we will provide additional notice (for example, by posting a notice on our website or sending a communication to active members and donors). Your continued use of our website or digital services after the updated policy is posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please contact: