1.Who we are
HopeMeals (“we”, “us”) is a student-led initiative based at S.No. 45, Amar Preet, Jagdamba Housing Society, Somnath Nagar, Vadgaon Sheri, Pune 411014, Maharashtra, India, run in association with A.S. Foundation, which issues our donation receipts.
For the personal data described here, HopeMeals acts as the Data Fiduciary under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”). This policy also follows the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the IT (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011.
2.What we collect
We only collect what we need for the purpose you are using the site for.
- Students applying for support: name, date of birth, email, phone number, institution, year of study, annual family income, reservation category, your reason for applying, a photo of your student ID card and a proof of family income.
- Donors: name, email, phone number, address, PAN (only if you ask for an 80G receipt), donation amount and message. Payments are handled by Razorpay; we receive the payment ID and confirmation, never your card, UPI or bank details.
- Contact and volunteer forms: name, email, phone (volunteers), and what you write to us.
- Reviews: if you agree to share a review, the name, institution and text you approve for publication.
- Website use: standard technical data such as IP address, browser and pages visited, through Cloudflare (hosting and security) and Google Analytics for Firebase (anonymous usage statistics).
Your income details, reservation category and identity documents are sensitive. We use them only to assess eligibility.
3.Why we use it
- To review student applications, verify eligibility and arrange meals with the student’s canteen or mess.
- To process donations, issue receipts and 80G certificates, and keep the records that tax law requires.
- To reply to messages, organise volunteers and send you emails you expect, such as confirmations and receipts.
- To keep the website secure, prevent fraud and understand, in aggregate, how the site is used.
We process your data on the basis of the consent you give when you submit a form (DPDP Act, section 6), and for legitimate uses such as complying with tax and other laws (section 7). We do not sell your data or use it for advertising.
5.Where your data is stored
Some of our service providers store data on servers outside India (for example in Singapore, the United States or Europe). We only use reputable providers with strong security, and we do not transfer data to any country the Government of India has restricted under section 16 of the DPDP Act.
6.How long we keep it
We keep personal data only as long as the purpose needs it, or as long as the law requires, and then delete it.
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Student application details | While you receive support, then 3 years (for audits and to prevent duplicate applications) |
| Student ID image and income proof | Deleted within 1 year after a decision on the application |
| Applications that are not approved | 1 year after the decision |
| Donation records, receipts and PAN | 8 years from the end of the financial year, as required for income tax and 80G records |
| Contact and volunteer messages | 2 years after our last conversation |
| Published reviews | Until you ask us to remove them |
| Website analytics | 14 months (Google Analytics setting) |
| Security and server logs | As kept by Cloudflare, typically up to 30 days |
If you withdraw consent or ask us to erase your data, we delete it sooner unless the law requires us to keep it (for example donation records).
7.How we protect it
Data travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Our databases do not allow public reading, access to records is limited to the HopeMeals team that needs it, payments are handled entirely by Razorpay, and uploaded documents are stored under random, unguessable names. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your data we will inform you and the Data Protection Board of India as the DPDP Act requires.
8.Your rights
Under the DPDP Act you can:
- ask for a summary of the personal data we hold about you and who we have shared it with;
- ask us to correct, complete or update it;
- ask us to erase it, where we no longer need it or the law does not require us to keep it;
- withdraw your consent at any time (this does not affect what we did before you withdrew);
- nominate someone to exercise these rights if you die or become unable to; and
- raise a grievance with us, and if unresolved, complain to the Data Protection Board of India.
Email contact@hopemeals.org from the address you used with us. We aim to reply within 30 days.
9.Applicants under 18
Most applicants are adults. If you are under 18, a parent or lawful guardian must agree to your application and may be asked to confirm this before we process it. We never track children for advertising or show them targeted content.
11.Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top of this page, and for important changes we will tell people affected by email.
12.Contact and grievances
For any privacy question, request or complaint, contact our grievance officer at contact@hopemeals.org or +91 86699 00008, or write to HopeMeals, S.No. 45, Amar Preet, Jagdamba Housing Society, Somnath Nagar, Vadgaon Sheri, Pune 411014, Maharashtra, India.