Privacy Policy

Information we collect

Most of the information we hold about you is information you give us directly through a form on this website.

Chapter membership applications ask for your name, email address, phone number, date of birth, and mailing address. You may also choose to provide a graduation year, a member photo, and, for business memberships, a business logo.

Scholarship applications ask for your education details along with the supporting documents you upload, such as a resume, transcripts, an essay, and financial documents.

Student summit registrations collect the attendee and contact details needed to register you for the event.

Convention sponsorship and journal ad orders collect your contact and organization details, the sponsorship or ad level you select, and any artwork you upload.

Chapter contact forms collect your name, email address, and the message you send us. Newsletter signups collect your email address.

Signing in is optional. If you do sign in, your account is created and managed by Lahuta, our platform partner.

As part of normal server operation and security, our hosting provider also records basic technical information such as IP address, browser type, and the pages requested.

How we use your information

We use the information you provide to review and process what you submitted — a membership application, a scholarship application, an event registration, a sponsorship, or a journal ad.

We use your contact details to reply to you, confirm payments, send membership and registration updates, and follow up on questions you send us.

If you sign up for our newsletter, we use your email address to send news about AANO events, scholarships, and community programs. Every newsletter includes a way to unsubscribe.

We use aggregate, non-identifying information about how the website is used to keep the site working properly and to improve it.

We use information as needed to keep organizational records, meet the legal and tax obligations that apply to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and protect the site against misuse.

Payments

Card payments for membership dues, convention sponsorships, and journal ads are processed by Stripe through our platform partner Lahuta.

AANO does not receive or store your full card number, expiration date, or security code. Those details go directly to Stripe. We receive confirmation that a payment succeeded, along with the amount, the date, and the name and contact details you entered on the form.

Your card details are handled under Stripe's own privacy policy and security practices.

Third parties and how we share information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising.

We share information with the service providers that operate this website and our programs on our behalf: Vercel (website hosting), Neon (database), Supabase and Vercel Blob (storage for files you upload), Lahuta (accounts and sign-in, events, email delivery, and payments), and Stripe (card payment processing through Lahuta).

These providers may use your information only to provide their service to AANO.

If you join or sponsor at a business level, the business name and logo you provide may be displayed publicly on this website and in related materials, identifying you as a member or sponsor of AANO.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, in response to valid legal process, or where it is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of AANO, our members, or the public.

Files you upload

Several forms let you upload files: a member photo or business logo with a membership application; a resume, transcripts, an essay, and financial documents with a scholarship application; and artwork with a sponsorship or journal ad order.

Uploaded files are stored with Supabase and Vercel Blob and are available to the AANO staff and volunteer reviewers responsible for that program.

Please upload only what a form asks for. Do not include Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or other sensitive identifiers in a document unless the form specifically requests them.

Cookies and analytics

We keep our use of cookies modest. This website uses cookies that are necessary for it to work — for example, to remember your language preference and, if you sign in through Lahuta, to keep you signed in.

We do not use this website to build advertising profiles or to follow you across other websites. Our hosting provider collects basic, aggregate traffic measurements.

You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings, though some parts of the site may not work as expected if you do.

Data retention

We keep membership records, payment and donation records, and related information for as long as we need them to run our programs and to meet the record-keeping, accounting, and tax obligations that apply to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Scholarship application materials are kept for the award cycle and for a reasonable period afterward for reference and reporting, and are then deleted.

Newsletter subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe.

You can ask us to delete information sooner — see “Your rights” below.

How we protect your information

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect the information we hold, and we limit access to the staff and volunteers who need it for their role.

No website or method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children

This website is not directed at young children, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13 through general use of the site.

Scholarship applicants may be minors, including high school students. If you are under 18, please review this Privacy Policy with a parent or guardian and apply only with their permission. By submitting an application on behalf of a minor, a parent or guardian consents to our collecting and using the application information as described here.

If you believe a child has given us information without a parent's consent, email info@aano.org and we will delete it.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, ask us to correct it if it is wrong, or ask us to delete it.

To make a request, email info@aano.org from the address you used on the form, or give us enough detail to find your record. We will respond within a reasonable time.

We may need to keep certain records — payment and donation records, for example — where the law requires it, and we will tell you if that applies to your request.

You can unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time using the link in any newsletter email, or by emailing us.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the “Last updated” date at the top of this page, and we will note significant changes on the website.

Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, or you want to exercise any of the rights described above, contact the Albanian American National Organization at: