EqualXS Foundation Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how EqualXS Foundation, a Washington based 501(c)(3) public charity, collects, uses, and protects information from visitors to equalxsfoundation.org and participants in EqualXS programs, including Spark, Foundry, and Launchpad.

By using this website or participating in an EqualXS program, you agree to the practices described here. If you're under 18, a parent or guardian should review this policy with you.

We collect only what's needed to operate our programs, respond to your questions, and improve your experience.

Information you provide directly:

• Name and contact information, when you fill out a form, sign up for a program, or contact us
• Age or age range, and parent or guardian information when needed for youth participation
• Location or time zone, when needed for events and scheduling
• Content you submit, articles, talks, research, posters, venture ideas, or other work created through a Foundry track or shared through Launchpad
• Accessibility or participation support requests you choose to share
• Any information you include in a message, feedback form, or concern report

Information collected automatically:

• Basic website usage information, such as pages visited, if analytics tools are enabled on the site
• Standard technical information your browser sends automatically, such as browser type and device type

We do not require a diagnosis, disability disclosure, or personal story to participate in any EqualXS program.

We use the information we collect to:

• Respond to a request, question, or expression of interest
• Organize events, feedback sessions, mentorship, or participation opportunities
• Provide updates about programs, events, or opportunities you've asked to hear about
• Support safety and appropriate participation, especially for participants under 18
• Improve EqualXS programs and the website experience
• Meet legal, safeguarding, financial, and recordkeeping responsibilities as a registered nonprofit

• We do not sell personal information, to anyone, for any reason.
• We do not share personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.
• We do not publicly share your name, image, work, or story without your permission, or your parent or guardian's permission if you're a minor.
• We do not use your submitted or presented work, articles, talks, research, projects, or venture ideas, for commercial purposes. We do not sell, license, or profit from participant work.
• We do not use participant content to train AI systems without a separate, clear opt in agreement.
• We do not promise that submitting information or work will result in selection, publication, employment, income, or any specific opportunity.

Work you submit or present through EqualXS, whether through a Foundry track or the Launchpad Showcase, remains yours. Sharing it with EqualXS or through EqualXS channels doesn't transfer ownership to us.

If your work is featured on the EqualXS website, social media, or at a Showcase event, that happens with your consent, or your parent or guardian's consent if you're a minor, and is a way of recognizing your work, not a commercial use of it.

When you submit or present work through EqualXS, an article, talk, research project, poster, or venture idea, please don't include private, personal, financial, or otherwise sensitive information, yours or anyone else's. This includes things like ID or account numbers, passwords, home addresses, medical details, or private information about another person shared without their permission.

Before submitting, you'll be asked to confirm your submission doesn't include this kind of information. If something sensitive is submitted by mistake, contact us at contact@equalxs.org and we'll help remove it.

EqualXS programs are generally intended for participants aged 14 and up. Younger participants may take part with documented parental or guardian consent.

If a participant is under 13, EqualXS follows the standard set by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), U.S. federal law that requires verifiable parental consent before we collect personal information from a child that age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13 without that consent.

Parents and guardians can review, correct, or request deletion of their child's information at any time by contacting us at contact@equalxs.org.

EqualXS is a U.S. based, Washington State organization, and this policy, and our consent process, is built around U.S. and Washington State practice. If you live outside the United States, age of consent and youth data protection requirements may differ where you are. It's your responsibility, or your parent or guardian's responsibility, to ensure participation complies with the laws that apply in your own country or region. EqualXS does not independently verify legal capacity or age under every jurisdiction's laws.

We use standard security practices to protect the information we hold, and we store form data only in approved systems with restricted staff access. We collect only what's needed to support you, nothing more.

No online system is completely immune to risk, and we can't guarantee absolute security, but we take reasonable, proportionate steps given the size and nature of the organization.

We keep information for as long as it's needed for the purpose it was collected, to support your participation, respond to your request, or meet our legal and recordkeeping obligations. If you ask us to delete your information, see Section 10, we will do so unless we're required to retain it for a legal or safeguarding reason.

You, or your parent or guardian if you're a minor, can ask EqualXS to:

• Tell you what information we hold about you
• Correct information that's inaccurate
• Delete information we hold about you, subject to legal and operational requirements, such as records we're required to keep for safeguarding or tax purposes

To make a request, contact us at contact@equalxs.org with the subject line "Data Request."

EqualXS captures basic website and participation analytics, such as which pages are visited, how programs are used, and general engagement patterns. We use this information to understand participation and improve the educational experience, not to identify or profile individuals for any other purpose.

We do not use, reuse, or sell your ideas, creations, or submitted work in any commercial way, whether through analytics or otherwise. This applies to everything you create or share through EqualXS, an article, a talk, a research project, a venture idea, or anything else.

We may update this policy as EqualXS grows and our practices develop. The date at the top of this page will reflect the most recent update. If changes are significant, especially anything affecting how we handle information from minors, we'll take reasonable steps to make that clear, not just update the date quietly.

Questions about this policy or your information, contact us at contact@equalxs.org.

For a concern about how your information has been handled, you can also use our Report a Concern form, available on the Trust and Governance page.