Privacy Policy

1. Who we are
2. Information we collect
3. How we use it
4. Who we share it with
5. Cookies and advertising
6. How long we keep it
7. Security
8. Your privacy rights
9. Consumer health data
10. Age requirement
11. Changes to this policy
12. Contact us

1. Who we are

This Privacy Policy explains how Sonam Makker ("we", "us" or "our") collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you visit helpstartafamily.com (the "Site") or submit an application to be considered as an egg donor. We are responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

This policy applies to the Site and the application form on it. It does not apply to any fertility clinic, medical provider, attorney or other organisation you may later deal with directly. Those organisations have their own privacy practices.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

When you complete the application form, we collect:

• Contact and identity details: first and last name, email address, phone number, date of birth (and the age calculated from it), and the city and state you live in.
• Health information: height, weight and the body mass index (BMI) calculated from them, use of tobacco, vaping or recreational drugs, family history of heart conditions, and any previous egg donations (number of donations, eggs retrieved and embryos created).
• Education information: whether you are enrolled or have graduated, your college or university, degree level, GPA, and SAT or ACT score.
• Ethnic background, as you choose to describe it.
• Photos of yourself that you upload.
• Other answers: whether you are willing to travel to a clinic, and anything you choose to tell us about why you are interested.
• Your consent, including the date and time you gave it.

Partially completed applications. If you complete the education questions but stop before submitting, either by leaving the page or by not answering for 10 minutes, the answers you have entered so far are saved. If you decide not to continue, you can ask us to delete this information (see Your privacy rights).

Information collected automatically

When you visit the Site, we and our service providers automatically collect:

• Device and browser information, such as browser type and operating system.
• The pages you view, the date and time of your visit, the page you came from, and how you move through the application form (which questions and sections you complete, but not your answers).
• Advertising and campaign information, such as the ad, ad set or campaign that brought you to the Site, and click identifiers added to links by advertising platforms.
• Cookies and similar technologies, including cookies set by the Meta Pixel. See Cookies and advertising.

We store some of this information in your browser's local and session storage so that we can tell which advertisement or link led to your application.

Sensitive information

Some of the information we collect, including your health information, ethnic background and photos, is treated as "sensitive" personal information or "consumer health data" under certain US state laws. We collect it only with your consent, and use it only to assess whether you may be a suitable match. We do not use it for advertising.

3. How we use your information

We use your information to:

• Review your application and decide whether there may be a good fit.
• Contact you by email, phone or text message about this opportunity.
• If you choose to go ahead, coordinate medical and psychological screening and any legal agreements with licensed clinics and professionals.
• Measure how well our advertising works and improve the Site. For this we use only your contact details (in hashed, unreadable form) and information about how you use the Site, never your health, education or ethnicity answers or your photos.
• Prevent spam, fraud and misuse of the Site.
• Comply with the law and protect our legal rights.

We do not use your information to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. Every application is reviewed by a person.

4. Who we share your information with

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only as described below.

Service providers

We use trusted companies to run the Site and handle applications. They process information only on our behalf and under our instructions:

• Vercel, which hosts the Site.
• Zapier, which securely transfers application answers from the form to our records.
• Google (Google Sheets), where applications are stored and reviewed.
• Cloudinary, which stores the photos you upload.

Advertising measurement (Meta)

We use the Meta Pixel and Meta's Conversions API, provided by Meta Platforms, Inc. (the company behind Facebook and Instagram), to understand which of our ads lead to applications and to show our ads to people who are more likely to be interested.

• The Meta Pixel records visits to pages on the Site and your progress through the form (for example, that a question or section was completed, but not your answer).
• When you submit an application, we tell Meta that an application was completed. With it, we send your email address, phone number, name, date of birth, city and state in hashed form (converted into a code that cannot be read), together with your browser information and Meta cookie identifiers. Meta uses this to match the event to a Meta account.
• We never send Meta your health information, education details, ethnic background, photos or free-text answers.

Under some state laws, including California's, this kind of sharing for advertising may count as "sharing" personal information or "targeted advertising". You have the right to opt out (see Your privacy rights). Meta's own use of information is governed by Meta's Privacy Policy.

With your permission

If you decide to move forward, we will share relevant information with fertility clinics, medical and mental-health professionals, attorneys, and others involved in screening and agreements, but only with your permission, and only what is needed.

For legal reasons

We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena or court order, or where reasonably necessary to protect the rights, safety or property of you, us or others.

5. Cookies and advertising

Cookies are small files stored in your browser. The Site uses cookies set by the Meta Pixel (such as "_fbp" and "_fbc") to recognise your browser and link visits to our ads. We do not use cookies to collect your application answers.

You can limit this tracking by:

• Blocking or deleting cookies, or blocking third-party cookies, in your browser settings.
• Updating your ad preferences in your Facebook or Instagram account settings.
• Contacting us to opt out of sharing for advertising (see Contact us).

Blocking cookies does not stop you from using the Site or submitting an application.

6. How long we keep your information

We keep your application for as long as we need it to consider a possible match and stay in touch with you about it. This is generally no longer than 24 months after our last contact with you. If you ask us to delete your information, we will delete it sooner, unless we need to keep it to comply with the law. If you enter into a donor agreement, information connected with it will be kept as that agreement and applicable law require. Uploaded photos are deleted when the application they belong to is deleted.

7. How we protect your information

We use reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect your information. These include encrypted (HTTPS) connections, access limited to the people who need it to review applications, and reputable service providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a security breach affecting your information, we will notify you as required by law.

8. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Washington and Nevada, you may have the right to:

• Know and access the personal information we hold about you, and get a copy in a portable format.
• Correct information that is inaccurate.
• Delete your information.
• Opt out of the "sharing" of your information for targeted or cross-context behavioural advertising.
• Limit the use of your sensitive personal information. We already use it only to review your application.
• Withdraw your consent at any time. This does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
• Appeal our decision if we decline your request.

We will not treat you differently for using any of these rights. We offer them to everyone, wherever you live.

How to make a request: email us at the address in Contact us with the subject "Privacy request", and tell us what you would like us to do. To protect you, we may need to confirm your identity, for example by asking you to reply from the email address you applied with. We will respond within 45 days. If we need more time, we will tell you why. An authorised agent may make a request on your behalf with your signed permission. If we deny your request, you can appeal by replying to our decision with the subject "Privacy appeal". We will respond to appeals within 45 days.

9. Consumer health data

This section gives additional information required by the Washington My Health My Data Act, Nevada's consumer health data law and similar laws.

• What we collect: height, weight and BMI; substance use; family history of heart conditions; previous egg donation history; and photos. We also consider this information when assessing whether you may be a suitable donor.
• Where it comes from: directly from you, through the application form.
• Why we collect it: only to assess whether you may be a suitable match, and to coordinate screening if you choose to go ahead.
• Who we share it with: only the service providers listed in section 4 (Vercel, Zapier, Google and Cloudinary) and, with your separate permission, clinics and professionals involved in screening. We do not share it with Meta or any other advertiser.
• Your rights: you can confirm whether we hold your consumer health data, access it, get a list of everyone we have shared it with, have it deleted, and withdraw your consent, using the process in section 8.

We collect consumer health data only with your consent, which you give by submitting the application form after being shown a notice that links to this policy. We do not sell consumer health data, and we do not use geofencing around healthcare facilities.

10. Age requirement

This opportunity is open only to adults aged 21 to 30. The Site is not directed to anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we learn that we have collected information from someone under 18, we will delete it.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the updated version on this page and change the effective date at the top. If we make a significant change to how we use your health information, we will ask for your consent again before using it in the new way.

12. Contact us

For questions about this policy, or to make a privacy request, contact:

Sonam Makker
Email: sonam.makker@gmail.com