Privacy Policy - Yeshiva Giving Fund

Effective date: October 20, 2026

The Yeshiva Giving Fund, Inc. (“YGF,” “we,” “us”) is a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 82-3513755). We sponsor Education Opportunity Funds (“EOFs”): donor-advised scholarship funds that support learning. Each EOF has one or more fund advisors (“EOF Managers”) who recommend scholarships, while YGF owns the funds and makes every final decision. Our EOF programs are administered for us by BrightLeaf Giving, which operates the EOF platform at brightleaf.giving.

This policy explains what personal information we collect through yeshivagivingfund.org (the “Site”) and in running our EOF programs, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. When you use brightleaf.giving, for example to complete an EOF application, donate to an EOF, or manage an EOF, the BrightLeaf Giving Privacy Policy also applies.

Questions or requests can be sent to office@yeshivagivingfund.org, by mail to The Yeshiva Giving Fund, 208 Downing Street, Lakewood, NJ 08701, or by phone at +1 (848) 276-7085.

1. Information we collect

When you contact us

Your name, email address, phone number, the role that best describes you (for example, donor, EOF Manager, school, advisor, or scholarship applicant), the topic of your message, and what you write to us.

When you start an EOF

Your name, email address, phone number, the proposed name and scholarship purpose of your fund, and who referred you. When you submit this form, you are taken to brightleaf.giving to complete your EOF application, and the details you entered are passed along to fill in that application for you.

When you apply for a scholarship

Our scholarship application asks for different information depending on the type of education you are pursuing and the basis of your application. It may include:

Account details: a username and password, so that you can return to your application. Passwords are stored in encrypted (hashed) form.
Identity and contact details: your name, email address, phone number, date of birth, country, state or province, city, and preferred language.
Personal and household details: your marital status and number of dependents.
Education details: the type of program, your program or institution and its location, start and completion dates, acceptance or enrollment status, your yeshiva or kollel and the name of your rosh yeshiva or rosh kollel, your field of study and year, your GPA, your career plans and any current role, your employment status, and details of any writing or publishing project.
Funding details: the total estimated cost, the amount already funded, and the amount you are seeking.
Your application profile: a profile photo, headline, your story, what the scholarship would mean to you, any additional photos, and an optional quote from someone who knows you, with that person’s name.
The basis for your application: depending on what you choose, information about your financial situation (such as liquid assets, household income range, household size, a description of your situation, and financial documents), your academic achievements and transcripts, your community service, or your field of study.
Verification documents: an enrollment or acceptance document, an identification document, and any other supporting documents you upload.
References: the names, relationships, email addresses, and phone numbers of the references you list.
Your choices: who can see your profile, how your name is displayed on it, and the confirmations and consents you give.
Applying for someone else: if you apply for a child, sibling, or other dependent, we collect the student’s name and your relationship to them. For special needs education, we also collect the type of need (for example, learning, developmental, physical, or behavioral) and what the funding is for (for example, a specialized school, therapy, an aide, or equipment).
Saved drafts: if you use “save and continue,” we store your partly completed application and email you a link to finish it.

When you donate to or manage an EOF

Donations to EOFs and EOF management take place on brightleaf.giving. As the legal recipient of EOF donations, YGF receives the information it needs from BrightLeaf Giving: your name and contact details, the amount and date of each gift, the EOF it supports, and, for EOF Managers, your scholarship recommendations and the fund’s activity.
Your full card and bank account numbers are entered into secure fields hosted by BrightLeaf Giving’s payment processor. YGF does not receive or store them.

Information collected automatically

Like most websites, our hosting provider records standard technical information such as your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you visit, and referring pages. We use it to keep the Site secure and working. See section 7 (Cookies and similar technologies).

Information about other people

If you give us information about someone else, such as a student you are applying for, a reference, the person you quote, or people who appear in your photos, please make sure they agree to it first. We may contact your references to verify your application.

2. Sensitive information

Some of what applicants share is sensitive, such as financial information, identification documents, dates of birth, and details about a student’s special needs. We collect it only with your consent and only to review, match, and administer scholarships. We limit who can see it to the people at YGF and BrightLeaf Giving who need it for that purpose, and to matched EOF Managers only where it bears on their scholarship recommendation. We do not show identification documents, financial documents, references’ contact details, or details of a student’s special needs on public profiles.

3. How we use your information

To review scholarship applications, including checking eligibility, verifying identity and enrollment, and contacting references.
To match applications with EOFs whose charitable class and purposes fit the application.
To award and administer scholarships, including paying awards (usually directly to the school or program), confirming enrollment, and keeping records.
To run our EOF programs: accepting donations, issuing tax receipts, reviewing and approving EOF Managers’ recommendations, and meeting our obligations as a public charity.
To answer your questions and respond to your requests.
To send you service messages, such as application confirmations, status updates, and receipts, and, if you ask for them, updates about scholarship opportunities.
To keep the Site and our programs secure, including preventing fraud, spam, and abuse.
To meet legal, tax, and audit obligations, and to protect our rights and the rights of others.

4. How we share your information

We do not sell or rent your personal information, and we do not trade lists with other organizations. We share information only as follows:

BrightLeaf Giving. BrightLeaf Giving administers our EOF programs and operates the EOF platform for us. It receives messages sent through our contact form about existing programs, scholarship applications once we have reviewed them, and the donor and EOF Manager records described above, and it keeps them in its own systems to run the programs for us.
Matched EOF Managers. We share your application profile, shown with the display name you choose, and the application details relevant to a scholarship decision with the EOF Managers whose funds match your charitable class and purposes. EOF Managers may only recommend scholarships; YGF makes the decision.
The public, if you choose. If you choose to make your profile visible on the public scholarship dashboard, your display name, photos, headline, story, quote, and program and funding details can be seen by anyone. You can change this choice at any time by contacting us.
Schools and programs. To confirm enrollment and pay a scholarship, we share the student’s name, program, and award details with the school or program, and we may ask it to confirm enrollment.
References. When we contact your references, we tell them that you listed them in your application.
Other service providers who help us run the Site and our programs, such as our web host, email delivery providers, Google (reCAPTCHA spam protection), and the payment and banking providers that process EOF donations and scholarship payments. They may use your information only to provide services to us.
Legal and safety reasons: when required by law, subpoena, or other legal process; to comply with tax and charity regulations; or to protect against fraud or harm.
Organizational changes: if YGF merges with or transfers its programs to another charity, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this policy.

5. How long we keep information

Scholarship applications are kept while they are under consideration and while your profile is active, and for a reasonable time afterward. You can ask us to delete your application at any time (see section 8).
Records of awarded scholarships and EOF donations are kept for as long as needed for tax, audit, and legal purposes, generally at least seven years.
Saved drafts of unfinished applications are deleted automatically after 30 days.
Contact form messages are kept for as long as we need them to respond and follow up.

6. How we protect information

The Site uses encryption (HTTPS), passwords are stored in hashed form, and administrative access is limited to staff and service providers who need it. No system is completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Cookies and similar technologies

Essential cookies keep you logged in to your applicant account and make forms, including saved drafts, work.
Google reCAPTCHA helps protect our forms from spam and abuse. Its use is subject to Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
We do not use advertising cookies on the Site.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you do, some features, including the scholarship application, may not work. Our Site does not currently respond to “Do Not Track” signals.

8. Your choices and rights

Access, correction, and deletion: you may ask to see, correct, or delete the personal information we hold about you. We will honor your request unless we must keep the information, for example records of awarded scholarships and donations that we are required to keep.
Your profile: you can ask us at any time to change who can see your profile or how your name is shown on it, or to withdraw your application.
Withdrawing consent: you can withdraw your consent to our storing and sharing your application. We will then stop matching your application with EOFs. This does not affect sharing that already took place.
Email: you can stop receiving updates about scholarship opportunities with the unsubscribe link in any update, or by contacting us. Service messages about your application or gifts will continue.
State privacy rights: depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under state law. We will respond to verified requests as the applicable law requires.

To make any request, contact us using the details at the top of this policy.

9. Visitors outside the United States

YGF is based in the United States, and the information we collect is stored and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country. Where the law of your country requires a legal basis for processing, we rely on your consent (for example, when you submit a scholarship application), on the need to take the steps you ask us to take, on our legitimate interest in running and protecting our charitable programs, and on our legal obligations. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to object to or restrict our use of your information, to receive a copy of it in a portable format, and to complain to your local data protection authority.

10. Children

The Site is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information directly from them. Scholarship applications must be submitted by an adult. If a student is under 18, a parent or guardian should apply on the student’s behalf, and by doing so agrees to our handling of the student’s information as described in this policy. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information directly, please contact us and we will delete it.

11. Third-party links

The Site links to other websites, including brightleaf.giving and the websites of schools and programs. We are not responsible for their privacy practices.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will post the new version on this page and change the effective date above. Significant changes will be highlighted on the Site.