Effective August 29, 2026
Ozzy’s Rescue & Sanctuary respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal information responsibly. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use and share it, and the choices available to you when you visit our website, complete a form, make a donation, apply to adopt or foster, volunteer, participate in a program, or otherwise interact with us.
This Policy applies to www.ozzysrescueandsanctuary.org, online forms that link to this Policy, and related communications and services provided by Ozzy’s Rescue & Sanctuary. It does not control independent websites or services operated by third parties.
1. Information You Provide to Us
We collect personal information when you voluntarily provide it. The information requested depends on how you interact with us and may include:
Your name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, and communication preferences.
Adoption or foster information, including household members, housing and landlord information, pet history, veterinarian information, references, work schedule, animal-care experience, and animal preferences.
Volunteer or program information, including availability, interests, qualifications, emergency contacts, training records, required acknowledgments, and accessibility requests.
Donation and transaction information, including donation amount, billing details, mailing information, tribute-gift information, employer-matching information, and tax-receipt information.
Animal rescue, surrender, transfer, or assistance information, including ownership or custody, animal identification, veterinary and behavioral history, photographs, and circumstances relevant to the animal’s safety and placement.
Youth-program information submitted by a parent or legal guardian, including contact information, emergency information, permissions, and information reasonably needed to support safe participation.
Messages, questions, survey responses, testimonials, photographs, videos, stories, and other information you choose to send us.
Business contact information from shelters, rescues, veterinarians, sponsors, vendors, media representatives, and community partners.
Providing personal information is voluntary, but declining to provide information may prevent us from processing an application, donation, registration, request, or other service.
2. Sensitive Information
We seek to collect only information reasonably necessary for our work. Please do not submit Social Security numbers, full financial-account credentials, medical records, diagnoses, substance-use information, or copies of government identification through a general website or contact form. If sensitive information is legitimately required for a particular program or screening process, we will provide a separate and more appropriate method for submitting it.
3. Information Collected Automatically
When you visit our website, our systems and service providers may automatically collect limited technical and usage information, such as your IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, referring page, pages viewed, links selected, dates and times of access, and approximate location derived from your IP address. This information helps us operate, secure, troubleshoot, and improve the website.
We may also receive information from third parties that assist us with website hosting, forms, donations, payments, email, events, shelter management, analytics, fraud prevention, and similar services.
4. Cookies and Similar Technologies
Our website may use cookies, pixels, web beacons, local storage, and similar technologies. Cookies may help the website function, remember preferences, measure traffic, understand how visitors use the site, and improve content and performance.
You may configure your browser to block or delete cookies. Some website features may not function properly if cookies are disabled. If we offer a cookie-preference tool, you may use it to manage nonessential cookies. We will obtain consent before using nonessential technologies where consent is required by law.
5. How We Use Information
We may use personal information to:
Operate, maintain, secure, personalize, and improve our website, programs, facilities, and services.
Respond to messages and provide requested information or assistance.
Review and administer adoption, foster, volunteer, employment, event, partnership, rescue-assistance, surrender, and transfer requests.
Evaluate animal welfare, placement, caregiver suitability, safety, program fit, and available resources.
Verify information and contact veterinarians, landlords, references, shelters, or other persons identified and authorized in an application.
Process donations, purchases, registrations, acknowledgments, tribute gifts, tax receipts, refunds, and related records.
Send operational communications and, when permitted, newsletters, fundraising appeals, event announcements, and program updates.
Prevent fraud, abuse, unlawful activity, and security incidents; enforce agreements and policies; and protect animals, people, property, and legal rights.
Comply with tax, accounting, charitable-solicitation, animal-welfare, safety, employment, insurance, recordkeeping, and other legal obligations.
Create aggregated or de-identified information for reporting, planning, program evaluation, fundraising, and service improvement.
6. Donations and Payment Processing
Donations, purchases, and other payments may be handled by a third-party payment processor. The processor may collect payment-card, bank-account, billing, device, and fraud-prevention information under its own privacy policy and terms. Ozzy’s Rescue & Sanctuary generally receives transaction details and payment confirmation rather than complete payment credentials.
We retain donation and transaction records as reasonably necessary for donor service, tax receipts, accounting, audits, fraud prevention, and legal compliance. We do not sell donor information or exchange donor lists with other organizations for their independent marketing.
7. When We Share Information
We do not sell, trade, or rent personal information. We may disclose information only as reasonably necessary to:
Work with service providers that support website hosting, forms, cloud storage, communications, payment processing, accounting, security, analytics, event registration, shelter management, background checks, professional services, and related functions.
Coordinate an authorized adoption, foster placement, animal transfer, surrender, rescue, veterinary service, training, transport, safety response, or assistance request with shelters, rescues, fosters, adopters, veterinarians, trainers, transporters, landlords, references, animal-control agencies, or other involved parties.
Comply with law, legal process, insurance requirements, audits, investigations, or government requests, or protect the rights, safety, and property of animals, people, Ozzy’s Rescue & Sanctuary, or others.
Complete a merger, reorganization, financing, asset transfer, dissolution, or similar organizational transaction, subject to applicable law and appropriate protections.
Carry out another disclosure that you request, direct, or authorize.
We may use and disclose aggregated or de-identified information that does not reasonably identify an individual. We do not share mobile telephone numbers or text-message opt-in consent with third parties for their independent marketing or promotional purposes.
8. Email, Postal Mail, and Text Messages
If you subscribe to email updates, you may receive news, fundraising communications, program information, or event announcements. You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in an email or by contacting us. You may also ask us to change postal-mail preferences. We may continue to send non-promotional messages concerning an application, donation, transaction, safety matter, animal placement, program, or other ongoing relationship.
If you separately opt in to text messages, message frequency may vary and message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to cancel or HELP for help. Consent to marketing texts is not a condition of donating, adopting, purchasing, volunteering, fostering, or participating in a program.
9. Adoption, Foster, Volunteer, and Other Forms
Information submitted through an application or request form is used for the purpose described on that form. Submission does not guarantee approval, animal intake, placement, participation, assistance, or service. We may verify information and contact the veterinarian, landlord, references, shelter, or other persons you identify when the form discloses that verification and you authorize it.
Please provide accurate information and do not submit another person’s personal information unless you are authorized to provide it. Marketing consent must be optional and separate from information required to process an application, donation, or service request.
10. Children’s Privacy
Our general website and online forms are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13 without required parental consent. Youth-program information must be submitted by, or with the involvement and consent of, a parent or legal guardian. If we learn that a child under 13 provided personal information without required consent, we will take reasonable steps to delete it. A parent or guardian may contact us to request review or deletion.
11. Photographs, Stories, and Public Content
We will seek appropriate permission before intentionally publishing an identifiable person’s photograph, video, testimonial, or personal story for promotional purposes. A parent or legal guardian must authorize publication involving a minor. Information posted in public comments or on public social-media pages may be visible and used by others, so please do not post confidential or sensitive information in public areas.
12. How We Protect Information
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, loss, or destruction. These safeguards may include access restrictions, secure service providers, encryption in transit where supported, confidentiality requirements, backups, and incident-response procedures.
No website, storage system, or transmission method can be guaranteed completely secure. Please do not send highly sensitive information through ordinary email, text message, or a general website form.
13. How Long We Keep Information
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and for legitimate animal-welfare, safety, operational, tax, accounting, audit, insurance, dispute-resolution, and legal needs. Retention periods vary by record type. When information is no longer needed, we take reasonable steps to delete, destroy, or de-identify it.
14. Third-Party Websites and Services
Our website may link to or integrate with third-party websites, social-media platforms, donation processors, scheduling tools, animal-welfare platforms, or other services. Those services operate under their own privacy policies and terms. Ozzy’s Rescue & Sanctuary is not responsible for the privacy or security practices of third parties we do not control.
15. Your Choices and Requests
Subject to applicable law and reasonable identity verification, you may ask us to access, correct, or delete personal information we maintain about you; change your communication preferences; withdraw consent where processing relies on consent; or obtain information about how we use or disclose your information. Some requests may be limited by animal-welfare, safety, tax, legal, recordkeeping, or operational requirements.
Ozzy’s Rescue & Sanctuary is a nonprofit organization, and the California Consumer Privacy Act generally does not apply to nonprofit organizations. We nevertheless provide reasonable privacy choices as part of responsible stewardship. Other rights may apply depending on where you live.
16. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when our programs, technology, vendors, practices, or legal obligations change. We will post the revised Policy on the website and update the effective or last-updated date. If a change materially affects how we use previously collected personal information, we will provide any additional notice or choice required by law.
17. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, want to change communication preferences, believe a child provided information improperly, or wish to make a privacy request, please contact Ozzy’s Rescue & Sanctuary through our Contact page:
www.ozzysrescueandsanctuary.org/contact
Please do not include highly sensitive personal information in your initial message. We will respond using a reasonably appropriate and secure method.