Privacy Policy

This document is starter content that describes how EMBER and this website operate today. It is provided so the pages are complete and editable from the outset, and it is pending review by EMBER’s legal counsel before it is relied upon as the club’s binding agreement. Sections that require legal judgment are marked accordingly.

1. Who this is about

EMBER is a private membership social club in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This policy covers the information EMBER collects through this website - emberclub.co - when you join the mailing list, apply for membership, RSVP to an event, or come to one.

EMBER to confirm. What is the legal name of the company that should appear on the privacy policy and the SMS terms - 'EMBER', or the registered entity behind it? Both pages say 'EMBER', which is the brand. A carrier and a data-subject request both need the entity.

2. What we collect

We collect these things, and only these things:

• Your application. If you apply to join, we keep the answers you give us: your name, your date of birth, your contact details, and the rest of the form.
• Your contact details. Your name, email address and, if you give it to us, your mobile number.
• Your event attendance. Which events you RSVP to, whether you came, and who you brought.
• Your payments. When you pay an initiation fee or dues, Stripe takes the card details and we never see the full card number. We keep the receipt: the amount, the date, and whether it went through.
• Your mailing-list sign-up. If you join the list, we keep your email address and where you signed up from.
• Your text-message consent. If you tick the box asking us to text you, we keep the fact that you ticked it, the wording you agreed to, the number, and the date and time.
• How you use the site, but only if you say yes. Microsoft Clarity is off until you accept analytics in Cookie Preferences.
• The ordinary technical details your browser sends, which we use to keep the site up and secure.

3. Why we collect it

For the running of the club, and nothing else:

• To read your application and tell you what we decided.
• To run your membership, take your dues, and let you in at the door.
• To invite you to events, take your RSVP, and check you in.
• To send you the club news you asked for, and to stop sending it the moment you say so.
• To keep the site working and secure.

We do not use your information to make automated decisions about you, and we do not build profiles of you to sell.

4. Your mobile number and your text-message consent

EMBER does not share, sell, rent, or provide your mobile phone number, your mobile information, or your text-message consent to third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes at any time.

Giving us your mobile number is not the same as agreeing to be texted. The application has a separate tick box for that, it is unticked when you arrive, and you can apply and be a member without ever ticking it. If you do tick it, we text you about your application and, once you are a member, about EMBER news and events.

Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to any message to stop them, or HELP for help. The full text-message terms are on the SMS Terms page.

Twilio carries the messages for us and receives your number in order to deliver them. Your number is also held by HubSpot, our CRM, and by Supabase, where your application record lives. All three are processors acting on EMBER’s instructions, and none of them may use your number for its own purposes. Beyond the processors named in section 5, and only for the jobs named beside them there, we pass your number and your consent to nobody.

5. Who we share it with

Only the named companies below, only for the job named beside them, and only on EMBER’s instructions. We do not sell your personal information to anyone, and we do not share it with data brokers, lead generators, or affiliates for their own marketing.

• Stripe - takes card payments and holds the card details we never see.
• HubSpot - our CRM: the mailing list, the enquiry forms, and the record of what we have sent you.
• Twilio - delivers the text messages, if you have asked for them.
• Supabase - stores applications, member records, events and RSVPs.
• Sanity - stores the words and pictures on this site. It holds no member data.
• Vercel - hosts the site and processes the technical details in section 2.
• Microsoft Clarity - analytics, and only if you accepted analytics.

We will also hand over information if the law requires it of us, and we will tell you when we are allowed to.

6. How long we keep it

We keep your information for as long as we need it for the reasons in section 3, and then we get rid of it. A membership record lasts as long as the membership and a reasonable period after it ends, so we can answer questions about dues and attendance. A mailing-list record ends when you unsubscribe. A text-message consent record is kept for as long as we might text you, plus the period we are required to be able to prove you consented.

EMBER to confirm. How long should EMBER keep a declined application, a member’s event attendance history, and a text-message consent record? The policy has to say how long it keeps things. Only the club can set the period.

7. Asking for a copy, or asking us to delete it

You can ask us, at any time, to:

• tell you what we hold about you;
• send you a copy of it;
• correct anything that is wrong;
• delete it, where we are not required to keep it;
• stop emailing you - the unsubscribe link in any email does this on its own;
• stop texting you - reply STOP to any message, which does it at once;
• withdraw your analytics consent, from Cookie Preferences in the footer.

Write to us through the contact page named in section 11 and say which of those you want. We will ask you enough to be sure it is you, and then we will do it. There is no charge.

EMBER to confirm. Which email address should receive requests for a copy of someone’s data or for deletion, and what postal address should the policy print? The policy routes these to the contact form, which is not a contact address. CTIA 5.1.1(5) asks for customer care contact information.

8. Cookies and analytics

Strictly necessary cookies are always on, because the site cannot work without them - keeping you signed in, and completing a payment safely. Those do not need your consent and there is no way to turn them off and still use the site.

Analytics scripts and their cookies are not loaded at all until you accept the analytics category. Decline and they never run. Change your mind either way from Cookie Preferences in the footer.

9. Keeping it safe

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect what we hold, and we leave the riskiest part - card numbers - with Stripe, who are built for it. No website is perfectly secure and we will not pretend otherwise. If something happens that affects you, we will tell you.

10. Children

EMBER is an adults' club and this site is not for children. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If we learn we have, we delete it.

11. Contact

Questions about this policy, or any of the requests in section 7, can be sent to EMBER through the contact page on this website.

12. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, the effective date at the top changes with it, and the version here is always the one in force. If a change matters to members, we will tell members directly rather than leave it to be found.