Privacy & Cookie Policy

Last Updated: July 7, 2026

The Nicole Ettere Memorial Gardens Foundation, Inc. (“the Foundation,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to creating Gardens of Remembrance, Hope, and Healing. We deeply value the trust you place in us, and we are committed to protecting the privacy of our donors, volunteers, memorial contributors, and website visitors.

This Privacy & Cookie Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your data when you visit our website, nicoleettereremembrancegardens.org. Please read this policy carefully. If you do not agree with the terms outlined below, please discontinue your use of the site.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information that is necessary to process charitable donations, share community updates, publish authorized memorials, and optimize our digital resources.

Information You Voluntarily Provide to Us

When you interact with our foundation—whether making a donation, subscribing to our newsletter, submitting a memorial, or contacting us for resources—we may collect personal information, including:

  • Contact & Donor Information: First and last name, email address, mailing address, and phone number.

  • Memorial & Remembrance Submissions: Names, photographs, dates, biographical memories, or written tributes of loved ones that you choose to submit to us for dedication or publication on our website.

  • Payment Information: Financial data (such as credit card or bank details) processed securely through our verified third-party payment gateways when making a charitable contribution. We do not store your full financial data on our servers.

Information Collected Automatically via Cookies

When you navigate our website, certain technical digital identifiers are collected automatically through cookies, tracking scripts, and web beacons. This includes your IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, pages viewed, time spent on the site, and the referring URL that directed you to us.

2. Cookie Disclosure: What We Use and Why

Our website uses cookies (small text files saved on your computer or mobile device) to streamline site navigation, remember user settings, and provide anonymized usage insights to help us reach more individuals in need of hope and healing.

We utilize the following classifications of cookies:

  • Strictly Necessary Cookies (First-Party): These are mandatory for basic website functions, such as security, server loading, form submissions, and remembering your cookie consent selections. The site cannot function cleanly without them, and they do not store directly identifiable personal data.

  • Performance & Analytics Cookies (Third-Party): We utilize tools like Google Analytics to understand how visitors discover and interact with our web pages (e.g., tracking which prevention or loss resources are visited most often). These cookies collect data in an aggregate, anonymized manner that does not identify individual visitors.

  • Marketing & Support Tracking (Third-Party): We may leverage tracking elements (such as social media sharing pixels) to evaluate the reach of our awareness campaigns or allow you to seamlessly share remembrance resources across social platforms.

3. How to Manage and Control Cookies

You have the absolute right to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers are configured to accept cookies by default, but you can alter your browser configuration settings to clear or block cookies at any time.

To manage your cookie preferences directly through your web browser, consult the “Help” or “Settings” interface of your provider:

To completely opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all web entities, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

4. How We Use Your Information

We process your data strictly under legitimate non-profit and educational interests, specifically to advance our mission and support suicide loss survivors, including:

  • Processing, acknowledging, and recording tax-deductible charitable donations.

  • Publishing and displaying public memorials to honor loved ones, precisely according to the permissions you grant us upon submission.

  • Sending periodic informational newsletters, foundation updates, or invitations to garden dedications (you may opt-out of these communications at any time).

  • Reviewing anonymized website traffic data to optimize our suicide prevention and grief support resource pages.

We do not sell, rent, trade, or lease our donor lists, contact information, or remembrance submissions to third-party companies or corporate entities.

5. Data Security and Retention

The Nicole Ettere Memorial Gardens Foundation, Inc. employs reasonable physical, technical, and administrative security safeguards to prevent the loss, theft, misuse, or unauthorized modification of foundation records and user submissions.

We retain your personal details and submission data only for as long as necessary to fulfill our charitable, administrative, and legal compliance obligations under Federal 501(c)(3) standards and applicable state regulations.

6. Children’s Privacy

Our website provides educational, suicide prevention, and remembrance resources. We do not knowingly compile or maintain data from children under the age of 13 without verified parental or legal guardian consent. If we determine that a minor under 13 has submitted personal information through our portal without proper authorization, it will be instantly purged from our records.

7. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to revise or modify this Privacy & Cookie Policy at our discretion to reflect updates to our operations or legal regulations. Any adjustments will be indicated by updating the “Last Updated” date displayed at the top of this page. Your continued use of the website following changes denotes your acknowledgement of the amended terms.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions, regulatory inquiries, or data access requests concerning this Privacy & Cookie Policy, please contact our administrative team: