Vedicology Foundation
Legal & Compliance

Privacy policy

We collect only what we need to support a young woman's education, process a donation, or register a volunteer. We do not sell your data, and you can ask to see, correct, or delete it at any time.

Data fiduciary
Vedicology Foundation
We sell data
Never
Your rights
Access · correct · delete

In short

This policy explains what personal information Vedicology Foundation collects, why we collect it, how we protect it, and the rights you have over it. The short version is simple. We collect only what we need to support a young woman's education, to process a donation, or to register a volunteer. We do not sell your data. We do not share it except where it is necessary to provide our support, or where the law requires. And you can ask to see, correct, or delete your information at any time.

Who we are

Vedicology Foundation is a registered Section 8 non-profit company, with its registered office at Annanagar, Chennai 600040. Under data protection law, the Foundation is the data fiduciary responsible for the personal data described here. That simply means we are the ones accountable for how your data is handled. If you have any question about your data, you can reach us:

What information we collect

We collect different information depending on how you interact with us:

If you apply for support

Your name, your region, and how to contact you; a short description of your situation; and, as your application progresses, documents that confirm your identity, your circumstances, and your studies. Some of this is sensitive — for example, family circumstances and financial need — and we collect it only to assess and provide support.

If you ask us to call you back

Your name, your region, your preferred way to be contacted, and a single line about your situation. Nothing on that form is mandatory.

If you volunteer

Your name and email; optionally your phone number, your location, your skills, and how much time you can give.

If you donate

The information needed to process your gift and to issue your 80G donation certificate, handled through a secure payment provider.

If you visit our website

Basic technical information your browser shares, used to keep the site working and secure.

We ask only for what we need. We do not collect more than is necessary for the purpose you came to us for.

Why we use your information

We use your information only for clear, specific purposes:

  • to assess an application and decide how we can support a young woman;
  • to pay tuition, hostel, exam, and related fees directly to her institution on her behalf;
  • to stay in touch with you about your application, your support, your volunteering, or your donation;
  • to issue donation receipts and 80G certificates;
  • to meet our legal, accounting, and regulatory obligations as a registered non-profit;
  • to keep our website and our communications safe and working.

We do not use your information for anything you would not expect, and we do not use it to make automated decisions about you.

How we share — and how we don't

We do not sell your personal data.

We never have, and we never will.

We share information only where it is necessary, and only with care:

With educational institutions

Where we pay fees on a student's behalf — limited to what the institution needs to receive and confirm the payment.

With service providers

Who help us operate — for example, a secure payment provider for donations — who may only use the data to provide that service to us.

Where the law requires it

Such as a lawful request from a regulator or authority.

We do not share your information with advertisers, and we do not pass it to anyone for their own marketing.

Children's information

Vedicology Foundation supports only adolescent girls and young women aged 18 and above. We do not fund minors, and we do not knowingly collect or use a child's personal data to provide support to a beneficiary.

Sometimes records relating to a young woman's earlier years reach us — for example, from a Child Care Institution that refers a care leaver. When they do, they come to us from the institution as the proper source, and we handle them under our safeguarding standard. You can read more on our Safeguarding page. If a child's personal data ever reaches us without a lawful basis, we do not use it.

How long we keep your information

We keep personal data only for as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected, or for as long as the law requires us to.

For example, records connected to a donation or an 80G certificate are kept for the period required by tax and accounting rules. Application and support records are kept for. When information is no longer needed, we delete it securely or remove anything that identifies you.

How we protect your information

We use reasonable measures to keep your information safe. We limit who can see it to the people who need it, we protect our systems, and we ask the providers we work with to do the same. Our online forms are protected against automated abuse. No system can promise perfect security, but we take this seriously and act quickly if anything goes wrong.

Your rights over your information

You have rights over the personal data we hold about you. You can:

  • ask to see the information we hold about you;
  • ask us to correct anything that is wrong or out of date;
  • ask us to delete your information, where we are not required to keep it;
  • withdraw your consent (see the next section);
  • nominate someone to exercise your rights on your behalf, for example if you are unable to;
  • raise a complaint if you are unhappy with how we have handled your data.

To exercise any of these, write to us. We will respond within the timeframe the law allows — and usually much sooner. There is no cost to you for asking.

Cookies and our website

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to provide you with the best possible browsing experience, keep the site running smoothly, and help us understand how it is used so we can continue to improve it. This section explains the cookies we use, their purpose, and, where required by law, gives you the opportunity to choose whether to accept non-essential cookies. If we use only cookies that are strictly necessary for the website to function, we will clearly let you know.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time, for example if the law changes or we change how we work. When we do, we will update the date below, and significant changes will be made clear.

This policy was last updated: 27-06-2026

How to contact us about your data

For anything to do with your personal information — a question, a request, or a complaint — write to us, or by post to Vedicology Foundation, Annanagar, Chennai 600040.

Important

Vedicology Foundation never charges any application fee, processing fee, registration fee, or documentation fee. Our support is completely free. If anyone asks you for money claiming to represent us, please report it immediately:

YOUR DATA, YOUR RIGHTS

A question about your data? Just ask.

Ask to see, correct, or delete your information — there is no cost, and we usually reply quickly.

Want the fuller picture? Read our Safeguarding commitment