Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

CommunityRise ("we," "us," or "our") is a Canadian nonprofit organization operating in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario. We deliver free training to volunteers, seniors, newcomers, caregivers, youth, and community members — building capacity across our ecosystem of sister nonprofits and the broader GTA community.

We are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable Ontario privacy laws.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only the information necessary to deliver training, issue certificates, and improve our programs. This may include:

• Your name and contact information (email address, phone number) when you enroll or reach out
• Course enrollment details — which course, preferred language, and availability
• Assessment results and course completion data for certificate issuance
• Information you provide when applying to become an instructor or course developer
• Organization name and contact details for corporate training inquiries
• Technical information such as IP address or browser type, collected automatically when you visit our website

We do not collect payment information — all community courses are completely free. Corporate training inquiries are handled by direct arrangement.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information solely to:

• Process your course enrollment and send your Google Classroom access
• Track course completion and issue your CommunityRise certificate
• Communicate with you about your course progress and upcoming sessions
• Process instructor and course developer applications
• Coordinate corporate training engagements
• Improve our courses, platform, and learner experience
• Report aggregate, anonymized outcomes to grant funders as required

We will never use your information for marketing purposes or share it with advertisers.

4. Course Data and Certificates

Course completion data — including assessment results and certificate records — is retained to maintain the integrity of your credential and to support grant reporting requirements. This data is anonymized and aggregated when reported to funders. Individual results are never shared without your consent.

Certificates issued by CommunityRise are your property. We retain a record of issuance for verification purposes only.

5. Google Classroom and Third-Party Platforms

CommunityRise delivers courses through Google Classroom and Google Meet. When you enroll, you will receive a Google Classroom invitation. Your use of Google Classroom is subject to Google's own privacy policy, available at policies.google.com/privacy.

We use Formspree to process contact form submissions. Formspree processes data in accordance with their privacy policy at formspree.io/legal/privacy-policy.

Our website is hosted on IONOS, which may collect standard server logs as part of normal hosting operations.

6. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We may share limited information only in the following circumstances:

• With course instructors — only your first name and enrolled course, to facilitate your learning experience
• With sister nonprofits — with your explicit consent, we may refer you to VoiceToValue, FeedingTogether, or ElderLight where relevant to your needs
• With grant funders — anonymized, aggregate completion data only, as required by funding agreements
• With service providers — Formspree, Google, and IONOS as described above
• As required by law — where legally required to disclose

7. Corporate Training Participants

Where CommunityRise delivers training to corporate clients, individual participant data is handled with the same confidentiality standards as all learners. Aggregate completion reports may be shared with the sponsoring organization. Individual assessment results are never shared with employers without the participant's explicit written consent.

8. Cookies & Analytics

Our website may use basic cookies to ensure proper functionality. We do not currently use advertising cookies or cross-site tracking. If we introduce analytics in the future, this policy will be updated and data will be used only to improve our learner experience.

9. Data Retention

Course enrollment and completion records are retained for a minimum of three years to support certificate verification and grant reporting. Contact form submissions are retained for a reasonable period to allow follow-up. You may request deletion of your personal information at any time, subject to our legal obligations under active funding agreements.

10. Your Rights

Under PIPEDA and applicable Ontario law, you have the right to:

• Know what personal information we hold about you
• Request access to your personal information
• Request correction of inaccurate information
• Request deletion of your personal information
• Withdraw consent for our use of your information where consent is the basis for processing

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information below.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use of our website or services after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us: