Privacy Policy

Sumak Kawsay, Iglesia del Buen Vivir (legal name: Sumak Kawsay - Iglesia del Buen Vivir Foundation, Corporation; "we", "our" or "us") is a 501(c)(3) non-profit religious organization. We are committed to respecting your privacy and protecting your personal information.

This policy explains what information we collect, how we use and protect it, and the choices you have. It applies to this website and its contact form, our newsletter, our ceremony registration forms, and the ceremonies, gatherings and programs we organize in the United States. Our registration forms may refer to us as "Sumak Kawsay Church"; this policy applies to all information collected under that name.

Sumak Kawsay - Iglesia del Buen Vivir Foundation, Corporation
Miami, Florida, USA
Email: info@sumakawsay.org
Phone: +1 (786) 869-1365

Contact form. When you write to us through our website, we receive your name, email address, subject and message.

Newsletter. When you subscribe, we collect your email address and any other information you choose to give, such as your name.

Ceremony registration. When you register for a ceremony, we collect:

• identity and contact details: first and last name, email address, phone number;
• an emergency contact phone number;
• your previous experience with our ceremonies;
• your consents: acceptance of this policy, acknowledgment of our Ethical Code, informed consent given before the ceremony, and consent to be contacted;
• health and wellbeing information you choose to share (see below).

Contributions and donations. Contributions and donations are made through PayPal or Zelle. We receive your name, the amount and the payment reference. We never receive or store your card or bank account details.

This website. Our website does not use cookies, analytics or advertising trackers, and we do not build profiles of visitors. When you load a page, our hosting provider (GitHub Pages) and Google Fonts, which serves the typefaces we use, receive standard technical information such as your IP address and browser type, which they need to deliver the page.

Your safety is our first priority. Before a ceremony, our registration form invites you to share:

• health conditions in the broadest sense, including physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing;
• medical and mental health history, current treatments and prescription medications;
• use of alcohol, tobacco or other substances.

These questions are optional. We encourage you to answer them openly, because this information allows our ministers and facilitators to prepare the ceremony with care and to identify possible risks, such as interactions between prescription medications and our sacraments.

We handle this information with special care:

• access is limited to the ministers and facilitators directly responsible for preparing and holding the ceremony you attend;
• it is stored in password-protected accounts with restricted access;
• it is used only to prepare for and safely hold the ceremony, and for your integration support afterward;
• it is never shared with third parties, except with emergency or healthcare services if your safety requires it;
• it is kept for 24 months after the ceremony and then securely deleted, unless the law requires a longer period. If you register for a new ceremony, you will complete a new form.

We are a spiritual and religious organization, not a healthcare provider. We protect health information with safeguards inspired by HIPAA standards.

By giving us an emergency contact number, you confirm that the person has agreed to be contacted on your behalf. We use this number only in an emergency during or immediately after a ceremony.

• To prepare and hold ceremonies safely, including a phone or video conversation before the ceremony and an online group meeting with participants.
• To answer the messages you send us.
• To communicate with you about ceremonies, events and community updates.
• To send our newsletter, if you have subscribed.
• To process and acknowledge your contributions and donations.
• To support our mission and improve our programs.
• To comply with legal obligations.

We use your phone number only to contact you about the ceremony you registered for.

We work with trusted providers who process data on our behalf:

• Formspree: delivers the messages sent through our contact form.
• Mailchimp (Intuit): newsletter delivery.
• Google (Google Forms and Google Drive): registration forms and secure storage. Google Fonts serves the typefaces on this website.
• PayPal and Zelle: contributions and donations.
• GitHub Pages: hosts this website.

These providers process your data under their own privacy policies and applicable law. Some may store data on servers in the United States or other countries.

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information. We share it only:

• with the service providers listed above;
• with emergency or healthcare services when your safety requires it;
• when required by law or a valid governmental request;
• with community partners, only with your explicit consent.

Our website links to other sites and platforms, such as our online community on Mighty Networks, Instagram, Telegram, the Sacred Plant Alliance and Fuoco Sacro. When you visit or join them, their own privacy policies apply.

Events held in Europe are organized by Associazione Fuoco Sacro A.P.S., an independent partner organization, which acts as the data controller for participants' personal data. We support these events and do not collect or manage their registration data. For how your data is handled at European events, please see Fuoco Sacro.

Photography, video and audio recording are not permitted during ceremonies, to protect the privacy and sacredness of the space. Photos taken at other moments of our gatherings are shared publicly only with the consent of the people who appear in them.

What participants share during ceremonies, sharing circles and integration meetings is held in confidence. We ask every participant to respect the privacy of others and not to disclose personal information shared by fellow participants.

Our ceremonies in the United States are open only to adults aged 21 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 21 for ceremony registration, and we do not knowingly collect any personal information from children under 13. If you believe a minor has given us personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

We use reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect your personal information, in line with Florida's requirement for reasonable security practices (Florida Statutes 501.171). These include password-protected and restricted-access accounts, two-step verification where available, access on a need-to-know basis, and secure deletion at the end of the retention period.

If a security breach affects your personal information, we will notify you as soon as possible and no later than 30 days after discovering it, in accordance with the Florida Information Protection Act (Florida Statutes 501.171). We will also notify the relevant authorities when the law requires it.

• Contact form messages: as long as needed to answer you, and no more than 24 months.
• Newsletter data: as long as you remain subscribed.
• Health and wellbeing information: 24 months after the ceremony, then securely deleted.
• Registration and contact data: 24 months after your last ceremony, then securely deleted.
• Donation records: as long as tax and accounting law requires.

If you withdraw your consent, we will securely delete your data, unless the law requires us to keep it.

At any time you may:

• ask for access to the personal information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• ask us to delete your personal information;
• withdraw your consent, without affecting processing carried out before the withdrawal;
• unsubscribe from our newsletter through the "unsubscribe" link in every email.

To exercise these rights, write to info@sumakawsay.org. We will respond within 30 days. If a request is complex or we receive many requests, we may extend this period up to 90 days, and we will tell you why.

If you subscribe to our newsletter or contact us from the European Union or another country with data protection laws, we process your data on the basis of your consent. Your data is stored on servers in the United States, through providers that protect international transfers with recognized safeguards, such as the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection authority in your country.

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with a new "Last updated" date.

For any question about this policy or your personal information:

Sumak Kawsay - Iglesia del Buen Vivir Foundation, Corporation
Miami, Florida, USA
info@sumakawsay.org
+1 (786) 869-1365