Privacy Policy

Open Door Zen Community is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This policy explains when and why our website platform, Google, and third parties collect personal information about people who visit our website

This policy from time to time as laws change, so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By using our website, you’re agreeing with our policy.

Any questions regarding this policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to opendoorzencommunity@gmail.com or by writing Open Door Zen Community, PO Box 5273, Madison WI  53705

Who are we?

Open Door Zen Community honors the understanding of life’s reality: all is impermanent; everything comes and goes. Zazen – meditation in silence and stillness – is at the heart of everything we do. Our community offers practice opportunities to care for and support its members in cultivating hearts and minds that remain open to Buddha’s wisdom and to help each other wake up and grow up. Together, we seek to integrate Zen practice with everyday life, awakening to our true Buddha nature of compassion and insight. All are welcome.

We are a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization incorporated in the United States.

How do we collect information from you?

Open Door collects information from you when you register for our retreats. 

What type of information is collected from you?

If you make a donation, either online or otherwise, we will request certain personally identifiable information about you (such as your name, address, telephone number, email address, and credit card information). This information enables us to process your donation and to communicate with you about it.

When you donate to us, your card information is not held by us, it is collected by our third-party payment processors, who specialize in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions, as explained below.

In addition to the personal information that you submit to us, our website platform, or web servers collect:

  • Web server logs. Our web servers may collect certain information such as IP address, pages visited, time of visits, and referring website.
  • Cookies. Cookies are small pieces of information sent by an organization to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognize you when you visit. Cookies collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual.

Where do we transfer and store information?

Open Door Zen Community does not transfer or store any information.

How is your information used?

We may use your information to:

  • process and acknowledge your donations;
  • respond to your inquiries and requests;
  • update you with important administrative messages about your donation, or services or orders you have requested;
  • send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you.
  • seek your views or comments on our activities, programs, or services.

Who has access to your information?

Open Door does not sell or rent to third parties.

We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Third-party service providers working on our behalf: We may pass your information to our third-party service providers, like PayPal, for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf (for example, to process donations and send you mailings).

When you are using our secure online donation pages, your donation is processed by a third-party payment processor, which specializes in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions. If you have any questions regarding secure transactions, please contact us.

Your choices

You have a choice about whether or not you wish to receive information from us. If you registered to receive communications from us and later change your mind, you may ask that your name and contact information be removed from our distribution list. You can send such a request to opendoorzencommunity@gmail.com.

How you can access and update your information

Open Door retains your email address, and in some cases your physical address and/or phone number.  You also have the right to ask for a copy of the information Open Door holds about you. If you would like to make any corrections to your data or request a copy of it, you can contact us at opendoorzencommunity@gmail.com.

Security of your information

When you give us personal information, we take steps to help ensure that it’s treated securely. Non-sensitive details (your email address, etc.) are transmitted normally over the Internet, and this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems.

Use of Cookies

Like many other websites, Open Door’s website uses cookies. Cookies are small pieces of information sent by an organization to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognize you when you visit. Cookies collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual.

It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences. Turning cookies off may result in a loss of functionality when using our website.

Links to Other Websites

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organizations. This privacy policy applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.

In addition, if you linked to our website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third-party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third-party site.

16 or Under

We are mindful to protect the privacy of children aged 16 or under. If you are aged 16 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information.

Review of this Policy

This policy is periodically reviewed.  It was last updated in March 2022.