Privacy Policy

Network of Us, Inc. — rewritingfutures.com · networkof.us · Discovery Check-In app · Launchpad App ·  printed workbooks and materials
Last updated: July 2026 · Version: [2.5]

PART I — Common core

1. Who we are and what this policy covers

Network of Us, Inc. (“Network of Us,” “we,” “us,” “our”) is an Illinois 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We operate the Rewriting Futures initiative, publish the Discovery Series and My Life, My Journey curricula, and provide the Discovery Check-In application.

This policy covers all of the following, together the “Services”:

• Our websites, including rewritingfutures.com, networkofus.com, and discoverycheckin.com
• The Discovery Check-In app (discoverycheckin.app), used by schools, clubs, mentoring programs, and teams
• Printed workbooks and materials we sell or distribute, and the orders placed for them
• Donations and supporter relationships

Different parts of this policy apply to different people. Part I applies to everyone. Part II contains a module for each type of relationship — read the one that describes you. Part III applies only to student information in the Discovery Check-In app. Part IV applies to everyone.

Where we provide the Discovery Check-In app to a school, district, or other educational agency (“Educational Agency” or “EA”), the EA controls the student data in the app, and our handling of that data is also governed by our agreement with the EA and by Part III.

2. Quick reference

If you are…	Read	Do FERPA/COPPA protections apply?
A visitor to our websites	II-A, Part IV	No
Someone who buys a workbook or materials	II-B, Part IV	No
A donor or supporter	II-C, Part IV	No
A leader, guide, or administrator using the app	II-D, Part IV	No — these protect students, not adult users
A student using the app	II-E, Part III, Part IV	Yes
A parent or guardian of a student	II-E, Part III, Part IV	Yes

3. Definitions

• Personal Data — information relating to an identified or identifiable individual, including information that could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, to a person or household.
• Usage Data — information collected automatically, such as IP address, device and browser type, pages visited, and diagnostic data.
• Service Provider / Subprocessor — a third party that processes data on our behalf to deliver the Services. Our subprocessors are listed in Section 14.
• Educational Agency (EA) — a school, district, or organization that licenses the app and controls the student data within it.
• Student — a young person participating in check-ins and activities within a Group in the app. Students do not create accounts or set passwords.
• De-identified signals — information derived from app activity from which direct identifiers have been removed before processing, as described in Section 12.

4. Our core commitments, across everything

• We do not sell, rent, trade, or exchange personal information. This applies to student data, donor records, customer records, and website visitors alike.
• We do not use student data for advertising or marketing, and we do not permit behavioral or targeted advertising anywhere in the Services.
• We do not use personal information to train artificial intelligence models, and neither does our AI provider.
• We collect the minimum we need, and we deliberately do not collect several categories of student information (Section 10.2).
• Data is gated to the organization that entered it. No organization can see another’s data.

PART II — What we collect, by relationship

II-A. Website visitors

What we collect. When you visit our websites we collect Usage Data automatically: IP address, device identifiers, browser type and version, operating system, pages or screens viewed, referring page, and the date, time, and duration of your visit, along with diagnostic data used to keep the sites secure and working.

If you submit a contact or inquiry form, we collect the information you provide — typically your name, email address, organization, and your message.

Why. To operate, secure, and improve the sites, to respond to your inquiry, and to understand which content is useful.

Cookies and similar technologies. We use cookies for essential purposes such as maintaining sessions and remembering preferences, and [for analytics]. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, though some features may not work without them.

We do not currently send marketing newsletters or promotional email. Email we send is transactional — responses to inquiries, order confirmations, donation receipts, and app service notices.

II-B. Workbook and materials customers

What we collect. When you order printed workbooks or materials, we collect your name, email address, billing and shipping address, phone number if you provide one, order contents and history, and organization name where applicable.

Payment. Payments are processed by our payment processor. We do not store full payment card numbers on our servers. We receive confirmation of payment and limited details such as the card brand and last four digits.

Fulfillment. Orders are printed and shipped by a third-party print and fulfillment vendor. We share with that vendor only what is needed to produce and deliver your order — typically your name, shipping address, and order contents. The vendor is contractually limited to using that information to fulfill your order.

Why. To process and deliver your order, provide receipts and support, handle returns, and meet tax and accounting obligations.

The workbooks themselves are offline products. See Section 5 below — this is important enough to state separately.

5. What students write in printed workbooks

The Discovery Book and My Life, My Journey workbooks are printed books. Students write in them by hand, about topics including home life, challenges they have overcome, hopes, choices, influence, and drugs and alcohol.

What a student writes in their workbook stays in their workbook. Network of Us does not collect, receive, request, photograph, scan, digitize, transcribe, or store anything a student writes in a printed workbook. That content is not uploaded to the Discovery Check-In app, is not transmitted to any third party, is not sent to any AI service, and never reaches us in any form. The physical book belongs to the student.

Discussion in Discovery Groups and Life Groups is likewise not recorded, transcribed, or collected by us.

II-C. Donors and supporters

What we collect. When you donate, we collect your name, email address, mailing address, donation amount and date, payment confirmation details, and any designation, dedication, or message you include. Payments are processed by our payment processor; we do not store full payment card numbers.

Why. To process your gift, send you a receipt and acknowledgment, maintain the records required of a 501(c)(3) organization, comply with IRS substantiation and state charitable-solicitation requirements, and — if you have not asked otherwise — keep you informed about the work you supported.

Our commitment to donors. We do not sell, rent, trade, exchange, or otherwise share donor lists or donor information with other organizations for their own use, and we do not share donor information for any marketing purpose. Donor information is shared only with the payment processor and, where applicable, professional advisors and auditors bound by confidentiality.

Recognition. We will not publish your name in donor recognition materials if you ask us not to. Contact us at any time to request anonymity or to be removed from supporter communications.

II-D. Discovery App — adult users

Adult users include Super Admins, Building Admins, Group Leaders (Guides), and Safety Contacts.

What we collect. Name, email address, account credentials and authentication data, the organization/site/group details you enter, role and permission assignments, subscription and billing information, communications you send us, and Usage Data and diagnostic logs.

Why. To authenticate you, provide and secure the app, manage roles and permissions, deliver notifications, process subscriptions, provide support, and comply with law.

Note. FERPA and COPPA protections described in Part III apply to student information, not to adult user accounts.

II-E. Discovery App — students

Student data is controlled by the Educational Agency or organization that enters it. We process it on that organization’s behalf and under its direction.

What the app collects.

• Student first and last name
• Grade level or grade band
• Group code and student code used to access the app
• Check-in responses
• Onboarding profile responses (for example, interests, a self-rated difficulty scale, and short responses about the student’s present situation and aspirations)
• Question-of-the-Day responses — anonymous poll selections that are aggregated, or short written reflections visible only to the student’s leader, depending on mode
• Points and participation records for completing check-ins
• Information a student chooses to share privately with their leader through SafeSpot

What the app deliberately does not collect.

• Dates of birth
• School-assigned or state student ID numbers
• Photographs, images, video, or audio
• Student email addresses, phone numbers, or home addresses
• Biometric identifiers of any kind
• Precise geolocation

No messaging or social features. The app has no open messaging, chat, direct messaging, or social features. Students cannot message one another and cannot message adults except through the SafeSpot private disclosure channel to their assigned leader. There are no public profiles and no student-created content visible to other students.

How students sign in. Students do not create accounts, do not provide an email address, and do not set passwords. A student enters a group code and a short student code, which are verified server-side.

PART III — Student protections

6. Safety disclosures

The app includes a private channel (“SafeSpot”) through which a student can share a concern with their leader, and a check-in flow that can flag a serious response for prompt human attention.

This safety path is fully deterministic and is handled by people. When a serious response is indicated, the app follows a fixed, rule-based process to notify the student’s leader and, where configured, a Safety Contact. Safety escalation is never routed through artificial intelligence and is not subject to automated delay. It works identically whether or not AI features are enabled.

The app is not a crisis, emergency, medical, or counseling service and is not monitored by Network of Us in real time. In an emergency, contact local emergency services.

7. FERPA

Where an Educational Agency uses the app, student data may constitute personally identifiable information from education records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. §1232g and 34 CFR Part 99.

We receive such information as a school official with a legitimate educational interest under 34 CFR §99.31(a)(1)(i)(B), performing an institutional service the EA would otherwise perform itself. We operate under the direct control of the EA with respect to the use and maintenance of education records, are subject to the same limits on use and redisclosure that govern school officials under 34 CFR §99.33, and limit access to individuals with a legitimate educational interest.

Where a subprocessor processes student data on our behalf, it is bound by a written agreement to process it only to provide the Services, to protect it, and to use it for no other purpose.

We do not own student data; it remains the property and under the control of the EA. We do not sell student data and do not use or redisclose education records for advertising.

Requests from parents or eligible students to inspect, review, correct, or delete education records are directed to the EA. We will not respond to such requests except as the EA directs or as compelled by law, in which case we will notify the EA before disclosure where permitted.

We will not materially change this policy in a way that is less protective of student privacy without the written consent of an affected EA.

8. Children under 13 (COPPA)

The Discovery Check-In app is used by elementary-age children, including children under 13.

We handle children’s personal information consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the FTC’s COPPA Rule, including its 2025 amendments. Specifically:

• We collect only information reasonably necessary to participate, and never condition a child’s participation on disclosing more than is necessary.
• We do not collect birthdates, school IDs, photos, audio, video, biometric identifiers, precise geolocation, contact information, or persistent identifiers used for advertising from children.
• We do not use children’s information for advertising, marketing, commercial profiling, or model training.
• We disclose children’s personal information only to subprocessors bound to process it solely to deliver the Services, with written assurances of confidentiality, security, and integrity.
• We maintain a written data retention policy (Section 13) and a written information security program (Section 15), each addressing children’s personal information specifically.

Consent. Where the app is used at the direction of a school for a school-authorized educational purpose, the school may provide consent on behalf of parents to the extent permitted by the COPPA Rule. Where the app is used outside a school setting, the operating organization is responsible for obtaining verifiable parental consent before a child uses the app. Consent to collection and use is separable from consent to disclosure to a third party: where an organization has not enabled AI features, no child data is transmitted to the AI provider.

Parent rights. A parent or guardian may review the personal information collected from their child, refuse to permit further collection or use, and request deletion. For school-provided accounts, these requests are made to and fulfilled through the school or organization; we support them in fulfilling them.

9. Artificial intelligence and automated processing

The app offers optional AI features that use a third-party AI service (Anthropic’s Claude API) to help leaders see patterns over time — for example, a periodic group summary or a prompt highlighting a change worth attention. AI features are controlled at the organization level and can be turned on or off by a Super Admin.

When AI features are off. All analysis, pattern detection, flagging, notification, and reporting is performed by code-based and algorithmic logic running entirely within the platform. No information about that organization is sent to any AI service.

When AI features are on.

• De-identified signals only. Direct identifiers are removed on our servers before transmission. What is sent is an internal, system-generated identifier meaningful only inside our platform, together with de-identified check-in data and derived signals. Student names, student codes, group codes, organization-identifying details, and adult user names and contact information are not sent.
• Server-side only. Requests are made from our secured server environment. AI credentials are stored as server-side secrets, never exposed in the app.
• People make the decisions. Pattern detection is rule-based; the AI service only summarizes; a person always reviews and acts. The safety path in Section 6 does not use AI at all.
• Not used to train models. Under Anthropic’s commercial terms, data sent through the Claude API is not used to train its models. Anthropic’s Data Processing Addendum, which includes Standard Contractual Clauses, is incorporated into those commercial terms and binds Anthropic as our subprocessor.
• Retention by the AI provider. [Anthropic automatically deletes API inputs and outputs within 30 days, subject to limited exceptions required by law or to enforce its usage policies.]

AI outputs are advisory. They may be incomplete or inaccurate and are not a substitute for adult judgment. The absence of an AI-generated insight is not an indication that a student is well.

PART IV — Applies to everyone

10. How we use information

Across the Services, we use personal information to: provide, operate, secure, and maintain the Services; authenticate adult users and manage permissions; route safety disclosures to responsible adults; fulfill orders and process donations; process payments and subscriptions; respond to inquiries and provide support; send transactional communications; perform quality assurance, troubleshooting, and reliability testing; improve the Services using de-identified or aggregated information wherever practicable; and comply with law and enforce our agreements.

Quality assurance limits. Access to student data for quality assurance or support is limited to authorized personnel, is logged, is limited to what the task requires, and uses the smallest sufficient data set. We use de-identified or synthetic data for testing wherever practicable.

11. How we share information

We share information only as needed to operate the Services, and only with providers bound to use it solely on our behalf. We do not sell personal information.

We may also disclose information: to the organization or EA that controls the relevant data, and as it directs; to comply with law or valid legal process; to protect safety, rights, or property, or investigate wrongdoing; and in connection with a merger, acquisition, or asset transfer, subject to this policy.

12. Our subprocessors

Provider	Used for	Applies to
Google / Firebase	App hosting, database, authentication, cloud functions	App
Anthropic (Claude API)	Optional AI summaries for leaders — de-identified signals only (Section 9)	App, when AI enabled
Stripe	Subscription, order, and payment processing	App, workbook orders, donations
Mailgun	Transactional email delivery	All
[Print & fulfillment vendor]	Printing and shipping workbook orders	Workbook orders
[Website host / WordPress provider]	Website hosting	Websites
[Analytics / reCAPTCHA / other]	Usage, Bot protection	Websites, Apps

13. Data retention and deletion

We retain personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes it was collected for. We do not retain children’s personal information indefinitely.

Data	Purpose	Business need for retention	Deletion timeframe
Student name, grade, codes	Identify the student to their leader	Required to operate the app for the organization	Deleted or de-identified within [30–90] days after student deletion or account termination
Check-in and profile data	Provide history and pattern insight to leaders	Multi-month history is the substance of the service	Deleted or de-identified within [30–90] days of student deletion or account termination
SafeSpot disclosures	Route a concern to the responsible adult	Follow-up and the organization’s records	Per Organization Request— deleted or returned per the organization’s instruction and applicable records law
Adult user account data	Operate accounts and permissions	Required to provide the app	Deleted or de-identified within [90] days after account closure
Workbook order records	Fulfillment, support, returns, accounting	Tax and accounting obligations	[7] years
Donor records	Receipts, acknowledgment, required reporting	IRS substantiation and state charitable reporting	[7] years
Website inquiry submissions	Respond to your inquiry	Support continuity	[24] months
Usage and diagnostic logs	Security, reliability, troubleshooting	Detect abuse and diagnose faults	[12] months
De-identified / aggregated data	Maintain and improve the Services	No identifiable data retained	Indefinitely, in de-identified form only

Organizations may delete a student, group, or account at any time. Following termination, we delete or, on written request, return student data within 60 days, except data we must retain by law and backups, which are purged on our regular backup cycle of 30 days.

14. Security

We maintain a written information security program with safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information we handle, including information collected from children. It includes a designated individual responsible for coordinating the program, identification of internal and external risks, safeguards to control those risks, annual evaluation and adjustment, and assessment of subprocessors’ security practices.

Technical measures include encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access control, server-side management of credentials and secrets, minimization of student identifiers in the client application, and access logging. Services data is hosted in the United States. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Incident notification. If we discover a breach or unauthorized disclosure of student data, we will take immediate steps to contain and mitigate it, notify a senior member of the affected organization’s leadership typically within 72 hours of confirmation, and cooperate on remediation and any required notifications.

15. Your privacy rights

California (CCPA/CPRA). California residents may request to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected, the sources, the purposes, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it; may request correction or deletion; and may not be discriminated against for exercising these rights. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. Contact us using Section 18 to exercise these rights; we respond within the timeframes required by law.

California “Shine the Light.” We do not share personal data with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

California minors (Bus. & Prof. Code §22581). A registered user under 18 who is a California resident may request removal of content they posted through the Services. Removal may not be complete where the law does not require it.

Other states. Residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws may have similar rights to access, correct, delete, or obtain a copy of their personal information. Contact us and we will honor rights available to you under applicable law.

Parents and students. Requests concerning student data in the app are handled through the school or organization under Part III.

Reviewer note. Confirm with counsel which state privacy laws you meet the applicability thresholds for. Many have revenue or volume thresholds a nonprofit of your size may fall below, and several exempt nonprofits entirely — but a few do not.

16. International users

The Services are operated in the United States, and information is processed and stored here. If you access the Services from outside the United States, your information will be processed in the United States, where data-protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.

17. Other

Do Not Track. The Services do not respond to Do Not Track browser signals.

Links to other sites. The Services may link to sites we do not operate. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices.

Changes to this policy. We may update this policy. We will post the updated version with a new “Last updated” date and version, and for material changes provide notice by email or a prominent notice in the Services at least 30 days before they take effect. For school agreements, we will not make changes materially less protective of student privacy without the EA’s written consent. Prior versions are available on request.

18. Contact

Network of Us, Inc. (A not-for-profit organization)
216 E. Grove St, Suite 1100, Bloomington, IL 61701
General: [email protected]