Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to GrantMatchr. We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our AI-powered grant matching platform.

By using GrantMatchr, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. If you have any questions, please contact us at support@grantmatchr.com.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Personal Information

When you register for an account, we collect:

• Email address (required)
• Full name (optional)
• Password (encrypted and securely stored)
• Profile picture (if provided or from Google OAuth)

2.2 Business Plan Data

When you use our grant matching service, we collect:

• Business plan documents you upload (PDF, Word)
• Business plan content you create manually
• Grant matching preferences and search history

2.3 Community Data

If you participate in our community features, we collect:

• Posts and comments you create
• Likes and interactions with other users' content

2.4 Automatically Collected Information

We automatically collect certain information when you visit our platform:

• Browser type and version
• Operating system
• IP address
• Pages visited and time spent
• Referring website

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide and maintain our grant matching service
• Analyse your business plan using AI to match you with relevant UK grants
• Generate improvement suggestions for your business plan
• Calculate your Funding Readiness Score
• Send you email notifications about your account and matches
• Respond to your enquiries and support requests
• Improve our platform and develop new features
• Detect and prevent fraud or abuse

4. AI Processing and Third-Party Services

4.1 AI Analysis

We use our own proprietary machine learning model to analyse your business plans and provide grant matching recommendations. When you submit a business plan:

• Your business plan content is processed by our AI system
• Your data is NOT used to train our AI models
• Processing is handled securely within our infrastructure
• We implement appropriate safeguards to protect your data during analysis

4.2 Google OAuth

If you choose to sign in with Google, we receive your email address, name, and profile picture from Google. This is subject to Google's Privacy Policy.

4.3 Email Services

We use third-party email services to send verification emails and notifications. Your email address is shared with these services solely for the purpose of delivering emails to you.

4.4 Data Storage

Your data is stored securely using MongoDB cloud database services. We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data.

5. Cookies and Tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate our platform. Some cookies are essential for the website to function properly and cannot be disabled.

5.1 Essential Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off:

• Authentication cookies (to keep you logged in)
• Security cookies (CSRF protection, OAuth state)
• Session management cookies

5.2 Preference Cookies

These cookies remember your preferences:

• Theme preference (light/dark mode)
• Cookie consent preferences

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. Specifically:

• Account data: Until you delete your account
• Business plans: Until you delete them or your account
• Community posts: Until you delete them or your account
• Email verification codes: 10 minutes after generation
• Session data: Until logout or session expiry

When you delete your account, all associated data is permanently removed from our systems.

7. Your Rights

Under applicable data protection laws, you have the following rights:

• Access: Request a copy of your personal data
• Rectification: Correct inaccurate personal data
• Erasure: Delete your account and all associated data
• Restriction: Limit how we process your data
• Portability: Receive your data in a structured format
• Objection: Object to certain processing activities

To exercise these rights, please contact us at support@grantmatchr.com.

8. Data Security

We implement appropriate security measures to protect your personal information:

• Passwords are hashed using industry-standard encryption (bcrypt)
• All data transmitted over HTTPS
• Secure authentication with JWT tokens
• Regular security audits and updates
• Access controls and authentication requirements

9. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than the United Kingdom. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws.

10. Children's Privacy

GrantMatchr is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you become aware that a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at: