Privacy Policy

1. Scope of This Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Founders League Institute, an Ohio nonprofit corporation (the "Institute," "we," "us," or "our"), collects, uses, shares, and protects information in connection with the website at foundersleague.co and any related pages, forms, and communications (the "Site").

This Policy does not apply to the competition platforms operated by the Institute's chartered Chapters, including the Ohio Founders League. Each Chapter platform has its own privacy policy that governs venture registrations, weekly reports, Scout activity, campus lead accounts, and other participant data. If you use a Chapter platform, please review that Chapter's policy.

2. Information We Collect

Information you provide directly. When you complete the State Nomination form or otherwise contact us, we collect the information you choose to provide, which may include:

• Your name and email address.
• Your organization and your role (for example, university leadership, entrepreneurship center, student, founder or alum, investor, economic development, foundation, or other).
• The state you are nominating and any description you provide about universities, founders, or people we should contact.
• The content of any email or other communication you send us.

Information collected automatically. Like most websites, the Site's hosting infrastructure automatically records limited technical information when you visit, such as your IP address, browser type, device type, referring page, the pages you view, and the date and time of your visit. This information is used for security, capacity, and diagnostic purposes. The Site does not currently use advertising trackers or third-party analytics cookies.

Information from third parties. We may receive information about you from a Chapter, a university, a partner, or a publicly available source when it is relevant to evaluating a nomination or to the Institute's work, such as confirming a role at a university.

3. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Evaluate and respond to State Nominations and other inquiries.
• Plan, develop, and charter Chapters, including identifying universities, founders, partners, and civic stakeholders in a nominated state.
• Communicate with you about your submission, the Institute, and related opportunities, and send administrative messages.
• Operate, secure, maintain, and improve the Site.
• Comply with legal obligations, enforce our Terms of Use, and protect the rights, property, and safety of the Institute, its Chapters, and others.
• Produce aggregated or de-identified reports and statistics that do not identify you.

4. How We Share Information

We do not sell personal information. We share information only as follows:

• With Chapters and prospective Chapters. Nominations and related information are shared with the Chapter, or the organizing group for a prospective Chapter, to which they relate, so that they can evaluate and act on the nomination.
• With service providers. We use third-party providers to host the Site, deliver web fonts, process form submissions, and send email. State Nomination submissions are transmitted to and stored on the platform infrastructure operated for the Institute's Chapters, which is hosted by Vercel, Inc. with database services provided by Neon, Inc. in the United States. These providers process information on our behalf and are bound by contractual obligations of confidentiality.
• With directors, officers, advisors, and volunteers of the Institute who need the information to carry out the Institute's work, subject to confidentiality obligations.
• For legal reasons. We may disclose information if we believe in good faith that disclosure is required by law, subpoena, or legal process, or is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Institute, its Chapters, or others.
• In connection with a reorganization. If the Institute merges with, transfers its programs to, or is succeeded by another nonprofit entity, information may be transferred to that entity subject to this Policy.

5. Cookies and Similar Technologies

The Site does not set advertising or analytics cookies. Our hosting provider may use strictly necessary cookies or similar technologies to deliver the Site securely and to distinguish legitimate traffic from automated abuse. Web fonts are loaded from Google Fonts; when your browser requests a font, Google receives your IP address and browser information in accordance with Google's privacy policy. You can adjust your browser settings to refuse cookies, although some features of the Site may not function properly as a result.

6. Data Retention

We retain nomination and inquiry information for as long as it is relevant to evaluating or developing a Chapter in the nominated state, and thereafter as needed to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Technical log data is retained for a limited period consistent with our hosting provider's practices. You may request deletion of your submission as described in Section 8.

7. Information That May Be Public

Information you submit through the Site is not displayed publicly. If you are later involved in a Chapter, for example as a founding partner, campus lead, or board member, information about that role may be published by the Institute or the Chapter with your consent or as described in the Chapter's own policies.

8. Your Choices and Rights

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of the personal information we hold about you by contacting us at the address in Section 12. You may opt out of non-transactional email by using the unsubscribe link in a message or by contacting us. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under applicable privacy laws, including the right to know what personal information we have collected and the right to non-discrimination for exercising your rights. We will respond to verifiable requests within the time required by applicable law. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

9. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information, including transport-layer encryption for the Site and access controls on the systems where submissions are stored. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please do not send sensitive personal information, such as government identification numbers or financial account details, through the Site.

10. Children

The Site is intended for adults and for students who are at least 18 years old. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, and we do not knowingly solicit information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

11. International Visitors

The Institute is located in the United States and the Site is hosted and administered there. If you access the Site from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.

12. Changes to This Policy; Contact

We may update this Policy from time to time. The effective date at the top of this page indicates when it was last revised. Material changes will be posted on the Site, and your continued use of the Site after a revision becomes effective constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.

Questions, requests, or concerns about this Policy may be directed to Founders League Institute at institute@foundersleague.co.