Privacy at Pen Pal Tree

Pen Pal Tree is designed to collect the information needed to create accounts, publish community connection opportunities, coordinate participation, protect users, and operate the service. We intentionally discourage unnecessary medical, financial, residential, or other sensitive information about older adults.

Information we collect

Depending on how you use Pen Pal Tree, we may collect account details such as name and email; organization information; locations and mailing preferences; opportunities, messages, pledges, connection requests and saved items; contact or safety reports; and basic service records needed for security and operation.

Public information

Information you intentionally publish—such as a community name, general location, opportunity, project, or approved story—may be visible publicly. Participating organizations control whether their business mailing address is public, members-only, revealed after a pledge, or digital-only. Imported directory listings are identified separately from participating communities.

Older adults and children

Pen Pal Tree does not create public resident profiles or child accounts. Do not publish room numbers, exact dates of birth, medical records, financial information, or unnecessary identifying information. Children should participate through a responsible adult, school, family, or organization.

Individual joy requests

Someone creating a personal celebration or encouragement request should be the older adult, have permission, or be an appropriate family member/caregiver coordinating it. Personal mailing addresses are not displayed on the public request page.

How information is used

We use information to operate accounts and listings, coordinate connections and pledges, send requested service notifications and reminders, prevent abuse, respond to support requests, moderate content, and understand aggregate platform impact.

Sharing

Pen Pal Tree does not make private connection details public by default. Public attribution of a matched volunteer or group is optional. We may use service providers needed to operate the platform, such as hosting, authentication, database, and email delivery providers. Information may also be disclosed when reasonably necessary for safety, legal compliance, fraud prevention, or protection of rights.

Your choices

You can choose what opportunities to publish, whether to allow public attribution, and how an organization mailing address is displayed. You may contact Pen Pal Tree about access, correction, account concerns, or privacy questions through Contact Us.

Security and retention

We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards, but no online service can guarantee absolute security. Records may be retained as needed to operate the service, preserve connection and safety history, resolve disputes, and meet legal obligations.

Changes

We may update this policy as Pen Pal Tree evolves. Material changes will be reflected by an updated effective date.

Contact

Pen Pal Tree · Sugar Land, Texas, USA · support@penpaltree.org · Serving communities and individuals worldwide. Use Contact Us for privacy questions.