Privacy Policy
How Cistern of Hope Foundation collects, uses and protects personal information.
Last updated: 30 September 2026
Who we are
Cistern of Hope Foundation (COHF) is a registered Kenyan organisation working to eradicate poverty through community empowerment. We are responsible for the personal information collected through this website.
Contact: P.O. Box 23524–00625, Nairobi, Kenya. Email: info@cisternofhopefoundation.org. Telephone: +254 182 751 610.
Information we collect
- When you contact us: your name, email address, and, if you choose to give them, your phone number, organisation and message. The form sends this to our email inbox; it is not stored in the website database.
- When you give online: your name, email address, phone number, gift amount, the programme you chose to support, any message you add and the transaction reference. Card and M-Pesa details are entered with our payment provider, Paystack, and never reach or are stored by this website.
- Technical information: like every website, our server briefly processes your IP address and browser details to deliver pages securely. We use a one-way scrambled form of your IP address only to block spam and repeated attempts, and it expires within hours.
How we use it
- To reply to your enquiry, partnership proposal, volunteer offer, complaint or feedback.
- To process your donation, send you a receipt and keep the financial records the law and our donors require.
- To keep this website secure and free of spam and abuse.
We rely on your consent (for example, when you tick the box on our contact form), on the need to complete a donation you have asked us to process, on our legal obligations, and on our legitimate interest in running a safe website. We never sell, rent or trade your personal information.
Anonymous giving
If you choose to give anonymously, we do not publish your name or share it with anyone outside the Foundation. We still keep a private record so that your gift can be receipted and accounted for.
Who we share it with
- Paystack processes online payments on our behalf under its own security and privacy standards.
- Our website host and email provider store and deliver the site and our emails.
- Auditors, regulators or law enforcement, only where the law requires it.
Photographs and stories
The photographs and stories on this website are published with the consent of the people involved. We protect the dignity and privacy of children and vulnerable people: where appropriate we change names, withhold identifying details or photograph people from behind. If you appear on this website and would like an image or story removed, contact us and we will act promptly.
Cookies
This website uses only the cookies needed for it to work and stay secure, for example to protect our forms. We do not use advertising cookies. If you give online, Paystack may set its own cookies to complete the payment securely.
How long we keep it
Enquiries are kept only as long as needed to respond and follow up. Donation records are kept for as long as Kenyan law and audit requirements demand. Spam-protection data expires automatically within hours.
How we protect it
The website is served over an encrypted connection. Our forms are protected against spam and automated abuse, payments are handled entirely by Paystack, and access to donation records is limited to authorised Foundation staff.
Your rights
Under the Data Protection Act, 2019, you have the right to be told how your information is used, to see the information we hold about you, to ask us to correct or delete it, to object to its use, and to withdraw consent at any time. To exercise any of these rights, email us and we will respond within a reasonable time.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC), Kenya.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as our work and the law change. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised.