Last updated: July 2026
Privacy Policy
HowToHelp ("we", "us") is a volunteer-run, non-commercial civic-education initiative. We take no donations and run no advertising. This page describes, honestly and specifically, what data we collect on howtohelp.in and why — not generic boilerplate.
What we collect, and why
| If you… | We collect | Stored in |
|---|---|---|
| Just read articles | Anonymous analytics (page views, general location, device type) via Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity | Google / Microsoft, per their own privacy policies |
| Sign up for the newsletter | Email address, topics you picked | Our pipeline database (Postgres) |
| Request a workshop for your school | School name, your name, email, phone, city | Firestore (Google Cloud), visible only to our admin team |
| Register interest to volunteer | Name, email, phone, city, availability | Firestore, visible only to our admin team |
| Create a volunteer account | Name, email, phone, and the school visits you log (including any photos you choose to upload) | Firebase Authentication + Firestore + Firebase Storage, readable only by you and our admin team |
| Create a student account to take a course | Name and email only (from Google, or that you type in) — we deliberately do not ask students for a phone number — plus which lessons and quizzes you've completed | Firebase Authentication + Firestore, readable only by you |
Students and children — our specific commitments
Many people using our Learn courses and school workshops are under 18. We take that seriously, beyond what the law strictly requires:
- We collect the minimum possible data from a student account — just a name and email, nothing else. No phone number, no address, no other profile data.
- Signing up as a student requires confirming you have a parent's or guardian's permission to do so.
- Volunteers must never photograph a child identifiably without the school's and the parents' consent — this is a written rule in our volunteer code of conduct, not just a policy line.
- A parent or guardian can ask us to see or delete a child's account data at any time — see "Your rights" below.
What we never do
- We never sell your data. There is nothing to sell it for — we take no advertising and no donations.
- We never share your data with a third party except the infrastructure providers (Google Firebase, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity) that operate the site itself.
- We never publish a school visit photo, workshop request, or volunteer profile publicly without asking first.
Cookies and analytics
We use Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity to understand which articles and pages are useful, in aggregate — not to track you individually. These services set their own cookies; you can block them with your browser's privacy settings or an extension without losing any site functionality.
How our content is made
Most articles on this site are generated by an AI system (Google Gemini) using government sources, then quality- and fact-checked before publishing — some are written directly by our editorial team. Every article lists its sources. If you spot an error, please tell us — we want it fixed.
Data retention and security
Account data is kept as long as your account is active. Form submissions (workshop requests, volunteer interest) are kept to run the programme and aren't used for anything else. Our production database is backed up nightly. Firebase Authentication, Firestore, and Storage are Google Cloud infrastructure with their own security and durability guarantees.
Your rights
You (or, for a student under 18, your parent or guardian) can ask us to see, correct, or delete any personal data we hold about you. Email [email protected] and we'll act on it promptly.
Changes to this policy
If we materially change what we collect or why, we'll update this page and the "last updated" date above.