Effective Date: April 8, 2026
Middle East Children’s Alliance (also referred to as “MECA,” “us” or “we”) is a nonprofit humanitarian aid organization based in Berkeley, California, that works to protect the rights and improve the lives of children in the Middle East through aid, empowerment and education. Our work, and the various tools we use to support that work are hereinafter referred to collectively as the “Service(s).”
We take your privacy and information very seriously. To that end, we have this Privacy Policy to advise you of our rules on handling the information we receive connected to the Services. By accessing and using the Services of MECA you acknowledge you read and agree to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to abide by this Privacy Policy, please immediately exit the Site and stop using the Services. Please also review our Terms of Service as these also dictate how you may use our Services. The Services include, but are not necessarily limited to, operating the website found at https://www.mecaforpeace.org/ (also referred to below as the “Site” or “Website”) and our mobile application(s), including but not necessarily limited to the One Pali App (the “App(s)”).
This Privacy Policy is effective as of the effective date noted above and will remain in effect until we change it. We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time and will post changes to this policy on our Site. You should check this policy periodically as its terms may change from time to time. If you continue to use the Services, that means you acknowledge and agree to the modified policy.
MECA is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation that is recognized as tax-exempt under federal and state law. We do collect a variety of information identifying or identifiable to individuals (“Personal Information”) in pursuit of our charitable and educational activities.
However, because MECA is a public charity, the majority of privacy laws are not applicable to MECA. In particular, no omnibus privacy laws of any U.S. state apply to MECA. If this were ever to change, this Privacy Policy would be updated to reflect those new obligations.
If you are located in the European Union, you may have rights under GDPR, which will be outlined in this policy. In addition, this policy will outline what Personal Information is collected by MECA, as well as how that data is used.
Finally, MECA’s App, OnePali, is provided and operated by OnePali, LLC. By using the OnePali App, you are interacting directly with both MECA and OnePali, LLC. To understand OnePali, LLC’s data protection practices and how they impact you, please review their privacy policy as well.
You will find the following information in this policy:
What Personal Information is Collected by MECA Through Non-App Services and How it Is Used
What Personal Information is Collected by MECA Through the OnePali App and How it Is Used
Sources of Personal Information
Comments and User Generated Content
Sensitive Information Collection and Use Practices
Data Retention and Security Practices
How Policy Changes Will be Communicated
Children’s Privacy Practices
Your Rights Under GDPR
Legal Basis for Processing Personal Information under GDPR
How to Contact Us
This section explains how MECA will use, disclose, exchange, or transfer the Personal Information you provide on this website or that we collect through other means. MECA collects Personal Information through 1) your interactions with MECA, including our website and Apps; 2) as shared with us by third parties in support of our charitable mission; and 3), as shared with us by our Service Providers (also referred to as “processors” under some privacy laws).
For a further summary of how we use information collected through this website, please see the detailed list of categories of Personal Information and how we use it below.
To clearly explain how and why your Personal Information is collected and used, MECA has created the list of collected Personal Information found below. MECA does not sell or disclose any of your Personal Information to any third party.
While not the exclusive source of Personal Information, MECA generally receives information directly from you when you interact with us by doing things like making a donation, joining online actions such as petitions, or signing up for our email lists. For more information, please see the Sources of Information section below.
The following section explains the categories of Personal Information collected by MECA, the purpose for collection and the categories of service providers processing the information on MECA's behalf.
Identifiers and Personal Information Categories.
What We Collect: MECA collects the following identifiers from users of our non-App Services: First and last names, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses including state, province, ZIP codes, city and address numbers, and IP addresses.
What We Do With It: Information collected from you on our Website and Apps is collected for purposes of operating those Services. It is also used to allow us to accept donations, respond to inquiries, to communicate with you (for example when you sign up for our newsletter), for analytics and internal marketing purposes, and for fraud prevention. This information is used to provide the expected service of the Website and Apps and in support of our charitable mission. Information collected offline is used in support of our charitable mission.
Internet or Similar Network Activity
What We Collect: MECA collects the following personal information categories from the internet or similar network activity from users of our non-App services: Analytics related to your use of our website.
What We Do With It: This information is collected to assist in using our Services. It is also used with our analytics platforms to help improve the Service and for internal marketing purposes. This information is also used to respond to inquiries and for fraud prevention.
Equipment Information
What We Collect: MECA collects the following personal information categories related to equipment information from users of our non-App Services: the type of mobile device you use, the IP address of your device, your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser you use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.
What We Do With It: This information is collected for analytics purposes, to improve your interaction with the website and for internal marketing purposes. This information is also used to respond to your inquiries and for fraud prevention.
In addition to the foregoing, we use Personal Information collected through non-App sources for purposes of conducting our charitable activities. For instance, if you sign up to receive our newsletter we may use your Personal Information to contact you with newsletters or other information that we think may be of interest to you. You may opt out of these communications at any time, excluding emails directly relating to any ongoing business we have together.
We will never sell or otherwise provide your information to unaffiliated third parties without your prior consent. We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it, or for the protection of our legal rights.
MECA may aggregate information about you and other individuals together so that the information does not identify you personally. MECA may use information in these forms for any legitimate business purpose, including for research and analysis, administration of services, advertising and promotional purposes.
MECA uses Service Providers to assist with payment/donation processing, communications, and marketing purposes. MECA may share your Personal Information with these Service Providers to assist with the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy.
We will not collect additional categories of personal information or use the personal information we collect for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you notice.
We may collect data necessary to process your payment if you make donations through our Services, such as your payment instrument number, and the security code associated with your payment instrument. All payment data is stored by Stripe. You may find their privacy notice link(s) here:https://stripe.com/privacy.
To clearly explain how and why your Personal Information is collected and used through MECA Apps such as One Pali, MECA has created the list of collected Personal Information found below. MECA does not sell or disclose any of your Personal Information to any third party. However, MECA wants to emphasize again that the OnePali App is owned and operated by the entity One Pali.
The following section explains the categories of Personal Information collected by MECA Apps such as One Pali, the purpose for collection and the categories of service providers processing the information on MECA's behalf.
Identifiers and Personal Information Categories.
What We Collect: MECA collects the following identifiers from users of our Apps: First and last names, Google account or Apple ID, email addresses, and IP addresses.
What We Do With It: Information collected from you on our Website and Apps is collected for purposes of operating those Services. It is also used to allow us to accept donations, respond to inquiries, to communicate with you (for example when you sign up for our newsletter), for analytics and internal marketing purposes, and for fraud prevention. This information is used to provide the expected service of the Website and Apps and in support of our charitable mission. Information collected offline is used in support of our charitable mission.
Internet or Similar Network Activity
What We Collect: MECA collects the following personal information categories from the internet or similar network activity from users of our Apps: Analytics related to your use of our App including usage data and marketing attribution.
What We Do With It: This information is collected to assist in using our Services. It is also used with our analytics platforms to help improve the Service and for internal marketing purposes. This information is also used to respond to inquiries and for fraud prevention.
Equipment Information
What We Collect: MECA collects the following personal information categories related to equipment information from users of our Apps: the type of mobile device you use, the IP address of your device, your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser you use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.
What We Do With It: This information is collected for analytics purposes, to improve your interaction with the app and for internal marketing purposes. This information is also used to respond to your inquiries and for fraud prevention.
In addition to the foregoing, we use Personal Information for purposes of conducting our charitable activities. For instance, if you sign up to receive our newsletter we may use your Personal Information to contact you with newsletters or other information that we think may be of interest to you. You may opt out of these communications at any time, excluding emails directly relating to any ongoing business we have together.
We will never sell or otherwise provide your information to unaffiliated third parties without your prior consent. However, MECA wants to emphasize again that the OnePali App is owned and operated by the entity OnePali, LLC. By using and providing information to the OnePali App, you are providing your information directly to both MECA and OnePali. We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it, or for the protection of our legal rights.
MECA may aggregate information about you and other individuals together so that the information does not identify you personally. MECA may use information in these forms for any legitimate business purpose, including for research and analysis, administration of services, advertising and promotional purposes.
MECA uses Service Providers to assist with online donations, payment processing, database hosting, as well as analytics and marketing purposes. MECA may share your Personal Information with these Services Providers to assist with the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy.
We will not collect additional categories of personal information or use the personal information we collect for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you notice.
We may collect data necessary to process your payment if you make donations through our Services, such as your payment instrument number, and the security code associated with your payment instrument. All payment data is stored by Apple Pay and/or Stripe. You may find their privacy notice link(s) here: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/apple-pay/ and https://stripe.com/privacy.
We obtain the personal information listed above from the following categories of sources:
Directly from users of our Services and other consumers. For example, from signing up for a newsletter, forms you complete, donations you make, or in relation to services you receive from us.
Indirectly from users of our Services through usage details we collect. For example, from observing your actions on our Website and Apps through analytics tools.
From third parties in support of our charitable mission.
In person.
MECA Apps give users the ability to leave comments and otherwise create content which is posted to the App. Please see our Terms of Service for full details about Community Guidelines and User-Generated Content. Further, please understand that any comment you may make is being made in a public forum without further expectation of privacy.
MECA does not use or disclose any sensitive information on you except to perform services reasonably expected by you, for fraud detection purposes, and to detect security incidents. For example, our Service Providers use payment information when you are making a donation to us. However, please be aware that, as stated above, our App vendor OnePali processes your Personal Information as a controller of that data, not our processor. Please refer to their Privacy Policy for their practices regarding sensitive information.
Sensitive information is defined by GDPR as Personal Information that reveals any of the following: (1) personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, (2) political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs; (3) trade-union membership; (4) genetic data, biometric data processed solely to identify a human being; (5) health-related data; or (6) data concerning a person’s sex life or sexual orientation. As a charitable organization focused on work that can be interpreted as political, your identity in association with your donation may be considered sensitive information under some privacy laws.
MECA's Services are hosted in the United States and are governed by United States law. If you are using the Services from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored and processed in the United States. The data protection and other laws of the United States might not be as comprehensive or protective of certain rights as those in your country. Under United States law, your information may be subject to access requests from governments, courts, or law enforcement in the United States. By using the Services, you consent to your information being transferred to our facilities and to the facilities of those service providers with whom we share it as described in this Privacy Policy and processed in those facilities.
We will retain your Personal Information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your Personal Information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our Services, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users have some options to update and remove their personal information in their user profile on their own at any time (except they cannot change their username). Service administrators can also see and edit that information.
We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
Please be aware that, although we endeavor to provide reasonable security for user personal information we process and maintain, no security measures can guarantee absolute safety and prevent all potential security breaches.
Like most websites, MECA uses cookies for a variety of purposes. This Cookies Policy will explain what cookies are, what we use them for, and how you can opt out of using cookies through your browser.
A cookie is a small piece of data sent from a website (like https://www.mecaforpeace.org/) and stored on your computer by your web browser while you are browsing. Cookies are how websites ‘remember’ information about you in order to properly respond when you access website features. Examples include remembering which pages you visited in the past and authenticating whether you can access certain secure information. Some websites also use cookies for gathering marketing data or other marketing purposes.
By continuing to use the Site, you expressly consent to the use of cookies as described in this Privacy Policy.
We use some Required and Functional Cookies in order to allow our site to operate. These cookies are used for things such as remembering that you’re logged in and are necessary to provide the Services. These cookies can include both permanent and session cookies, and are in general used to improve your experience when interacting with the Site.
We also use Analytics Cookies for analytics purposes such as via Google Analytics. Analytics Cookies are used internally, to help Website operators understand what their users are doing, in order to further customize and develop the Website in the future. They are used to show patterns of access by many users on a site.
Our cookies do not store individual information about a user. Turning off cookies in your browser settings may impact your use of the site.
Our Service may contain links to other sites. If you click on such a link, you will be directed to that site. Note that these external sites are not operated by us. Therefore, we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of these websites. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any external sites or services.
Once again, the sites those links can take you to have their own separate privacy policies. Although we seek to protect the integrity of our site, we are not liable for the content and activities of those sites. Your visits and access to such websites are at your own risk. Please note that those other sites may send their own cookies to users, collect data, or solicit personal information.
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Thus, we advise you to review this page periodically for any changes. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page or as otherwise required by applicable laws and regulations. These changes are effective immediately, after they are posted on this page.
As a public charity, the requirements of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act generally do not apply to MECA. However, MECA takes the privacy of children extremely seriously and, where possible, endeavors to ensure that additional protections for children’s data are extended in line with common standards. If collected in the course of performing our charitable mission, this information is processed under a lawful basis and treated with a high degree of confidentiality and care, with a focus on protecting the children in question.
However, aside from the above, MECA does not knowingly collect the personal information of individuals under 18 years of age for the general use portions of our Services (e.g. the Website, our Apps, our fundraising activities, and the like). For those Services, if we discover that a child under 18 has provided us with personal information, we immediately delete this from our general purpose MECA servers. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with Personal Information or is using our Services without your supervision or consent, please contact us so that we can take the necessary actions.
EU/EEA/UK Privacy Rights
Additionally, if you are located in the European Union (“EU”) or United Kingdom (“UK”), you have the following rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its UK counterpart (UK-GDPR):
The right to access. You have the right to request copies of your Personal Information. We may charge you a small fee for this service, although we will avoid that if we can.
The right to rectification. You have the right to request that MECA correct any information you believe is inaccurate, and/or to complete information you believe is incomplete.
The right to erasure. You have the right to request that MECA erase your Personal Information, unless certain conditions or exemptions apply.
The right to restrict processing. You have the right to request that MECA restrict the processing of your Personal Information, unless certain conditions or exemptions apply.
The right to object to processing. You have the right to object to MECA's processing of your Personal Information, unless certain conditions or exemptions apply.
The right to data portability. You have the right to request that MECA transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, unless certain conditions or exemptions apply.
If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, or have any questions, please contact us using the form below.
EU/UK Legal Basis
Where we process the data of an individual subject to GDPR or UK-GDPR, we do so on a number of legal basis. Depending on the type of information processed, our basis for processing can include: (1) your consent; (2) where necessary to perform a contract with you (3) where necessary for legal compliance purposes; (4) where such processing is necessary to protect the vital interests of you or another person; (5) where the processing is necessary to carry out a task of public interest; and (6) where the legitimate interests of MECA or a third party allow it.
The vast majority of the processing done by MECA is done for the purpose of providing the Services, by the consent of users, and/or to fulfill legal obligations. Our App vendor OnePali is also a controller of Personal Information submitted through the Apps. Please see their Privacy Policy for their legal basis and practices.
You have the right to complain to your local data protection authority if you are unhappy with our privacy practices.
Contact Us
The information provided below will be used exclusively for the purpose of processing your request under this Privacy Policy, including to confirm your identity. This information will not be used or maintained for any other purpose.
The Middle East Children’s Alliance. You can reach us by telephone at 510-548-0542 or by using this contact form: https://www.mecaforpeace.org/contact-us/.