Privacy Policy

This website is owned and operated by HKM Goa. In this Privacy Policy, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to HKM Goa.

We recognize that you may be concerned about the information we collect from you through our website and how we treat that information. We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected.

This Privacy Policy is effective from May 25, 2018. This policy describes what information we collect from you, why we collect it, how it is used, protected and retained as well as your choices regarding this information.

If you have any questions, comments and concerns about this Privacy Policy, or any requests concerning your personal data, you may contact us at:

Personal Information

• We do not collect personally identifiable information unless you provide it to us voluntarily.
• You do not need to register or provide personal information just to browse the website.
• We do not sell or trade any information we collect to third parties.
• We do not share your information with third parties unless you authorize it or it is required by law.

Donations

When you make a donation through our online donation page, we collect:

• Name, mobile number, e-mail address, postal address and zip/postal code.

We use this information to:

• Acknowledge receipt of your donation and/or send prasadam.
• Send an 80G certificate (if applicable) upon your request.
• Communicate with you in case of any trouble processing the donation.

If you are donating for any seva, you can specify in whose name it should be offered. In such cases, we also collect the sevakarta’s name, relation to you, rashi, nakshatra and gotra — needed to perform sankalpa in the sevakarta’s name.

Life Patron

• Becoming a life patron lets you participate in and benefit from our various programs.
• To enquire about enrolment, we collect your name, mobile number, email address and the life patron scheme you’re interested in.
• We use this data for subsequent communication with you about enrolment.

Donor’s Personal Data

• We retain the personal information collected at the time of your donation only as long as required for statutory or legal purposes.
• We use your personal information only for the purpose it was collected for.
• You can additionally opt in to receive updates on temple festivals, events, special offers and volunteering opportunities — we use your data for these communications only if you opt in.

Online Contests

We occasionally conduct online contests, such as the Krishna Costume Contest, to impart spiritual education and encourage spiritual practice. When you register to participate, we collect:

• Participant’s name, date of birth and gender.
• Parent/guardian’s name, mobile number, e-mail address, postal address and zip/postal code.

We use this to communicate with you about the contest and to send certificates/prizes to winners.

Free Puja

We offer online visitors a free puja performed in their name on special occasions like Sri Krishna Janmashtami and Sri Vaikuntha Ekadashi, along with access to the live puja webcast. When you register, we collect:

• Your name, address, zip/postal code, mobile number and e-mail address.
• Your rashi, nakshatra and gotra — needed to perform sankalpa and puja in your name.
• If you register family members too, we collect each member’s name, rashi, nakshatra and gotra.

This information is used solely to communicate about the free puja and to perform the sankalpa and puja in your name.

Event Registration

We conduct programs like Culture Camp and Heritage Fest (a cultural contest) for students, to nurture their talents and cultural/spiritual values.

Culture Camp — we collect:

• Participant’s name, date of birth, gender, school name and class.
• Contact person’s name, relationship to participant, email address, mobile number, city, state, country and postal address (alternate contact details are optional).

Used to confirm the participant’s eligibility and issue participation certificates.

Heritage Fest — we collect:

• Participant’s name, school name, gender and class.
• Contact person’s name, email address and mobile number.

Used to confirm eligibility to contest, award participation certificates to all contestants and prizes to winners, and to communicate with the contact person on matters related to the event.

Charitable Activities

We offer merit scholarships to economically backward students who have appeared for the SSLC or II PUC exams. For an online scholarship application, we collect:

• Student’s name, percentage marks, and the course they wish to pursue.
• Parent/guardian’s name, occupation and annual income.
• Address and zip/postal code, mobile number and e-mail address.
• Name and postal address of the college/institution where the student is admitted or seeking admission.

Used to communicate about the application and to assess the student’s eligibility for the scholarship.

WhatsApp Subscription

• You can subscribe to our WhatsApp Broadcast Group for daily Deity darshan, festival announcements, Ekadashi reminders and inspirational quotes.
• This service is free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
• We store your name and WhatsApp number in our contacts list solely to send you these messages.

Enquiries (Contact Us)

• When you send us an enquiry through the ‘Contact Us’ page, we collect your name and email address along with your enquiry, to respond to your questions.

Third Party Tools

We use the following third party tools on our site for various purposes as explained below.

Mailbluster / Amazon SES (Email Subscription)

• Used for email communication with our subscribers about upcoming festivals, special events and other temple updates.
• Collects your name and email address when you subscribe.
• Free service — you can unsubscribe at any time.

Artibot (Chat Plugin)

• Provides live chat for online visitors.
• While the chat box is online, only your message is needed to start a conversation.
• While offline, you leave your message with your name and email address so we can respond later.

Truepush (Push Notification)

• Sends pop-up notifications about upcoming festivals, special events and temple updates.
• Does not ask for any personal information.
• Free service — you can unsubscribe at any time.

Payment Gateways

• We use Razorpay to let you pay electronically via card, net banking or other payment methods.
• Razorpay collects your contact, card and transaction details to process the payment.
• We do not collect or store any of these payment details ourselves — this data is managed entirely by Razorpay under its own privacy policy.

Google Analytics / Google Tag Manager (for Analytics)

Used to analyze and evaluate the use and performance of our website, so we can improve your online experience. This tool collects non-personal data such as:

• IP address and geographical location.
• Browser type/version and operating system.
• Referral source, length of visit, page views and navigation paths.
• Timing, frequency and pattern of your website visits.

This data helps us understand what website content is popular, measure the effectiveness of our outreach, and analyze site traffic and visitor behavior.

Donation Refund Policy

We take utmost care processing donations as per the mandates signed by donors, both offline and online. In the unlikely event of an erroneous deduction, or if you wish to cancel/deduct your donation:

• We will respond within 7 working days of receiving your complaint.
• Refund timing depends on the type of card/payment method used for the transaction.
• We require proof of the deduction and a written refund request within 2 days of the donation.
• If a receipt has already been issued, the original must be returned to our official address.
• If a tax exemption certificate has already been issued, a refund will not be possible.
• International donations will require additional working days for a refund.

Security

We are committed to keeping the information you share with us secure. We use suitable physical, electronic and managerial safeguards to protect your data against unauthorized access, disclosure, unlawful processing, and accidental loss, destruction or damage.

Cookies

• The third-party tools listed above may use cookies to automatically collect non-personal information, such as recognizing repeat visitors and tracking usage patterns.
• Cookies are small text files — they cannot damage files on your device.
• Most browsers let you deny or accept cookies; blocking them may limit some features of our website that depend on the third-party tools above.

External Links

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. A link does not represent our endorsement, authorization, sponsorship, or affiliation with that site, its content or its owners, unless we expressly state otherwise. These other sites may collect their own personal data or set their own cookies — we are not responsible for the privacy practices of any external site, so please review their policies before sharing information there.

Amendments to this Policy

• Any changes to this policy will be posted on this page, so you always know what information we collect, how we use it, and when we disclose it.
• Information already collected is used in accordance with the policy that was in effect when it was collected.
• If we intend to use your personal information in a significantly different way, we will notify you by e-mail first and will not proceed without your express permission — unless you have already opted out of all communication or deleted your account, in which case we will not contact you at all.

Data Retention

We retain your personal information only as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this policy, unless a longer period is required by law or regulation — for example, Indian tax law may require us to keep donor contact information and contribution history on file.

Rights

You have certain rights with respect to the personal information we hold about you. On request, we will:

• Tell you what information we hold about you.
• Rectify any incomplete or inaccurate information.
• Restrict the use of your information.
• Make reasonable efforts to delete your information, unless we are required to keep it.

Sharing

We make a good faith effort to preserve your privacy, but we may need to disclose your personal information when required by law, a court order or legal process served on us, or when necessary to protect our rights, privacy, safety, property, donors or users, or to enforce our terms of service.