Privacy Policy

The Bill Emmsley Jr. Scholarship Fund ("the Fund," "we," "us," or "our") cares about the privacy of applicants, donors, and visitors. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect through billemmsleyscholarship.org (the "Site"), how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. By using the Site, submitting a scholarship application, or submitting a donor inquiry, you agree to the practices described here.

1. Information We Collect

Scholarship applications. When you complete the application form, we collect the information you provide, which may include your name, student ID, email address, village, American Samoa residency status, academic program and grades, coursework and credits, work and community experience, personal essays, and uploaded documents such as transcripts, letters of recommendation, a government-issued photo ID, and an optional resume.

Donor inquiries. When you use the "Become a Donor" form, we collect your name, email address, phone number (optional), and any message you choose to include.

Automatically collected information. We do not use analytics or advertising cookies. Our bot-protection provider may process limited technical information from your browser and network connection (such as your IP address and device signals) to check that a form submission comes from a person and not an automated script. Our web hosting provider may keep standard server access logs for security purposes. Your browser also loads some page resources (such as styling and fonts) from third-party servers, which can see your IP address and basic browser information when they do.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To review, evaluate, and process scholarship applications and select recipients
• To verify eligibility (including American Samoa residency status and enrollment/program information)
• To communicate with you about your application or donor inquiry, including sending confirmation emails and, where applicable, a copy of your submitted application
• To respond to donor inquiries and follow up about supporting the Fund
• To detect and prevent spam, fraud, and abuse of our forms
• To maintain records required for the administration of the scholarship program

3. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information and do not share it for advertising. We share it only as needed to run the Site and the scholarship and donor programs, using the following types of service providers, each of which handles data on our behalf under its own privacy and security practices:

• Database and document-storage provider — stores application and donor inquiry data and uploaded documents
• Email-delivery provider — sends our application confirmations, administrator notifications, and donor inquiry notifications and confirmations
• Bot-protection provider — checks that form submissions come from people
• Web hosting provider — serves the Site's pages

We may also disclose information if required to do so by law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Fund, our applicants, donors, or others.

4. Data Retention

We do not set a fixed retention period. We keep application and donor inquiry information for as long as we reasonably need it to evaluate applications, run the scholarship program, maintain donor relationships, and meet recordkeeping, tax, or legal obligations. Copies may also exist in generated application files and periodic backups until they are deleted. You may contact us at any time to ask about the status of your information.

5. Data Security

Submissions to the Site are sent over HTTPS. Application documents and form data are kept with our storage provider behind access controls and are not publicly accessible. Access is limited to Fund administrators and designated reviewers, who also receive application notifications by email. Generated copies of applications and periodic backups are kept by the Fund and handled the same way. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Your Rights and Choices

You may contact us at any time to ask what information we hold about you, to ask us to correct it, or to ask us to delete it. We will make reasonable efforts to act on your request, including removing copies from backups where practical, but we may keep certain records (for example, records of past scholarship awards). To make a request, email us at the address below.

7. Children's Privacy

The Site is intended for prospective and current college-level students, donors, and the general public, and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

8. Third-Party Links

The Site may mention or link to other organizations and websites, such as American Samoa Community College and social media pages. We are not responsible for their privacy practices.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. Continued use of the Site after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact Us

Questions about this Privacy Policy or your information can be sent to apply@billemmsleyscholarship.org (applications) or donor@billemmsleyscholarship.org (donor inquiries), or by mail to the Bill Emmsley Jr. Scholarship Fund, Pago Pago, American Samoa.

This policy is provided as a general, plain-language description of our data practices and is not a substitute for legal advice.