Global Heroes of Hope is a volunteer-led program of the American Cancer Society. This page explains what information we collect on globalheroesofhope.com, why we collect it, and the rights you have — especially if you visit us from the European Union or United Kingdom.
1. Who we are
Global Heroes of Hope (GHOH) is a global volunteer initiative operated under the American Cancer Society's Global Relay For Life program. This website is maintained by GHOH volunteer leadership and is not a commercial service.
For American Cancer Society enterprise-level privacy practices, see the ACS Privacy Statement.
2. What we collect
We aim to collect as little information as possible. Here's everything this site gathers:
| What | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregate visit statistics (page, country, referrer, browser) | Every page visit | To understand which pages are helpful. No cookies. No IP address storage. No individual tracking. |
| Name, email, optional organization, subject, message | When you use the Contact Us form | So the GHOH leadership team can reply to you. |
| A display name, optional dedication message, optional photo | When you submit a luminaria tribute | To display your tribute in the public Luminaria Garden. |
| A display name and quiz score | When you submit a score to the monthly quiz | To display your score on the public leaderboard. |
| Your name, email, the story you share, any photos, and any links you include | When you submit a story through our "Share a Story" form | So our team can review it, follow up with you, credit you, and — with your permission — feature your story across our channels (newsletter, social media, and similar). |
| Your name, email, optional organization, and the event details you give us (type, format, date, location, message) | When you ask a Hero to speak at your event through the Heroes directory | So the request reaches that Hero (or, if they have no email on file, the GHOH leadership team) and they can reply to you. |
| Your Google account name, email address, and profile photo | When you sign in with Google to open the Impact Story Library or a leadership workspace | To confirm you are part of the GHOH community before showing member-only content. We do not publish or share these details. |
When you submit photos with a story, you confirm you have permission from anyone identifiable in them — including survivors and caregivers — for us to share those images. Submitted stories are reviewed by our team before they are used anywhere, and we will not publish a story or photo if you ask us not to.
We do not use advertising cookies, sell or rent any data, share data with data brokers, or build profiles of visitors. There are no third-party ad networks, social media pixels, or marketing trackers anywhere on this site.
We do not use artificial intelligence to make decisions about you or to process anything you submit. Everything you send us is read and handled by a person on the GHOH team.
3. Legal basis for processing (EU/UK visitors)
- Legitimate interest — aggregate, cookieless website analytics to improve a nonprofit awareness program.
- Consent — whenever you choose to fill in a form, submit a luminaria, post a quiz score, share a story, request a speaker, or sign in with Google. You can withdraw consent at any time (see Section 7).
4. Who processes data on our behalf
We rely on a small set of reputable service providers ("sub-processors") to run this site:
| Provider | Purpose | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Netlify | Website hosting and the functions that deliver contact-form and speaking-request emails | United States |
| Cloudflare Web Analytics | Cookieless, aggregate visitor statistics | Global CDN |
| GoatCounter | Cookieless, aggregate visitor statistics on our Keep it Relay resource pages | European Union (Finland and Germany) |
| Resend | Delivers contact-form emails to GHOH leadership and speaking requests to Heroes | United States |
| Google Firebase | Stores the public Heroes roster, luminaria tributes, quiz scores, and impact story submissions; handles Google sign-in for member-only pages | United States |
| Google Fonts | Serves our typography | Global CDN |
Because some providers are based in the United States, data you submit may be transferred outside the EU/UK. These providers rely on Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent safeguards for international transfers.
5. Cookies
This site does not use cookies. Cloudflare Web Analytics is cookieless by design. Because we do not set any cookies — essential or otherwise — no cookie banner is required under the ePrivacy Directive or UK PECR.
If you sign in with Google on a member-only page, your browser keeps a sign-in token in its local storage (not a cookie) so you stay signed in. It never leaves your device and is removed when you sign out or clear your browser data.
6. How long we keep information
- Aggregate visit statistics — retained by Cloudflare for up to 6 months, never tied to an individual.
- Contact form messages and speaking requests — kept in our email inbox for as long as needed to respond and follow up, typically no longer than two years.
- Luminaria tributes and quiz scores — retained for the lifetime of the program, since they're intentionally public. You may request removal at any time.
- Story submissions — retained for the lifetime of the program so we can showcase and re-share impact stories. You may request removal or correction at any time.
- Google sign-in details — kept in Firebase Authentication for as long as you use the member-only pages. Ask us and we will delete your sign-in record.
7. Your rights
If you are in the EU, UK, or any jurisdiction with similar laws, you have the right to:
- Access the information we hold about you
- Correct information that is inaccurate
- Request deletion of your information
- Object to or restrict processing
- Request a copy of your information in a portable format
- Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
- Lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority
To exercise any of these rights, email us at the address below. We will respond within 30 days.
8. Children
This website is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 16. If you believe a child has submitted information, please contact us and we will delete it.
9. Security
All traffic to this site is encrypted via HTTPS. Our sub-processors maintain industry-standard security practices. Because we collect very little personal data, the impact of any incident is intentionally limited.
10. Changes to this policy
If we materially change how we handle information, we'll update this page and revise the effective date at the top.
11. Contact us
Global Heroes of Hope
Privacy questions and data requests:
Use the Contact Us form on our homepage, or write to the American Cancer Society at cancer.org.