Privacy Policy

MarinesConnect is operated by National Marine Corps Business Network, Inc. ("we," "us," or "MarinesConnect"), a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Sacramento, California. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use MarinesConnect, how we use it, and the choices you have. By using MarinesConnect, you agree to this Policy. Your use is also covered by our Terms of Use.

Account and profile information. When you sign up and build your profile, we collect what you provide — your name, email, phone number, username, and location, along with the profile details you choose to add. Those details can include military service history (such as branch, occupational specialty, pay grade, and years of service), professional and business information, and optional fields some members choose to share, such as service-connected disability status, gender, or business revenue range. You control how much of this you fill in, and much of it has visibility settings you can adjust.

Content and activity. We collect the content you create and the actions you take on the platform — posts, comments, messages, introductions you send or receive, listings, opportunities, events and RSVPs, connections, group activity, and any wins or shout-outs you choose to share.

Donation information. Donations are processed by our payment provider, Stripe. We receive and store a record of your gift — amount, date, and whether it is one-time or monthly — and limited billing details needed for receipts and accounting. We do not store your full card number; Stripe handles that directly.

Technical information. Like most websites, we automatically collect basic device and log information and use cookies and similar technologies for sign-in, security, and keeping the site working.

Information from referrals. If you arrive through a member's referral link or a campaign link, we record that so we can credit the referral and understand how members find us.

We use your information to operate MarinesConnect and pursue our nonprofit mission — specifically to: run your account and profile; help members connect, network, and do business with one another; verify member eligibility; process and acknowledge donations and send receipts; communicate with you about the platform, your activity, and (if you have not opted out) our mission and appeals; keep the community safe through moderation and enforcement; improve the platform; and report on our impact (see below).

With other members. Your profile and the content you post are visible to other members according to your visibility settings. You choose what to share and, for many fields, who can see it.

Aggregate impact reporting. A core part of our mission is showing the good this community produces. We may compile and share aggregate, de-identified statistics about activity on the platform — for example, the number of members who have joined, opportunities filled, events held, introductions made, and the total value of business facilitated between members — including with our donors, our board, and the public. These figures are reported in a way that does not identify you individually unless you have chosen to share your own story or been asked for and given your permission.

Donor recognition and stewardship. If you donate, your supporter status may be shown according to the recognition display preference you select (you can choose to show a rank, a generic supporter marker, or nothing). When you give, we may post an announcement about the gift to the community activity feed — the recognition display preference you select controls whether that post shows your name or stays anonymous. Donation amounts are never displayed publicly. For significant gifts, a member of our leadership may reach out personally to thank you, and to do that we may share your name and contact details with our leadership and our customer-relationship tools.

Service providers. We share information with trusted companies that process it on our behalf so the platform can run — including Stripe (donation processing), Clerk (sign-in and identity), GoHighLevel (communications and donor relationship management), Cloudflare (media, video streaming, and content delivery), Resend (email delivery), Amazon Web Services and Cloudflare storage (files and images), and Neon (database hosting and the activity feed, messaging, and notifications built on it). They may only use your information to provide their service to us.

Legal and safety. We may disclose information when required by law, to enforce our Terms, or to protect the safety, rights, or property of our members, the public, or MarinesConnect.

We do not sell your personal information.

You can edit your profile and adjust your visibility settings at any time. You can turn off being available for member introductions, choose your donor recognition display preference, and opt out of non-essential emails. You can request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information by contacting us at the address below; we will honor these requests as required by applicable law, subject to records we must keep (such as donation records for tax and accounting).

We keep your information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the platform, and afterward as required for legal, tax, accounting, and legitimate operational purposes — including retaining donation records as required for a nonprofit.

We take reasonable measures to protect your information, and we rely on established providers (above) that maintain their own security practices. No online service can be perfectly secure, so please keep your login credentials safe.

MarinesConnect is intended for adults 18 and older. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.

Depending on applicable law, California residents may have rights to know what personal information we collect, to request access, correction, or deletion, and to not be discriminated against for exercising those rights. We do not sell personal information. To exercise any right, contact us at the address below.

We may update this Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "last updated" date and, where appropriate, notify members.

Questions about this Policy or your information? Email us at rah@marinesconnect.com.