Privacy Policy
The House of Maheja
Effective Date: October 2026
1. Who is Responsible
The House of Maheja Stiftung (“Foundation”, “we”, “us”), Hauptseestrasse 51, 6315 Oberägeri, Switzerland, is responsible for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. Contact: [email protected].
This Privacy Policy covers thehouseofmaheja.org, donations, free and paid educational offerings, enquiries and scholarship applications.
2. What We Collect & Why
We receive information from you through forms, correspondence, payments and participation; from payment and registration services; and, for relationship-based outreach, from referrals or publicly available professional sources. We use only information relevant to the following purposes.
Donations and bookings: name, contact and billing details, amount, currency, transaction reference, payment status and any donation restriction, to process payments, provide confirmations, manage cancellations and keep accounts. Payment providers process payment credentials; do not send full card details to us.
Participation: registration details, attendance, access records, messages and any contributions you choose to share, to deliver and support online or in-person offerings and digital learning. Other participants may see your displayed name, camera image, voice and contributions in a shared session or community.
Scholarships: contact details, country of residence, occupation, requested programme and support level, financial self-declaration, motivation, impact potential, personal application video and assessment records. We use these to assess applications, communicate decisions, administer awards, review participation and handle reconsideration. Detailed financial records are not routinely required. Share only what is necessary and avoid unnecessary health, belief or third-party information.
Website and communications: technical logs such as IP address, device/browser information and access times, enquiry records and communication preferences, to operate and secure services, answer questions and manage permitted updates. Any optional analytics or marketing tracking is explained in section 5.
We process personal data in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection. Where GDPR applies, we rely on steps requested before a contract and contract performance, legal obligations, legitimate interests in secure administration and proportionate relationship management, or consent where required. For sensitive information requiring consent, we obtain explicit consent for the stated purpose. Without necessary booking or application information, we may be unable to provide the requested service or assess an application.
3. Who Receives Information
Access is limited to authorised team members, scholarship decision-makers and service providers who need it for their role. Advisers, accountants, auditors and authorities may receive information where necessary for their duties or required by law.
Our selected tools include Stripe for payments; GoHighLevel for registrations, contact management and communications; Zoom for live online sessions; Google Workspace for documents and administration; and Airtable for donor relationship management.
Providers act under appropriate processing arrangements where applicable; payment providers may also process information independently for their own legal and security obligations. We do not sell personal data. Scholarship applications and videos are not published or used as testimonials; donor names, amounts and promotional stories require permission unless disclosure is legally required. Public scholarship reporting uses aggregate information.
4. Processing Outside Switzerland
Some of our service providers may process personal data outside Switzerland, including in countries whose data protection laws may not provide the same level of protection as Swiss law.
Where personal data is transferred to a country that does not provide an adequate level of data protection, we use appropriate safeguards as required by applicable Swiss data protection law, such as recognised standard contractual clauses, or rely on another legally permitted basis for the transfer.
Our service providers may include providers of hosting, cloud services, communications, payment processing, customer relationship management, video conferencing and other technology services.
5. Cookies, Marketing & Recordings
We use cookies and similar technologies where necessary to operate, secure and provide our website and services. We also use customer relationship management and technical tools to manage and understand registrations, participation, communications, purchases and interactions with our programs and services.
We currently do not use advertising tracking technologies or advertising pixels. If we introduce optional analytics, advertising or other non-essential tracking technologies in the future, we will provide appropriate information and obtain consent where required.
When you register for a program, event or other offering, we may use your contact details to administer your registration and to send you information directly related to that offering, such as confirmations, reminders, access information and relevant follow-up communications.
We only send newsletters, invitations and other general marketing communications where permitted by applicable law. Where consent is required, we ask for it separately. You may unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time.
Some sessions, events or experiences may be photographed or recorded. Where this is the case, participants will be informed about the recording or photography and its intended use.
Group, audience and atmosphere images or recordings may be used for communication and promotional purposes, including on our website, social media and other channels, where permitted by applicable law. Participants who do not wish to appear in such material should inform our team.
Where an identifiable individual is specifically featured — for example in a testimonial, interview, close-up or personal contribution — we obtain appropriate consent before using that material for public or promotional purposes.
Application videos submitted in connection with scholarships are used for assessment and administration and not for advertising or promotional purposes.
6. Retention & Security
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and to comply with applicable legal, accounting and regulatory requirements.
Where Swiss law requires certain records to be retained, we generally keep them for the applicable statutory period, which may be up to 10 years.
Recordings, application materials and other personal information that are no longer required for their intended purpose are deleted or anonymised within a reasonable period.
7. Your Rights
Under applicable data protection law, you may have the right to request information about the personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data, request deletion where legally permitted, withdraw consent where processing is based on consent, and object to or request restriction of certain processing where applicable.
To exercise your rights, contact us at [email protected]. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC/EDÖB).
8. Updates
We may update this policy as our activities or services change and show the effective date above. For material changes, we provide appropriate notice and obtain any newly required consent before the relevant processing.