Privacy Policy

Effective date: April 26, 2026 Last updated: April 26, 2026

CodeWeekend serves a community where privacy is not just a legal matter — it is a safety matter. Many of our students live in places where being publicly identified as a developer, a learner, or a participant in a program for women and girls could put them at risk. We take this seriously, and this policy reflects how we operate in practice — not just what we are required to say.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information CodeWeekend collects, how we use it, who we share it with, and the rights you have over your information.

If anything below is unclear, please email us at privacy@codeweekend.net. We will respond in plain language.

1. Who we are

CodeWeekend is a non-profit society incorporated in British Columbia, Canada (registered in 2026). For the purposes of this policy, “CodeWeekend,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to that society and its small team of staff, instructors, mentors, and volunteers.

The website codeweekend.net is operated by CodeWeekend.

2. What information we collect

We collect the smallest amount of information that lets us run the program well. In practice, this means:

Information you give us directly

• When you apply to a cohort: Your name, email address, country, age, prior experience, what draws you to the program, and your written application responses.
• When you contact us: Anything you choose to share in an email or contact form (name, email, message content).
• When you donate: We use third-party processors (e.g. Stripe) for payments. We may receive your name, email, donation amount, and the country your card is registered in. We do not receive or store full credit card details.
• When you sign up to mentor or partner with us: Your name, professional background, contact information, and any details you choose to share.
• When you subscribe to our newsletter: Your email address (and optionally your first name).

Information collected automatically

• Server logs: Our hosting provider records standard web server logs (IP address, browser user-agent, page requested, timestamp) for security and operational purposes. These logs are typically retained for 30 days.
• Browser storage: When you click the EN / دری / پښتو language toggle, we store your choice in your browser’s localStorage so the language persists across page loads. We also set a googtrans cookie that tells Google Translate which language to render the page in. This is the only cookie we set ourselves.
• No analytics, no tracking pixels. We do not currently run Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any cross-site tracking. If we add privacy-friendly analytics in the future (e.g. Plausible), this policy will be updated.

Information from third parties

• Form submissions sent via Tally, Airtable, or Google Forms come to us through those platforms. Each of those services has its own privacy policy. We use them because they are simpler than running our own form backend; we do not store your data there longer than we need to process your application or response.
• Social media: If you interact with us on Instagram, Facebook, X, or LinkedIn, those platforms collect their own data per their respective policies.

3. How we use your information

We use the information we collect for these purposes only:

• To run the application and admissions process — review your application, schedule interviews, communicate decisions.
• To operate the program — share class materials, organize cohort communications, support 1:1 mentor sessions, deliver internet packages or laptops where applicable.
• To process and acknowledge donations — issue receipts, send thank-you messages, communicate with donors about impact.
• To send program updates — newsletters and important program announcements (you can opt out at any time).
• To improve the program — graduate placement tracking, alumni outcomes, occasional surveys.
• To comply with legal obligations — tax reporting once charitable status is finalized, responding to lawful requests.

We do not use your information to build advertising profiles, sell to data brokers, or for any purpose unrelated to our mission.

4. Photos, stories, and quotes — the consent rules we live by

This is the most important section of this policy for many of our students. Because of the contexts we work in, we apply stricter standards than the law strictly requires.

• No photos of any participant are published without explicit written consent for that specific use (website, social media, donor materials).
• You can choose how you are identified: full name, first name only, initials, a pseudonym, or fully anonymous. If you change your mind later, we will update or remove published material as quickly as we can.
• Featured stories require an additional consent step — you review the draft before it is published, and you can request changes or withdrawal at any time.
• Cohort group photos and class recordings are kept private and never shared outside the cohort and program staff without explicit consent.
• If you are under 18, we additionally require consent from a parent or guardian for any public-facing material.

If you have ever appeared on our site or social media and want your image, name, or story removed, email privacy@codeweekend.net. We will act within seven days.

5. Who we share information with

We share information only when one of the following applies:

• Our team members and instructors need it to run the program (e.g. instructors need to know who is in their cohort).
• Service providers we depend on — for example, an email service to send program emails, a form service to collect applications, a payment processor for donations. Each of these is bound by their own privacy obligations and we use them only when necessary.
• Hiring partners, only with your explicit consent — when you opt in to be introduced for job opportunities.
• Our auditors or regulators, if required as part of nonprofit compliance.
• Law enforcement, only when legally required and only to the minimum extent required.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. Ever.

6. How we protect your information

• Encryption in transit: the entire site uses HTTPS. All form submissions and payment flows are encrypted.
• Access controls: only the small number of CodeWeekend staff and instructors who need access to participant information have it. Mentors see only the participants they are assigned to mentor.
• Limited retention: we delete information when we no longer need it (see Section 9).
• Vendor selection: we choose service providers who have meaningful security and privacy practices, and we periodically review them.
• Reduced data collection: the strongest protection is not to have data in the first place. We collect only what we need.

No system is perfectly secure. If a data incident affects you, we will notify you as quickly as we can and explain what happened, what we are doing about it, and what you can do.

7. International transfers

CodeWeekend is incorporated in Canada, but our students, mentors, and donors are global. As a result, your information may be stored or processed in countries other than where you live — including Canada, the United States, and the European Union, depending on which service is involved.

When we use service providers outside of Canada, we look for providers who offer reasonable contractual or technical protections (e.g. EU Standard Contractual Clauses where applicable, encryption at rest and in transit).

8. Your rights

Different jurisdictions give you different rights over your personal information. We try to honour all of them regardless of where you live.

You can ask us to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Delete your information (with limited exceptions where we are legally required to keep records).
• Restrict or object to specific uses of your information.
• Withdraw consent at any time for any purpose where we rely on consent (e.g. publication of your photo or story, newsletter subscription).
• Receive a copy of the information you provided to us in a structured, common format.

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@codeweekend.net. We will respond within 30 days. If we cannot fulfil a request (for example, because we are legally required to retain records), we will tell you why.

If you believe we are not handling your information appropriately, you also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority. In Canada, that is the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada federally, and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia provincially. If you are in the EU/UK, your local data protection authority can investigate.

9. How long we keep information

• Application data for accepted students is kept for the duration of the cohort plus three years (to track graduate outcomes and respond to alumni inquiries).
• Application data for applicants who are not accepted is kept for one year, then deleted.
• Donor records are kept for seven years to meet Canadian charity tax requirements once charitable status is finalized.
• Newsletter subscribers are kept until you unsubscribe.
• Server logs are kept for approximately 30 days.
• Photos and published stories are kept until you ask us to remove them.

If you want your information removed sooner, ask us. In most cases we can comply.

10. Cookies and similar technologies

We use a minimal amount of browser storage:

We do not use any cookies for analytics, advertising, or tracking. The page works in English with no cookies set at all.

11. Children’s privacy

CodeWeekend’s bootcamp programs are designed for participants 16 and older. For anyone under 18:

• We require parent or guardian consent for participation.
• We require parent or guardian consent for any photo, name, or story used publicly.
• We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have, contact privacy@codeweekend.net and we will delete it immediately.

12. Changes to this policy

We will update this policy from time to time as our practices evolve, the program changes, or laws change. When we make a substantive change (anything beyond fixing typos), we will:

• Update the Last updated date at the top of this page.
• Note the change at the bottom of this section in plain language.
• For changes that affect how we use existing information, email everyone we have an email address for, before the change takes effect.

Change log

• April 26, 2026: Initial publication.

13. Contact

• Email: privacy@codeweekend.net
• General contact: hello@codeweekend.net
• Mailing address: Available on request — please email us first. CodeWeekend is incorporated in British Columbia, Canada.

If you don’t want to email, the Contact page has additional channels.