Privacy Policy
Effective date: March 1, 2026
Fundizzle is an AI-powered grant discovery platform. We take your privacy seriously — not because lawyers told us to, but because trust is the foundation of everything we do. This policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, and how we use it.
1. What we collect
Account information
Your name, email address, and a hashed password when you sign up. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name and email from Google — we do not receive your Google password.
Research profile
Information you choose to provide about your work: research areas, career stage, institutional affiliation, publications, and grant history. This is the core data that powers grant matching.
Imported profile data
If you connect your ORCID or LinkedIn account, we import publicly available profile information (publications, employment history, education) to build your research profile automatically. You control what gets imported.
Documents
CVs, biosketches, and other documents you upload so our AI can understand your background and help generate application materials.
Usage data
How you use the platform: which grants you view, save, or apply to; searches you run; features you use. We use this to improve matching accuracy and the product.
2. How we use your data
- Grant matching — we analyze your research profile to find grants you are likely to win.
- AI-powered recommendations — your profile and documents are processed by AI models to generate ranked grant suggestions, draft application sections, and provide strategic advice.
- Product improvement — anonymized usage patterns help us make Fundizzle better for everyone.
- Communications — we send you grant alerts, deadline reminders, and product updates. You can opt out of non-essential emails at any time.
- Support — when you contact us, we use your information to respond.
3. AI processing
Grant matching and application assistance use AI models to analyze your profile and grant data. This means your research profile and uploaded documents are sent to AI processing services to generate results.
We use Azure OpenAI (Microsoft's hosted version of OpenAI models) and Voyage AI for text analysis and similarity matching. These providers process data on our behalf under data processing agreements that prohibit them from using your data to train their models.
4. Third-party services
We use the following services to operate Fundizzle:
| Service | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Azure OpenAI | AI grant matching and content generation |
| Voyage AI | Semantic search and relevance ranking |
| MongoDB Atlas | Database hosting (data at rest, encrypted) |
| Sentry | Error monitoring (no personal data in traces) |
| PostHog | Product analytics (anonymized usage events) |
| Google OAuth | Optional sign-in (you choose to connect) |
We do not sell your data to advertisers or data brokers. We never will.
5. Data retention
We keep your data as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we delete your personal data within 30 days, except where we are legally required to retain it (for example, billing records).
Uploaded documents (CVs, etc.) are deleted immediately upon your request or when you delete your account.
6. Your rights
Regardless of where you live, you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Correct inaccurate data
- Delete your account and associated data
- Export your data in a machine-readable format
- Opt out of non-essential email communications
- Object to processing for direct marketing
To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days.
7. Security
We encrypt data in transit (TLS) and at rest. Passwords are hashed with bcrypt. We follow SOC 2 practices including access controls, audit logging, and regular security reviews. No system is perfectly secure — if you discover a vulnerability, please email [email protected].
8. Changes to this policy
If we make material changes, we will notify you by email and update the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use of Fundizzle after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
9. Contact
Questions about this policy? Email us at [email protected]. We are a small team and we read every email.