Privacy Policy
Last updated 22 October 2026
This policy explains what personal data Sum Effort holds, why, and what you can do about it. Sum Effort is run by Oarsman Software Ltd, company number 16652196, registered office Unit 82a, James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St. Edmunds, England, IP28 7DE. We're the controller of the personal data described here, registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under number ZC089111. Contact us at hello@makesumeffort.com.
- We collect only what's needed to run trackers.
- No advertising, no analytics and no tracking cookies. We never sell your data.
- Tracker pages are public, so anything shown on one can be seen by anyone with its link.
What we collect and why
| What | Whose | Why | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name, email address and password (stored only as a secure hash) | Organisers | Your account, logging in, and contacting you about your account or payments | Contract |
| Display name and password (stored only as a secure hash) | Participants | Joining a tracker and logging contributions under your name | Contract |
| Tracker title, description, logo and settings | Organisers | Showing the tracker page | Contract |
| Contributions: amount, contributor name, optional note and date | Organisers, participants, and people an organiser names | Working out totals and the leaderboard | Contract; for people named by an organiser, legitimate interests in running the fundraiser |
| Payment records: Stripe reference, amount, currency, email, and which tracker was upgraded | Organisers who upgrade | Applying upgrades, handling refunds, and keeping accounts | Contract; legal obligation (tax records) |
| Server logs: IP address, browser type, pages requested and time | Everyone | Keeping the service secure and fixing faults | Legitimate interests |
When you upload a logo, we resize it and remove any hidden information it contains, such as the location a photo was taken.
What's public
Anyone with a tracker's link can see its title, description, logo and totals and, if the organiser has turned it on, the leaderboard's names and totals. Notes on contributions are only shown to the organiser. Email addresses are never shown on any page.
Cookies
We use one cookie, called session. It keeps you logged in and protects our forms from misuse, it's deleted when you close your browser, and the service can't work without it. We don't use analytics or advertising cookies. Our fonts and images come from our own server, so visiting Sum Effort doesn't send your details to anyone else unless you choose to pay.
Who we share data with
- Stripe takes payments for upgrades on its own checkout page. Stripe receives your card details and email address directly, and we never see your card number. See Stripe's privacy policy.
- Hetzner Online GmbH hosts our server in Germany.
- Nobody else, unless the law requires it or it's needed to prevent fraud or protect people's safety.
Hetzner's data centres are in Germany, which UK law recognises as giving adequate protection. Stripe may process data in other countries, including the United States, under its own legal safeguards.
How long we keep it
- Organiser accounts and trackers: until you delete them or ask us to close your account. A finished tracker stays online, read-only, until its organiser deletes it.
- Participant logins and contributions: for as long as the tracker exists. Deleting a tracker deletes them too.
- Payment records: six years after the end of the financial year they belong to, because tax law requires it.
- Server logs: about two weeks.
- Backups: deleted data can remain in our backups for up to 30 days before it's overwritten.
Your rights
You can ask us to give you a copy of your data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, or send it to you in a portable format. Email hello@makesumeffort.com. We'll reply within one month, and it's free in almost all cases. We may need to check it's really you before we act.
If you're a participant, you can also ask the tracker's organiser to remove your name or contributions.
Children
Trackers are sometimes used for school and club events, so children may appear on them. We ask organisers to use first names or nicknames only for children under 13. A parent or guardian can ask us at any time to remove a child's details.
Keeping data safe
Sum Effort only works over an encrypted connection (HTTPS). Passwords are stored as one-way hashes, so nobody, including us, can read them, and only people who run the service can access the server.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, please tell us first at hello@makesumeffort.com. We'll acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and tell you the outcome as soon as we can. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection regulator: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change significantly affects how we use your data, we'll tell organisers by email before it applies.
See also our Terms of Service.