Privacy notice | Christingle Fellowship Centre

Effective November 2026 · Version 1.1

1. Who we are

Christingle Fellowship Centre (“CFC”, “we”, “us”) is a registered church based in Block S, Tshiulungoma, Thohoyandou, Limpopo, South Africa. We are the responsible party for personal information collected through this website, and we are committed to protecting the personal information of our members, visitors and donors.

2. What we collect

We collect only what we need for each purpose:

Contact form: your name and surname, email address, cellphone number, optional WhatsApp number, the area you live in, the topic you choose and your message.
Online donations: the amount, fund and frequency you choose, and optionally your name, surname and email address. PayFast confirms the payment date, amount, reference and its payment number.
Pledges: your full name, mobile number, optional email address, the pledge amount and purpose, and the date, amount and reference of each payment.

Anonymous giving: you never have to give us your name to donate. Choose “Give anonymously” and we keep no name with your donation. An email address is only needed for a receipt or a monthly donation.

To protect our forms from abuse we also store a one-way, keyed fingerprint of your internet address (never the address itself).

3. Card and banking details

Online donations are paid on PayFast’s secure payment page. Your card or bank login details are entered with PayFast directly and never reach this website or the church. PayFast is a South African payment provider and processes your payment under its own privacy policy.

4. How we use your information

to reply to your message and, if you ask, help you connect with the church
to record your donation, email your receipt and let the church office know it arrived
to administer pledges and send payment acknowledgements
to produce anonymised financial summaries for church leadership and accountability

We do not use your information for marketing or advertising, and we never sell, rent or share it with anyone for commercial purposes.

5. Why we may lawfully use it

Consent: you choose to send a message, make a named donation or pledge.
Legitimate interest: keeping accurate records of donations, pledges and payments.
Legal obligation: keeping financial records as the law requires.

6. Emails and SMS messages

If you give an email address with a donation, we send one receipt per payment from the church’s own mailbox. For pledges, we send a confirmation each time a payment is recorded, with the amount, your running total and your progress. These go by email, and may also be sent by SMS through BulkSMS (Pty) Ltd. These messages are transactional only, never promotional.

7. Who processes it for us

We use trusted service providers (operators) who process information only on our instructions:

Vercel, which hosts this website (served from Cape Town)
Supabase, our secure database (servers in the United Kingdom and the European Union)
PayFast, for online payments, and BulkSMS, for pledge SMS messages
Afrihost, which hosts the church’s email
Cloudflare Turnstile, which checks that forms are sent by people rather than bots

Where information is stored outside South Africa, it is protected by laws or agreements that give comparable protection to POPIA. Access is restricted to authorised church administrators.

8. How long we keep it

Contact messages: deleted automatically after 12 months.
Donations that were started but never paid: deleted after 7 days.
Donation and pledge payment records: kept for up to 5 years for accountability and audit.
Pledge contact details: removed once a pledge is settled or when you ask us to.

9. Cookies

This website does not use advertising or tracking cookies. Videos play through YouTube’s privacy-enhanced player, which only loads when you press play.

10. Your rights

Right of access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
Right to correct: Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to delete: Request deletion of your personal information from our records.
Right to object: Object to the processing of your information at any time.
Withdraw consent: Opt out of SMS or email notifications at any time by contacting us.
Right to complain: Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Privacy Officer. We will respond within 30 days.

11. Contact us

Murendeni Nemahagala, Privacy Officer & Webmaster
Christingle Fellowship Centre, Thohoyandou, Limpopo, South Africa
Send your request through our contact form (choose “Something else”).

You may also lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa).

12. Changes to this notice

We may update this notice from time to time. The effective date at the top always shows the latest version.