Privacy Policy - EFI | Educational Freedom Institute

Effective date: October 15, 2026
Last updated: October 15, 2026

This policy explains what information the Educational Freedom Institute (“EFI,” “we,” “us”) collects when you use efinstitute.org, how we use it, and the choices you have. We have tried to keep it short and in plain language.

Who we are

EFI is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank that researches, documents and reports the benefits that school choice provides to students, families and communities. This website, efinstitute.org, is run by EFI. EFI does not sell the information described in this policy.

What we collect

Information you give us.

Contact form. If you use the form on our Contact page, we receive the name, email address, phone number (optional) and message you type in. We use your email address to reply to you.
Donation form. If you donate through our Donate page, we receive your donation amount, name, phone number, email address and mailing address, and whether you ticked the box to receive email updates from EFI.
Email updates. The Subscribe form in the footer of every page asks only for your email address, and the donation form has a box labelled “I want to receive email updates from EFI.” If you use either one, we receive your email address and keep it to send you EFI updates. See “Email updates” below.

Information collected automatically.

Server logs. Like most websites, our web server records basic technical information when a page is requested, such as your IP address, the date and time, the page requested, and your browser and device type. We use these logs to keep the site working and secure.
Page-view counts. A small script on our own site records which page was viewed so that we can count visits to pages. It sends the page identifier to our own server.
Analytics. We use Google Analytics (through the Google tag, which loads from googletagmanager.com) to understand how many people visit the site and which pages are read. Google may receive information such as your IP address, browser and device details, the pages you view, and how you arrived at the site. Google Analytics is on unless you choose Decline in the cookie notice or your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal. See “Cookies” below.

How we use it

To answer your questions and messages.
To process donations, keep records of gifts, and send receipts and thank-you messages.
To send email updates if you asked for them (see “Email updates” below).
To understand which research and pages are useful, and to improve the site.
To keep the site secure and to prevent spam and abuse (for example, our contact form uses Google reCAPTCHA).
To meet our legal, tax and accounting obligations as a non-profit.

Donations

Donations made through this site are processed by PayPal. EFI does not collect or store your payment card number or bank account details. You enter those on PayPal’s secure payment system, and PayPal’s own privacy statement governs how it handles them. EFI keeps the donation details listed above (such as amount, name, contact details and date) so that we can record your gift and send you a receipt.

Email updates

You can ask to receive EFI updates (research, maps and news) in two places on this site: the Subscribe form in the footer, and the checkbox “I want to receive email updates from EFI” on the Donate page. The Contact form is for questions and messages; we use it to reply to you.

If you give us your email address for updates, we keep it and use it only to send you those updates. We send these emails using our email service provider. Every update should include a way to unsubscribe. You can also ask us to stop at any time through our Contact page.

Substack

EFI publishes its writing on Substack at edufreedom.substack.com. Our site links to it and may show recent Substack posts. If you subscribe on Substack directly, Substack collects and handles your email address under Substack’s own privacy policy and terms. Please read them before subscribing.

Other companies that handle information

We use the following services to run this site. Each one may receive information such as your IP address and browser details when your browser connects to it, and each has its own privacy policy.

PayPal: processes donation payments.
Google: Google Analytics (site analytics, only if you have not declined) and Google reCAPTCHA (spam protection on the contact form).
Email service provider: sends our email updates.
Gravity Forms: the form software on our own site that receives contact and donation form entries. Entries are stored in our site’s database.
Substack: EFI’s Substack publication, as described above.
YouTube (Google): videos embedded on our pages. We use both the standard and the privacy-enhanced (youtube-nocookie.com) embeds.
Brightcove: video player used for some videos on our Multimedia page.
Podcast hosting and players: our Podcasts page uses a podcast player plugin, and links to or embeds episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify (Anchor).
Tableau Public: interactive charts on our political donations pages.
amCharts: our interactive maps load their map software from amCharts’ content delivery network.
Gravatar (Automattic): some profile images on the site may load from Gravatar.
Our hosting provider, Fusion: hosts our website and its database.

Embedded content comes straight from those companies. When a page with an embed loads, the company can see that you visited the page, and may set its own cookies. We do not control what they collect. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with anyone other than the service providers above who help us run the site, or where the law requires it.

Cookies

Cookies are small files that a website stores in your browser. The first time you visit, we show a small notice at the bottom of the page with two buttons, OK and Decline. This is what we use:

efi_consent (set by this site, lasts one year): remembers whether you chose OK or Decline so we do not ask again. We also keep the same value in your browser’s local storage. It does not identify you.
Google Analytics cookies (named _ga and _ga_ followed by an ID): set by Google, only if you have not declined, to tell visits apart and count them. Google decides how long they last; see Google’s documentation.
Cookies from embedded and linked services (for example YouTube, Brightcove, Tableau, PayPal and reCAPTCHA): these companies may set their own cookies when their content loads. The OK and Decline buttons do not control them; you can block them in your browser settings.

Your choice, and how to change it. Google Analytics runs unless you choose Decline. If you decline, Google Analytics is switched off for your visit, it is not loaded on later pages, and we remove its cookies from this site. If you have not made a choice and your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, we treat that as Decline and do not show the notice. You can change your mind at any time: use Cookie settings in the footer of any page to see the notice again. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the site will still work, although embedded videos, the donation form or the contact form may not.

Children

This website is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

How long we keep information

Contact messages: kept for as long as needed to answer you and for the purposes described in this policy.
Donation records: kept for as long as needed for the purposes described in this policy. We may need to keep gift records longer to meet tax and accounting rules.
Email update subscribers: until you ask us to stop (or, for Substack, until you unsubscribe there).
Server logs and analytics: kept for as long as needed for the purposes described in this policy.

Your choices and how to reach us

You can ask us what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or ask us to stop sending you email updates. To do so, use our contact form and say in your message that it is a privacy request. Every email update from EFI should include a way to unsubscribe. To stop Substack emails, unsubscribe in Substack.

Links to other websites

Our pages link to other websites, including social media (Facebook, Instagram and X/Twitter). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites. Please read their policies.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the new version on this page and update the dates at the top.