Privacy Policy

UseGrants (“we,” “us,” or “our”) runs the website at usegrants.com. This page explains, in plain English, what information we collect when you use UseGrants, why we collect it, and the choices you have. It is a factual description of our practices — it is not legal advice.

We aggregate public-records grant data (Grants.gov and public IRS 990 filings) and help you find grants and draft applications. This policy is about your information, not the grant data itself.

The short version

• We collect the email you give us, the details you enter about your organization, and basic information about how you use the site.
• We use a handful of standard analytics and product-behavior tools to understand what’s working and to fix what isn’t. Some of these record how visitors move through pages — including heatmaps and anonymized session replay — to help us improve the product.
• We don’t sell your personal information.
• You can opt out of most tracking with browser settings or an ad/tracker blocker, and you can email us to access or delete your data.

What we collect

Information you give us

• Account and contact details — your email address when you sign up for the free weekly digest, request matches, or create an account.
• Organization details — what you tell us about your organization to get matched, such as your mission or focus area, location, organization type (nonprofit, small business, researcher, education institution), and similar profile information. If you use the AI drafting features, this includes any organization materials or text you enter so we can generate a first-draft narrative and budget.
• Anything else you send us — for example, the contents of emails you send to our support address.

Information we collect automatically

When you visit the site, we and our analytics providers automatically collect standard technical and usage information, such as the pages you view, links you click, the approximate path you take through the site, your approximate location (derived from your IP address), your device and browser type, screen size, and referring page. This is described in more detail under “Analytics and session tools” below.

How we use your information

• To send you the grant matches and digests you asked for, and to operate your account.
• To match grants to your mission, location, and organization type, and to generate AI first-draft proposal narratives and budgets when you use those features.
• To respond to your questions and provide support.
• To understand how the site is used, find and fix problems, and improve the product.
• To keep the service secure and prevent abuse.

Analytics and session tools

We use the following third-party tools to understand how visitors use UseGrants. These run only on our live production site (not in local development), and each one is enabled only when we have it configured. Each provider has its own privacy practices, linked below.

• PostHog (product analytics). PostHog records product-usage events such as page views and when you leave a page, and it can capture session-level behavior — the sequence of pages and actions during a visit — so we can see how features are actually used. We route PostHog through our own domain (a same-origin proxy at /ingest), which means some tracker blockers won’t automatically block it. We configure PostHog to only build a saved profile for identified users. See PostHog’s privacy policy.
• Microsoft Clarity (heatmaps and session replay). Clarity generates heatmaps showing where visitors click and scroll, and it records anonymized session replays — a reconstruction of how a visit moved through the page (mouse movement, clicks, scrolling). Clarity masks text you type by default, so it is not meant to capture the actual characters you enter into form fields. See Microsoft’s privacy statement.
• Google Analytics 4 (GA4). GA4 measures site traffic and aggregate usage — visits, pages, sources, and similar metrics. See Google’s privacy policy and how Google uses data from sites that use its services.
• Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights. Our host, Vercel, provides privacy-friendly traffic analytics and page-performance (load speed) measurement. These run on every page load. See Vercel’s privacy policy.

We use these tools to improve UseGrants — not to build advertising profiles of you, and we don’t sell the data they collect.

Cookies and local storage

UseGrants and the tools above use cookies, local storage, and similar technologies in your browser. These are used to keep you signed in, remember your preferences, and let the analytics tools recognize a visit and measure usage. Most are first-party or routed through our own domain.

You can control or clear cookies and local storage through your browser settings. Blocking some of them may affect how parts of the site work (for example, staying signed in).

Your choices and how to opt out

• Ad/tracker blockers and browser settings. Most browser extensions that block trackers, along with browser anti-tracking settings, will stop or limit the analytics tools described above. Note that because we route PostHog through our own domain, some blockers may not catch it automatically — you can still opt out by contacting us (below).
• Do Not Track / Global Privacy Control. If your browser sends a “Do Not Track” (DNT) or Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal, you can enable it in your browser settings as one way to express your preference. Honoring of these signals depends on each third-party provider.
• Unsubscribe. Every digest or marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can stop emails at any time.
• Access or delete your data. You can ask us to show you, correct, or delete the personal information we hold about you — just email us using the address below.
• Google Analytics opt-out. You can install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on to opt out of GA4 across sites.

Data retention

We keep your personal information for as long as your account or subscription is active and as long as we need it for the purposes described here — for example, to send you matches and provide support. We keep analytics data for the retention periods set by each provider. If you ask us to delete your data, we’ll do so unless we’re required to keep some of it (for example, for legal or accounting reasons).

Third-party links

UseGrants links out to funders, government sites (such as Grants.gov), foundation pages, and other external resources. We don’t control those sites, and this policy doesn’t cover them. When you follow a link off UseGrants, the privacy practices of that site apply.

Children

UseGrants is meant for organizations and the adults who run them. It isn’t directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we’ll delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the product changes. When we make a meaningful change, we’ll update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Significant changes may also be communicated by email or a notice on the site.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data? Email us at privacy@usegrants.com.

UseGrants is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any government agency or foundation.