Privacy Policy · Sharke.ai

Who we are

Sharke.ai ("Sharke," "we," "us") provides the Sharke service for nonprofit grant teams. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and share information about you when you use sharke.ai or the Sharke web application.

Information we collect

We collect information in three ways:

Information you provide. Account, organization and contact details you give us; paid intake responses; messages; and text extracted from grant opportunities and writing samples you upload. If you choose to provide an email address through a free tool, we store it with the tool name and date. Some free tools send your answers to an AI provider to generate a result.
Information about your use of Sharke. Pages viewed, features used, search queries, IP address, browser and device information, approximate geographic location, and timestamps. We use cookies and similar technologies to collect this information.
Information from third parties. Public funder and grant data from sources such as Grants.gov, USAspending, IRS Form 990 filings, and state and local procurement portals. These records may include information about your organization as well as funders and other grant recipients.

How we use information

To provide, operate, and improve Sharke and its features.
To run fit checks, surface relevant grant opportunities, and generate analyses tailored to your organization.
To respond to inquiries, provide customer support, and send service-related communications.
To send marketing and newsletter emails where you have opted in. You can unsubscribe at any time.
To detect, prevent, and address fraud, abuse, security, and technical issues.
To comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service.

How we share information

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only as follows:

Service providers. We send information to providers that help deliver the service: Netlify for hosting and stored usage events, Xano for the backend and database, OpenAI and Anthropic for AI processing, Render for our text-processing service, Pinecone for writing-sample search, Jina to read public organization websites, Google Apps Script and Sheets for paid intake responses and free-tool email signups, Postmark for email delivery, and Stripe for payments. The information sent depends on the feature you use. Organization details, prompts and text from submitted materials may be sent to AI providers to perform that work.
Legal requirements. When required by law, subpoena, or to protect our rights, users, or the public.
Business transfers. In connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred to the successor entity, subject to this Privacy Policy.
With your consent. When you direct us to share information with a third party.

AI processing

Sharke does not train models on customer materials. OpenAI and Anthropic state that their commercial API data is not used for model training by default. See OpenAI's API privacy information and Anthropic's training policy. This is not a promise of zero retention: providers may retain information under their applicable terms and service settings.

Cookies and analytics

We use first-party and third-party cookies for authentication, preferences, and analytics. We may use Google Analytics or similar tools to understand product usage. You can disable cookies in your browser; some features may not work without them.

Data retention

Account information is retained while your account is active and is not automatically deleted when you stop using the service or cancel a subscription. Free-tool email signups, usage events and website events currently have no automatic expiry. Paid intake responses are stored in Google Sheets.

The free tools do not save your entered answers in Sharke's application database. AI-assisted tools send answers to a provider to generate the result; infrastructure request logs and provider retention are separate from application storage. The Funding Path Checkup calculates its result in your browser.

To request deletion, email angelica@sharke.ai. Requests are handled manually; there is no self-service account deletion. Some records may need to be retained for legal or transaction purposes. We do not currently promise a fixed deletion period for provider logs.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or port your information; to object to or restrict certain processing; and to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia residents have specific rights under their state privacy laws, and EU/UK residents have rights under the GDPR. To exercise any of these rights, email angelica@sharke.ai. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law.

Security

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your information, including encryption in transit, access controls, and routine review of our security practices. No system is perfectly secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children

Sharke is intended for use by adults working at nonprofit organizations. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

International users

Sharke is operated from the United States. If you access Sharke from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, which may have different data protection laws than your country.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or by posting a notice on the site before the changes take effect. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy or our practices? Email angelica@sharke.ai.