This Privacy Notice explains how the CORDA Democracy Fellowship ("we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, and protects your personal data in connection with your participation in our educational programs, community events, fellowships, and digital spaces such as Slack communities.
We are a collective of student organizers and run this pilot educational program focused on strengthening democratic resilience through research, building, and scaling democracy-supporting work. Until we establish formal institutional status, Clara Kummerer, based in Vienna, Austria, is the individual responsible for data protection matters and can be contacted at hello@cordademocracy.org.
We are committed to handling your data responsibly and in compliance with applicable privacy laws, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP), and other relevant privacy regulations.
Please also read our Terms & Conditions and Fellows Guide before participating in our programs.
As the "data controller," we're the ones who decide how and why your personal data is used. We collect the minimum personal data necessary to deliver our mission and community services.
When you apply to one of our programs (whether it's a fellowship, workshop, retreat, or recurring course), we may collect:
Why we collect this: So we can select participants fairly, coordinate logistics, and tailor our programs to your needs and goals.
If you attend our events or join our online spaces, we may collect:
Why we collect this: To manage logistics, understand what's working, and improve inclusivity and community engagement.
If you're receiving career advice or ongoing support from us, we may keep track of:
Why we collect this: So we can support your career journey more effectively, and — if you've agreed — refer you to relevant people, organisations, or opportunities in the Democracy Resilience ecosystem.
If we receive grants or sponsorship to support our work, we will collect and maintain records as required, including details about funding sources, amounts, and dates; records of how funds are used; and participant data required for funder reporting (always in aggregated, non-identifying form).
Under the GDPR, we rely on the following legal bases:
We do not sell or commercialise your data. We only share data under controlled, purpose-limited scenarios.
We use a small number of widely adopted, GDPR-compliant services: Google Workspace / Gmail, Slack, Luma, Zoom / Calendly, Airtable / Notion, and Stripe / Open Collective / PayPal. These tools are under Data Processing Agreements and may store data outside the European Economic Area with appropriate protections.
With your explicit consent, we may share your name, profile, and career goals with other Democracy Resilience organisations, researchers, mentors, or employers in the ecosystem (e.g. German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, 80,000 Hours). Consent is always sought before any such referral.
We report to funders using aggregated, non-identifying data about program reach and impact only.
We may send you a reminder before deleting inactive profiles.
In the event of a personal data breach, we will assess the risk to affected individuals promptly. Where a breach is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the relevant supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, as required by GDPR. We will also notify you directly, explaining what happened, what data was affected, and what steps we are taking.
As someone whose data we process, you have the right to:
Email us at hello@cordademocracy.org to exercise any of these rights. We will get back to you within one month.
As our community is international, your data may be processed in countries outside your home jurisdiction. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for such transfers.
On our website (www.cordademocracy.org) there are links to other websites. This Privacy Notice does not apply to those websites. You should read their policies before sharing personal data.
If you have concerns about how we process your personal data, we encourage you to reach out to us directly first. You may also contact the data protection authority in your country of residence.
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. Significant changes will be announced via email. The latest version will always be available on our website.