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Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 2026

The School for Field Studies ("SFS," "we," or "us") respects your privacy. This policy explains what information we collect through this website, how we use it, and your choices regarding that information.

Information We Collect

Information you provide. When you submit an inquiry form, apply for a program or a job, make a donation or payment, or contact us, you may provide your name, email address, phone number, mailing address, academic information, or payment details. Inquiries and program applications are processed through Salesforce, which handles them on our behalf.

Information collected automatically. When you visit our site, we may collect standard web analytics data including your IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, and referring URLs. This data helps us understand how visitors use our site and improve the experience.

Third-Party Services

Our site uses the following third-party services:

Most of these services handle information on our behalf, and we remain responsible for it. Google, Vimeo, and the payment services on our Give page (Stripe, PayPal, and IPQualityScore) also use data under their own privacy policies, which we encourage you to review.

AI-Powered Tools

Two features on this site answer questions using an AI model: Ask Us Anything and the program Compare tool. Both work the same way. When you submit a question, that question is sent, together with published SFS reference information about our centers and programs, to Anthropic’s API, which generates the answer you see. Anthropic processes it on our behalf and does not use it to train its models.

We store the question you asked and the answer returned for 90 days, in Cloudflare Workers KV, so we can review how the tools are performing and correct wrong or unhelpful answers. These records are not linked to your name, your email address, or any inquiry or application you may have submitted, and we do not use them to build a profile of you.

To prevent misuse, the two tools also keep a count of how many questions come from each IP address. That count is deleted automatically within about an hour and is never stored with your questions.

Please do not type personal or sensitive information into either tool. Neither is a channel for applications, medical disclosures, or financial details. For anything of that kind, contact us directly using the details at the end of this policy.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

If you ask us for information, we will send you emails about our programs, and you can unsubscribe from them at any time using the link at the bottom of each one.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

Cookies & Consent

When you first visit our site, a cookie consent banner appears at the bottom of your screen. The banner lets you choose which categories of cookies to allow, and both categories stay off until you turn them on. We use Google Consent Mode v2 so that Google Analytics and Google Ads set no cookies until you opt in.

Before you opt in, Google Analytics and Google Ads still receive basic signals that set and read no cookies, such as the page viewed and your consent choice. Google uses these signals to estimate site visits and ad results in aggregate.

Your consent preferences are stored in your browser’s local storage only: they are never transmitted to our servers. Preferences expire after 12 months, at which point you will be asked again. We do not sell your personal data.

To change your choices at any time, select Manage Cookies at the bottom of the page. If you turn a category off, we delete the Google cookies it set on this site. You can also control cookies through your browser settings.

Do Not Track. Our site does not respond to browser Do Not Track signals or similar browser settings; you control tracking here through the cookie banner and Manage Cookies. If you allow marketing cookies, Google may collect information about your activity on our site and on other websites over time. On our Give page, the payment and fraud-prevention services named above may recognize your device across other websites that use them, to help detect fraud.

Data Retention

We retain personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law. Questions submitted to our AI-powered tools, and the answers returned, are kept for 90 days and then deleted automatically; the per-IP question counts that limit their use are deleted within about an hour. You may request deletion of your personal data by contacting us.

How We Protect Your Information

Our site uses encrypted HTTPS connections throughout, and card and bank details are entered into forms run by our payment providers. No website or storage system is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee the security of information you send us.

Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or restrict processing of your personal information, to object to how we use it, and to receive a copy in a portable format. Residents of the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom have these rights under the GDPR and the UK GDPR, and may complain to their local data protection authority. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the address below.

International Transfers

We are a U.S. organization, and the information we collect through this site is processed in the United States, where data protection law may differ from the law where you live. If you enroll in a program, we may share the information needed to support you with the staff of the SFS center where you study, which may be outside your home country.

Children's Privacy

Our programs serve college-age students. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us so we can promptly remove it.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. If we make a material change, we will ask for your consent where the law requires it.

Contact

Questions about this privacy policy or your personal data? Contact us:

The School for Field Studies
P.O. Box 506
West Boxford, MA 01885
sfs@fieldstudies.org
(978) 741-3567