Sub-processors
The companies that help us run GiftWell
The list
| Company | What for | What it receives | Where | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laravel Cloud, on Amazon Web Services Its terms or policy | Hosts the application, the database (MySQL), the cache and the logs. | Everything GiftWell stores, including answers, names, emails, IP addresses and the session table. | United States (Amazon Web Services, us-east-2, Ohio) | Always |
| Resend Its terms or policy | Sends the emails GiftWell sends: a result a person chooses to share with a friend, the "my gifts" sign-in link, and the My GiftWell sign-in code and the one retake reminder a person asked for; and the weekly list of people waiting for a conversation, sent only to church staff. | Recipient email address, the message text (for the staff email: the names, lead gifts and waiting time of people who shared with the pastoral team), and the private link or one-time code in it. Resend keeps delivery logs for up to 30 days. | United States | Always |
| Stripe Its terms or policy | Takes payment for paid church plans through a Stripe Payment Link. GiftWell never sees or stores card numbers. | Whatever the church types into Stripe (name, email, billing details, card). That data is between the church and Stripe; GiftWell is told only that a payment was made. | United States and other Stripe locations | Only if the church turns it on |
| An AI provider the church chooses (OpenRouter, OpenAI or Anthropic) Its terms or policy | Writes the optional staff-only "first look" brief about a person. Runs only with the church's own API key; GiftWell does not supply or use a key for this. | Gift bands and strength words (never scores), the Ephesians 4 first look, the written "sweet spot" answers, quick picks, any self-reported profile result (Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, CliftonStrengths, DISC or similar) a pastor recorded, and the church's serving-team list with where each team's asked-for gifts fall in the person's bands. Never a name, email, testimony, story, Spirit-gift answers or the answer about something a person has walked through. | Set by the provider and by the church's own account settings | Only if the church turns it on |
| An AI provider GiftWell itself may use for the platform "Ask the platform" analyst (OpenRouter-routed models) Its terms or policy | Lets GiftWell's own platform administrators ask questions about combined, anonymous statistics across churches. It is not used for any church's people, results or briefs. | Only suppressed, rounded, anonymous aggregate tables (small groups are hidden, numbers are rounded), plus the administrator's typed question after it is screened (a church name, an email address or a phone number is refused). Never names, emails, free text, church names, or any individual's assessment. Where the provider supports it, data collection is set to deny, so providers that keep or train on prompts are not used. | Set by the provider that OpenRouter routes the request to; OpenRouter is a United States company | Only if GiftWell has set up its own platform AI key |
| Planning Center Its terms or policy | If the church connects it: reads people, groups, teams and check-in history, for people who have been placed on a ministry (and who shared and are not under 18) reads only the id and name of the linked team or group, the date last scheduled and whether the membership is current, and (where the person agreed) writes results to the person's profile, as listed below. | Read: the church's own Planning Center records. Written, only into fields the church chose: gift band names, Ephesians 4 leaning, quick picks, serving teams a person asked to try, a date and a link that opens only for a signed-in pastor; and, if the church maps it and the person agreed, Spirit-gift names. Never anything a person wrote in their own words. | United States | Only if the church turns it on |
| Gravatar (Automattic Inc.) Its terms or policy | Shows a profile picture for a person, only when the church turns the setting on (off by default). | A one-way hash of the email address, plus the IP address of whoever is looking at the page. | United States | Off unless the church switches it on |
| Google Fonts (Google LLC) Its terms or policy | Loads a church's own brand fonts, only for a church that imported them from its website. GiftWell's own fonts are served by GiftWell and make no request to Google. | The IP address and browser details of the visitor's browser, as with any web request. | United States and other Google locations | Only if the church turns it on |
"Only if the church turns it on" means GiftWell does not send anything to that company unless the church has set it up. For the AI provider, the church chooses the provider and holds the account; what the provider keeps, and for how long, depends on that provider and on the church's own settings with it.
The second AI row is different: GiftWell itself may use an AI provider (models routed through OpenRouter, as GiftWell's configuration sets) for the platform-level "Ask the platform" analyst that only GiftWell's platform administrators can open. It is sent only suppressed, rounded, anonymous aggregate tables, never names, emails, free text, church names or any individual's assessment, and an administrator's typed question is screened so it cannot carry a church's name, an email address or a phone number; it is also limited in length, and administrators are instructed to ask only about the combined numbers. GiftWell asks that provider data collection be denied where the provider supports it. It is never used for a church's own people or results, and it is off unless GiftWell has set it up. See the privacy page.
Things that are not on the list
- No advertising, analytics or tracking companies. None are used.
- No fonts or scripts from Google on GiftWell's own pages. GiftWell's own fonts are served by GiftWell. A church that imported its own brand fonts adds a Google Fonts request on its own pages, which is listed above.
- No text-message provider. GiftWell does not send text messages.
The church's own logo, if it uses one, is loaded from the church's own website.
Who we are and how to reach us
GiftWell is provided by Zao, the parent company of DiscipleOS. GiftWell is part of the DiscipleOS family of products. DiscipleOS is a subsidiary of Zao.
Privacy and data requests: hello@giftwell.appEverything else: hello@giftwell.app
Version history
We keep this list so you can see what changed and when. If a change is one you would reasonably care about (for example, a new kind of data we collect or a new sub-processor), we will say so at the top of the page and email church owners before it takes effect.
- . Described how pastors follow up after a result: the walked-through and conversation log (who and when, never what was said), placing a person on a ministry and checking 30 and 90 days later whether they are serving (by the pastor's own answer, or by a read-only Planning Center check matched only by a linked profile or one exact email, and never for anyone who did not share or may be under 18), the staff-only view of ministry needs against people who could serve, and a weekly email to church staff naming people who shared and are still waiting. The email never goes to the people it lists, and goes out on a day and hour each church chooses in its own timezone (by default Monday 8:00 am Pacific). A person's My GiftWell download and printable page now also include the follow-up record kept about them (placements, the dates of conversations and walk-throughs, and the Planning Center team or group that was checked), and only theirs. Flagged for counsel review.
- . Clarified what the optional staff-only AI first look is sent: it also includes the Ephesians 4 first look and any self-reported profile result (such as Enneagram or Myers-Briggs) a pastor recorded for the person, and where the gifts each serving team asks for fall in the person's bands. The same consent and age rules apply, and the never-sent list is unchanged.
- . Added My GiftWell, a passwordless page where a person signs in with a one-time emailed code to see their own results over time, ask for one retake reminder email, and download or delete their own results. Described the code and session handling, what is and is not shown, the reminder, and the new retention periods. Flagged for counsel review.
- . Disclosed that GiftWell itself may use an AI provider (models routed through OpenRouter) for the platform-level "Ask the platform" analyst, sent only suppressed, rounded, anonymous aggregate tables and never names, emails, free text or individual assessments; listed it as a sub-processor; and stated plainly that platform administrators can open any church's workspace for support and operations, with each access recorded in the audit log.
- . Rewrote the terms and privacy pages; added the data processing addendum and the sub-processor list; spelled out what each role (taker, church, parent or guardian) can see and do; added regional rights, cookies, retention, and what GiftWell does not do. GiftWell's own fonts are now served from GiftWell itself.
GiftWell is part of the DiscipleOS family of products. DiscipleOS is a subsidiary of Zao.