Privacy policy
Last updated 11 September 2026
This policy explains what personal information DOGO collects, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the rights you have. We have written it in plain English. If anything is unclear, email us at info@dogoapp.org.
The short version
- We collect what we need to pay people's medical bills and to show donors who their donation helped.
- Donors see a patient's first name, age and town. They never see a patient's photograph, surname, phone number or address.
- Card payments are handled by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
- We never sell personal information.
- You can ask us to show you, correct or delete your information at any time.
1. Who we are
DOGO is a registered charity in England and Wales, charity number 1198719. Our registered office is 2 Television Centre, Wood Lane, London W12 7FR.
For the personal information described in this policy, DOGO is the "controller". That means we decide how and why the information is used, and we are responsible for looking after it.
We do not have a dedicated data protection officer. Any question about your information, or any request to use your rights, can go to info@dogoapp.org or to the address above.
2. Who this policy covers
- People who donate, through our app, on WhatsApp or through our website
- People we help pay for treatment, who we call patients
- Staff at our partner clinics and hospitals who use our DOGO Keeper app
- People who contact us, volunteer, fundraise or work with us
- Visitors to our website, including people who talk to Fatima, our video guide
3. If you donate
What we collect
- Your name, email address and phone number
- Your WhatsApp number, and whether and when you agreed to hear from us on WhatsApp
- Your donations: how much, how often and when
- Payment references from Stripe, our payment provider. We never see or store your full card number.
- Your sign-in details for the Dogo Health app
- A profile photo, if you choose to add one
- A code that lets us send notifications to your phone
- Messages you send us on WhatsApp
- Whether you open our emails or click the links in them
- Information about how you use our app, and any crashes, which helps us fix problems
Why we use it, and our legal basis
| What we do | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Take your donation, manage your monthly giving and match it to a patient's bill | To carry out our agreement with you |
| Show you who your donation helped, and send you updates about their treatment by app, email or WhatsApp | To carry out our agreement with you, and our legitimate interest in showing supporters the difference they make |
| Send you messages on WhatsApp | Your consent. You can withdraw it at any time by telling us. |
| Keep financial records | Legal obligation. Charities must keep accurate financial records. |
| Understand how our app is used, measure how people find it, and fix problems | Our legitimate interest in running a working app. You can limit this in your phone's privacy settings. |
How long we keep it
We keep your account details while your account is open. If you delete your account, we delete your personal details or make them anonymous, except for records of your donations, which the law requires us to keep for six years after the end of the financial year they relate to. We keep WhatsApp messages, and records of whether you opened our emails, for up to two years.
Deleting your account
You can delete your account at any time in the Dogo Health app, from your profile settings, or by emailing info@dogoapp.org.
4. If we help pay for your treatment
What we collect
When you register at a DOGO stand, and from the clinic or hospital that treats you, we collect:
- Your name, sex, date of birth and phone number, and the details of an emergency contact or next of kin
- Your nationality, the town you live in, and your job
- A photograph taken when you register, so our team can identify you and keep an accurate record
- Things you choose to tell us about your life, such as your family and your hopes
- Your health information: your symptoms, what the clinic found, the treatment you received and what it cost
- Your six-digit DOGO ID
Health information is a special category of personal information under UK data protection law, and we give it extra protection.
Why we use it, and our legal basis
We use your information to arrange and pay for your treatment, to check that each bill is accurate, and to show the donor who paid for your treatment what their money did. We rely on our legitimate interest in running the charity and, for your health information, on your explicit consent, which our team asks for when you register at a DOGO stand. You can withdraw your consent at any time by telling our team or by emailing us. This does not affect treatment you have already received.
Where a patient is a child, a parent or guardian gives this information, and this consent, on their behalf.
What your donor sees
We match each patient with a donor, whose donation pays the bill. That donor sees:
- your first name, your age and your town
- the things you chose to tell us about your life
- your symptoms, and a list of what their donation paid for, such as a consultation, tests or medicine, written in plain words
- a cartoon picture that stands in for your photograph
Your donor never sees your photograph, your surname, your phone number, your address or your clinic notes.
Your donor can share a page about your treatment with other people using a link, which stops working after a set time. If you agree, we may also share a short update video with your donor.
Who else sees it
- The partner clinic or hospital that treats you
- Our team in the UK, and our teams in Nigeria and Uganda who register patients and support their treatment
- Google, whose AI service helps our team turn clinic notes into plain English and prepare your record. Google processes this information for us, on our instructions.
How long we keep it
We keep your record for six years after your treatment, so that we can keep accurate financial records and show donors the impact of their giving. After that we delete it or make it anonymous.
5. If you work at a partner clinic or hospital
We collect your name, your work email address, the clinic you work for, a code that lets us send notifications to your device, and a record of the treatment cases you submit through DOGO Keeper, including any documents you upload. We use this to run our partnership with your clinic, and to check and pay bills, based on our legitimate interest in paying for patients' treatment. We keep your details while your clinic works with us, and for six years afterwards for our financial records.
6. If you contact us, volunteer, fundraise or work with us
We collect your name, your contact details and whatever you tell us, including through WhatsApp. If you advertise with us, we keep your business contact details. We use this to reply to you and to work with you, based on our legitimate interest in running the charity. We keep it for up to two years after we last hear from you, unless we need it for longer for a partnership or for legal reasons.
7. If you visit our website
- Our website does not set its own cookies.
- Our site is built with Framer, which counts page visits so that we can see how the site is used.
- The explainer video on our home page is hosted on Google Drive. If you play it, Google may set cookies under its own privacy policy.
- If you start a video call with Fatima, our video guide, your microphone audio is sent to Lemon Slice, the company that runs the call. The conversation may be recorded and shared with Lemon Slice's own service providers. Fatima is an AI. Please do not share health details, card numbers or other sensitive information with her.
8. Who we share information with
We never sell personal information. We use the following companies to run our services. They process information for us, on our instructions.
| Company | What they do for us |
|---|---|
| Supabase | Hosts our database, on servers in Ireland |
| Stripe | Processes card payments |
| Twilio and WhatsApp (Meta) | Send and receive WhatsApp messages |
| Resend | Sends our emails, and tells us whether they are opened |
| App sign-in, notifications, crash reports and usage statistics (Firebase), AI tools that help prepare patient records (Gemini), and hosting our explainer video (Google Drive) | |
| Meta | Measures how people use and find our app (Facebook app events) |
| AppsFlyer | Measures where our app installs come from |
| Vercel and Framer | Host and build our website |
| Lemon Slice | Runs Fatima, our video guide |
We may also share information if the law requires it, for example with the police, a court or the Charity Commission, or to protect someone from serious harm.
9. International transfers
Our main database is in Ireland, which the UK recognises as giving personal information proper protection. Some of the companies above, including Stripe, Twilio, Google, Meta, Resend, AppsFlyer and Lemon Slice, may process information in the United States or other countries. Our teams in Nigeria and Uganda also access patient information, so that they can register patients and support their treatment. When information leaves the UK, we rely on the protections UK law requires, such as the UK's International Data Transfer Addendum to standard contract clauses, or the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where a company is certified under it.
10. How we keep information safe
We use encrypted connections, we limit who in our team can access personal information, and card details are handled only by Stripe. No system is perfectly secure, but we take care to protect what you share with us. If something goes wrong that puts your information at risk, we will tell you, and the Information Commissioner's Office, where the law requires it.
11. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can:
- ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
- ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete
- ask us to delete your information
- ask us to limit how we use your information
- object to us using your information for our legitimate interests
- ask for your information in a form you can take to another organisation
- withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on it
To use any of these rights, email info@dogoapp.org. We will reply within one month. It is free, unless a request is clearly unfounded or excessive.
12. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first so that we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.
13. Changes to this policy
We will update this policy when the way we use personal information changes. The date at the top shows when it was last changed. If we make a significant change, we will tell donors by email or in the app.