Cookie Policy
Last updated: 10 March 2025
1. What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are downloaded to your device when you visit a website. They help us keep our site secure, remember your preferences, and understand how supporters navigate our content so we can improve it. Cookies may be set by Hands of Mercy ("first-party" cookies) or by trusted service providers whose services we use ("third-party" cookies).
2. How we use cookies
We group cookies into the following categories:
Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are essential to operate our website, keep supporters logged in, maintain security, and record your cookie preferences. They are always active and do not store personally identifiable information.
Performance and analytics cookies
We use analytics cookies to collect aggregated visitor statistics. They tell us which pages are popular, how long people stay on a page, and where visitors come from. This insight helps us allocate our resources wisely and improve the supporter experience.
Functionality cookies
Functionality cookies remember choices you make—such as region, font size, or whether you prefer light or dark mode—so that we can tailor the site to your preferences on future visits.
Third-party cookies
Some cookies are set by third parties that provide services to us, including embedded donation forms (Stripe), video platforms (Vimeo/YouTube), or analytics providers (Google). These third parties may use the data they collect in accordance with their own privacy policies.
3. Cookies in use
| Cookie | Provider | Purpose | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| hands_of_mercy_session | Hands of Mercy | Maintains an authenticated session for logged-in supporters. | Session |
| XSRF-TOKEN | Hands of Mercy | Protects forms and donation flows against cross-site request forgery. | Session |
| hm_cookie_preferences | Hands of Mercy | Stores your cookie consent choices so we honour them on future visits. | 12 months |
| _ga / _gid | Google Analytics | Collects anonymised usage statistics to help us improve website performance. | 24 months / 24 hours |
| _stripe_mid | Stripe | Enables secure processing of card donations and fraud prevention. | 12 months |
4. Managing or disabling cookies
When you first visit our website you are prompted to set your cookie preferences. You can update these choices at any time using the "Cookie settings" link in the footer. You can also control cookies through your browser settings. The following links explain how to manage cookies on popular browsers:
Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our donation forms or prevent you from logging into secure areas of the site.
5. Third-party services
Embedded content, such as videos hosted on Vimeo or YouTube, may set additional cookies once you play the media. We recommend reviewing the cookie policies of those platforms for more information on how they process data.
6. Changes to this policy
We review our Cookie Policy at least annually. Updates will be posted on this page with a revised "last updated" date. Where changes are significant, we will also highlight them in our cookie banner.
7. Contact us
If you have any questions about our use of cookies, please contact Hands of Mercy at [email protected].