Privacy Policy

1. Controller

The controller within the meaning of Art. 4 No. 7 GDPR is:

VerdantGrounds Solutions gUG (haftungsbeschränkt)
Nullbrede 22A
32760 Detmold
Germany
represented by Managing Director Lukas Müther

Email: legal@verdantgrounds.org
Phone: +49 152 24903250

For questions regarding data protection and to exercise your rights, you can reach us at: legal@verdantgrounds.org.

2. General information, terms and legal bases

Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR). We only process personal data where this is permitted by law or where you have given your consent.

The main legal bases for our processing are:

• Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR: processing on the basis of your consent.
• Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR: processing for the performance of a contract or pre-contractual measures.
• Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR: processing to safeguard our legitimate interests, provided your interests do not override them.

3. Hosting and server log files

This website is hosted by an external service provider: netcup GmbH, Daimlerstraße 25, 76185 Karlsruhe, Germany. The provider processes data on our behalf on the basis of a data processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR and exclusively in accordance with our instructions.

When you access our website, the server records technically necessary access data in so-called server log files, which your browser transmits automatically. This may include:

• IP address (shortened or anonymized where technically possible)
• date and time of access
• file or page accessed and status message
• volume of data transferred
• browser type and operating system
• previously visited page (referrer)

Purpose: secure and stable operation of the website, ensuring system security and error diagnosis.

Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interest in secure operation).

Storage period: server logs are automatically deleted after a short time, at the latest after 30 days, unless they are needed longer to investigate a specific security incident.

4. SSL/TLS encryption

For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, this website uses SSL/TLS encryption. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the browser address bar starts with "https://" and a padlock symbol is displayed. When encryption is active, the data you transmit to us cannot easily be read by third parties.

5. Contact form

If you send us a message via the contact form, we process the data you provide in order to handle and answer your request. The following data is collected:

• salutation
• title (optional)
• first name
• last name
• email address
• role within the organization
• content of your message

Purpose: handling and answering your request as well as communication in the course of initiating a business relationship.

Recipients / processing: the form entries are sent as an email to legal@verdantgrounds.org via our own mail server.

Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR (pre-contractual or contractual measures) and Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interest in answering inquiries).

Storage period: until your request has been conclusively handled, unless statutory retention obligations apply.

6. Live chat (chat widget)

We offer a chat widget for a live chat in the bottom right of our website. If you use the chat, we process the name you voluntarily enter as well as the content of the exchanged messages in order to answer your request.

For technical processing, your chat entries (name and messages) are transmitted to the messenger service Telegram (Telegram Messenger Inc.), through which our team receives and answers your messages. This involves a transfer to a third country (USA), where a data protection level different from that in the EU may apply. The provider's own privacy terms apply to the processing by Telegram (https://telegram.org/privacy).

Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR (consent through voluntary use of the chat) and Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interest in providing an easy means of contact). Only the data you voluntarily enter is processed.

7. hCaptcha

In the chat we use the hCaptcha service provided by Intuition Machines, Inc. to protect against spam and automated abuse (bots). In order to distinguish between human and automated input, hCaptcha processes, among other things, the IP address as well as device and usage data. This may involve a transfer to a third country (USA). The privacy terms of hCaptcha apply (https://www.hcaptcha.com/privacy).

Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interest in protection against abuse and in the security of our services).

8. Embedded external resources

To display our website, we embed resources from external providers. When these are retrieved, your IP address is necessarily transmitted to the respective provider, as they would otherwise be unable to deliver the resources to your browser.

• Google Fonts: fonts are delivered via Google's servers (fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com, Google Ireland Limited). Your IP address is transmitted to Google in the process.
• Tailwind CSS (CDN): the CSS framework is loaded via a content delivery network; your IP address is transmitted to the CDN provider in the process.
• hCaptcha script: for the captcha check in the chat, a script from hCaptcha is loaded (see section 7).

Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interest in an appealing and functional presentation of our website).

9. External links and our own offerings

Our website refers to further offerings and subdomains from our environment (for example ngowallet. and marketplace.). Separate privacy notices apply to each of these offerings. We have no influence over the processing of personal data on linked external third-party sites; the respective provider is responsible for this.

10. No tracking cookies, no web tracking

This website uses no tracking or analytics cookies and employs no web tracking. Only technically necessary processing takes place. Your language selection is controlled solely via the path accessed (/de/ or /en/), not through persistent storage. Consent via a cookie banner is therefore not required.

11. Your rights as a data subject

Under the GDPR you have the following rights:

• Right of access (Art. 15): You can request information about the data we store about you.
• Right to rectification (Art. 16): You can request the correction of inaccurate data.
• Right to erasure (Art. 17): You can request the deletion of your data.
• Right to restriction (Art. 18): You can request the restriction of processing.
• Right to data portability (Art. 20): You can receive your data in a common, machine-readable format.
• Right to object (Art. 21): You can object at any time, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to processing based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.
• Right to withdraw consent (Art. 7 (3)): You can withdraw consent given at any time with effect for the future.

To exercise your rights, an informal message to legal@verdantgrounds.org is sufficient.

12. Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

Without prejudice to any other legal remedy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority if you believe that the processing of your data violates the GDPR. You can contact the authority responsible for your place of residence or the authority responsible for us:

Competent supervisory authority:
Landesbeauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit Nordrhein-Westfalen (LDI NRW)
Kavalleriestraße 2-4
40213 Düsseldorf, Germany