Privacy Policy

Effective Date: February 9, 2026 · Last Updated: February 15, 2026

Scout Intelligence LLC (“Scout,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the Scout volunteer intelligence platform at scout.church, including our web dashboard and mobile application (collectively, the “Service”). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your information when you use our Service.

By using Scout, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

1. Who We Serve

Scout is a business-to-business platform. We provide our Service to churches and religious organizations (“Churches”). Churches use Scout to understand and support their volunteer teams. If you are a volunteer, your Church is the primary controller of your data, and Scout processes it on the Church’s behalf.

2. Information We Collect

2a. Information Volunteers Provide

  • Account information: Name, email address, phone number (optional), and password
  • Professional background: Job title, employment status, areas of expertise, and skills
  • Serving preferences: Willingness to use professional skills in a volunteer context, current role satisfaction
  • Check-in data: Which ministry team you served with, service time, and date
  • Feedback: Post-service sentiment ratings (e.g., Great, Good, Fine, Difficult) and optional written notes

2b. Information Church Staff Provide

  • Staff account information: Name, email address, and password (or Google OAuth credentials)
  • Church information: Church name and configuration settings
  • Follow-up actions: Notes and actions taken regarding volunteer care

2c. Information from Third-Party Integrations

  • Planning Center Online (PCO): If a Church connects their PCO account, we import volunteer names, email addresses, phone numbers, and team assignments. This import is initiated and controlled by Church staff.

2d. Information Collected Automatically

  • Device information: Device type and operating system (mobile app only)
  • Push notification tokens: A device identifier used to deliver notifications (mobile app only)
  • Session data: Authentication tokens and session identifiers necessary to keep you signed in
  • Crash and performance data: If the app encounters an error, we collect diagnostic information including device type, operating system version, and error details to identify and fix issues. This data is collected via Sentry and is not linked to your identity.

3. How We Use Your Information

  • Provide the Service: Process check-ins, display volunteer profiles to Church staff, and deliver push notifications
  • AI-Powered Features: We use artificial intelligence to:
    • Categorize job titles into professional categories (e.g., Medical, Education, Tech) so Church staff can understand their team’s expertise
    • Generate brief summaries of volunteer feedback to help Church staff identify patterns and provide better pastoral care
    • Power “Scout Lens,” a search feature that helps Church staff find volunteers whose skills match specific ministry needs
  • Engagement analytics: Calculate engagement and wellness scores to help Churches identify volunteers who may need encouragement or are at risk of burnout
  • Communications: Send transactional emails (account verification, password resets) and feedback reminder notifications
  • Improve the Service: Understand usage patterns and improve our platform

4. Artificial Intelligence Disclosure

Scout uses AI models provided by Anthropic (Claude) to power certain features. When AI processes your data:

  • Job title categorization: Your job title is sent to Anthropic’s API to determine a professional category. No other personal information is included in this request.
  • Feedback summaries: Your feedback ratings and notes (along with your first name and serving context) are sent to Anthropic’s API to generate a brief pastoral summary. These summaries are visible only to your Church’s staff.
  • Scout Lens searches: When Church staff search for volunteers with specific skills, volunteer profile data (name, expertise, engagement metrics, and feedback summaries) is sent to Anthropic’s API to find the best matches. Only Church staff can initiate these searches, and results are limited to volunteers within their own Church.

Anthropic does not use data sent through their API to train their models. For more information, see Anthropic’s Privacy Policy.

5. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only in the following circumstances:

  • With your Church: Your volunteer profile, check-in history, feedback, expertise, and engagement metrics are visible to authorized staff at the Church you belong to. Churches cannot see data from other Churches.
  • Service providers: We use third-party services to operate our platform:
    • Anthropic — AI processing (job categorization, summaries, search)
    • Resend — Transactional email delivery
    • Vercel — Web application hosting
    • Neon — Database hosting
    • Sentry — Crash reporting and error tracking
    • Expo / Apple / Google — Mobile app distribution and push notifications
  • Legal requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request.

6. Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information:

  • Passwords are hashed using industry-standard algorithms (bcrypt)
  • Authentication tokens on mobile devices are stored in encrypted on-device storage (Expo SecureStore)
  • Third-party integration tokens (e.g., Planning Center) are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM
  • All data is transmitted over HTTPS/TLS
  • Multi-tenant data isolation ensures Churches can only access their own data

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Data Retention

  • Active accounts: We retain your data for as long as your account is active and your Church maintains their Scout subscription.
  • Deactivated volunteers: If your Church deactivates your volunteer account, your data is soft-deleted (marked as inactive) but retained for a period to allow reactivation. Churches can configure their inactivity policies.
  • Check-in history: Check-in records are retained to calculate engagement trends and support the Service’s analytics features.
  • AI search logs: Records of Scout Lens searches (the query and matched volunteer IDs) are retained for auditing and service improvement.

8. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights:

  • Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
  • Correction: Update or correct inaccurate information through the mobile app or by contacting your Church
  • Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information by contacting us at the email below
  • Opt-out of notifications: Disable push notifications through your device settings at any time

Because Scout operates as a processor on behalf of Churches, some requests may need to be directed to your Church first. We will assist as needed.

9. Children’s Privacy

Scout is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

10. California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), including the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to delete your information, and the right to opt out of the sale of your information. We do not sell personal information. To exercise your rights, contact us at the email below.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by updating the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, providing additional notice (such as an in-app notification). Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your rights, contact us at:

Scout Intelligence LLC
Email: privacy@scout.church