Privacy Policy

We know reading legal documents can be tedious, but it is necessary that you understand exactly how your data is handled when you interact with us. We’ve written this policy to be straightforward—avoiding dense legal jargon so you get a clear picture of what we collect, why we collect it, and how we protect your digital footprint.

Please note that this privacy policy covers both the grantZA website and the official grantZA mobile application (identified by the package name za.org.grantza.www on app stores).

How We Handle Status Check Data

To make tracking your grant application easier, we host a status check form directly on our platform. We want to be completely transparent about how this specific tool works.

When you enter your 13-digit South African ID number and phone number into the status check form, we act merely as a bridge. Your details are securely encrypted and passed directly to the official state API to fetch your current grant status. We do not save your ID number to our databases. We do not link it to your IP address, and we certainly do not sell it to marketers. The data exists in our system just long enough to display your result on the screen, and then it is instantly discarded.

What Other Information Do We Collect?

Outside of the ephemeral data used in the status check form, we purposefully keep the data we gather to an absolute minimum. We collect two basic types of information:

• Information you voluntarily give us: If you use our contact form to ask a question or report an issue, you will provide your name and email address so we can reply.
• Information collected automatically (Website): We use standard analytics tools to see how visitors navigate the site. This captures anonymous data like your browser type, the pages you read most frequently, and roughly what province you are visiting from.
• Information collected automatically (Mobile App): When using the za.org.grantza.www app, we collect basic, non-identifying device metrics. This might include your phone's operating system version or device model, which simply helps us identify and fix app crashes. We do not track your precise GPS location.

Mobile App Permissions

If you've downloaded the grantZA app, you'll notice we don't ask for invasive permissions. We don't need access to your camera, your contact list, or your microphone just to show you funding guides. The only permission we actively request is for Push Notifications, so we can alert you when a major grant deadline or payment date is approaching. You can easily turn these notifications off in your phone's standard settings menu at any time.

Third-Party Advertising and Cookies

Running a fast, comprehensive database requires financial resources. To keep access to our guides and status tools 100% free for everyone, we rely on third-party advertising through networks like Google AdSense and AdMob (for the mobile app).

These advertising partners use cookies and anonymous mobile device identifiers to serve ads based on your prior visits to our platform or other sites on the internet. You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting your Google Ads Settings or adjusting the tracking preferences on your mobile device. While we don't control the exact ads shown, we actively block ad categories that are predatory or inappropriate.

Links to Official Government Portals

Throughout our guides, you will find buttons and links directing you to official state application portals (like the DMRE, NEF, or SASSA). Once you tap those links and leave the grantZA environment, our privacy policy no longer applies. We highly recommend reviewing the privacy guidelines of those respective government agencies before uploading your official documents.

Your Rights Under POPIA

As a South African resident, your digital privacy is legally protected under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). You hold the right to:

• Ask what personal data we hold about you (which will likely just be your email address if you've previously contacted us).
• Request that we permanently delete any of your personal correspondence from our records.
• Unsubscribe from any communication, or disable app notifications, whenever you choose.

Changes to This Policy

The digital landscape moves quickly, and privacy laws occasionally update. If we make any meaningful changes to how we handle your data—or if we introduce new features to the za.org.grantza.www app that require different permissions—we will update this page and change the "Last Updated" date at the top. Minor phrasing tweaks might happen quietly, but our core commitment to keeping your data safe won't change.

Get In Touch

If you have any specific concerns about your privacy while using the website or the mobile app, or if something in this policy doesn't quite make sense, please reach out. You can drop us a message through our Contact Us page, and we will get back to you as soon as we can.