The Guestward Group LLC (“The Guestward Group,” “Guestward,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal information responsibly, transparently, and in accordance with applicable law.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect personal information when you:

• Visit www.theguestwardgroup.com;

• Submit a contact, inquiry, assessment, registration, or consultation form;

• Schedule a discovery conversation or other appointment;

• Download a resource;

• Subscribe to our email communications;

• Participate in a survey, assessment, workshop, training, or consulting engagement;

• Communicate with us by email, telephone, video conference, social media, or another method;

• Apply to work with us as an employee, consultant, or independent contractor; or

• Otherwise interact with The Guestward Group.

This Privacy Policy applies to information collected through our website and related business interactions. It does not replace any separate privacy, confidentiality, data-processing, or contractual terms that may apply to a consulting client, contractor, employee, or other business relationship.

By using our website or voluntarily providing personal information to us, you acknowledge the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

1. Who We Are

The Guestward Group LLC is a Tennessee limited liability company providing consulting, coaching, training, assessment, and related professional services, particularly for churches, ministries, nonprofit organizations, leaders, and teams.

Privacy inquiries may be submitted to:

Email: privacy@theguestwardgroup.com
Telephone: (615) 857-7299

2. Personal Information We Collect

“Personal information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked to a particular person or household. The precise definition may vary under applicable law.

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of information.

A. Contact and Identification Information

This may include:

• First and last name;

• Email address;

• Telephone number;

• Mailing or business address;

• Organization or church name;

• Job title, ministry role, or professional position; and

• Other information you provide when contacting us.

B. Consultation and Service-Inquiry Information

When you inquire about or purchase our services, we may collect:

• The services in which you are interested;

• Information about your church, ministry, organization, team, or leadership structure;

• Congregation, membership, attendance, staffing, or volunteer information;

• Your goals, concerns, challenges, and desired outcomes;

• Preferred dates, appointment times, and communication methods;

• Notes related to discovery conversations or consultations;

• Proposals, contracts, project details, and correspondence; and

• Other information you voluntarily provide in connection with a potential or active engagement.

Please do not submit confidential personnel records, counseling information, medical information, financial account information, government identification numbers, information about minors, or other highly sensitive information through a general website form.

C. Assessment, Survey, and Resource Information

If you complete an assessment, survey, questionnaire, or downloadable-resource form, we may collect:

• Your name and email address;

• Your organization’s name;

• Your answers, rankings, scores, comments, or results;

• Information concerning organizational practices, ministry systems, leadership, staffing, membership, engagement, or guest experience;

• The date and time of submission; and

• Information about the resource you requested or downloaded.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, website assessments are educational and informational tools. They are not psychological, medical, legal, financial, or employment evaluations.

If an assessment permits anonymous participation, we will not intentionally require direct identifiers unless needed to provide the assessment or requested results. Nevertheless, technical information such as an IP address or device information may still be processed by our website or service providers.

D. Appointment and Event Information

When you schedule a discovery conversation, coaching session, workshop, or other appointment, we may collect:

• Contact information;

• Scheduling preferences;

• Time zone;

• Organization and role;

• Meeting purpose;

• Responses to intake questions;

• Calendar event information; and

• Rescheduling, cancellation, and attendance information.

Meetings are not recorded unless we provide notice and obtain any consent required by applicable law.

E. Transaction and Billing Information

If you purchase a service, resource, event registration, or other offering, we or our payment processor may collect:

• Billing name and address;

• Transaction amount;

• Payment method type;

• Transaction date;

• Invoice and payment status; and

• Limited payment-related information supplied by the processor.

Payment card numbers and security codes are generally collected and processed directly by the applicable third-party payment processor. We do not intend to store complete payment card information on our own systems.

F. Communications Information

We may retain information you provide through:

• Email correspondence;

• Telephone calls and voicemail;

• Contact forms;

• Video conferences;

• Social-media messages;

• Surveys or feedback forms; and

• Other communications with us.

This information may include the content of your message, attachments, contact information, and our responses.

G. Newsletter and Marketing Information

If you subscribe to our newsletter, request a free resource, register for an event, or otherwise consent to receive communications, we may collect:

• Name and email address;

• Organization;

• Communication preferences;

• Subscription source;

• Emails opened or links clicked, if enabled through our email provider; and

• Unsubscribe or suppression status.

H. Website, Device, and Technical Information

When you visit our website, we and our service providers may automatically collect information such as:

• Internet Protocol address;

• Browser type and version;

• Device type;

• Operating system;

• Approximate geographic location derived from an IP address;

• Referral source;

• Pages viewed;

• Links clicked;

• Date and time of access;

• Time spent on pages;

• Download activity;

• Website navigation and interactions;

• Cookie identifiers; and

• Diagnostic, security, and error information.

I. Applicant, Consultant, and Contractor Information

If you inquire about working with The Guestward Group, we may collect:

• Contact information;

• Résumé, curriculum vitae, biography, or work history;

• Education, credentials, licenses, and certifications;

• Professional experience and areas of expertise;

• References;

• Portfolio materials or work samples;

• Interview notes;

• Tax and payment information, if engaged;

• Background-screening information, where lawful and authorized; and

• Other information relevant to evaluating or administering the relationship.

A separate notice or agreement may govern information collected after a person becomes an employee or independent contractor.

3. Sources of Personal Information

We may collect personal information:

• Directly from you;

• Automatically through our website and related technologies;

• From your church, ministry, employer, or organization;

• From a person who refers or introduces you to us;

• From consultants or contractors working on our behalf;

• From payment, scheduling, email, analytics, videoconferencing, or website providers;

• From publicly available sources, such as organizational websites and professional profiles; and

• From social-media platforms when you interact with our pages or content.

If you provide information about another person, you represent that you are authorized to provide that information and that you have given any notice or obtained any consent required by law.

4. How We Use Personal Information

We may use personal information for the following business and operational purposes:

A. Providing Services

We may use information to:

• Respond to inquiries;

• Schedule and conduct discovery conversations;

• Evaluate whether our services fit an organization’s needs;

• Prepare proposals, contracts, invoices, and project plans;

• Deliver consulting, coaching, training, assessment, and related services;

• Customize recommendations and resources;

• Provide assessment results;

• Manage client and consultant relationships; and

• Provide customer support.

B. Operating and Improving Our Business

We may use information to:

• Operate, maintain, and improve our website;

• Understand how visitors use our website;

• Evaluate the effectiveness of our resources and services;

• Develop new services, assessments, events, and educational content;

• Maintain business records;

• Administer our internal operations;

• Perform quality assurance;

• Troubleshoot technical issues; and

• Conduct aggregated or statistical analysis.

C. Communicating With You

We may use information to:

• Respond to questions or requests;

• Send appointment confirmations and reminders;

• Provide requested downloads or resources;

• Send administrative or service-related messages;

• Communicate about proposals, projects, invoices, or contracts;

• Request feedback; and

• Notify you about material changes affecting our relationship.

D. Marketing and Educational Communications

Subject to applicable law, we may use information to send:

• Newsletters;

• Articles and educational resources;

• Event or workshop announcements;

• Information about services;

• Invitations to assessments or surveys; and

• Other communications that may be relevant to you or your organization.

You may unsubscribe from promotional emails at any time by selecting the unsubscribe link in the email or contacting us. Unsubscribing from promotional communications will not prevent us from sending necessary transactional, contractual, security, or administrative communications.

E. Security, Legal, and Compliance Purposes

We may use information to:

• Protect the security and integrity of our website and systems;

• Detect and prevent fraud, misuse, security incidents, or unlawful activity;

• Enforce our agreements, policies, and legal rights;

• Comply with legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, and reporting obligations;

• Respond to subpoenas, court orders, or lawful government requests;

• Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims; and

• Protect the rights, safety, property, and interests of The Guestward Group, our clients, website visitors, or others.

5. Legal Bases for Processing

Where a law requires us to identify a legal basis for processing personal information, we may rely on one or more of the following:

• Consent: You have given us permission to process information for a specified purpose.

• Contractual necessity: Processing is necessary to take steps at your request before entering a contract or to perform a contract with you.

• Legitimate interests: Processing is reasonably necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your applicable privacy rights.

• Legal obligation: Processing is necessary for compliance with an applicable legal requirement.

• Protection of rights and safety: Processing is necessary to protect a person’s vital interests or to establish, exercise, or defend legal rights.

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing completed before consent was withdrawn.

6. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our website and service providers may use cookies, pixels, tags, local storage, and similar technologies.

Cookies are small data files stored on a visitor’s browser or device. They may support website functionality, remember preferences, measure website activity, enhance security, and assist with communications or marketing.

We may use the following categories of cookies:

A. Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are required for the website to function, provide security, remember privacy selections, process forms, or make requested features available. These cookies generally cannot be disabled through our website without affecting essential functionality.

B. Functional Cookies

These cookies help provide enhanced functionality, remember settings, or improve convenience.

C. Analytics and Performance Cookies

These cookies help us understand website traffic and usage, including page views, referral sources, device information, navigation patterns, and interactions with website content.

Our Squarespace website may use Squarespace Analytics. If we connect additional analytics services, such as Google Analytics, those providers may also collect and process information under their respective privacy terms.

D. Advertising or Marketing Cookies

If enabled, these technologies may help measure promotional campaigns, understand engagement, or deliver content based on interests. We will update this Privacy Policy and implement any legally required choices before intentionally using targeted-advertising technologies.

You can manage cookies through our cookie banner, when available, and through your browser settings. Blocking certain cookies may affect website functionality.

Where required by applicable law, we will request consent before placing nonessential cookies. You may withdraw or modify your cookie preferences using the “Cookie Preferences” or similar link on our website, if displayed.

Some browsers or devices transmit a Global Privacy Control signal or other opt-out preference signal. Where legally required and technically supported, we will process recognized signals as a request to opt out of applicable sale, sharing, or targeted-advertising activities.

7. How We Disclose Personal Information

We may disclose personal information to the following categories of recipients for legitimate business purposes.

A. Website, Technology, and Business-Service Providers

We may use providers that assist with:

• Website hosting and content management;

• Cloud storage;

• Email and business communications;

• Appointment scheduling;

• Video conferencing;

• Analytics;

• Form processing;

• Customer relationship management;

• Email newsletters;

• Payment processing and invoicing;

• Accounting and bookkeeping;

• Information technology and security;

• Document management and electronic signatures; and

• Other business operations.

These providers may include, depending on the services we activate, Squarespace, Google Workspace, Google Calendar, Google Meet, an email-marketing provider, payment processors, accounting platforms, and other professional systems.

Service providers are permitted to process information for the services they provide to us and may have independent legal obligations under their own privacy policies and terms.

B. Consultants and Independent Contractors

We may disclose information to authorized consultants or independent contractors who require access to support a proposal, project, assessment, workshop, or client engagement. Such access may be subject to confidentiality and data-protection obligations.

C. Professional Advisers

We may disclose information to attorneys, accountants, insurers, financial institutions, auditors, and other professional advisers when reasonably necessary to operate our business, receive advice, manage risk, or comply with legal obligations.

D. Your Organization or Authorized Representatives

If you communicate with us on behalf of a church, ministry, employer, or other organization, we may disclose relevant communications, assessment information, project information, or work product to authorized representatives of that organization.

Individual assessment responses will be handled according to the terms communicated for the particular assessment or engagement. We will not promise anonymity unless we expressly state that the assessment is anonymous.

E. Legal and Safety Disclosures

We may disclose information when we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to:

• Comply with applicable law or legal process;

• Respond to a lawful request from a court, regulator, or government agency;

• Investigate or prevent suspected fraud, abuse, security threats, or unlawful conduct;

• Enforce a contract or policy;

• Protect our rights, property, or safety; or

• Protect the rights, property, or safety of clients, users, or others.

F. Business Transactions

If The Guestward Group is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, sale of assets, dissolution, or similar business transaction, personal information may be disclosed as part of evaluating or completing that transaction, subject to appropriate confidentiality measures.

G. At Your Direction or With Your Consent

We may disclose information to another person or organization when you request, authorize, or consent to the disclosure.

8. Sale, Sharing, and Targeted Advertising

The Guestward Group does not sell personal information for money.

We do not currently intend to “sell” or “share” personal information, as those terms are defined under certain U.S. state privacy laws, or process personal information for cross-context behavioral or targeted advertising.

Some privacy laws define “sale” or “sharing” broadly enough to include certain advertising-technology disclosures even when no money is exchanged. If our practices change, we will update this Privacy Policy, provide any legally required notice, and offer applicable opt-out mechanisms.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including providing services, maintaining business and tax records, resolving disputes, enforcing agreements, and complying with legal obligations.

Retention periods may vary depending on:

• The nature and sensitivity of the information;

• The purpose for which it was collected;

• The duration of a client or business relationship;

• Contractual commitments;

• Applicable limitation periods;

• Tax, accounting, insurance, and legal requirements;

• Security and fraud-prevention needs; and

• Whether deletion is technically feasible in active and backup systems.

When information is no longer reasonably needed, we may delete it, anonymize it, aggregate it, or securely isolate it until deletion is practicable.

Unsubscribed email addresses may be retained on a suppression list so that we can honor the unsubscribe request.

10. Data Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, destruction, loss, or misuse.

These measures may include:

• Limiting access to individuals with a legitimate business need;

• Using password-protected business systems;

• Using multifactor authentication where available;

• Maintaining confidentiality obligations;

• Using reputable service providers;

• Applying security updates;

• Using secure transmission methods where supported; and

• Reviewing our information-handling practices.

No website, electronic transmission, cloud service, or storage system is completely secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

You are responsible for using appropriate caution when transmitting information electronically and for protecting any account credentials or access links provided to you.

If we discover a security incident affecting personal information, we will investigate and provide notice when required by applicable law.

11. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your state or country of residence and whether the applicable law covers our business or processing activity, you may have the right to:

• Confirm whether we process your personal information;

• Access personal information we maintain about you;

• Correct inaccurate personal information;

• Request deletion of personal information;

• Obtain a portable copy of certain information;

• Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information;

• Opt out of targeted advertising;

• Opt out of certain profiling activities;

• Restrict or object to certain processing;

• Withdraw consent;

• Appeal the denial of a privacy request; and

• Receive equal service and treatment without unlawful discrimination for exercising a privacy right.

These rights are not absolute. Applicable law may permit or require us to retain information or deny a request in certain circumstances.

Submitting a Privacy Request

To submit a privacy request, contact us at:

Email:privacy@theguestwardgroup.com
Mail: The Guestward Group LLC, 116 Agnes Road, Suite 200, Knoxville, Tennessee 37919

Please include:

• Your name;

• The email address associated with your interactions with us;

• Your state or country of residence;

• The right you wish to exercise; and

• Sufficient information to help us locate the relevant records.

Do not send copies of sensitive identification documents unless we specifically request them through an appropriate method.

We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity and authority before fulfilling a request. If we cannot verify a request, we may be unable to complete it.

An authorized agent may submit a request when permitted by law. We may require proof that the agent is authorized to act for you and may ask you to verify your identity directly.

We will respond within the period required by applicable law. If we need additional time, we will provide notice where required.

Appeals

If applicable law grants a right to appeal and we deny your request, you may appeal by emailing privacy@theguestwardgroup.com with the subject line “Privacy Request Appeal.” Include the original request, our response, and the reason you believe the decision should be reconsidered.

Complaints

You may contact us first so that we have an opportunity to address your concern. You may also have the right to submit a complaint to the attorney general, privacy regulator, or data-protection authority with jurisdiction over your residence.

12. Tennessee Residents

The Tennessee Information Protection Act provides qualifying Tennessee consumers with certain rights when the law applies to a business and its data-processing activities.

These may include rights to confirm processing, access, correct, delete, and obtain a portable copy of personal information, as well as rights to opt out of certain sales, targeted advertising, and profiling.

The Act generally applies only to entities meeting specified jurisdictional and data-processing thresholds. Nothing in this Privacy Policy should be interpreted as a representation that The Guestward Group currently meets every threshold under the Act. Nevertheless, we will evaluate privacy requests in good faith and honor them when required by applicable law.

13. California Residents

California residents may have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended, if that law applies to The Guestward Group or a particular processing activity.

These may include rights to know, access, correct, delete, limit certain uses of sensitive personal information, and opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information.

The Guestward Group does not sell personal information for money and does not knowingly sell or share personal information belonging to individuals under 16 years of age.

California’s “Shine the Light” law may provide residents with rights concerning certain disclosures for third parties’ direct-marketing purposes. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing in the manner covered by that law.

Nothing in this section represents that The Guestward Group meets the statutory thresholds necessary to qualify as a regulated “business” under California law.

14. International Visitors

The Guestward Group is located in the United States, and our website and services are primarily directed to individuals and organizations in the United States.

If you access our website from another country, your information may be transferred to, stored in, or processed in the United States or another country where our service providers operate. Those jurisdictions may have data-protection laws different from those in your country.

Where the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction’s data-protection law applies, we will rely on an appropriate legal basis and transfer mechanism as required.

You may contact privacy@theguestwardgroup.com to ask questions about international processing or applicable privacy rights.

15. Children’s Privacy

Our website and consulting services are directed to adults and organizations. They are not directed to children under 13 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13 through our website.

Please do not submit information about a child through a general contact form, assessment, or resource form.

If we learn that we have collected personal information directly from a child in a manner prohibited by applicable law, we will take reasonable steps to delete it. A parent or legal guardian who believes a child has provided personal information may contact us at privacy@theguestwardgroup.com.

16. Sensitive Personal Information

We do not request sensitive personal information through ordinary website forms. Please do not submit:

• Social Security numbers;

• Driver’s license or passport numbers;

• Financial account credentials;

• Complete payment-card information;

• Medical or health records;

• Counseling or pastoral-care records;

• Information concerning alleged misconduct;

• Background-check information;

• Biometric or genetic data;

• Precise geolocation;

• Passwords;

• Confidential personnel records; or

• Information identifying a child.

If sensitive information is necessary for a consulting engagement, we will determine an appropriate collection and handling method and may address it through a separate agreement.

17. Client and Organizational Information

During a consulting engagement, we may receive information about a church, ministry, nonprofit, staff member, volunteer, member, attendee, or other individual.

The client organization is responsible for determining whether it has authority to provide such information and for giving any legally required notices or obtaining any legally required permissions.

The Guestward Group will use client-provided information to perform the agreed services, comply with law, maintain appropriate records, and fulfill other purposes described in the applicable agreement.

Confidentiality, ownership, data use, assessment reporting, and information-return or destruction requirements may be addressed more specifically in the client services agreement. If that agreement conflicts with this Privacy Policy regarding client-provided information, the signed agreement will govern to the extent of the conflict.

18. Third-Party Websites and Services

Our website may contain links to third-party websites, social-media platforms, scheduling services, payment processors, embedded content, or other external services.

We do not control and are not responsible for the privacy, security, availability, accuracy, or content of third-party services. A link does not necessarily constitute an endorsement.

When you interact with a third-party service, its privacy policy and terms govern its collection and use of information. We encourage you to review those policies before providing personal information.

19. Social Media

If you interact with The Guestward Group on a social-media platform, the platform may collect information about your activity under its own policies. Information you post publicly or make visible to us may be viewed, used, or shared by others.

Please avoid posting confidential, sensitive, or client-related information through public social-media channels.

20. Email and Electronic Communications

Email and ordinary website forms may not be encrypted end to end. Please do not use them to transmit highly sensitive or confidential information.

By providing an email address, you authorize us to communicate with you electronically regarding your inquiry, requested resource, appointment, transaction, or business relationship.

We may maintain records of electronic communications as reasonably necessary for business, legal, security, and recordkeeping purposes.

21. Do Not Track

Some web browsers offer a “Do Not Track” setting. Because there is not a uniform industry standard governing all Do Not Track signals, our website may not respond to every such signal.

Where applicable law requires recognition of a qualifying universal opt-out mechanism, such as Global Privacy Control, we will make commercially reasonable efforts to process the signal as required.

22. Deidentified and Aggregated Information

We may create information that is aggregated, statistical, or reasonably deidentified so that it cannot reasonably be linked to a particular individual.

We may use this information for research, benchmarking, service improvement, educational content, business planning, and other lawful purposes.

When required by law, we will take reasonable measures to prevent deidentified information from being associated with an identifiable individual and will not attempt to reidentify it except as permitted to test our deidentification methods or comply with law.

We will not publicly identify a client organization in a case study, testimonial, or marketing example without appropriate authorization. We may use generalized or anonymized observations that do not reasonably identify the client or an individual.

23. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in:

• Our services or business practices;

• Website functionality;

• Technology providers;

• Legal or regulatory requirements; or

• Other operational needs.

When we update the policy, we will revise the “Last Updated” date at the top. If a change is material, we may provide additional notice through the website, by email, or through another appropriate method.

Your continued use of the website after an updated policy becomes effective constitutes acknowledgment of the revised policy, to the extent permitted by law.

24. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or would like to submit a privacy request, contact The Guestward Group LLC at privacy@theguestwardgroup.com.