Effective date: October 16, 2026
This Cookie Policy explains cookies and similar browser technologies on the Cotton Branch Refuge Project website displaying this notice. Read it with our Privacy Policy, which explains personal information, forms, service providers, and your choices.
Our approach
Cotton Branch does not install advertising pixels, behavioral analytics, session replay, or cross-site advertising trackers on this website. Our own website code does not set analytics or advertising cookies. You can read our main website content without accepting an optional analytics or advertising cookie from Cotton Branch.
This does not mean that every feature operates without cookies or technical information. Hosting, security checks, embedded donation forms, a volunteer calendar, and outside websites have their own technology and privacy practices. A service may connect to your browser when its embedded feature loads, before you submit a form. The sections below explain that distinction.
Cookies and similar technologies
A cookie is a small value a website stores in your browser and can receive again with later requests. Cookies can last for a visit or remain for a specified period. First-party cookies relate to the site you are visiting; third-party cookies relate to another provider used within it. Browser settings and restrictions can affect whether cookies are accepted.
Browser session storage and local storage are different from cookies. They keep values within the browser and are not automatically attached to every network request. Embedded services, pixels, and security tools can also process information such as an IP address or browser details without relying on a cookie.
What our own website stores
The homepage places a small session-storage flag in your browser to remember whether the opening animation has already played in the current tab. It contains a simple playback state, not your name, email address, phone number, or a visitor profile. Our website does not send that flag to Cotton Branch to identify or track you. Session storage is ordinarily cleared when the tab or browsing session ends; browser restore features may preserve a session.
Forms also use temporary values, such as a submission identifier or security verification token, to process a request and reduce duplicates or abuse. These operational values are not an advertising profile. Details submitted through forms are covered by the Privacy Policy.
Outside features and their technologies
| Feature | What to know |
|---|---|
| Hosting and security | Cloudflare delivers and protects the website. Security services may process browser signals and use necessary security technologies. Turnstile is used on the private tour form. See Cloudflare's privacy notice and its Turnstile notice. |
| Giving and event payments | Givebutter forms load on giving pages; ticket links can also take you to Givebutter. Its services may use cookies, analytics, security, and advertising technologies under Givebutter's privacy notice. Its choices and controls are managed by that provider. |
| Volunteer calendar | The volunteer page loads a POINT calendar. POINT can receive browser information and use its own technologies when the calendar loads or you open an opportunity. See POINT's privacy notice. |
| Signup and application services | The Refuge Circle signup sends your chosen information to a Google-hosted receiver when you submit. Other links may open Google forms. Google services and any existing signed-in session are subject to Google's privacy notice and your browser controls. |
| External store and other links | The shop opens Printify's storefront. Printify, checkout providers, and other sites you choose to open manage their own cookies and settings. See Printify's privacy notice. |
We do not control every cookie name, duration, or change made by an outside service, so we do not claim that those services are cookie-free. Their notices explain their current practices. An outside service's use of analytics or advertising technology is distinct from the trackers Cotton Branch chooses to install in its own website code.
Your browser choices
You can use your browser's privacy or site-data settings to view and delete cookies, clear session storage, restrict third-party cookies, or block data from particular services. Settings may need to be changed separately on each device and browser. Private-browsing features and content blockers vary and do not guarantee that a provider receives no technical information.
Blocking cookies, scripts, frames, or storage may affect giving forms, volunteer calendars, security verification, or form confirmations. You can still read ordinary website pages and contact our team by email if an embedded feature does not work. Clearing the homepage session flag may cause the opening animation to play again.
We do not run our own targeted-advertising or behavioral-tracking feature for a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal to disable on this website. Outside services may offer their own opt-outs or recognize these signals under their policies. Your email and text subscriptions are managed separately from browser cookies; use the communication choices described in our Privacy Policy to change those.
Updates and questions
We will update this policy when our website's use of these technologies materially changes. The date at the top identifies the current version. If we introduce an optional technology that requires a choice under applicable law, its use will need to be addressed before activation.
For questions about this website's cookies or browser storage, email evan@cottonbranch.org. Include the page and feature you are asking about. Please avoid sending account passwords or other sensitive credentials.