Veteran Memorial Project
Effective Date: July 31, 2026
Last Updated: July 31, 2026
1. About This Policy
Veteran Memorial Project (“VMP,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a Colorado nonprofit corporation and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization based in Severance, Colorado. We operate veteranmemorialproject.org and all related pages, subdomains, forms, and applications we control (the “Site”).
This Cookie Policy explains what cookies and similar technologies we use on the Site, why we use them, and how you can control them. It supplements our Privacy Policy, which governs how we handle personal information generally, and should be read alongside it.
Questions about this Policy: info@veteranmp.org
2. The Short Version
If you read nothing else, read this:
- We do not run advertising on this Site. No ad networks, no advertising cookies, no retargeting pixels.
- We do not track you across other websites. Nothing we use follows you off veteranmemorialproject.org.
- We do not sell information collected through cookies.
- We use a small number of essential cookies to make the Site work, and Google Analytics to understand how it is used. That is nearly the whole picture.
- Refusing every optional cookie will not stop you from viewing, searching, or printing a single memorial record. Nothing on this Site is gated behind your consent to analytics.
We built the Site to be a memorial, not a data collection instrument. The sections below give you the full detail anyway, because you are entitled to it.
3. What Cookies Are
A cookie is a small text file that a website places on your computer, phone, or tablet when you visit. On your next visit, the site can read that file. Cookies are how a website remembers things — that you are logged in, that you chose larger text, that you already dismissed a notice.
- First-party cookies are set by the website you are visiting — in this case, veteranmemorialproject.org.
- Third-party cookies are set by a different domain, such as an analytics or payment provider whose service the site uses.
- Session cookies are deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies stay on your device for a set period or until you delete them.
3.1 Similar Technologies
Where this Policy says “cookies,” it also covers these closely related technologies:
- Pixels and web beacons — tiny transparent images that record whether a page or email was opened
- Local storage — a browser storage area functioning much like a cookie, used for preferences
- Software development kits (SDKs) and similar tools embedded in applications
- Server logs — records our web server keeps of requests made to it, described in Section 7
4. Categories of Cookies We Use
| Category | What it does | Do we use it? | Can you refuse? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Security, session management, form submission, load balancing, fraud prevention on donations | Yes | No — the Site cannot function without them |
| Preference / functional | Remembering display settings, text size, accessibility choices, and whether you have dismissed a notice | Yes | Yes |
| Analytics / performance | Understanding how many people visit, which memorial records are viewed, and where visitors come from | Yes | Yes |
| Advertising / targeting | Building profiles to serve ads, retargeting you elsewhere on the internet | No — we do not use these | N/A |
| Social media tracking | Buttons and widgets that report your activity back to a social platform | No — we do not embed these | N/A |
Strictly necessary cookies do not require your consent under applicable law, because the Site cannot be delivered without them. Everything else is your choice.
5. Specific Cookies on This Site
The tables below describe the cookies the Site uses. Cookie names and durations are set by the providers and may change without notice as their services are updated. If you find something on the Site that does not match this Policy, please tell us at info@veteranmp.org and we will correct the record or the Site, whichever is wrong.
5.1 Strictly Necessary
| Purpose | Type | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Maintaining your session while you browse or complete a form | First-party session cookie | Until you close your browser |
| Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection on forms and submissions | First-party session cookie | Until you close your browser |
| Recording your cookie consent choice, so we do not ask again | First-party persistent cookie | Up to 12 months |
| Security, rate limiting, and bot mitigation | First-party or hosting-provider cookie | Session to 12 months |
5.2 Preference and Functional
| Purpose | Type | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Remembering accessibility and display settings, such as text size or contrast | First-party / local storage | Up to 12 months |
| Remembering that you dismissed a banner or notice | First-party | Up to 12 months |
5.3 Analytics — Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to understand how the Site is used: how many people visit, which memorial records are being viewed, which pages people arrive on and leave from, and roughly where in the world our visitors are. This tells us whether the memorial is reaching people, which is the only reason we measure anything at all.
| Cookie | Purpose | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | Distinguishes one visitor’s browser from another | Up to 2 years |
| _ga_<container ID> | Maintains analytics session state | Up to 2 years |
| _gid | Distinguishes visitors over a short window (used by some configurations) | 24 hours |
How we configure it:
- IP anonymization is enabled. Your IP address is truncated before it is stored, so it is not retained in full.
- We do not enable Google Signals, advertising features, or remarketing audiences.
- We do not share analytics data with Google for advertising purposes.
- We do not link analytics data to your name, email address, donation record, or any memorial record you submitted. Analytics data is used in aggregate.
Google processes this data as our service provider. Google’s practices are described at policies.google.com/technologies/partners.
To opt out of Google Analytics entirely, on every website you visit, install Google’s official browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
5.4 Payment Processing — Stripe and PayPal
If you make a donation, our payment processors set cookies necessary to complete the transaction and to detect fraud. These load on donation pages.
| Provider | Purpose | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Fraud detection and secure payment processing | Cookies such as __stripe_mid and __stripe_sid. See stripe.com/privacy |
| PayPal | Secure payment processing and fraud prevention | Set when you choose PayPal or are redirected to it. See paypal.com/privacy |
These are strictly necessary for donations to work safely. If you block them, the donation form may not function. They are not used for advertising. We never receive or store your full card number — see Section 3.1 of our Privacy Policy.
5.5 Hosting and Content Delivery
Our hosting and content delivery providers may set cookies for security, load balancing, and bot mitigation. These are strictly necessary, contain no personal profile information, and are not used for advertising or tracking.
5.6 Embedded Content
Some memorial pages may include embedded content from third parties, such as a video player or a map. Where such content appears, that provider may set its own cookies once the content loads, and its privacy policy governs that activity, not ours.
We keep embedded third-party content to a minimum for exactly this reason. Where we can, we configure embeds in their most privacy-protective mode.
6. What We Deliberately Do Not Use
We want this stated plainly rather than buried:
- No advertising cookies. We sell no ad space and run no ads.
- No retargeting or remarketing pixels. We do not follow you around the internet after you leave.
- No Meta/Facebook pixel, TikTok pixel, or similar platform tracking pixels.
- No data broker or advertising-network tags.
- No cross-site tracking or device fingerprinting.
- No sale of cookie data. We do not sell information collected through cookies to anyone, for money or otherwise.
- No profiling of visitors for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
A note on the difference between this and our donor list practice. Our Privacy Policy discloses that we may make donor mailing lists available to selected nonprofit organizations from time to time, with an absolute opt-out. That practice involves donors who gave us their postal address directly. It has nothing to do with cookies, and no information collected through cookies on this Site is ever included in it. If you have never donated and only browsed or submitted a memorial record, nothing about you goes into any list.
7. Server Logs
Separately from cookies, our web servers automatically keep logs of requests made to the Site. These typically record IP address, date and time, the page requested, browser and operating system type, and referring URL.
Server logs are created by the basic operation of the internet and cannot be disabled by refusing cookies. We use them for security, troubleshooting, and detecting abuse — including automated scraping of memorial records, which our Copyright Policy prohibits. See Section 3.2 of our Privacy Policy.
8. Your Choices
8.1 Our Cookie Banner
When you first visit, you may be presented with a cookie notice letting you accept or decline non-essential cookies. You may change your choice at any time using the cookie settings link in the Site footer, or by clearing cookies in your browser, which will cause the notice to appear again.
Declining non-essential cookies will not limit your access to any memorial record.
8.2 Global Privacy Control
We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals. GPC is a setting your browser or a browser extension can send automatically, and it works across every site that respects it, without your having to click anything.
When we receive a GPC signal we treat it as:
- An opt-out of analytics cookies
- An opt-out of any sale or sharing of personal data, including the donor list sharing described in our Privacy Policy
You can learn more and find supporting browsers and extensions at globalprivacycontrol.org.
8.3 Do Not Track
Browser “Do Not Track” (DNT) headers were never standardized, and we do not respond to them as a separate mechanism. In practical terms this matters very little here: because we run no advertising and no cross-site tracking, there is nothing on this Site for a DNT signal to switch off. We honor GPC instead, which does have an agreed meaning.
8.4 Browser Controls
Every major browser lets you view, block, and delete cookies:
| Browser | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Google Chrome | Settings → Privacy and security → Third-party cookies / Site data |
| Apple Safari | Settings → Privacy (Mac) or Settings → Safari → Privacy & Security (iPhone/iPad) |
| Mozilla Firefox | Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data |
| Microsoft Edge | Settings → Cookies and site permissions |
Most browsers also offer a private or incognito window, which discards cookies when you close it.
Be aware: blocking all cookies, including strictly necessary ones, may prevent forms, submissions, and donations from working — on this Site and most others. Blocking only third-party cookies is usually the better setting.
8.5 Mobile Devices
On iOS, Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking lets you stop apps from requesting permission to track. On Android, Settings → Privacy → Ads lets you delete or opt out of the advertising ID. Neither affects your ability to use this Site.
8.6 Your Rights Under State Privacy Law
Colorado residents, and residents of other states with comparable laws, have rights of access, correction, deletion, and opt-out described in Section 7 of our Privacy Policy, including a right of appeal. Those rights extend to information collected through cookies.
To exercise them, email info@veteranmp.org.
9. Children
The Site is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly use cookies to collect personal information from children under 13. See Section 3.4 of our Privacy Policy.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Policy as the Site changes or as our providers update their services. We will change the “Last Updated” date and post the revised version here.
If we ever begin using a category of cookie we say here that we do not use — advertising or cross-site tracking in particular — we will update this Policy and seek your consent before doing so. We will not quietly add tracking to a memorial site.
11. Contact
Veteran Memorial Project
Severance, Colorado
Website: veteranmemorialproject.org
Email: info@veteranmp.org
Mailing address and telephone number are listed on the Contact page of our website.
| Purpose | Subject line |
|---|---|
| Cookie question | COOKIES |
| Opt out of analytics | COOKIE OPT-OUT |
| Access, correction, or deletion request | PRIVACY REQUEST |
| Appeal of a denied privacy request | PRIVACY APPEAL |
| Report a discrepancy in this Policy | COOKIE POLICY CORRECTION |
This Cookie Policy forms part of, and should be read together with, the Veteran Memorial Project Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Copyright Policy, and Donor & Organizational Policy.
Veteran Memorial Project is a Colorado nonprofit corporation and a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. EIN 41-3652593.
