The rules we keep while the heart is still soft

We do not sell, rent, or trade the names of people who give. A gift is a confidence, not a list.

We use the name and address you leave so we can thank you, confirm a book went where we said it would, and — when deductibility is real — send a receipt the IRS will recognize.

If you ask to be left off ministry notes, we will. Quietly. No argument, no extra email.

We will not publish a donor's name without permission. Anonymous gifts stay anonymous on this site and in any report we print.

A director, officer, or anyone with substantial influence over the ministry must say so when a decision could benefit them, a family member, or a business they own.

The person with the conflict leaves the vote. They may answer questions and then they go. The minutes record the disclosure, the absence, and the vote of the rest.

Related-party transactions, if any ever exist, will be reported on Form 990 as the form requires. We prefer they do not exist.

This policy is the working rule of the board named on the Certificate of Formation.

If you see misuse of gifts, a false statement on a filing, or harm to a child in the course of the work, write us. Mark the note as a concern. You may give your name or not.

No one who reports in good faith will be punished by this ministry — not a volunteer, not a contractor, not a neighbor who lent a mixer.

Concerns about children are reported to the civil authorities first. We are a ministry, not a shield.

The board reviews every concern. Write the Weatherford desk and mark the note as a concern.

Determination letter, organizing documents, and board minutes: keep permanently.

Form 990 series and supporting workpapers: keep at least seven years (three on public inspection, longer in the file).

Gift records and acknowledgements: seven years.

We do not shred a document because it is inconvenient. When a retention period ends, destruction is ordinary, not secret.

This site (ggafs.org) collects what you type into a form: name, email, optional phone, and the words you send. That is so we can write back.

We use a signed-in staff desk to read those notes. Staff sign in with Google or X. Session cookies keep that door shut to everyone else.

We do not run advertising pixels. We do not build a profile of you for sale.

The public ministry site at godsgreenacres.com is a separate house with its own pages. Questions about that garden belong there; questions about gifts and filings belong here.

When we are a recognized 501(c)(3), anyone may inspect our exemption application, determination letter, and Form 990 returns for the last three years. That is federal law, not a favor.

We intend to post those documents on the filings desk the same week they exist, so no one has to drive to Weatherford to see them.

Schedule B donor names, if we ever file one, are not public on this site. The rest of the return is.

Paper copies: write us. We will not charge more than the law allows, and for an emailed PDF we will not charge at all.