Short version: no account, no advertising trackers, no analytics service, and no sale of personal information. Saved services stay in your browser. Location is used in memory only after you choose “Use my location.”
1. Who and what this covers
Real World Needs (“RWN”) operates the public directory at realworldneeds.org. This notice covers the website and its browser-based tools. It does not cover the independent organizations, map services, hotlines, or government sites linked from a listing.
RWN currently provides an informational directory only. The site does not offer accounts, application forms, donations, case intake, or direct messaging.
2. Information the site handles
The RWN application handles a deliberately small amount of information:
- search words and filters, processed in your browser;
- the identifiers of services you choose to save, stored in your browser;
- your device location, only when you grant permission, used in memory to sort services by distance;
- a selected service identifier in the URL fragment when you share a listing; and
- standard network and security data processed by our hosting provider when your browser requests a page.
RWN does not use this site to create a profile about your needs or to make automated decisions about eligibility.
3. Location stays in the browser
The site requests location only after you press Use my location and your browser asks for permission. The RWN application uses the coordinates in memory to calculate approximate distance. It does not write those coordinates to local storage, include them in a share link, or send them to an RWN database.
Clear location sorting by pressing the location button again, using Clear browser data in the site footer, closing the page, or changing your browser’s location permission.
If you open Apple Maps or Google Maps, the chosen service’s name or public service coordinates are sent to that map provider. RWN does not include your device coordinates in those links. The map provider may separately use your location under its own settings and privacy notice.
4. Cookies, saved services, and links
RWN does not set application cookies. When you press Save, the site uses local storage under the key rwn-saved-resources to keep a list of service identifiers on that device. The list remains until you remove saved services, clear RWN browser data, or clear site data in your browser.
Shared service links use the part of the URL after #. Browsers do not include that fragment in the HTTP request sent to the hosting server. Older RWN links that used a query parameter are read and immediately converted to the fragment format in the browser.
5. Hosting and security logs
RWN is hosted by Vercel. Like most hosting services, Vercel processes request and device data needed to deliver and protect the site, which can include an IP address, browser or device information, requested path, time, and security events. Vercel may derive a general city or country from an IP address. RWN has not added a third-party analytics or advertising tool.
Where a legal basis is required, this processing supports delivery of the service you requested and RWN’s legitimate interests in site security, reliability, and understanding technical failures. Hosting data is retained under the applicable Vercel service configuration and legal requirements. See Vercel’s privacy notice.
7. Your choices and privacy rights
You can use the directory without location access. You can block or revoke location permission, delete saved services, clear site data, and use the provider links without saving anything in RWN.
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to processing, and to complain to a data-protection authority. Most data handled by the RWN interface is already under your control on your device. Use Clear browser data in the footer for RWN local storage and in-memory location sorting. For information controlled by Vercel, use Vercel’s privacy request information.
Current contact boundary: RWN does not yet accept personal information through a contact form or public email channel. A verified organization privacy contact must be published before RWN begins collecting personal case, account, donor, or contact information.
8. Children
The directory can be used to find public services, but it is not designed to collect information from children. RWN does not knowingly ask a child to submit personal information through this site. A child facing danger should contact a trusted adult or the appropriate local emergency service.
9. Changes to this notice
RWN will update the effective date and this page when its privacy practices materially change. If a future feature adds accounts, forms, analytics, donations, or communications, the notice and consent controls must be updated before that feature is launched.