Effective date: 01/01/2024 Last updated: 08/26/2026
Texas Policy Research is the shared operating name of two affiliated Texas nonprofit organizations: Texas Policy Research Initiative (TPRI), a 501(c)(3) organization, and Texas Policy Research Action (TPRA), a 501(c)(4) organization. This policy applies to both entities and to this website.
We publish research on how Texas government uses power. It would be strange to argue for limits on government surveillance while running loose data practices ourselves, so this policy is written to describe what we actually do — in plain language, without the boilerplate that most privacy policies inherit from their software.
The short version
- We do not sell, rent, trade, or share your personal information with anyone for their own marketing or fundraising use.
- We do not exchange or swap donor or subscriber lists with other organizations.
- We collect your name, email address, and ZIP code when you subscribe. That is all we ask for.
- We use your ZIP code only in the aggregate — to understand which parts of Texas our work reaches. We do not use it to target you individually.
- You can unsubscribe at any time, and you can ask us to delete your information entirely.
- We will tell you if that ever changes.
What we collect, and why
When you subscribe
Our subscription form asks for your first and last name, email address, and ZIP code. You must also affirmatively check a box agreeing to this policy before the form will submit.
We use this information to:
- send you Floor Reports, bill analyses, vote recommendations, and other publications you signed up to receive;
- address our emails to you by name; and
- understand, in aggregate, where in Texas our readership is concentrated and where it is thin.
On ZIP codes specifically. We periodically analyze subscriber ZIP codes in aggregate — counting how many subscribers fall in each county or region — so we know whether our work is reaching Texans outside the major metros. This analysis produces county- and state-level summaries and maps. It does not produce, and we do not create, profiles of individual subscribers. We do not append purchased data to your record, we do not use your ZIP code to infer income, party affiliation, voter history, or household details, and we do not use it to serve you targeted advertising.
We use ZIP code rather than a full address deliberately. A ZIP code tells us what we need to know about geographic reach without identifying where you live.
When you donate
If you make a donation, our payment processor collects the billing information needed to complete the transaction, including your name, billing address, email address, and payment card details. We never see or store your full payment card number. That information goes directly to the processor.
We retain donation records — donor name, amount, date, and contact information — as long as required by federal and Texas law governing nonprofit recordkeeping and by our own accounting and audit obligations, which is generally at least seven years.
Contributions to TPRI (the 501(c)(3)) and TPRA (the 501(c)(4)) are handled and reported separately. Some contributions may be subject to public disclosure requirements under state or federal law; where that is the case, we will tell you before you give.
When you contact us
If you email us, submit a media inquiry, speaking request, guest commentary, or resume, we receive whatever you send and keep it as long as we need it to respond and maintain our records.
Guest commentary contributors: if we publish your submission, your name and the biographical details you approve become public on this site. We will not publish contact information you provide for editorial purposes. Where a contributor is a minor, we require documented parental or guardian consent before publication.
When you simply visit
Like nearly every website, ours records standard technical information automatically: IP address, browser type, device type, referring page, and the pages you view. Our web host uses this for security, abuse prevention, and diagnostics.
We use Google Analytics, configured through the Site Kit plugin, to understand which articles are read and how people find us. Google sets cookies to do this and processes the data on its own systems under its own policy. You can opt out across all sites using Google’s browser add-on: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Cookies
This site uses cookies in three ways:
1. Necessary cookies — set by WordPress to keep the site functioning and to secure form submissions. 2. Analytics cookies — set by Google Analytics, as described above. 3. Embedded content cookies — set by third parties when a page contains an embedded video or social post, as described below.
If you have a user account on this site (which the general public does not), WordPress sets additional login and preference cookies lasting from two days to one year.
You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking analytics and embed cookies will not prevent you from reading anything on this site or from subscribing.
Embedded and third-party content
Our pages sometimes embed content hosted elsewhere — YouTube videos, X/Twitter posts, and similar. When a page loads that content, the third party can see your IP address and may set its own cookies and track your interaction, exactly as if you had visited that site directly. Their practices are governed by their policies, not ours.
The social media icons in our header and footer are ordinary links. They do not transmit anything about you until you click them.
Service providers
We rely on a small number of vendors to operate. Each receives only the data it needs to do its job, and none is permitted to use your information for its own purposes:
| Function | What they receive |
|---|---|
| Website hosting | Site content and server logs, including visitor IP addresses |
| Form processing | Subscription and contact form submissions |
| Email delivery | Your name, email address, and ZIP code; engagement data such as opens and clicks |
| Payment processing | Donation and billing information |
| Website analytics | Visitor and usage data as described above |
What we do not do
We want to be specific here, because vague assurances are worth little:
- We do not sell your personal information, in any sense of that word, including the broad definitions used by state privacy laws that treat certain data-sharing arrangements as sales.
- We do not rent, trade, swap, or exchange subscriber or donor lists with other organizations, campaigns, committees, or vendors. This is a common practice in advocacy and we do not participate in it.
- We do not run targeted advertising based on your personal information, and we do not share your information with advertising networks or data brokers.
- We do not build individual profiles of subscribers by appending purchased consumer, voter, or demographic data to your record.
- We do not sell or share sensitive personal data, including precise geolocation data or the personal data of children, under any circumstances.
We will disclose personal information only where we are legally required to — in response to a valid subpoena, court order, or other lawful process, or where disclosure is necessary to protect against fraud or to protect someone’s safety. If we ever receive a government demand for subscriber information, we will notify the affected individuals unless we are legally prohibited from doing so, and we will resist demands we believe to be overbroad or unlawful.
How long we keep things
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Subscriber records | Until you unsubscribe or request deletion; unsubscribed addresses are kept on a suppression list so we do not re-add you by mistake |
| Donation records | At least seven years, as required by nonprofit recordkeeping and tax law |
| Correspondence | As long as needed to respond and for our records |
| Server logs | As retained by our host in the ordinary course, typically a short rolling window |
| Aggregate analysis | Indefinitely, in summary form only, with no individual records attached |
Your choices and rights
Unsubscribe. Every email we send includes an unsubscribe link that works immediately. You may also email us and ask.
Access, correction, and deletion. You may ask us what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Write to the address below. We will respond within 45 days. If we cannot honor a request, we will tell you why, and you may ask us to reconsider.
A note on legal obligations and rights. The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act exempts nonprofit organizations, and the California Consumer Privacy Act contains a similar nonprofit exemption. We are therefore not legally required to provide most of the rights described above. We provide them anyway. An organization that publishes on privacy and surveillance should not hide behind an exemption. If you are outside the United States and believe a law such as the GDPR gives you additional rights, contact us and we will work with you in good faith.
Do Not Track and global opt-out signals. We do not use your information for targeted advertising, so these signals have nothing to opt out of here. Google Analytics honors browser-level controls independently.
Children
This site is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.
Where a minor submits guest commentary for publication, we require documented consent from a parent or guardian before we publish anything, and we do not publish contact information for minor contributors.
Security
We use HTTPS across the site, restrict access to subscriber and donor records to those who need it, and rely on established vendors for hosting, form handling, and payments. No system is perfectly secure, and we will not claim otherwise. If a breach affecting your personal information occurs, we will notify you and the Texas Attorney General as required by Texas Business and Commerce Code § 521.053.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle personal information in a way that materially affects you, we will update the “last updated” date above, post a notice on this page, and — for changes that affect how we use subscriber data — say so in an email rather than relying on you to notice.
Contact us
Privacy questions, data requests, and deletion requests:
Texas Policy Research Attn: Privacy P.O. Box 2408 Weatherford, TX 76086
Email: [email protected]
We will not sell, trade, or distribute any personal details of our donors or subscribers. We adhere strictly to legal guidelines to ensure your privacy is respected and protected.
