Our Privacy Notice

Privacy Notice

Last updated: September 2026

Bridgeway Capital (“Bridgeway” or “we” or “us” or “our”) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and Community Development Financial Institution certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. We offer loans to small businesses in underserved areas, enabling their growth and revitalizing their communities.

This Online Privacy Notice (this “Privacy Notice”) applies to Personal Information collected or accessible on our websites, mobile applications, or other services and communication platforms with a link to this Privacy Notice (collectively, the “Site”). It covers how Bridgeway collects, uses, discloses, and otherwise processes Personal Information as of the date that this Privacy Notice is posted. This Privacy Notice also describes options available to you regarding how Bridgeway may use your Personal Information, how you can access it, and opportunities to correct your Personal Information. It does not apply to any other information collected or processed by us through other means.

Specific sections of our Privacy Notice included are:

  • SOURCES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
  • PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
  • HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION
  • AI AND DATA PLATFORM USAGE
  • DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
  • DATA COLLECTED WITH COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES
  • HOW YOU CAN RESTRICT COOKIES
  • YOUR COMMUNICATIONS CHOICES
  • RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
  • PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
  • LINKS TO THIRD-PARTY FEATURES, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND OTHER WEBSITES
  • DATA PRIVACY RIGHTS AND REQUESTS
  • MINORS
  • NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
  • HOW TO CONTACT US

SOURCES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use the term “Personal Information” to mean information collected or accessible on our Site that identifies or can be used to identify a particular individual, including any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular individual.

We collect Personal Information from you when you engage in the following activities:

  1. Apply for a loan or other product or service;
  2. Visit our Site;
  3. Sign up for newsletters or general information about our products and services;
  4. Apply for a job;
  5. Request customer or technical support; or
  6. Interact with us on social media.

This Privacy Notice does not apply to information that is publicly available; generated or stored in digital or paper files but not collected or available on our Site; aggregated, deidentified, or anonymized (so it can no longer be linked to you); related to our employees or job applicants; or collected by third-party websites or social media you reach by navigating from links on our Site. You should review the policies and terms and conditions of any website or platform to which you navigate from our Site.

PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Information You Provide. Depending on the purpose of your communications or interactions with us, we may ask you to provide any of the types of Personal Information listed below.

To assist with processing loan applications, we may collect certain financial and demographic Personal Information that is considered to be sensitive in nature (“Sensitive Personal Information”). For example, we may request financial and demographic information from individuals who are the owners or principals of a business applying for a loan. We generally do not request or receive other types of Sensitive Personal Information, such as medical or health conditions, political opinions, or religious or philosophical beliefs. In the circumstances where we may request and receive Sensitive Personal Information, we will only use and disclose the information for the specific purpose for which you provided it.

  • Direct Identification Information: name, email address, phone number, mailing address, company name, , driver’s license information, passport and visa information, login credentials to access our online portal;
  • Financial Information: personal financial statements, tax returns, and account statements, and other financial background information from individuals who are the sole proprietors, partners in a business, or guarantors of a loan to a business entity;
  • Demographic Information: race/ethnicity, veteran status, citizenship status, age, and disability status, about the owners and executive officers of the borrower collected as required for CDDI application purposes;
  • User-Generated Content: comments or feedback submitted through contact forms, responses to surveys or questionnaires, etc., and other information you choose to provide; and
  • Communication Preferences: subscription preferences for newsletters or updates, consent for receiving marketing communications, and preferences or consent related to receiving text messages from Bridgeway.

Cookies and Similar Technologies. When you visit our Site, internet tracking and data storage technologies, commonly referred to as “cookies,” are placed on your device and stored by your browser by Bridgeway, service providers, and third parties. For information about the types of and purposes for using cookies on our Site, see the sections of this Privacy Policy titled “How We Use Cookies and Similar Technologies” and “How You Can Restrict Cookies.”

With these cookies, our Site automatically collects the following types of data:

  • Technical Information: IP Address, Browser Type, Operating System, Device Information, Cookies and Tracking Data, etc., and
  • Usage Data: pages visited on the website, time spent on the website, referring to the website or source, etc.

Third-Party Features. Our Site may contain links to features and services hosted by third-party providers such as FormAssembly, video platforms, and social media platforms. When you use one of these links to access a feature or service, we may receive your Personal Information from the third-party provider based on your interactions with that provider’s services. See the section below titled, “Links to Third-Party Features, Social Media, and Other Websites.”

Social Media. You may be able to connect to our Site using your social media accounts, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Vimeo, and YouTube. The sign-on services will authenticate your identity, provide you with the option to share certain Personal Information (such as your name and email address) with us, and pre-populate our sign-up form. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn allow users to privately message Bridgeway and provide further information if they choose. We may use and disclose information from social media channels in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

Event Managers. We receive information from third-party event managers such as Greenvelope and Eventbrite that provide registration, organization, event mobile application, and similar services about your participation in our in-person and online events and programs.

Information Exchanges with Other Organizations. While we do not share mailing lists with unaffiliated organizations for marketing and donor development purposes, subject to applicable laws, we may share limited Personal Information about your participation in programs and events with co-sponsors, presenters, and other partners.

Information from Data Providers and Other Sources. If you create an account with Bridgeway, we may ask a data provider to tell us more about you based on the information they have collected from other sources. They may give us information such as name, email address, phone number, mailing address, and demographic information (for example, age, sex, household income, or employment). Data providers also use marketing intelligence tools and data enrichment services to help us identify people who may be interested in our programs. We also may exchange and acquire mailing lists from other organizations.

HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION

Whatever the purpose may be – whether to share with service providers, consultants, government authorities, or other external entities – Bridgeway endeavors to process and share your Personal Information only to the extent reasonably necessary to fulfill your requests and meet our legitimate business and legal objectives. Bridgeway does not share your Personal Information with unaffiliated third parties solely for their own direct marketing purposes. Bridgeway uses Personal Information, instead, to provide our products and services, stay in contact with, and grow our community of borrowers and donors, including to:

  • Operate, maintain, update, and protect our Site;
  • Evaluate and process loan applications;
  • Monitor inbound calls for training and quality enhancement purposes;
  • Provide our programs, services, and special events;
  • Raise funds for community-based projects;
  • Manage our newsletter email list and send communications about our activities, events, and programs;
  • Build effective, long-term relationships with foundations, government agencies, banks, borrowers, and Bridgeway employees;
  • Conduct marketing campaigns using email marketing, print marketing, digital advertising, community outreach events, and other techniques;
  • Assess the effectiveness of our email communications by tracking users’ interactions with our messages, such as when a user opens, clicks on, or forwards a message;
  • Analyze usage and performance of our Site; and
  • Comply with valid legal processes and respond to governmental requests.

AI AND DATA PLATFORM USAGE

Bridgeway may use artificial intelligence (“AI”) to assist with internal processes such as reviewing borrower documents and financial statements. These AI capabilities may generate overviews and narratives to support our underwriting team by providing summaries of loan opportunities and facilitating decision-making. Importantly, these AI functions are intended solely for informational and underwriting support purposes and will not make any credit or approval decisions; all such determinations will remain the responsibility of our human staff.

We may also implement an end-to-end third-party platform—integrated via Application Programming Interfaces (“APIs”)—to support the entire loan lifecycle, including origination, underwriting, closing, and servicing. Borrowers will have secure access to a dedicated portal within this platform to view loan statements and make payments.

Although the security and privacy of any third-party AI feature or data platform cannot be guaranteed with certainty, we undertake a careful review of the third party’s practices before implementing it to evaluate whether it meets our standards.

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Your Personal Information may be accessible to, or shared with, the categories of third parties described below. We do not sell your Personal Information to third parties for monetary payments. We use tracking technologies on our Site by which third-party advertising and analytics services may access data about your device and browsing activities and use that information for their commercial activities. For more information, please see the summary below and the sections titled “How We Use Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies.”

Service Providers. We engage third-party service providers to assist with various business, Site, and technology operations, such as IT and website management and storage services, borrower relationship management, and email and digital marketing. These providers may have access to Personal Information to perform their services on our behalf, but they are not authorized to disclose or use Personal Information for their own commercial purposes.

Hosted Site Features. We use third-party software and hosting services to provide certain interactive functionalities for our Site. These third parties are responsible for the Personal Information they use for purposes other than providing services to us and for explaining their privacy practices to you. See the section titled “Links to Third-Party Features, Site, and Social Media.”

Site Analytics. Data about visitors’ interactions with our Site is collected by Google Analytics and Tag Manager and other website analytics services using cookies and other tracking technologies. This data helps us direct our communications and marketing efforts and improve the performance of our Site. For information about how we use analytics tools on our Site, see the section titled “Data Collected with Cookies and Similar Technologies.”

Digital Advertisers. Similar to analytics services, we may authorize third-party advertising networks, exchanges, and social media platforms to place cookies and other tracking technologies on our Site to collect information about users’ online and mobile device activities over time and across different websites and platforms. These companies may direct marketing materials to you based on your interests and demographic characteristics as suggested by the history of your visits to our Site and other websites. See the sections below titled “Data Collected with Cookies and Similar Technologies” and “How You Can Restrict Cookies.”

Sale of the Business. Where we have a legitimate interest, we may disclose Personal Information in connection with a financing, reorganization, or sale or transfer of business or business assets to prospective transaction parties and their advisors, including in a bankruptcy proceeding, subject to appropriate confidentiality protection, and retain a copy of the information following the transaction.

Legal Process and Compliance. We may need to provide Personal Information in response to a lawful government request, court order (when required by law for other purposes), or to enforce our policies, contracts, and protect our or others’ rights, property, or safety.

Information Security. We may share information with law enforcement and security providers for purposes of anti-fraud protection and investigation.

With Your Consent. We may also share Personal Information with unaffiliated third parties when we have your permission to do so.

DATA COLLECTED WITH COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

Cookies and Similar Technologies. Internet tracking and data storage technologies, commonly referred to as “cookies,” are placed on your device and stored on your browser when you visit our Site. These technologies may include, for example, cookies, tags, pixels, local device storage, web beacons, scripts, and device identifiers. They can be classified by:

  • Time span. A session cookie is temporary and will expire when you close your browser; a persistent cookie will remain on your device until it automatically expires after a specified time period (or sooner if you delete it);
  • Source. Either the operator of the website you are visiting (first-party cookie), or an authorized third-party service or platform (third-party cookie) can place the cookie; and
  • Purpose. We use first-party and third-party cookies for a range of purposes and for the proper functioning of our website, as described below.

Types of Data Collected. Cookies used on our Site may collect a wide range of data about users’ internet activities, including the following:

  • Time and duration of your visits to the Site;
  • Pages viewed and functions used on the Site;
  • IP address or mobile device identifier;
  • Randomly generated ID number;
  • Device type, browser type, and operating system;
  • Browsing and search history;
  • Internet location from which you navigated to our Site and the location you went to when leaving our Site; and
  • Interactions with our advertisements and content placed on other Sites and social media platforms.

Third-Party Cookies. The types of data collected by third-party cookies generally do not directly identify an individual user. However, the third-party platforms we use for analytics and advertising purposes may combine data collected from cookies on our Site with data they collect from other sources to build a user profile that may be linkable to an identifiable person. For that reason, we want you to know how cookies are used on our Site so that you can make informed selections about your cookie settings and preferences. For information about setting your cookie preferences and restricting cookies, see the section titled “How You Can Restrict Cookies.”

The third parties using cookies on our Site are responsible for the Personal Information they use for purposes other than providing services to us. They are also responsible for explaining their privacy practices to you. Some information may be found at:

Types of Cookies. The categories of cookies we (or our authorized third-party providers) may place on our Site are described below.

Essential cookies are necessary for basic functions on our Site to operate, including saving your login data and supporting reliable performance. If you set your browser to block these cookies, some features on our Site may not work properly. Essential cookies are generally first-party (placed by us) session cookies. They do not store your name, IP address, or mobile device identifier, or other directly identifying Personal Information, and are deleted when you close your browser.

Functional (or performance) cookies allow our Site to provide enhanced or additional personalized features based on actions you take, such as remembering your settings and the browsing choices you make (for example, your username and password for logging onto your online account on our Site, language preferences, and the region in which you are located). These are persistent cookies and are generally set by third-party website providers. You can restrict these cookies, but some parts of the Site will not work if you block these cookies.

Analytics cookies are placed by third-party platforms such as Google Analytics to help us understand how our Site performs, how visitors interact with the Site, and measure statistics about usage of the Site. These cookies place tags and unique identifiers to track your browsing activities using different devices on multiple websites and mobile apps. The data collected using analytics cookies may be combined with data from advertising cookies to show you interest-based or targeted ads and to measure your interactions with specific website features on our Site and others. Google and other analytics providers generally have access to the browsing activity data collected on our Site that may be used to track your online activities, including Personal Information such as device identifiers. You can limit third-party access to and use of your data collected via analytics cookies as described in the section titled “How You Can Restrict Cookies.” These are persistent cookies and will remain on your browser after you close the session.

Advertising cookies, including pixels and other tracking technologies, are used by advertising networks, ad exchanges, and social media platforms to place a unique identifier on your browser and record your browsing activities over time and across various devices you use and internet locations you visit, including our Site and other websites and platforms they monitor. The data collected by advertising cookies may be combined with data from analytics cookies when used are used to collect and analyze data for marketing and advertising purposes, including some or all of the following:

  • Building a profile of your browsing actions, demographic data, interests, and preferences;
  • Delivering market segment, interest-based marketing campaigns and/or targeted advertising based on your profile;
  • Retargeted advertising designed to reach previous visitors to a website or social media page through ads on other online platforms or by email;
  • Measuring the effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns by logging when you click on an ad or link or submit a form; and
  • Limiting the number of times a user sees a particular ad.

These are persistent cookies and will remain on your browser after you close the session. For information about restricting advertising cookies, see the section titled “How You Can Restrict Cookies.”

Social media cookies, including the Meta (Facebook) pixel, collect, for example, web activity, IP address, device and browser characteristics, and timestamps of visits. These cookies help us to analyze the effectiveness of marketing programs we conduct on social media. The social media networks also combine the data about your activities on our Site with other data they store and analyze about your interests and characteristics. For information about how social media networks use the data collected by cookies, and how to restrict their data collection, you should review the privacy and cookie policies and statements issued by the social media platforms you use.

Email cookies transmit information about how you interact with our email, such as whether and when you open an email, what links you click within the email, and if you forwarded it.

HOW YOU CAN RESTRICT COOKIES

As explained in the section titled “How We Use Cookies and Similar Technologies,” we and our authorized third-party providers use cookies to monitor and track visitor interactions with our Site. You can select your privacy preferences and manage some of the ways cookies are used when you visit our Site. If you restrict the advertising, analytics or social media cookies that track use tracking cookies to build a profile of your online activities, the third-party advertising networks, social media and analytics services may still collect and analyze data from your visits but on an anonymous basis that does not identify you. Those platforms use anonymized, aggregated data from multiple internet sites to make predictions about visitor behavior for marketing information purposes.

Some ways you can restrict the use of cookies on our Site and others include the following:

  • Manage the cookie and privacy preference settings on your browser;
  • Block sharing of your mobile device and/or advertising ID if your device has a setting you can select to reject incoming requests for the ID associated with your device;
  • Configure your advertisement and privacy settings for your social media and other advertising platforms where you have an account (such as Facebook and Google);
  • Configure a global opt-out preference signal on your browser, if available, to tell us not to share your Personal Information for targeted advertising, which we will follow as required by applicable law;
  • Install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, which is described at the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on page at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout;
  • Download a utility from an independent software provider that you install on your computer browsers to limit tracking of browsing activity; or
  • Visit https://optout.aboutads.info/ to learn more about personalized advertising and how to opt out of personalized advertising on your web browser and mobile apps by companies participating in the Digital Advertising Alliance.

Certain coalitions of advertisers allow consumers to opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from participating advertisers. You will need to exercise these opt-out options on each browser and device where you wish to opt out.

You can restrict the use of mobile device advertising identifiers by adjusting your advertising preferences on mobile devices through your device settings:

  • iOS Devices: Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising > Personalized Ads; or
  • Android Devices: Go to Google Settings > Privacy > Advanced > Ads > Opt Out of Ads Personalization.

If you restrict the use of cookies, you may not be able to fully utilize all the features of our Site.

YOUR COMMUNICATIONS CHOICES

Email Communications. You can opt out of receiving email communications from us by following the “unsubscribe” instructions included in each of our email communications (except those that are sent as a specific and direct response to a question or request you initiated). You can also opt out by emailing us at the address provided in “How to Contact Us” and providing the names/email addresses that you want us to remove from our email database and add to our ‘Do Not Contact’ list. It may take up to ten days to process your request to unsubscribe from email marketing messages. If you opt out of our general messages, we may still send emails to you that involve specific responses to your direct requests and questions.

Text Messages. Bridgeway Capital may use text messages for one-to-one communications with individuals who voluntarily provide a mobile phone number and specifically request or consent to receive text messages from us. Text messages may relate to your inquiry, application, services, appointments, event participation, customer support, document follow-up, or other communications connected to your relationship with Bridgeway. Consenting to receive text messages is not a condition of obtaining any loan, product, or service from Bridgeway.

Bridgeway does not use text messaging for bulk marketing or automated promotional campaigns. Message frequency varies depending on your interactions with us. Message and data rates may apply.

You may opt out of receiving text messages from Bridgeway at any time by replying STOP to a text message, or by using any other reasonable method to notify us, such as contacting us using the contact information listed below. You may request help by replying HELP or by contacting us using the contact information listed below. If you opt out, we may still contact you through other methods, such as email or phone, where permitted and appropriate.

Mobile opt-in information and consent for text messaging will not be shared with third parties for their own marketing purposes. For more information, please review our SMS Terms & Conditions.

RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Depending on the product or service, Bridgeway will retain your Personal Information only for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by a law that applies to it.

PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We maintain commercially reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the categories and specific items of Personal Information we collect. And while we use reasonable efforts to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of the Personal Information you provide us.

LINKS TO THIRD-PARTY FEATURES, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND OTHER WEBSITES

Our Site may display links to features, social media, and websites operated by other companies (“third parties”). When you click these links, you will leave our Site and be directed to an external site owned by a third party. Please be aware that any information you provide on these third-party sites, or that is collected automatically from your usage, is managed by and available to the third-party operator. These third parties operator may collect your IP address, device identifier and browsing activity, and may use cookies to enable their features to function and track your usage.

Some forms on our Site may appear as branded with Bridgeway but are actually hosted on third-party domains. When you submit information through these forms, including uploading documents, your submissions are forwarded to Bridgeway’s systems and stored by both Bridgeway and the hosting service. For example, we use FormAssembly for submitting and processing loan applications. We recommend reviewing FormAssembly’s privacy policy for more information on how your data is managed on their platform.You can find their privacy policy here: https://www.formassembly.com/privacy-policy/.

We also use third-party services for various purposes. For example, these services help us with Site development and maintenance, marketing, and email communications. We may provide links to educational and other resources available from third parties that have information we believe may be of interest to you. If you choose to use our social media links, you will be able to view our social media pages, share content, or post comments about Bridgeway’s programs and services.

This Privacy Notice does not apply to any third-party website or service that does not display or link to this Privacy Notice or that contains its own privacy policy, notice, or statement. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, accuracy, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party websites or services. We recommend that you review the privacy and cookie statements and practices of these third parties to learn how they collect and use Personal Information before sharing your information with them.

DATA PRIVACY RIGHTS AND REQUESTS

The Personal Information privacy rights of individuals are based on the laws of the place where the person resides. Most privacy laws require notice of an organization’s Personal Information collection and use practices, including the categories of Personal Information collected, how the information is used, and to whom it is disclosed. That is the purpose of this Privacy Notice.

Bridgeway will honor requests to exercise specific privacy rights granted by your place of residence as applicable to our operations. While we may not be required by law to agree to all requests, we will attempt to accommodate reasonable requests, regardless of where you live, including requests to:

  • Confirm if we have collected your Personal Information, and to know what Personal Information we collected about you in the past twelve months;
  • Correct any inaccurate or update information we may have about you;
  • Remove you from receiving email or text messages from us for promotional purposes by using the unsubscribe feature in our emails or texting STOP in response to a text message; and
  • Withdraw any consent you previously granted to use or disclose your Personal Information.

To submit a privacy request or exercise a privacy right, please contact us as explained in “How to Contact Us” below. We may need to request additional information to verify your identity. Where applicable laws set a timeframe for responding to privacy requests, we will respond within that timeframe. Otherwise, we will try to respond to a verifiable request within 45 calendar days of receiving it. We will contact you using either the email address you provided when you submitted the request or the address we have on file for you.

We will not discriminate against you for making a privacy request.

MINORS

We do not knowingly collect any Personal Information about children under the age of 16 without verifiable consent from a parent or legal guardian. If you are under the age of 16, please do not submit any Personal Information at our Site or in person at our office. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 16 has provided Personal Information to us through the Site, please contact us. See “How to Contact Us” below.

NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Notice at any time to address future developments in our operations, use of technology, and legal requirements. If we make material changes in how we collect, use, or disclose Personal Information, we will post an updated Privacy Notice on the Site.

HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, or would like to make a request about your Personal Information, please contact us:

  • By email: connect at bridgewaycapital dot org
  • By letter: 310 Grant St #2800, Pittsburgh, PA 15219

We may need to confirm your identity or authority before we can respond to certain requests.

 

 

 

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