Privacy Policy

Dearly Membership includes a compatibility profile, thoughtful matching, and Dearly's private letter forwarding, so it involves compatibility information and correspondence routing in addition to the delivery and contact information we use to send your physical membership materials and to support you.

We collect only what we need to serve your membership and deliver real mail:

• Account and application details — your name, email address, and the information you share when you join our letter list, join Dearly, or create an account.
• Compatibility information — the story and preferences you share so our team can curate a thoughtful introduction.
• Mailing information — the delivery address you provide so your monthly materials, Welcome Kit, and forwarded letters can reach you.
• Correspondence status — the state of your letters (written, sent, received) so we can keep you gently informed. We do not read the contents of your letters.
• Billing information — your subscription status and history. Payments are handled by our third-party payment processor; we do not store your full card details.
• Usage information — basic analytics about how visitors use the site, described below.

Dearly Membership is built on a simple promise: you can exchange real, handwritten letters without ever giving a stranger your home address. Letters are routed through Dearly's forwarding process — your connection writes to you using your first name and Dearly member number, care of Dearly, and we forward the letter to the address you have on file. Your mailing address is never shared with your connection or any other member.

Because physical mail is involved, your address is handled only by the people and service providers who need it to prepare and send your mail. We ask that you extend the same courtesy: never include another member's personal details anywhere a letter could carry them without their clear consent.

• To curate a thoughtful introduction.
• To forward letters.
• To deliver your Welcome Kit and monthly membership materials.
• To manage your membership and billing.
• To write to you — membership updates, correspondence status, and occasional letters from Dearly you can opt out of at any time.
• To provide customer support when you write to us.
• To understand how the site is used and improve it.

We do not sell your personal information. Full stop.

We use privacy-respecting analytics (including Google Analytics 4 and the Pinterest Tag) to understand which pages resonate and where visitors come from. These tools may set cookies or use similar technologies and collect information such as your device type, approximate location, and pages visited. You can control cookies through your browser settings; the site will still work, though some measurement will be less accurate.

We send transactional email (reservation confirmations, membership and correspondence updates) and, if you opt in, occasional letters from Dearly. Marketing email always includes an unsubscribe link; transactional email continues as long as your membership is active because it is how your membership works.

We work with a small number of trusted providers to operate Dearly — payment processing, email delivery, hosting, analytics, and newsletter management. They receive only the information needed to perform their service and are bound by their own privacy obligations. We do not authorize them to use your information for their own marketing.

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of what we hold — encrypted connections, access limited to those who need it, and care in how mailing information is handled. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, so we cannot promise absolute security, but protecting your trust is something we take personally.

We keep your information for as long as your membership is active and for a reasonable period afterward to meet legal, accounting, and operational needs. Mailing addresses are retained while correspondence is in progress. When information is no longer needed, we delete or de-identify it.

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information at any time by writing to us. You may also unsubscribe from marketing email, disable cookies in your browser, or close your membership. We will honor requests subject to the limits the law allows and the records we are required to keep.

Dearly is a membership for adults. You must be 18 or older to join, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has provided us information, please contact us and we will remove it.

If this policy changes, we will update the date above and, for material changes, let members know by email before the change takes effect.

Questions about your privacy are always welcome: connect@dearlyconnect.com