VOLLSTÄNDIGE DATENSCHUTZBESTIMMUNGEN

encourageventures e. V. | Last updated: 5 October 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how your personal data is processed when you use our public website encourage-ventures.com, in particular when you visit the website, contact us, submit applications, register for events or subscribe to our newsletter. The separate members’ area at member.encourage-ventures.com, in particular its login and registration functions, internal profiles and integrated services, is not covered by this Privacy Policy.

Controller and contact details

The controller responsible for the processing described here is encourageventures e. V., Knesebeckstr. 76, 10623 Berlin, Germany. For questions about data protection and to exercise your rights, you can contact us at info@encourage-ventures.com.

Provision and security of the website

Our website is hosted in Germany by Mittwald CM Service GmbH & Co. KG. When you access the website, the web server processes technically necessary connection data, in particular your IP address, the date and time of access, the pages and files requested, status messages and the information transmitted by your browser about your browser, operating system and the page previously visited.

This processing serves to deliver the website, ensure that it functions properly, and detect and investigate errors and attacks. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our legitimate interest is to provide a secure and reliable online service.

According to Mittwald’s published hosting data protection information, IP addresses in access logs are truncated and the logs processed in this way are retained for 60 days. Error logs, which may also contain untruncated IP addresses, are deleted after seven days. Where individual log entries are required to investigate a specific security incident or to establish or defend legal claims, they are retained exclusively for that purpose until the matter has been resolved. Hosting information: Mittwald, data protection and log data.

The fonts that we integrate ourselves and the preview images for videos that have not yet been enabled are delivered from our web server. Displaying them therefore does not establish a connection between your browser and Google. Within third-party content that you have enabled, the respective provider may load additional resources, such as fonts.

We do not use Google Analytics or any advertising or audience measurement services separately integrated by us on the public website. This must be distinguished from the processing described below within external content that you may choose to enable.

Cookies, browser storage and your choices

Cookies are small pieces of information stored in your browser. Services may also use your browser’s local storage or session storage. The protection provided by section 25 of the German Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act (TDDDG) applies not only to cookies but also to other operations that store information on, or access information on, your device.

We distinguish between technically necessary functions for managing your privacy choices and optional external content. YouTube videos, Airtable forms including the Stripe technology loaded within them, the Brevo subscription form including Google reCAPTCHA, and embedded LinkedIn posts are only loaded after you have given your express and active consent to this.

On your first visit, you can select “Accept all”, “Reject all” or “Individual settings” in the consent banner. Optional services are not preselected. Their embedded content remains blocked without your consent. The rest of the website, including the Legal Notice and this Privacy Policy, remains accessible. A placeholder is displayed instead of blocked content, allowing you to enable the relevant service individually at a later point. Alternatively, you can contact us by email with enquiries or registration requests.

Your consent covers the loading of the specified content and the associated processing explained in the banner. It is not consent to receive a newsletter and is not a general authorisation for other purposes. We explain separately how we process information that you subsequently submit through a form.

External content that is not technically necessary, and the storage or access mechanisms associated with it, are only loaded after you have given your express, active consent. The processing of personal data that requires consent is based on Article 6(1)(a) GDPR; section 25(1) TDDDG governs the associated storage or access mechanisms that are not necessary. Storage and access operations that are strictly necessary to provide the service you have expressly requested are carried out under section 25(2), point 2, TDDDG.

Changing your choices and withdrawing consent

You can change your choices or withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by selecting “Cookie settings” in the website footer. We will then no longer load the content you have deselected. External content that is already open is blocked when the changed choices are applied, or is stopped by reloading the page.

Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn. It does not automatically erase data that a provider has already received. You can also delete stored cookies and browser storage entries through your browser settings. Your rights against us and the respective providers remain unaffected.

Consent management with Real Cookie Banner

We use Real Cookie Banner, locally operated WordPress software from devowl.io GmbH, Tannet 12, 94539 Grafling, Germany. Your decisions are processed and stored in our WordPress installation hosted by Mittwald; no consent data is transmitted to devowl.io for consent management.

A cookie whose name begins with “real_cookie_banner” stores a random identifier for your recorded decision, the version of the banner configuration and the services you have selected. It is retained for up to 365 days. We then ask you to make your choices again. If purposes or services relevant to consent change, we ask again earlier. Deleting the cookie or using a different browser may also require you to make a new choice.

The software may also briefly set a test cookie and temporarily store your decision in your browser’s local storage until it has been recorded on our server. The test cookie is removed after the functionality test. Temporary local storage is used solely to ensure the reliable transmission of your choices.

For evidential purposes, we record the decision identifier, date and time, permissions granted or refused, changes to your choices, the banner version and information displayed, the relevant page and language, the window size, and the interactions within the banner or content placeholder that led to your decision. This is not a recording of your other use of the website. To protect against abusive requests, the IP address is processed in truncated and additionally hashed form; full IP addresses are not stored in the consent record. The server logs described above exist separately from these records.

The documentation necessary to fulfil our obligation to demonstrate consent is based on Article 6(1)(c) GDPR in conjunction with Articles 5(2) and 7(1) GDPR. Where data is additionally processed to protect the consent system technically, the legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR; our interest is to prevent manipulated requests or requests generated in excessive numbers.

Consent records are deleted no later than three years after the respective decision ceases to be valid. A decision ceases to be valid when its storage period expires, when a new decision is made or when consent is withdrawn. Retention beyond this period is limited to the specific case and takes place only if the record concerned is required for proceedings that are already pending or for the establishment, exercise or defence of specific legal claims. The legal basis for this is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Once that purpose no longer applies, the record is also deleted.

External content and forms

External content is only enabled after you have given your express, active consent. After it has been enabled, the respective provider receives, for technical reasons, in particular your IP address, browser and device information, and information about the content accessed. Depending on the service, cookies, other identifiers and information about your interactions may also be involved. Your personal data processed by means of cookies is only passed on to third parties with your express consent. If you are logged in to an account with the provider, it may associate the activity with your account. Recognition through identifiers is also possible without being logged in.

The cookie lifetimes below reflect the findings of the technical assessment conducted on 15/16 September 2026.

For this purpose, we accessed each page in a browser with no stored data and, after enabling the respective content, read out the information stored. The information is based on measurements, not on manufacturers’ specifications.

The information reflects the situation after the respective content has been loaded. If you use the content, for example by playing a video, completing a form or logging in to the provider, the provider may set further cookies or storage entries. Providers may also change their technical implementation at any time. We review the information at least once a year and additionally whenever we integrate a new service, change an integration or a provider announces significant changes. An always up-to-date overview of the services, with cookie names, purpose and lifetime, is available under “Cookie settings” in the website footer.

The lifetimes stated are maximum values. Your browser settings may shorten or prevent storage, and you can delete cookies and storage entries yourself at any time. A cookie’s lifetime must be distinguished from how long a provider stores data already transmitted on its own servers. The respective provider explains this in its privacy information, to which we refer in the following sections.

YouTube videos

We embed YouTube videos in privacy-enhanced mode via youtube-nocookie.com. The data controller responsible for the processing for users in the European Economic Area and Switzerland is Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.

Neither the video player nor external YouTube preview images are loaded in your browser before you enable the content.

After you enable the content, your browser establishes a connection to Google servers. Google receives, in particular, your IP address, information about your browser and device, the address of the referring page, and information about the video accessed and your use of the player. If you are logged in to a Google account, Google may associate the access with that account. Other Google servers are also contacted for media content, technical resources and player functionality. According to its own information, Google Ireland Limited also uses the data for its own purposes, such as security, improving its services and processing usage information.

During our documented test of this embedding method, no YouTube cookies were set and no requests to Doubleclick were detected. However, the player used local browser storage, including “yt-player-caption-persistence” and “ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY”. Such entries may remain stored beyond a browser session until they are deleted by the service or by you. Privacy-enhanced mode reduces data processing but does not prevent data from being transmitted to Google.

In certain cases, we may be jointly responsible with Google for loading the video and the resulting transmission of your data to Google. This joint responsibility is limited to the loading and the transmission. Google alone is responsible for all further processing. The legal basis for the embedding and the transmission is your consent under Article 6(1)(a) GDPR, and section 25(1) TDDDG applies to access to your device. You can withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future via “Cookie settings” in the website footer.

Google may also transfer data to Google LLC in the United States. Google bases this on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, under which Google LLC is certified, and on EU standard contractual clauses for other transfers. Details and further information, including on retention periods, are available in the Google Privacy Policy and Google’s information on international transfers.

Airtable forms and subsequently loaded Stripe technology

For applications and membership and registration enquiries, we use Airtable, a service provided by Formagrid Inc. (Airtable), 1 Front Street, Floor 28, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA. The embedded form is only loaded after you have given your prior active consent. Airtable then receives technical connection and usage data and uses cookies to provide and secure the form and for recognition purposes.

The cookies detected were “__Host-airtable-session” and its associated signature, as well as “brw”, each with a lifetime of approximately one year, “AWSALBTGCORS” with a lifetime of seven days, and a short-lived “brwConsent” cookie.

Stripe technology is also loaded within the Airtable form. In this context, Stripe processes, in particular, technical device, connection and usage information in connection with security and fraud prevention functions of its payment infrastructure. Merely accessing the form is not a payment and does not indicate that a payment has actually been made. The Stripe cookie “m”, with a lifetime of approximately 400 days, and session storage entries were detected.

The Stripe technology is integrated into the form by Airtable. We have not engaged Stripe and do not receive any data from Stripe. We are only responsible for the fact that data is transmitted to Stripe when the form is loaded. Stripe itself is responsible for further processing, in particular for fraud prevention and securing its services. For general processing outside the Americas, Stripe identifies in particular Stripe Technology Company Limited, One Wilton Park, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, D02 FX04, Ireland; other Stripe entities, including Stripe, LLC in the United States, may be involved in the processing. The respective responsibility depends on the Stripe function used. Further details are provided in the Stripe Privacy Center.

Your consent expressly covers Airtable, including the Stripe technology loaded within it. The legal bases for our embedding of the service are Article 6(1)(a) GDPR and, where required, section 25(1) TDDDG.

When you complete and submit the Airtable form, we process the data you provide to handle your application, membership enquiry or other enquiry. Depending on the form, this may include, in particular, your name, email address, role, place of residence or business location, country, and any additional information you enter about your organisation or request. The information required is indicated in the respective form. Without the required information, we cannot process your application or enquiry.

If you are seeking membership or a contract with us, we process your information to take pre-contractual steps or to perform a contract on the basis of Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. We process other networking, cooperation and information enquiries on the basis of Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is to handle incoming enquiries and to organise and maintain our association’s network. Your information is only used for other purposes, in particular for sending a newsletter, on the basis of a separate legal basis that exists for that purpose.

Airtable assists us in storing, managing and processing the information submitted via the form and in the communications required for this purpose. Access is restricted to the responsible people in our association’s office, association members entrusted with handling the matter and, where necessary, contracted service providers. Application and enquiry data is deleted after the matter has been concluded, as soon as it is no longer needed to complete the process, for subsequent membership or cooperation, for statutory obligations or for specific legal claims. This does not entail inclusion in an indefinite mailing list of interested persons.

Airtable processes data in the United States and uses additional subprocessors. The Data Processing Addendum intended to govern processing on behalf of customers includes EU standard contractual clauses under Article 46(2)(c) GDPR. Airtable’s data processing terms and its list of subprocessors are available online. Information on Airtable’s own processing is available in the Airtable Privacy Policy.

For international transfers, including to the United States, Stripe refers to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework for appropriately certified recipients and to EU standard contractual clauses. Information on these safeguards, Stripe’s own processing purposes and retention periods is available in the Stripe Privacy Policy.

Brevo subscription form and Google reCAPTCHA

The newsletter subscription form is provided by Brevo GmbH, Köpenicker Straße 126, 10179 Berlin, Germany. The form, including its technical components, is only loaded after you have given your express consent. Connection and browser data is then transmitted to Brevo.

The embedded form uses Google reCAPTCHA to distinguish human input from automated or abusive requests. The provider in the EU is Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. Google processes, in particular, IP addresses, browser and device information, and information about interactions with the form. The technical test detected the “_GRECAPTCHA” cookie with a lifetime of approximately six months.

Your consent to loading the Brevo form expressly includes the reCAPTCHA contained within it. Article 6(1)(a) GDPR governs the embedding and the associated transmission; section 25(1) TDDDG applies to storage or access operations that are not strictly necessary. Data may be transferred to Google LLC in the United States; the transfer mechanisms explained in the YouTube section and published by Google apply.

For international transfers to its own service providers, in particular in the United States and India, Brevo describes adequacy decisions or EU standard contractual clauses. Further details are provided in the Brevo Privacy Policy and the Google Privacy Policy. Consenting to the loading of the form does not in itself subscribe you to the newsletter.

Embedded LinkedIn posts

LinkedIn posts are embedded in one blog article. The provider is LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland. After you have given your consent, LinkedIn receives, among other things, your IP address, browser and device information, and information about which post was accessed on our website.

LinkedIn uses cookies and similar technologies to provide and secure its services, recognise devices and analyse usage; according to its privacy information, data may also be used for personalisation and advertising. If you are logged in, the activity may be associated with your LinkedIn account. LinkedIn carries out the further processing of the data under its own responsibility.

The documented technical test detected “bcookie”, “bscookie” and “li_alerts”, each with a lifetime of approximately one year, “li_gc” with 180 days, “lidc” with one day, “__cf_bm” with 30 minutes, and “JSESSIONID” and “lang” as session cookies. Our embedding of the content and the associated access to your device are based on your consent under Article 6(1)(a) GDPR and section 25(1) TDDDG.

LinkedIn may also transfer data to the United States. According to its information, LinkedIn uses, in particular, standard contractual clauses, including for transfers from LinkedIn Ireland to LinkedIn Corporation, and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework for appropriately certified recipients. Further information on processing, retention and data subject rights is available in the LinkedIn Privacy Policy; LinkedIn explains its transfer mechanisms in its information on EU/EEA, UK and Swiss data transfers.

Contact by form, email or post

When you contact us, we process your contact details and the content of your message to handle your request and respond to you. The website contact form asks for your name, email address and message.

The contact form uses Contact Form 7. Your message is sent by email to our association’s mailbox; the form content is not additionally stored in the WordPress database. The form does not include your IP address as part of the message. Independently of this, your IP address is processed for technical transmission and, where applicable, in the server logs described above.

To protect against spam, we use an additional field that is not visible to regular visitors and a check of the time elapsed between loading and submitting the form. No external CAPTCHA service is loaded in the contact form for this purpose. The legal basis for this protection is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR; our interest is to prevent automated and abusive messages.

We handle enquiries about a contract or membership requested by you under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. We handle other enquiries under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest is to communicate with interested persons and handle their requests appropriately.

We delete correspondence after the matter has been fully handled, as soon as no further communication or processing of the matter is necessary. If the enquiry becomes part of a membership or contract, we store the data required for that purpose in accordance with the respective statutory or contractual requirements. Emails and documents that are subject to statutory retention obligations or are required for the establishment, exercise or defence of specific legal claims are retained separately, with restricted access, for the period required in each case and then deleted.

Providing your information is voluntary. However, without a way of contacting you and the information required to handle it, we can neither handle nor respond to your request.

We use Brevo to send our newsletter. If you subscribe, we process your email address and any other data you provide during the subscription process to inform you about the association’s activities, offers and events described there.

The newsletter is sent on the basis of your separate consent under Article 6(1)(a) GDPR in conjunction with section 7(2), point 2, of the German Act against Unfair Competition (UWG). Your subscription is confirmed using a double opt-in procedure: we only add your address to the active mailing list after you have clicked the confirmation link in an email. For evidential purposes, the subscription and confirmation steps are documented together with the associated technical information, in particular the time and IP address.

You can unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe link in each newsletter email or by sending a message to info@encourage-ventures.com. Unsubscribing takes effect for the future; the lawfulness of newsletters sent previously remains unaffected.

We do not analyse on an individual basis whether you have opened a newsletter or clicked links within it. We process technical delivery information, such as error messages for undeliverable emails, to manage and ensure delivery. Our legitimate interest in this processing under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR is to maintain reliable delivery and remove unreachable addresses.

The data required to send the newsletter is retained until you unsubscribe. We then remove it from the active mailing list. Where necessary, a record limited to the email address and a suppression flag is retained to prevent further unwanted messages. In the event of a new verified subscription, the suppression flag is reviewed and removed where necessary. Otherwise, this necessity ceases when the address is no longer expected to be imported again.

We retain evidence of subscription and withdrawal only for as long as necessary to fulfil our evidential obligations or defend specific legal claims. The relevant criteria include, in particular, the duration of newsletter delivery based on consent and the limitation periods applicable to potential claims. Unconfirmed subscriptions are not used to send newsletters and are deleted once confirmation can no longer be expected. The obligation to demonstrate consent is based on Article 6(1)(c) in conjunction with Article 7(1) GDPR; necessary defence of claims and maintenance of the suppression list are based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.

Events and registrations

If you register for an event that we offer, we process the contact, registration and, where applicable, billing data requested for that purpose to organise and conduct the event. Where your registration is aimed at concluding or performing a contract or at pre-contractual steps, the legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. We fulfil statutory documentation and retention obligations as a separate processing purpose under Article 6(1)(c) GDPR.

Necessary information may be shared with service providers engaged to deliver the event or with participating organisers, where this is required for your participation. The specific organisers and booking services involved are identified in the respective offer and registration process. This does not constitute general permission to share data with any cooperation partner.

If you follow a link to an external booking platform, such as Eventbrite, you leave our website. The platform provides information about its own processing during its booking process. For forms embedded on our website, the information above on consent and Airtable also applies.

Registration data is deleted after the event and its administration have been completed, unless statutory retention obligations, necessary contractual records or specific legal claims require otherwise. Registration cannot be completed without the information identified as required during the registration process.

Links to social networks

Links to our profiles on social networks must be distinguished from embedded posts. An ordinary link does not establish a connection between your browser and the linked network merely because you access our website. You only access the respective network’s service when you follow the link. By contrast, the consent rules described above apply to embedded LinkedIn posts.

This Privacy Policy covers links from our website. Processing by the platforms when you visit their services is governed by their respective privacy information. If you send us a message there, we process the information it contains for the purposes and on the legal bases described in the “Contact by form, email or post” section. For confidential matters, please preferably use our direct contact options.

Recipients, international transfers and retention

Within our association, access is granted to those who need it to perform the relevant task. Other recipients include the hosting, form, communication and content providers named above and, where necessary, service providers for technical support and event delivery. Data may be disclosed to competent authorities or courts where there is a legal obligation to do so.

Some providers process data outside the European Union or the European Economic Area, in particular in the United States. In addition to the respective legal basis under Article 6 GDPR, such transfers must meet the requirements of Articles 44 et seq. GDPR. The mechanisms and sources published for the individual providers are identified in the respective sections.

An adequacy decision under Article 45 GDPR may provide a basis for a transfer where it covers the specific recipient and processing concerned. In the case of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, this requires, in particular, an applicable certification of the US recipient. Where no applicable adequacy decision exists, EU standard contractual clauses under Article 46(2)(c) GDPR and, where necessary, supplementary safeguards are used in particular. Consent in the cookie banner does not replace these requirements.

You can request information about the safeguards applicable to our transfers and a copy of the relevant contractual safeguards by contacting info@encourage-ventures.com. Processing by providers acting as controllers in their own right is additionally governed by their linked privacy information.

Our retention practices are subject to the periods and criteria described for the individual processing activities. Where several purposes apply, data is only used for the remaining statutory obligation or the specific evidence required once the active use has ended. When these grounds also cease to apply, we delete the data. Technical backups are overwritten as part of the respective scheduled backup cycles; deleted data is not made available again for ongoing operations when a backup is restored.

Your rights

Subject to the applicable statutory conditions, you have the following rights:

Access under Article 15 GDPR: You can find out whether and which personal data we process about you and obtain a copy of that data.
Rectification under Article 16 GDPR: You can have inaccurate information corrected and incomplete information completed.
Erasure under Article 17 GDPR: You can request the deletion of your data unless statutory exceptions apply.
Restriction under Article 18 GDPR: You can request that processing be restricted where the statutory conditions are met.
Data portability under Article 20 GDPR: For personal data that you have provided to us and whose processing is based on your consent or a contract and carried out by automated means, you can request a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. Where technically feasible, you can also request that we transmit this data directly to another controller.
Withdrawal under Article 7(3) GDPR: You can withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Objecting to processing

Where we process data on the basis of Article 6(1)(e) or (f) GDPR, you may object under Article 21(1) GDPR on grounds arising from your particular situation. We will then no longer process the data concerned unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing serves the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

You may object to the processing of your data for direct marketing at any time without giving reasons. This also applies to related profiling. Following your objection, the data concerned will no longer be processed for these purposes.

Complaints and contact

To exercise your rights, please contact info@encourage-ventures.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the place of your habitual residence, place of work or the place of the alleged infringement. The Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information is the supervisory authority responsible for our association’s registered office.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We regularly review and update this privacy information when legal, technological or organisational requirements or our processing activities change. We provide information about changes on our website. A change to the text does not replace obtaining new consent where such consent is required for new purposes or services.