Your privacy, in plain words.

Effective date: September 25, 2026

This policy was written in plain language by the Brotherhood of Being organizers and has not been reviewed by an attorney.

The short version

• We collect only what we need to run a free monthly circle: your name and email, what you choose to tell us in the welcome form, and basic site analytics.
• We don’t sell your information, and we don’t use it to show you ads.
• We don’t collect or publish what men share in a circle.
• You can unsubscribe any time, and you can ask to see, correct, or delete what we hold about you.

Who we are

Brotherhood of Being (“BoB,” “we,” “us”) is an informal, volunteer-run peer-support group. It is not a company, a nonprofit corporation, or any other kind of legal entity. It is organized by four men acting as individuals: Tony Bushong, Octavio Lorenzo, Mark Walker, and Paul Melcher. When this policy says “we,” it means those four organizers. Tony Bushong operates this website.

This policy covers brotherhoodofbeing.com, our email list, our welcome form, and our online circles. Our members are adults from across the United States, and this policy is written with US law in mind.

What we collect

• When you join the email list: your first name, last name, and email address. Our email service also records whether you open or click our emails.
• When you fill in the welcome form: whatever you choose to tell us, such as what drew you here, what you hope to gain or let go of, how you found us, and whether you can make the next circle. The form also records your agreement to our participation agreements and your answer to our media release (see “Photos, video, and recording” below). Please share only what you’re comfortable with us keeping. You never need to tell us about your health to take part.
• When you email us: your email address and whatever you write.
• When you share a testimonial: your words, the name you give, and any photo or video you choose to submit.
• When you visit the site: analytics data collected by Google Analytics through cookies, such as pages viewed, approximate location (from your IP address), device and browser type, and how you arrived. We also count a few actions: submitting a signup form and pressing play on our video.
• When you take part in a circle on Zoom: Zoom processes your display name, video, audio, and chat messages to run the call. The organizers can see who attended.

We don’t take payments and don’t collect payment information. Nothing is sold on this site today. If that ever changes, we’ll update this policy first.

What we don’t collect

What men share in a circle belongs to them. We don’t collect it, and we don’t publish it. The recap email we send after a circle is written so that it doesn’t name anyone or repeat what any man shared.

Photos, video, and recording

We do not record circles (video, audio, transcripts, or screenshots) unless every participant has been told in advance. That includes Zoom’s own recording, transcript, and AI summary features, and any outside note-taking app. If we ever plan to capture part of a circle, we’ll say so before it starts, and any man who doesn’t want to appear can turn off his camera, step out for that part, or skip that circle. You can take part in circles without agreeing to be photographed or recorded.

The welcome form includes a media release. It lets you tell us whether we may use photos or video in which you appear, on our site or in BoB materials. The release never covers what you or anyone else says in a circle. You can withdraw it any time by emailing us. We’ll stop using your image in anything new and remove it from places we control, like this site and our social media posts.

Why we use it

• To send you the Zoom link, reminders, circle recaps, and news about retreats.
• To know who is coming and to hold the circle well.
• To answer your messages.
• To share testimonials and images you’ve given us permission to use.
• To understand how the site is used so we can make it better.
• To keep the site and the list secure and free of spam.
• To protect someone’s safety, or when the law requires it.

Who helps us, and what they get

We don’t sell or rent your personal information, and we don’t share it for targeted advertising. Only the four organizers have access to member information, and we use it only for BoB. We don’t add BoB members to any organizer’s separate business or coaching mailing list.

We use a small set of outside services to run BoB:

Each of these services has its own privacy policy and handles information under its own terms. Testimonials are collected through a Senja page at love.tonybushong.coach, an account Tony Bushong also uses for his coaching business. BoB testimonials are used only for BoB unless you give separate permission.

We may also share information if the law requires it, or if we believe in good faith that it’s needed to protect someone’s life or safety, for example by contacting emergency services.

Cookies and tracking

Google Analytics sets cookies to count visits and see which pages help. YouTube may set cookies only after you press play. If the Senja testimonial display is on, it may store data in your browser too. We don’t use advertising cookies.

Your choices:

• Block or delete cookies in your browser settings.
• Install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on to stop Google Analytics from counting your visits on any site.
• The site works without cookies. If blocking them stops the signup form from working, email us and we’ll add you by hand.

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control. Some browsers send a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal. Our site doesn’t currently change what it does when it receives one. We don’t sell personal information or share it for targeted advertising, so there is no sale for those signals to stop. If you don’t want to be counted in our analytics, use the opt-out add-on above or block cookies.

How long we keep it

• Email list: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it. After you unsubscribe, our email service keeps your address marked as unsubscribed so you aren’t emailed again.
• Welcome form answers: while you’re part of the community, or until you ask us to delete them.
• Emails you send us: as long as they’re useful for staying in touch with you, or until you ask us to delete them.
• Testimonials and images: until you ask us to remove them.
• Analytics: Google Analytics keeps detailed data for the retention period set in our account (Google offers 2 or 14 months). Summary reports that don’t identify you may be kept longer.
• Circle recordings: we don’t record circles unless every participant has been told in advance. If a recording is ever made under that rule, we’ll say at the time how long it will be kept.

Your choices

• Unsubscribe any time with the one-click link at the bottom of every email, or by emailing us.
• See, correct, or delete your information. Email Info@BrotherhoodOfBeing.com with “Privacy request” in the subject. We’ll reply within 30 days. We may ask you to write from the email address we have on file, so we don’t hand your information to someone else.
• Withdraw a media release or testimonial any time by emailing us.
• Opt out of analytics using the choices under “Cookies and tracking.”

Deleting your information from our list and forms can’t erase what other participants heard in a circle, and it can’t pull back copies of a testimonial or image that were already shared with your permission. We’ll remove what we control.

State privacy laws

Several US states, including California, Colorado, Virginia, and others, have consumer privacy laws. Those laws generally apply to businesses above certain size or revenue thresholds, or to organizations that handle data about very large numbers of people. We believe most of them don’t apply to a small, free, volunteer group like ours. We offer access, correction, and deletion to everyone anyway, wherever you live. If a law in your state gives you additional rights, tell us and we’ll honor them. We won’t treat you differently for making a request.

Children

BoB is for adult men, 18 and older. This site is not directed at children, and we don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 18, including children under 13. If we learn that someone under 18 has joined the list or filled in the welcome form, we’ll delete that information. If you believe that has happened, please email us.

Security

We use reputable service providers and keep access to member information limited to the four organizers. No system is perfectly secure, so please don’t email us anything you’d need to stay absolutely private. If we learn of a security problem that affects your information, we’ll let you know as the law requires.

Links to other sites

This site links to other sites, including YouTube, LinkedIn, Google, and the organizers’ own coaching websites. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and we aren’t responsible for them. The organizers’ coaching businesses are separate from BoB. Anything you share with them there is covered by their own policies, not this one.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we’ll update the effective date at the top. If a change is significant, we’ll tell the email list before it takes effect.

Contact

Email Info@BrotherhoodOfBeing.com. It reaches the same inbox as brotherhoodofbeing@gmail.com, and one of the organizers reads every message. BoB is an informal volunteer group with no office or mailing address, so email is the best way to reach us.