Cookies Policy

Last updated: 17 January 2025

We, America for Bulgaria Foundation, a non-profit organization registered in the United States of America, Delaware State, under number 7755058, having registered branch in the Republic of Bulgaria with address: Sofia 1000, 6 Malyovitsa Str., contact details: 02/ 806 38 00, [email protected] (hereinunder “the Foundation”, ”ABF” or “we”), hereby aim to inform you about how we, as a data controller, receive and process information about users during their visit on our website www.us4bg.org (“the website”, “the site”).

We respect your right to privacy and strengthen our commitment to provide protection of your personal data, and therefore the present Cookies Policy (“the Policy”) is intended to comply with the requirements of the applicable European and national legislation.

We use cookies to improve the functionality of our website, to offer you a better user experience and an improved and personalized internet service tailored to your preferences. When you visit our website for the first time, you will be required to consent to our use of certain cookies under the terms and conditions described in this Policy.

We reserve the right to amend and update this Policy from time to time and the current version will always be available on our website. The date of the last update will be indicated at the top of this Policy.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that our website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the website and it enables the website to remember your actions and preferences over a period of time, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them whenever you come back to the Website or browse from one page to another.

Cookies are essential component for the proper functioning of the website aiming to ensure its security, efficiency, and usefulness, and to help us reviewing anonymized statistics about the site navigation (for example, number of visits, most visited sections of the website, etc.).

Whenever you visit our website, we collect information that your browser sends to us, i.e. “log data”, depending on your settings. The log data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol (“IP address”), browser type, browser version, pages of our website that you visit, time and date of your visit, time spent on the website or its pages and other statistics. Cookies do not require personal information to be used and most often cannot identify Internet users. Personal data collected with cookies is usually stored only to facilitate certain user navigation functions or to provide a browsing experience per user preferences. This data is encrypted in a way that significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access to it.

Types of cookies on our website

Our website mostly uses “first-party” cookies that are set and managed by the Foundation, not by any external organization. The “first-party” cookies ensure our website’s proper functioning, store visitors’ preferences, and gather analytics data. Our website uses the following types of cookies:

  • Strictly necessary cookies – these cookies are essential and necessary for the website to function properly and ensure its security features and services such as navigating between pages. The website cannot perform properly and smoothly without these necessary cookies, which are automatically activated and cannot be switched off in our systems. Therefore, we only inform about these cookies and do not require your consent for their use.
  • Functional cookies – these cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization, to remember information that changes the way it behaves or looks, such as your preferred language or the region that you are in. By refusing these cookies, you may not be able to access the full information on the website.
  • Analytics cookies – we use these purely for internal purposes as these cookies collect statistics about site visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our website. They help us to know which pages are the most/least popular and see how visitors use and interact with our website as an anonymous user. The data gathered does not identify you directly and is not shared with any third parties or used for any other purpose. If disabled, we will not be able to monitor the site’s performance which may result in poorly designed content and slow site performance.

We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) service provided by Google which uses cookies to analyze internet traffic. We process the information collected by GА4 about your visit on our website which may include information about your location, the Internet protocol (IP) address, click stream to, through and from our site (including date and time), page interaction information, etc. Please note that this information is stored by Google and Google may transfer it to third parties if required by law. For more information check Google Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Please refer constantly to Google website for changes or updates to these terms and to the information collected by Google Analytics 4. You can opt-out of these cookies at any time by managing your preferences of the cookies on our cookie banner without affecting your ability to visit the website.

We also use Hotjar on our website to better understand users’ needs and to optimize this service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service provided by Hotjar Ltd. that helps us better understand our users’ experience (e.g. how much time users spend on which pages, which links users choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on users’ behavior and devices. This includes a device’s IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and the preferred language used to display our website. Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in a pseudonymized user profile. Hotjar is contractually forbidden to sell any of the data collected on our behalf. For further details, please refer to the “About Hotjar” section of Hotjar’s support site.

The cookies and local and session storage items applied on the website that ensure the Hotjar features function correctly are listed below in Appendix A: List of cookies and storage items on www.us4bg.org.

In addition, our website uses external services that use third-party cookies and display content from external providers, such as YouTube, Facebook, etc. To view this third-party content, you will need to accept their terms and conditions including their cookie policies which we have no control over.

  • Third-party cookies (marketing cookies) – these cookies are used to track visitors across websites and collect information aiming to display customized ads and marketing campaigns that are relevant and engaging for the individual user, making them more valuable to publishers of third-party ads and advertisers. If you do not allow these cookies, you will still see basic advertising on your browser that is not relevant to you.

Our website uses Facebook Pixel, a tool of Meta Platforms, Inc., for analytical purposes as well as to optimize and economically exploit the website. Using this, Facebook has the ability to identify visitors to our website as a target audience for Facebook platform to display the ads we post on Facebook platform to Facebook users who are interested in our website and/or our Facebook page and thus make sure that our Facebook ads match the potential user interest. This allows us to track and analyze the efficacy of Facebook ads for statistical purposes. This information is stored by Facebook, we do not have access to it, and do not receive the data collected about you from Facebook. However, Facebook stores and processes the information so that it is possible to link it to users’ profile or use it for other purposes. For more information, please refer to Meta/ Facebook’s policies to find out more about how Facebook Pixel works and how Facebook ads are displayed. You can opt-out to the use of Facebook Pixel cookies on your computer by configuring your browser or managing your cookies preferences on our cookie banner.

Our website uses persistent and session cookies. Persistent cookies are saved on your computer for a period and that are not deleted automatically when you quit your browser, unlike the session cookies which are deleted when you quit your browser.

A list of cookies and detailed information about their purposes, expiry terms and role can be found in Appendix A: List of cookies and storage items on www.us4bg.org to this Policy.

Settings, removal and block of cookies

We provide our website visitors with the ability to manage their preferences for our use of cookies through the options on our cookie banner as follows:

  • “Accept All” option – by selecting it, you agree to our use of all types of cookies including but not limited to the purposes of Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel, as described above in this Policy.
  • “Cookies settings” option – through this option we provide you with the ability to make your own choice about “cookies” activation and decide which “cookies” to allow and refuse using the buttons for managing your enable/disable preferences.
  • “Reject All” option – by selecting this option, you can disable the cookies on our website except those that are strictly necessary for site operation. Please note that rejecting of some cookies may result in limited functionality of some of our services.

You can set your browser to refuse, remove or block cookies already stored on your computer anytime, without affecting the use of most features on the website. You can delete all cookies that are already on your device by clearing the browsing history of your browser. This will remove all cookies from all websites you have visited. Note that you may also lose some saved information (e.g. saved login details, site preferences, etc.). You can adjust the cookies’ preferences by using the tools provided by most of the browsers – usually found in the browser’s “Options”, “Tools” or “Preferences” menu, through which you can customize the use of cookies.

If you have disabled all cookies on your browser, Hotjar will not track your behavior on our website. You can also use the “Do Not Track” setting in your browser to avoid Hotjar tracking any data about your visit. The “Do-Not-Track” is implemented through your browser, so you’ll need to check if the setting is enabled or disabled within your browser. For more information about this setting for different browsers, please refer to Hotjar – Do Not Track.

If you have any questions related to this Policy, please refer to the contact details listed above. For more information about cookies, refer to www.allaboutcookies.org or visit www.youronlinechoices.eu for more information about online privacy.

Appendix A: List of cookies and storage items on www.us4bg.org

#

Item Name

Provider

Storage Type

Expiry

Purpose

STRICTLY NECESSARY ITEMS

1

elementor

us4bg.org

Local Storage Item

Persistent

Allows the website owner to implement or change the website’s content in real-time.

2

cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement

us4bg.org

Cookie

1 year

This cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the category “Marketing”.

3

cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics

us4bg.org

Cookie

1 year

The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category “Analytics”.

4

cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional

us4bg.org

Cookie

1 year

The cookie is set to record the user consent for the cookies in the category “Functional”.

5

cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary

us4bg.org

Cookie

1 year

The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category “Necessary”.

6

CookieLawInfoConsent

us4bg.org

Cookie

1 year

Records the default button state of the corresponding category. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.

7

viewed_cookie_policy

us4bg.org

Cookie

1 year

The cookie is used to store whether the user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

8

wp-wpml_current_language

us4bg.org

Session Storage Item

Session

This cookie designates the country code based on user’s IP address and determines the visitor language. It is enabled by default on sites that use the language filtering for AJAX operations feature.

9

History.store

us4bg.org

Session Storage Item

Session

А plugin that lets manage the browser history and cross-browser compatibility, contains a visitor ID to track their navigation on the website for its optimization. Also, it supports the work of project database page of the website.

FUNCTIONAL ITEMS

10

__cf_bm

Cloudflare

Cookie

30 minutes

This cookie supports Cloudflare Bot Management to protect the website from bad bots. The cookie does not collect any personal data or track the user across sites.

11

_cfuvid

Cloudflare

Session Storage Item

Session

This cookie is set when a site uses this option in a Rate Limiting Rule, and is only used to allow the Cloudflare WAF to distinguish individual users who share the same IP address.

12

cf_clearance   

Cloudflare

Cookie

1 year

Clearance Cookie stores the proof of challenge passed. It is used to no longer issue a challenge if present. It is required to reach an origin server.

13

ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY

YouTube

Local Storage Item

Persistent

This cookie is used by YouTube to store the last search result entry that was clicked by the user. This information is used to improve the user experience by providing more relevant search results in the future.

14

yt-remote-session-app

YouTube

Session Storage Item

Session

This cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences and information about the interface of the embedded YouTube video player.

15

yt-remote-cast-installed

YouTube

Session Storage Item

Session

This cookie is used to store the user’s video player preferences using embedded YouTube video.

16

yt-remote-session-name

YouTube

Session Storage Item

Session

This cookie is used by YouTube to store the user’s video player preferences using embedded YouTube video.

17

yt-remote-fast-check-period

YouTube

Session Storage Item

Session

This cookie is used by YouTube to store the user’s video player preferences for embedded YouTube videos.

ANALYTICS ITEMS

18

_ga

Google

Cookie

1 year, 1 month, 4 days

The cookie of GA4, calculates visitor, session, and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site’s analytics report. It stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated unique ID number to recognize unique visitors and is used to generate statistical data on how visitor uses the site.

19

_ga_*

Google

Cookie

1 year, 1 month, 4 days

Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views.

20

_gat

Google

Cookie

1 day

Used by Google Analytics 4 to throttle request rate. This cookie does not store any user information, it is used to limit the number of requests that have to be made to the site.

21

_ga_<container-id>

Google

Cookie

24 months

Used to persist session state.

22

_gat_UA-89039721-1

Google

Cookie

1 minute

A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behavior and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.

23

_gid

Google

Cookie

1 day

Installed by Google Analytics 4, this cookie stores information on how visitors use the website while also creating an analytics report of the website’s performance. Some of the data collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.

24

_gcl_au

Google

Cookie

3 months

Google Tag Manager sets the cookie to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.

25

CONSENT

YouTube

Cookie

2 years

YouTube sets this cookie via embedded YouTube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.

26

vuid

Vimeo

Cookie

1 year, 1 month, 4 days

Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website.

27

_hjSessionUser_{site_id}

Hotjar

Cookie

365 days

This cookie is set when a user first lands on a page. It persists the Hotjar User ID which is unique to that site and ensures data from subsequent visits to the same site are attributed to the same user ID.

28

_hjHasCachedUserAttributes

Hotjar

Cookie

Session

The cookie enables us to know whether the data set in the below_hjUserAttributes Local Storage item is up to date or not.

29

_hjUserAttributesHash

Hotjar

Cookie

2 min. extended every 30 sec

The cookie enables us to know when any User Attribute has changed and needs to be updated.

30

_hjUserAttributes

Hotjar

Local Storage Item

No explicit expiration

Local storage item that stores User Attributes sent through the Hotjar Identify API.

31

hjViewportId

Hotjar

Session Storage Item

Session

Session storage item that stores user viewport details such as size and dimensions.

32

hjActiveViewportIds

Hotjar

Local Storage Item

No explicit expiration

Local storage item that stores user active viewports IDs. Stores an expiration Timestamp that is used to validate active viewports on script initialization.

33

_hjSession_{site_id}

Hotjar

Cookie

Session

Holds current session data and ensures subsequent requests in the session window are attributed to the same session. It has 30minute duration, extended on user activity.

34

_hjCookieTest

Hotjar

Cookie

Session

The cookie checks to see if the Hotjar Tracking Code can use cookies. If it can, a value of 1 is set. It is deleted almost immediately after it is created.

35

_hjLocalStorageTest

Hotjar

Cookie

Session

The local storage item checks if the Hotjar Tracking Code can use Local Storage. If it can, a value of 1 is set. Data stored in _hjLocalStorageTest has no expiration time, but it is deleted almost immediately after it has been created.

36

_hjSessionStorageTest

Hotjar

Cookie

Session

This checks if the Hotjar Tracking Code can use Session Storage. If it can, a value of 1 is set. The data stored in _hjSessionStorageTest has no expiration time, but it is deleted almost immediately after it has been created.

37

_hjTLDTest

Hotjar

Cookie

Session

This cookie enables us to try to determine the most generic cookie path to use, instead of page hostname. It means that cookies can be shared across subdomains (where applicable). After this check, the cookie is removed.

MARKETING ITEMS

38

ads/ga-audiences

Google

Session Storage Item

Session

Used by Google AdWords to re-engage visitors that are likely to convert to customers based on the visitor’s online behavior across websites.

39

tr

Facebook

Session Storage Item

Session

Used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third party advertisers.

40

_fbp

Facebook

Cookie

3 months

This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website.

41

fr

Facebook

Cookie

3 months

Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behavior across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.

42

datr

Facebook

Cookie

2 years

The purpose of the cookie is to identify the web browser being used to connect to Facebook independent of the logged in user. This cookie plays a key role in Facebook’s security and site integrity features.

43

NID

Google

Cookie

13 months

These cookies are used by Google to display personalized advertisements on Google sites based on recent searches and previous interactions and limit the number of times the user sees an ad, mute unwanted ads, and to measure the effectiveness of ads.

44

VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE

YouTube

Cookie

5 months 27 days

A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.

45

VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA

YouTube

Cookie

6 months

YouTube sets this cookie to store the user’s cookie consent state for the current domain.

46

YSC

YouTube

Session Storage Item

Session

YSC cookie is set by YouTube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on YouTube pages.

47

yt-remote-connected-devices

YouTube

Local Storage Item

Persistent

YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.

48

yt-remote-device-id

YouTube

Local Storage Item

Persistent

YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.

49

yt.innertube::nextId

YouTube

Local Storage Item

Persistent

This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.

50

yt.innertube::requests

YouTube

Local Storage Item

Persistent

This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.

#
Cookies
Provider
Expiry
Purpose
STRICTLY NECESSARY COOKIES
1
elementor
us4bg.org
Persistent
Allows the website owner to implement or change the website’s content in real-time.
2
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement
us4bg.org
1 year
This cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the category “Marketing”.
3
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
us4bg.org
11 months
The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category “Analytics”.
4
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
us4bg.org
11 months
The cookie is set to record the user consent for the cookies in the category “Functional”.
5
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
us4bg.org
11 months
The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category “Necessary”.
6
CookieLawInfoConsent
us4bg.org
1 year
Records the default button state of the corresponding category. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
7
tribe_events_filters_wrapper
us4bg.org
Persistent
This cookie is used to set state of the events filter.
8
viewed_cookie_policy
us4bg.org
11 months
The cookie is used to store whether the user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
9
wp-wpml_current_language
us4bg.org
Session
This cookie designates the country code based on user’s IP address and determines the visitor language. It is enabled by default on sites that use the language filtering for AJAX operations feature.
10
History.store
us4bg.org
Session
It’s a plugin that lets manage the browser history and cross-browser compatibility. Contains a visitor ID to track their navigation on the website for its optimization. Also, it supports the work of project database page of the website.
FUNCTIONAL COOKIES
11
_icl_visitor_lang_js
us4bg.org
1 day
The purpose of the cookie is to store the redirected language. Saves the user’s preferred language on the website.
12
wpml_browser_redirect_test
us4bg.org
Session
This cookie is used to test if cookies are enabled on the browser.
13
__cf_bm
Cloudflare
30 minutes
This cookie supports Cloudflare Bot Management to protect the website from bad bots. The cookie does not collect any personal data or track the user across sites.
ANALYTICS COOKIES
14
_ga
Google
18 months
The cookie of Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site’s analytics report. It stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated unique ID number to recognize unique visitors and is used to generate statistical data on how visitor uses the site.
15
_gat
Google
1 day
Used by Google Analytics to throttle request rate. This cookie does not store any user information, it is used to limit the number of requests that have to be made to the site.
16
_gat_UA-89039721-1
Google
1 minute
A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behavior and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.
17
_gid
Google
1 day
Installed by Google Analytics, this cookie stores information on how visitors use the website while also creating an analytics report of the website’s performance. Some of the data collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
18
CONSENT
YouTube
2 years
YouTube sets this cookie via embedded YouTube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
19
vuid
Vimeo
2 years
Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website.
MARKETING COOKIES
20
ads/ga-audiences
Google
Session
Used by Google AdWords to re-engage visitors that are likely to convert to customers based on the visitor’s online behavior across websites.
21
tr
Facebook
Session
Used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third party advertisers.
22
_fbp
Facebook
3 months
This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website.
23
fr
Facebook
3 months
Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behavior across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
24
datr
Facebook
2 years
The purpose of the cookie is to identify the web browser being used to connect to Facebook independent of the logged in user. This cookie plays a key role in Facebook’s security and site integrity features.
25
NID
Google
5 months
These cookies are used by Google to display personalized advertisements on Google sites based on recent searches and previous interactions, and to limit the number of times the user sees an ad, to mute unwanted ads, and to measure the effectiveness of ads.
26
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
YouTube
5 months 27 days
A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
27
YSC
YouTube
Session
YSC cookie is set by YouTube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on YouTube pages.
28
yt-remote-connected-devices
YouTube
Persistent
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
29
yt-remote-device-id
YouTube
Persistent
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
30
yt.innertube::nextId
YouTube
Persistent
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
31
yt.innertube::requests
YouTube
Persistent
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.