Cookie Policy

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that a website places on your device (computer, phone, or tablet) when you visit. They are stored in your browser and sent back to the website on subsequent visits. Cookies serve many purposes — some are essential for a website to work, while others help website owners understand how visitors use the site, and others are used for advertising.

Cookies are not programs and cannot run software or deliver viruses. They are simple data files. A cookie can only be read by the website that created it (or in the case of third-party cookies, by the third-party service that placed it). This policy explains which cookies sharaninitiatives.com uses and why.

Types of Cookies We Use

Our website uses two categories of cookies: first-party cookies (set directly by sharaninitiatives.com) and third-party cookies (set by external services we use). Here is a breakdown of each type:

1. Analytics Cookies (Google Analytics 4)

Google Analytics assigns each visitor a random, anonymised identifier. It cannot identify you by name or email address. The data it collects includes pages visited, time spent, device type, approximate location (city level), and how you arrived at the Site. This helps us understand what content is most useful and how to improve the Site.

2. Advertising Cookies (Google AdSense)

Google AdSense uses these cookies to show you advertisements that are relevant to your interests — a practice called interest-based or personalised advertising. Google builds a profile of your interests based on your browsing history across websites that participate in its advertising network. Sharan Initiatives does not control or have access to this profile data; it is managed entirely by Google.

3. Essential / Functional Cookies

These are technically necessary cookies that enable core website functionality. For example, they may maintain basic session state as you navigate between pages, or store your dark mode preference. These cookies do not track your browsing across other websites and are not used for advertising. They are deleted when you close your browser (session cookies) or after a short period.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary for the Site to function, they cannot be disabled without affecting how the Site works.

Cookies We Do NOT Use

To be transparent about what is not happening on our Site:

• We do not use cookies for login or authentication on this website (there are no user accounts here)
• We do not use cookies to store payment information
• We do not use social media tracking pixels (e.g., Facebook Pixel) at this time
• We do not use session recording tools (e.g., heatmaps, screen recordings)

How to Manage and Control Cookies

You have several options for controlling cookies. Keep in mind that disabling certain cookies may affect your experience on this Site and other websites.

Through Your Browser Settings

All modern browsers allow you to view, manage, block, or delete cookies. Here is how to access cookie settings in the most common browsers:

• Google Chrome: Menu (three dots) → Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies and other site data. You can block third-party cookies or clear all cookies from here.
• Mozilla Firefox: Menu (three lines) → Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data. Firefox also offers Enhanced Tracking Protection which blocks many tracking cookies automatically.
• Apple Safari: Preferences → Privacy → Manage Website Data. Safari blocks cross-site tracking cookies by default.
• Microsoft Edge: Menu (three dots) → Settings → Cookies and site permissions → Manage and delete cookies and site data.
• Opera: Menu → Settings → Advanced → Privacy & security → Site Settings → Cookies and site data.

You can also use your browser in Private / Incognito mode, which does not save cookies after you close the window (though cookies still function during your session).

Opt Out of Google Analytics

There are two straightforward ways to stop Google Analytics from collecting data about your visits:

• Install the official Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. This browser extension prevents Google Analytics from collecting data across all websites that use it.
• Manually delete the _ga and _ga_7ER7M85XQS cookies from your browser. Note that they will be re-created on your next visit unless you also block them.

Opt Out of Google Personalised Advertising

You can control whether Google shows you personalised ads based on your browsing history:

• Visit Google Ads Settings to view and control how Google uses your data for advertising. You can turn off personalised ads entirely from this page.
• Visit AboutAds.info (Digital Advertising Alliance) to opt out of interest-based advertising across many ad networks simultaneously.
• Visit the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) opt-out tool for a similar multi-network opt-out.

Opting out of personalised advertising means Google will show you non-personalised ads instead — you will still see advertisements on our Site, but they will not be tailored to your interests.

Third-Party Cookie Policies

The third-party services that place cookies on our Site operate under their own privacy and cookie policies. We encourage you to review them:

• Google Privacy Policy: policies.google.com/privacy
• Google's Use of Cookies: policies.google.com/technologies/cookies
• Google Analytics Cookie Usage: developers.google.com/analytics
• Vercel Privacy Policy: vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy

Sharan Initiatives does not control the cookies set by these third parties beyond our selection of which services to use. For full details about what data they collect and how they use it, please refer to their individual policies linked above.

Do Not Track (DNT)

Some browsers offer a "Do Not Track" (DNT) signal that tells websites you do not want to be tracked. Currently, there is no industry-wide standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals, and our third-party analytics and advertising providers (Google) may not honour DNT signals. If you want to prevent tracking, we recommend using the opt-out tools described above rather than relying on DNT alone.

Changes to This Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy if we add new services, change our advertising setup, or if the law requires it. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed about how we use cookies.