Beacon

Not Legal or Financial Advice

Beacon provides general information about government assistance programs and community resources. Nothing on this site constitutes legal advice, financial advice, or professional guidance of any kind. Beacon is not a law firm, financial advisor, or licensed social services provider. The information Beacon provides is a starting point — always verify eligibility, current program rules, and availability directly with the relevant agency before making decisions.

No Warranty

Beacon is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Program information changes frequently. Phone numbers, URLs, eligibility rules, and benefit amounts may be out of date. We make reasonable efforts to keep information current but cannot guarantee accuracy. Always confirm information with the relevant government agency or organization.

Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Beacon and its operators shall not be liable for any damages arising from your use of or reliance on information provided through this service, including but not limited to missed benefits, incorrect eligibility determinations, or actions taken based on information that has since changed.

Privacy Policy

Beacon is designed to be private by default.

What we do not collect: Beacon does not ask for your name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, or any other personally identifying information. We do not create accounts. We do not store your conversation after your session ends. We do not sell, share, or monetize any information about you.

What we do collect: Beacon uses session identifiers (temporary random strings) to maintain the state of your conversation while you are using the service. These identifiers are not linked to your identity and are discarded when your session ends. We may collect basic anonymized usage statistics (number of sessions, general geographic region, crisis categories queried) to understand how the service is being used and improve it. This data contains no personally identifying information.

Third-party services: Beacon uses the Anthropic API to generate responses and the Voyage AI API to search its knowledge base. Your situation description is sent to these services to generate your action plan. Neither service retains your data beyond the processing of your request. When the 211 API is active, your general location (city or zip code) is sent to retrieve local resources. See the Anthropic Privacy Policy for details on their data handling.

Cookies: Beacon does not use tracking cookies or advertising cookies. A minimal session cookie may be used to maintain the state of your conversation during your visit. It is deleted when you close your browser.

Terms of Use

Beacon is provided as a free public service. You may use Beacon to find information about assistance programs for yourself or someone you are helping. You may not use Beacon to collect information about third parties without their consent, to scrape or harvest data, or for any commercial purpose.

We reserve the right to discontinue or modify the service at any time. We reserve the right to block access from users who abuse the service.

Contact

Questions about these policies: support@beaconhelp.org