Privacy Policy
This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their ‘Personally Identifiable Information’ (PII) is being used online. PII, as described in US privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context.
Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website.
What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our website, and when do we collect it?
We collect information from you when you subscribe to our News page, fill out a contact form, or make a donation on our site. As appropriate to the activity, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, credit card information, or other details.
When you subscribe to our News page or fill out a contact form, the only information we collect is your name and email address. If you subscribe to our newsletter, the only information we collect is your email address. You may unsubscribe at any time by following the link on any email we send to you.
Most of our donations are processed by PayPal, which has its own privacy policy, or Venmo, which also has a privacy policy. Amazon also processes donations, and it, too, has its own privacy policy. The links on our site to donate take you directly to PayPal, Venmo, or Amazon, which is the only place where you will be asked to provide your credit card, address, or phone number, which are entered directly into PayPal’s, Venmo’s, or Amazon’s servers. We never have access to your full credit card number; only PayPal, Venmo, or Amazon obtains that information.
Similarly, we partner with other organizations and their affiliate programs through our site, including Chewy, Zazzle, Ralph’s Grocery, and iGive. If you wish to do so, you may purchase merchandise or create accounts with those partners. Each has its own privacy policy and we encourage you to review and understand it before providing the partner with your information.
For all other purposes on our site, you will never be asked for anything other than your name or email address. We do not collect other information for any other purpose.
How do we use your information?
We may use your name and email address to follow up with you, respond to your correspondence, or send you a newsletter or updates, if you subscribe to them. We do not sell, loan, trade, or give away your information to any other organization or company.
How do we protect your information?
Our website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities in order to make your visit to our site as safe as possible.
We implement a variety of security measures when a user enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information. Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential.
All donations are processed through a gateway provider (Amazon, Venmo, or PayPal) and are not stored or processed on our servers.
Do we use ‘cookies’?
Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the site’s or service provider’s systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. We use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may also use trusted third-party services that track this information on our behalf.
You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Since each browser is a little different, look at your browser’s Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.
If you turn cookies off, it will turn off some of the features of the site.
Third-party disclosure
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your Personally Identifiable Information unless we provide users with advance notice. This does not include website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our website or serving our users, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release information when its release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others’ rights, property or safety.
However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, analysis to improve our site, or other uses.
Third-party links
Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services on our website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.
California Online Privacy Protection Act
CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law’s reach stretches well beyond California to require any person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting Personally Identifiable Information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals or companies with whom it is being shared.
Although it is our understanding that CalOPPA was not intended to apply to nonprofit sites that do not sell goods or services online, we believe CalOPPA represents current best practices in terms of privacy, and therefore we have endeavored to be as compliant with its provisions as reasonably practicable for a small nonprofit organization.
Learn more about CalOPPA here.
According to CalOPPA, we agree to the following:
- Users can visit our site anonymously.
- Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page or as a minimum, on the first significant page after entering our website.
- Our Privacy Policy link includes the word ‘Privacy’ and can easily be found on the page specified above.
- You will be notified of any Privacy Policy changes on our Privacy Policy page.
- You can change your personal information by emailing us.
How does our site handle Do Not Track signals?
We honor Do Not Track signals and Do Not Track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.
Does our site allow third-party behavioral tracking?
We use Google Analytics to monitor engagement on our site in order to improve. For more information, please review this information from Google. We also encourage you to review this information about safeguarding your data.
COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)
When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under the age of 13 years old, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, United States’ consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children’s privacy and safety online.
We do not specifically market to children under the age of 13 years old. We do not let third parties, including ad networks or plug-ins, collect PII from children under 13.
Fair Information Practices
The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.
In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur, we will notify the users via in-site notification within 7 business days
We also agree to the Individual Redress Principle which requires that individuals have the right to legally pursue enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or government agencies to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.
Updates:
— 11/21/2023 to add Venmo as a third-party payment processor; Google Analytics; add language re affiliate programs and newsletter subscription.