Citizen Schools Privacy Policy
Effective: October 9, 2020
If you are a parent or guardian of a child under the age of 13 and want to learn about how we protect your child’s privacy, please visit our Children’s Online Privacy Notice.
This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes how Citizen Schools (“Citizen Schools,” “we,” “our,” “us”) collects, uses, and discloses certain personal information obtained through our website (“Site”) (which is located at https://www.citizenschools.org/), as well as through our in-person programs (including fundraising events). By visiting our Site or by engaging in our in-person programs (collectively, the “Services”), you are agreeing to the terms of this Policy.
INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Personally identifiable information you provide. Citizen Schools collects personal information through the Services, both online through our Site and offline through in-person programming. Situations where we may collect personal information include student programming, volunteer applications, job applications, newsletter distribution, and other e-mail alerts. The personally identifiable information (name, address, phone number, e-mail, etc.) collected for these Services is only used for the purpose for which the information was provided. For example, if a visitor fills out a job application, that visitor will not receive other information irrelevant to jobs at Citizen Schools, unless the visitor specifically elects to receive such information.
Specifically, we collect the following information from students, teachers, volunteers, and donors:
Student information. For students, we may collect information online (for children under 13, this is pursuant to our Children’s Online Privacy Notice) and offline through our in-person programming events. The information we collect may include student (and parent) contact information (such as address, email address, and phone number); demographic information (such as age, gender, or ethnicity); and medical information (such as doctor/clinic name or allergy information).
Teacher information. For teachers, we may collect information offline as part of our in-person programming events. This information may include contact information (such as phone number or email address); demographic information (such as age, gender, or ethnicity); employment information (such as name of employer); and teaching history (such as the subjects previously taught).
Volunteer information. If you sign up to volunteer with us, we will collect information related to processing your volunteer application. This information may include contact information (such as email address and phone number); demographic information (such as age, gender, or ethnicity); and any information you provide to us on your resume. We may also collect information related to your U.S. citizenship status as part of conducting a background check.
Donor information. We may also collect your personal information for the purpose of processing your donation to us (both online and offline at fundraising events). The information we collect for this purpose may include your name, email address, financial information (bank account number or credit/debit card information), and employment information (if you donate through our corporate sponsor program).
If you are a donor and submit a donation through the Site, we process them through Neon One. Neon One collects information on behalf of Citizen Schools and does not disclose it to any party other than Citizen Schools. Neon One uses industry-accepted encryption for transmission of credit card information, which keeps visitor information secure, accurate, current, and complete. These transactions are governed by Neon One’s privacy policy.
In addition to collecting donations online, we may collect donations you submit as part of a pledge card, annual appeal, or by attending one of our fundraising events.
Information automatically collected from our Site. In addition to the categories listed above, we also collect certain information automatically when you use our Site.
Web log data. When you use the Site, we automatically receive and record certain information from your computer (or other device) and your browser. This may include such data as your IP address and domain name, the pages you visit on the Site, the date and time of your visit, the files that you download, the URLs from the websites you visit before and after navigating to the Site, your software and hardware attributes (including device IDs), your general geographic location (e.g., your city, state, or metropolitan region), and certain cookie information (see below). To obtain such information, we may use web logs or applications that recognize your computer and gather information about its online activity.
Web beacons. The Site or the emails that you receive from us may use an application known as a “web beacon” (also known as a “clear gif” or “web bug”). A web beacon is an electronic file that usually consists of a single-pixel image. It can be embedded in a web page or in an email to transmit information, which could include personal information. For example, it can allow an email sender to determine whether a user has opened a particular email.
Cookies. We also use cookies on the Site. Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by your web browser. A cookie allows the Site to recognize whether you have visited before and may store user preferences and other information. For example, cookies can be used to collect or store information about your use of the Site during your current session and over time (including the pages you view and the files you download), your computer’s operating system and browser type, your Internet service provider, your domain name and IP address, your general geographic location, the website that you visited before the Site, and the link you used to leave the Site. If you are concerned about having cookies on your computer, you can set your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being set, allowing you to decide whether to accept it. You can also delete cookies from your computer. However, if you choose to block or delete cookies, certain features of the Site may not operate correctly.
SDKs and mobile advertising IDs. Our Services may include third-party software development kits (“SDKs”) that allow us and our service providers to collect information about your activity. In addition, some mobile devices come with a resettable advertising ID (such as Apple’s IDFA and Google’s Advertising ID) that, like cookies and pixel tags, allow us and our service providers to identify your mobile device over time for advertising purposes.
Aggregated and deidentified information. We may also collect and share aggregated or deidentified information about users of the Services. When we aggregate or deidentify your information, we do not share the information in a way where it identifies you personally.
HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION
Citizen Schools values the privacy of its students, volunteers, teachers, donors, and other users of the Services. We do not share your personal information except for the purposes specified below. We will not send you mailings on behalf of other organizations.
Personal Information. Our purposes for using your personal information may include:
To offer our in-person programming;
To respond to your questions or requests concerning the Services or other Services offered by us;
To fulfill your requests for our Services or otherwise complete a transaction that you initiate;
To process your donation;
To process your volunteer application;
To send you information about our Services and other topics that are likely to be of interest to you, including newsletters, updates, or other communications, including promotional emails and advertising;
To deliver confirmations, account information, notifications, and similar operational communications;
To comply with legal and/or regulatory requirements; and
To manage our nonprofit.
Information we automatically collect. In addition to the purposes above, we use the information that we collect automatically through the Site for such purposes as:
Counting and recognizing visitors to the Site;
Analyzing how visitors use the Site and various Site features;
Improving the Site and enhancing users’ experiences with the Site;
Creating new products and services or improving our existing products and services;
Enabling additional website analytics and research concerning the Site;
Engaging in interest-based advertising (as described below); and
Managing our nonprofit.
WITH WHOM AND WHY WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION
We share your information with other parties for a variety of purposes, as described below.
Third-party service providers. We use third-party service providers that perform Services on our behalf, including web-hosting companies, mailing vendors, and analytics providers. These service providers may collect and/or use your information, including information that identifies you personally, to assist us in achieving the purposes discussed above.
We may share your information with other third parties when necessary to fulfill your requests for services; to complete a transaction that you initiate; to meet the terms of any agreement that you have with us or our partners; or to manage our business.
Analytics. We partner with certain third parties to obtain the automatically collected information discussed above and to engage in analysis, auditing, research, and reporting. These third parties may use web logs or web beacons, and they may set and access cookies on your computer or other device. In particular, the Site uses Google Analytics to help collect and analyze certain information for the purposes discussed above. You may opt out of the use of cookies by Google Analytics here.
Interest-based Advertising. The Site also enables third-party tracking mechanisms to collect information about you and your computing devices for use in online interest-based advertising. For example, third parties may use the fact that you visited our Site to target online ads to you. In addition, our third-party advertising networks might use information about your use of our Site to help target advertisements based on your online activity in general. For information about interest-based advertising practices, including privacy and confidentiality, visit the Network Advertising Initiative website or the Digital Advertising Alliance website.
The use of online tracking mechanisms by third parties is subject to those third parties’ own privacy policies, and not this Policy. If you prefer to prevent third parties from setting and accessing cookies on your computer or other device, you may set your browser to block cookies. Additionally, you may remove yourself from the targeted advertising of companies within the Network Advertising Initiative by opting out here, or of companies participating in the Digital Advertising Alliance by opting out here. Although our Site currently does not respond to “do not track” browser headers, you can limit tracking through these third-party programs and by taking the other steps discussed above.
Legal purposes. We also may use or share your information with third parties when we believe, in our sole discretion, that doing so is necessary:
To comply with applicable law or a court order, subpoena, or other legal process;
To investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, violations of our terms and conditions, or situations involving threats to our property or the property or physical safety of any person or third party;
To establish, protect, or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims; or
To facilitate the financing, securitization, insuring, sale, assignment, bankruptcy, or other disposal of all or part of our business or assets.
MAILING LIST OPT-IN/OPT-OUT
To opt out of one or more of our electronic or print mailing lists, please use the unsubscribe link located at the bottom of our email communications or contact us using the contact information listed below.
CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
If you are a student under the age of 13 and you attend a school that we have a relationship with, we collect, use, and store your personal information based on the consent that your school provides on behalf of your parent or guardian. If you are a student under the age of 13 and we do not have a relationship with your school, we collect, use, and store your personal information pursuant to consent that we obtain from your parent or guardian.
To learn about how we protect the personal information of children under the age of 13, please visit our Children’s Online Privacy Notice.
EXTERNAL LINKS
This Site may contain links to third-party websites. If you use these links, you will leave the Site. We have not reviewed these third-party sites and do not control and are not responsible for any of these sites, their content, or their privacy policy. Thus, we do not endorse or make any representations about them, or any information, software, or other products or materials found there, or any results that may be obtained from using them. If you decide to access any of the third-party sites listed on our website, you do so at your own risk.
DATA SECURITY
We employ physical, technical, and administrative procedures to safeguard the personal information we collect online and offline. However, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to the Site or to us offline, and you transmit such information at your own risk.
We store the information we collect online and offline, including personally identifiable information and donation history, in our internal Customer Relationship Management system. This system can only be accessed by authorized Citizen Schools staff members, and personal identifiable information is treated with respect and confidentiality to the extent provided by law.
CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
We may make changes to the Services in the future and as a consequence will need to revise this Policy to reflect those changes. We will post all such changes on the Site, so you should review this page periodically. If we make a material change to the Policy, you will be provided with appropriate notice.
CONTACT US
Questions regarding the Citizen Schools Privacy Policy should be directed to info@citizenschools.org.