PRIVACY POLICY
Updated August 1, 2019
At Start a Home Foundation (“Start a Home”), we understand that privacy is important. We are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of all visitors to Startahome.org (the “Website”). The following information is designed to help you better understand the information we gather from our Website and through our other services, how we protect the information once we gather it, and whether and how we disclose it.
We may, from time to time, make changes to this policy. By visiting this Website, you are accepting the practices described in the current version of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, do not use the Website.
Please note that this Privacy Policy applies only to this Website and Start a Home’s use of information, and not to other companies’ or organizations’ websites, including any websites to which we link. You are advised to consult the privacy policies of other websites that you visit.
INFORMATION COLLECTION AND USE
Our primary goals in collecting personal information are to provide you with a smooth, efficient, and customized experience, to send you information upon your request, and to thank you for your generosity as a donor. Specifically, we may collect personal information:
If you register for and participate in programs, activities, and events;
Upon submission of employment inquiries or applications;
When you participate in Start a Home’s social networking sites;
If you register for an account or sign up to receive email newsletters; and
If you participate in surveys or research.
AGGREGATE DATA
In addition, when you interact with the Website, we may automatically gather certain usage information, such as the number and frequency of visitors to this Website and what features of the Website are most popular to our visitors. This information may include which URL you just came from, which URL you next go to, what browser you are using, what features you click on and read (in whole or in part), and your IP address. We use such data only in the aggregate. This collective data helps us to determine how much our visitors use parts of the Website, and to do internal research on our users’ demographics, interests, and behavior, so as to better understand and serve you. In addition, we may aggregate data and disclose such information in a non-personally identifiable manner to advertisers and other third parties for marketing and promotional purposes.
PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION
If you register to participate in programs, activities and events, or register for an account, we will request personally identifiable information about you, such as your name, address, phone number, and email address. We seek such information primarily to communicate with you. In addition, we may use such information to improve our marketing and promotional efforts, analyze Website usage, improve our content and product offerings, and customize our Website’s content, layout and services. If you opt in to communications from Start a Home when prompted, we may use personal information to contact you and send you information, such as email updates.
Unless you specify that a gift be “anonymous,” or otherwise request that your name not be listed, we list the names of donors who give $1,000 and up in some brochures and benefit programs, so as to recognize their generosity publicly. We do not sell, share, or rent our donor lists to anyone, nor do we include donor names in any direct mail solicitations.
OUTSIDE SERVICE PROVIDERS
If you opt to make a donation or any type of payment through the Website, your personally identifiable information, including your name, address, telephone number, email address and debit/credit card information, will be collected and stored by various third-party providers who process credit card payments on behalf of Start a Home. Please review these third-party providers’ individual terms and conditions and privacy policies for more information about collection and storage of your information.
In addition, we may use outside service providers to facilitate Start a Home’s Website and overall operation, and to perform functions on our behalf, such as sending postal mail and email, removing repetitive information from donor lists, analyzing data, and providing customer service. These third parties may have access to your personal information as needed to perform their functions, but they may not use it for any other purpose.
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
Start a Home operates and maintains social networking pages and venues on websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, Tumblr, and Medium. Start a Home will, from time to time, import comments and posts from these third-party websites to this Website. If you post to any of Start a Home’s social networking pages on third-party websites, you are providing information to the public, and do so at your own risk. Further, Start a Home may use these postings on its Website without further notice or compensation to you. Please visit the privacy policies of any third-party websites before posting to Start a Home’s pages there.
COOKIES
“Cookies” are small files placed on your hard drive; each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser preferences allow it. You can configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. (Each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.) You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, although in that case, you may not be able to interact with certain features on our Website, and you may be required to re-enter your password more frequently during a session. In addition, a number of companies offer utilities designed to help you visit websites anonymously.
Cookies help us to provide customized services and information that is targeted to your interests. We use cookies on the Website to tell us how and when pages in our Website are visited, what our users’ technology preferences are (such as what type of video players they use) and whether our website is functioning properly. We also use cookies to temporarily retain the information you enter into a form.
Additionally, you may encounter cookies or other similar devices on our Website that are placed by third parties. We do not control the use of cookies by third parties.
SECURITY
We care about the security of your transactions and use standard industry practices to safeguard your information. We use high-grade encryption and the secure https protocol to communicate with your browser software. We also employ several different security techniques to protect your personally identifiable information from unauthorized access or use. You should be aware, however, that “perfect security” does not exist on the Internet, and that third parties may be able to intercept private communications and/or access your personally identifiable information.
SHARING INFORMATION
In general, we will not sell, share, or rent information about you in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement. However, we may be forced to disclose information to the government or third parties under certain circumstances. We cooperate with governments and private parties to enforce laws such as those regarding intellectual property rights, fraud, data privacy, and security. We can (and you authorize us to) disclose any information about you to government officials and private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringement, or other activity connected to this Website that is illegal or may expose us or you to liability.
POLICY TOWARDS CHILDREN
We are concerned about the safety and privacy of children who use the Internet. Although we encourage children to learn more about our organization and opportunities to serve their communities, we encourage that this be done with parental supervision. Consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (“COPPA”), we will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without prior verifiable parental consent. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personally identifiable information without verifiable parental consent, we will use our best efforts to remove such information from our files. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with personally identifiable information without verifiable parental consent, he or she should contact us at privacy@startahome.org.
GOVERNING LAW
You agree that your use of this Website, this Privacy Policy, and any disputes relating thereto shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the State of Maryland. Any dispute relating to this Privacy Policy shall be resolved solely in the state or federal courts located in Baltimore, Maryland.
Thank you for visiting our website. If you have any questions about our Website or our Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
Start a Home
AddresS: 861 North Howard street Baltimore, MD 21202
Attn: Digital Media
privacy@startahome.org (for Privacy Policy questions)
info@startahome.org (for general Website questions)