VC Include Privacy Policy

March, 2022

Introduction

This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) applies to the website of VC Include, (“VCI”), a fiscally sponsored project of the Tides Center, a California nonprofit public benefit corporation, located at www.vcinclude.com (the “Website”). 

Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy describes the information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the Website and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing information. This Privacy Policy applies to information a) you may provide us voluntarily when you visit the Website; b) we may collect automatically when you visit the Website; and c) that we may collect from third parties and other sources. 

Please read this Privacy Policy before using the Website. By visiting the Website or providing information to us via the Website, you are consenting to the terms of this Privacy Policy. In other words, if you don’t agree with this Privacy Policy, you should not use the Website. 

Information We Collect

You are not required to provide any personal information to visit this Website. However, we may collect information from and about visitors to the Website. This information could identify you personally such as name, email address, telephone number, mailing address, demographic, and other similar information (“Personal Information”). We collect Personal Information and other information in two ways: 1) you provide it to us voluntarily; and 2) automatically as you visit our Website.

  • Information You Provide to Us: You may opt to submit your Personal Information to us for a variety of reasons. Examples include: subscribing to email newsletters from us; signing up to receive information about our work, programs, initiatives, or events; filling out a “Contact Us” or other on-line form to ask a question or request information; communicating with us via email; making a donation through the Website. If you would like to update or delete the information you have provided to us, please contact welcome@vcinclude.com.

  • Information Automatically Collected: This category of information includes the Internet Protocol (“IP”) address of the computer or device you use to access the Website; the internet address of the site from which you linked to the Website; and the links you follow from the Website.

    • Cookies and Similar Technologies: “Information Automatically Collected” also includes information gathered through browser cookies or other tracking technologies. Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer when you visit a site. Cookies serve different purposes, like helping us understand how our site is being used, letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving your browsing experience. Cookies are not the only way to track visitors to a website. We may also use tiny graphics files with unique identifiers called beacons (and also "pixels" or "clear gifs") to recognize when someone visits our sites.

By activating the appropriate setting on our browser, you can choose not to accept cookies. However, please note that if you make this choice, you may be unable to access certain sections of the Website. If you use the browser setting that allows you to accept cookies, you consent to our use of cookies. Also, be aware that some of the non-cookie tracking technologies often depend on cookies to function properly, so disabling cookies may impair their functioning. Some Internet browsers may be configured to send "Do Not Track" signals to the online services that you visit. We currently do not respond to "Do Not Track" or similar signals. To find out more about "Do Not Track," please visit http://www.allaboutdnt.com.

  • Information We Get from Others: We may receive Personal Information about you from other sources, including your organization or company, others who think you might be interested in our work, publicly available sources, and third-party analytics providers. For example, we may receive your Personal Information if someone at your organization designates you as a contact person for that organization.

Our Use of Your Information

We may use the information we collect to do the following:

  • Communicate with you, including responding to your inquiries and requests.

  • Operate, maintain, administer, and improve the Website.

  • Conduct research and analytics regarding users of the Website and usage patterns.

  • Communicate with you about changes to the Website or the Privacy Policy, if we are required to do so.

  • Create aggregated and other anonymous data from our users’ information but not linked to any Personal Information, which we may share with third parties for lawful business purposes.

  • Protect the Website, including to detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our policies or law.

  • Comply with law. We may use your Personal Information as we believe appropriate to (a) comply with applicable laws, lawful requests and legal process, such as to respond to subpoenas or requests from government authorities; and (b) where permitted by law in connection with a legal investigation.

  • Obtain your consent. In some cases, we may ask for your consent to collect, use or share your Personal Information in a manner not covered by this Privacy Policy. In such cases, we would ask you to “opt in” to such use.

Ways we Share Your Personal Information

We may disclose your Personal Information to related entities such as Tides Foundation or the Tides Network or to third-party service providers we engage to help us operate the Website and administer activities on our behalf. Examples include hosting of our website, portal or other platform, information technology services, and data management. If these third-party service providers have access to your Personal Information, they are required to protect the confidentiality of the information and use it only for the limited purpose for which it was provided.

We may use or disclose your Personal Information as we deem necessary under applicable laws; to respond to requests from public, governmental, and regulatory authorities; to comply with court orders, litigation procedures, and other processes, to obtain legal remedies or limit our damages; and to protect the rights, safety, or property of our employees, you or others.

We may transfer or otherwise share your Personal Information in connection with a merger, acquisition, or other transaction or transfer of assets, subject to appropriate confidentiality requirements, and with notice to you if required by law. 

Data Security 

The security of your Personal Information is important to us. We take a number of organizational, technical and physical measures designed to protect the Personal Information we collect. However, security risk is inherent in all internet and information technologies, and we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your Personal Information. We will comply with applicable laws and regulations requiring that we notify you in the event your Personal Information is compromised as a result of a breach of our security measures. 

If you provide credit card information to make a donation, your credit card information is not held by us. It is collected by our third-party payment processors specializing in the secure processing of credit or debit card transactions. Your credit card information is not stored by us.

Information Retention 

We retain your Personal Information for as long as is necessary to carry out our interests in accordance with this Privacy Policy, our retention polices, and applicable law. 

Third-Party Links

For your information and convenience, this Website may contain links to third-party sites. These third-party websites are not under our control and are governed by their own privacy policies and terms of use. In addition, third-party links do not suggest affiliation with, endorsement of or sponsorship by us of any of the linked-to site.

Compliance with Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act 

Protecting the privacy of minors is especially important. For that reason, we do not knowingly collect information at the Website from those we know are under 16. Further, no part of the Website is structured specifically to attract anyone under 16. If we become aware we have information about anyone under 16, we will promptly delete the information.

Public Information

There may be forums on our Website that—due to the nature of the forum and capacity of our website—include the warning that information entered is “public information.” Such information is treated differently for the purposes of this Privacy Policy as other information described herein. When we use the phrase public information, we mean that the information may be publicly viewable on or off of our website.

By entering your information in sections of our website that warn that the information entered will be public information, you are acknowledging that we do not guarantee that such information will remain private; furthermore, you are acknowledging that we are not responsible for any disclosure of personal information and any legal ramifications pertaining thereto. Indeed, because we are not guaranteeing that such information will remain private, you should expect that anyone, including people off of our website, will be able to see it.

California Privacy Rights 

If you reside in California and have provided personally identifiable information to us, you may request information once per calendar year about our disclosures of certain categories of your personally identifiable information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. Such requests must be submitted to Tides at info@tides.org.

Information for Users Outside the United States

The Website is published in the United States and subject to laws of the United States. If you are an EU resident or citizen, you have additional rights in connection with your Personal Information pursuant to the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), including the right to request a copy of your Personal Information that we may have, and the right to request that we update, delete or anonymize that information. If you have any GDPR-specific questions or requests, please contact Tides at GDPR@tides.org,

Changes to Our Policy 

We may revise this Privacy Policy at any time. When we do, we will change the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to check back frequently to stay up-to-date on any changes to the Privacy Policy. Your continued use of the Website after we post changes means that you agree to those changes. 

Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy or anything relating to the Website, please contact Tides at info@tides.org. GDPR-specific questions and requests are best routed to GDPR@tides.org.