Privacy Policy - friends-bwca.org

Your privacy is important to Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. We respect your privacy and it is our policy to comply with applicable laws and regulations regarding any personal information we may collect about you. This Privacy Policy describes the privacy practices of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness (“Friends BWCA”, “we,” “us,” or “our”). It describes how we collect, use, and disclose personal information when you use our websites ( including www.friends-bwca.org) or otherwise interact with us online (collectively, our “Services”). However, this Privacy Policy is not applicable to applicants and/or employees. By using our Services or otherwise providing your personal information to us, you accept the terms of this Privacy Policy.
Last updated: November 2023

Personal Information We Collect

“Personal Information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with you. Personal Information does not include information that is publicly available, de-identified, or aggregated.

The Personal information we collect about you may vary depending on the nature of your interactions with us. The personal information we collect includes both information you provide us directly, and information we collect automatically about you when you use our Services. In general, we collect the following categories of personal information:

Identifiers and Personal Records, including real name, alias, postal address, IP address, email address, account name, education, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or other financial information, preferences and information about your use of our Services (e.g., wilderness experience, gear needs, t-shirt size), or other similar information
Commercial information, including records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies
Demographic Information, including age and date of birth, ace, ancestry, ethnic origin, gender, gender identity, disability, religion or creed, and whether your child receives free or reduced lunch
Internet or other electronic network activity information, including browsing history, search history, server log data, and information regarding your interactions with our websites, applications, or online advertisements. We may also collect your geolocation, as inferred from your IP address.
Audiovisual information, including photographs and video, and audio recordings you submit to us or that are collected through your use of our Services (e.g., when you interact with us by phone or videoconferencing)

Collection and Use of Personal Information

We may collect personal information about you from the following sources:

Directly from you. For example, when you:
- Register yourself or someone else for a trip
- Enter any of our competitions, contests, sweepstakes, and surveys
- Sign up to receive updates from us via email, mail, social media, or other channels
- Post a comment or review or otherwise participate in our online community
- Interact with us on social media
- Purchase merchandise and other items from us
Automatically when you use a mobile device or web browser to access our Services
From service providers that help us to operate our business (e.g., vendors that provide communications, market research, analytics, and other services)
From third parties (such as your friends and family, or other non-profits that may provide us with your information).

We may collect, hold, use, and disclose information for the following purposes:

To provide you with our Services
To enable you to customize or personalize your experience of our website
To contact and communicate with you
For analytics, market research, and business development, including to operate and improve ourwebsite, associated applications, and associated social media profiles
For advertising and marketing, including to send you promotional information about our products and Services and information about third parties that we consider may be of interest to you
To enable you to access and use our website, associated applications, and associated social media platforms
For internal record keeping and administrative purposes
To run competitions, sweepstakes, and/or offer additional benefits to you
To attribute any content (e.g. posts and comments) you submit that we publish on our website
To fundraise, garner support from donors and sponsors, or meet our reporting obligations relating to the Services we provide

In addition to the purposes described above, we may use and disclose personal information to respond to law enforcement requests, or as otherwise required or authorized by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations; to protect our rights and interests and those of others; to resolve any disputes; to enforce our terms and policies; and to evaluate or conduct a merger, sale, or other acquisition of some or all of our assets. We also reserve the right to use personal information we collect for any other purpose identified in an applicable privacy notice or agreement between you and us, or otherwise with your consent.

Security of Your Personal Information

When we collect and process personal information, and while we retain this information, we will protect it within commercially acceptable means to prevent loss and theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification.

Although we will do our best to protect the personal information we collect, no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure, and no one can guarantee absolute data security.

How Long We Keep Your Personal Information

We keep your personal information for as long as is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy or otherwise authorized by law. This time period may depend on what we are using your information for, in accordance with this privacy policy. Where information is used for more than one purpose, we will retain it until the purpose with the latest period expires.

Disclosures of Personal Information

We may disclose personal information to:

Our parent, subsidiary, or affiliate organizations
Service providers for the purpose of enabling them to provide their services. For example, IT service providers, data storage, communications, hosting and server providers, advertisers, or analytics platforms
Our existing or potential agents, business partners, donors, or sponsors
Sponsors or promoters of any competition, sweepstakes, or promotion we run
Courts, tribunals, regulatory authorities, and law enforcement officers, as required by law, in connection with any actual or prospective legal proceedings, or in order to establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights
Third parties who assist us in providing information, products, services, or direct marketing to you

Children’s Privacy

Your child’s privacy is important to us. As a result, we endeavor to operate our Services in compliance with all applicable state and federal laws that protect the privacy of children’s personal information.

Our online Services are intended for parents, and are not intended for individuals under the age of 13. Children under 13 years old may not use our online Services, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13 years of age. We may, however, collect personal information about a child under the age of 13 from a parent or guardian. If you believe that a child under the age of 13 has submitted personal information to us, please contact us in any manner described in the Contact Us section below so that we can delete the information or take other appropriate action.

Your Email Communication Preferences

We respect your email communication preferences. You may unsubscribe from our marketing email communications by clicking the “unsubscribe” link found in every commercial email we send, or by sending a request to unsubscribe to us using the contact information provided below. If you opt-out of our marketing email communications, we may still send you email messages related to specific services for which you have registered (e.g., if you signed up for a trip). Unsubscribing from our marketing communications will not affect the level or quality of service we provide to you

Use of Cookies

We use cookies and other similar technologies (such as tracking pixels) to collect information about you and your activity across our website. A cookie is a small piece of data that our website stores on your device, and accesses each time you visit, so we can understand how you use our site. This helps us serve you content based on preferences you have specified. In general, our website uses cookies and other tracking technologies as follows:

Collecting information about how visitors use the website (for example, which pages they visit, which links they use, and how long they stay on each page)
To optimize the functionality of our website, including by personalizing content for you, greeting you by name, pre-filling forms for you, and remembering your preferences (e.g., your choice of language or location)
Personalizing your experience when you use the website
For purposes of ad targeting and marketing. For example, we use the Facebook Pixel and Google Ads to provide you relevant advertisements on other websites. You may visit Facebook’s and Google’s websites to learn more about each platform’s advertising practices and options you may have to manage how they collect and use your personal information. You can also manage advertising preferences for some of the external parties we work with to serve advertising across the internet by utilizing the choices at http://www.aboutads.info/choices/. Additional options for opting-out of interest-based advertising can be found here.
For analytics purposes. For example, our website uses analytics technology, including Google Analytics, to help us understand how our website is used, to see what topics or pages most interest you, and determine how best to market our Services to you. You may exercise choices regarding the use of cookies from Google Analytics by following the instructions available here or downloading the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Cookies vary in how long they last. “Session cookies” terminate shortly after you terminate your internet session. “Persistent cookies” are stored on your device until a set expiration date. We use both session cookies and persistent cookies on our website.

If you do not want to have cookies placed on your device, you should set your browser to refuse cookies before accessing our website. Please review your browser’s Help menu for instructions or visit www.allaboutcookies.org for more information. Please note that, if you disable all cookies, some features of our website may not function properly.

Do Not Track

Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a privacy preference signal that users can set in some web browsers, allowing users to opt out of tracking by websites and online services. Currently, our website does not respond to DNT signals.

Limits of Our Policy

Our website may link to external sites that are not operated by us. Please be aware that we have no control over the content and policies of sites operated by third parties, and cannot accept responsibility or liability for their respective privacy practices.

Changes to This Policy

At our discretion, we may change our Privacy Policy to reflect updates to our business processes, current acceptable practices, or legislative or regulatory changes. If we change this Privacy Policy, we will post the changes here. Unless otherwise indicated, any changes to this Policy will apply immediately upon posting to the Service. Your continued use of our Services after the effective date of any modification to the Privacy Policy will be deemed to be your agreement to the changed terms.

Contact Us

For any questions or concerns regarding your privacy, you may contact us using the following details:
info@friends-bwca-org

Donor Privacy Policy

The donor privacy policy is made available upon request.