FERST FOUNDATION FOR CHILDHOOD LITERACY
PRIVACY POLICY
Updated: December 8, 2009
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy is committed to preserving your privacy and safeguarding your credit card and other sensitive information. The following statement describes the general information-gathering and usage practices of our web site and donation service.
Collecting personal information through our Donate Now service:
When you make a donation to Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy, FFCL collects a variety of personal information about you in order to properly process your donation. This personal information may include: name, address, phone, email address, your credit card information, "acknowledgement" or "in memory of" information, and donation amount.
FFCL does not to share your personal information without your knowledge or permission. In some cases, you may have the option to make your donation anonymously. If you choose this option, Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy will not share any of your contact information.
It is unlikely that Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy will need to contact you but we reserve the right in the event that we need to verify your personal information. If you contact us by email or phone, we may ask you to verify your personal information so that we may respond to your inquiry.
When making a donation to a nonprofit through the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy Donate Now service, donors may be asked to check a box to "receive email updates" from that nonprofit. The nonprofit will obtain that information and may choose to send email updates to the donor. Nonprofit practices in this regard are subject to their policies and practices and are not controlled by Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy.
We collect credit card information from our nonprofit stakeholders so that we can process single and reoccurring donations. We maintain this information on our secure servers for our internal processes only. We also use a credit card processing company to process donations and monthly fees. This company does not retain share, store, or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.
If a donor selects "I want to make a recurring donation", you will be registering to make a credit card donation every month, 3 months, or year. After you complete this initial donation, future donations will be made automatically. You will receive an email receipt from Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy for each recurring donation. As soon as you complete this initial donation, you will receive a separate email containing a password and a link to the Donate Now system where you can review and change your donation options (amount, frequency, billing information) at any time. Of course, you will also be able to cancel your recurring donation at any point in the future. Donors can view and update their personal information on the Donate Now system by using their passwords and the link that we provide.
Collecting Personal Information for Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy Services:
Links:
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy provides links to other web sites as a resource for donors who are interested in additional philanthropy giving opportunities. We encourage you to view their privacy policies as well. Any information you share with these web sites is subject to their policies and practices and is independent of Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy.
Cookies:
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy uses "session cookies" while a visitor is making a donation using a Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy Donate Now button. "Cookies" are bits of information that are stored by your browser on your hard drive. We use "session cookies" so that we can properly verify a donor's identity as they move from one web page to the next. For our nonprofit stakeholders, we also "session cookies" and "persistent cookies" in addition to verifying personal information, so that we can provide secure access to donor information. These session cookies are not linked to personally identifiable information.
Web log files:
Like most web site administrators we use log files that record information such as Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and page navigation. We gather this information to track web site visitor movement in the aggregate, and to gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Our goal in gathering this information is to learn how our stakeholders and the public are using our service. IP addresses that are recorded by our log files are not linked to personally identifiable information.
Protecting personal information:
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy takes every precaution to protect donor information. When donors submit sensitive information via our web site, their information is protected both online and off-line. When a form asks donors to enter sensitive information (such as credit card number or address), that information is encrypted and is protected with the best encryption software in the industry - SSL. While on a secure page, such as a donation form, the lock icon on the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked.
While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also do everything in our power to protect donor information off-line. All of our donor information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (our customer service team) are granted access to personally identifiable information. All employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices.
Our free eNewsletter:
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy offers its own free eNewsletter that it sends out to stakeholders and other interested individuals. Stakeholders are automatically added to this monthly eNewsletter, and other individuals opt-in to subscribe on the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy web site or though personal contact. Subscribers may choose to unsubscribe at any time and unsubscribe information is located at the bottom of each eNewsletter. Individuals who donate to nonprofits through the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy Donate Now service are not subscribed to this monthly eNewsletter.
Complying with the judicial or legal system:
Though Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy makes every effort to preserve donor and customer privacy, we may need to disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order, or legal process served on our organization.
Changes to our privacy policy:
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to our homepage, this privacy statement, and other places we deem appropriate so our donors and stakeholders are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. If, however, we are going to use users' personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection we will notify users via email.
Contacting Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy:
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy works hard to ensure that your giving experience is a positive one. If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy, or your dealings with our web sites, please contact:
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy
P.O. Box 3127
Madison, GA 30650
tel: 706-343-0177
fax: 706-343-9998
info@ferstfoundation.org