Privacy Policy
Van Alen Institute
303 Bond Street
Brooklyn, NY 11232
212-360-4374
Drop us a line: vai@vanalen.org
Press inquiries: press@vanalen.org
This website (the “Web Site”) is operated by Van Alen Institute (“Van Alen” , “we”, “us” and/or “our”).
This Privacy Policy sets forth our policy with respect to information that is collected from you.
This Privacy Policy & Terms of Use have been updated as of May 24, 2018 to support GDPR. Digital and development teams at Van Alen understand GDPR regulations.
General Policy
This website has a firm commitment to internet privacy. You can visit most portions of this website without telling us who you are and without revealing any personally identifiable information (“Personal Information”).
The only information we collect from a normal Web Site visit is information that cannot be used to specifically identify you (“Non-Personal Information”), which usually includes the name of your Internet service provider, the browser and type of machine you are using, the website that referred you to us, the pages you request and the date and time you request them.
We strive to ensure that each EU supporter gives valid, freely given, specific, informed and active consent for all our online actions and engagement to achieve the highest standards of online privacy.
We will carefully consider what data is being collected and create clear internal guidelines on data collection / storage / retention / access / deletion / security. IE: What do we really need to collect, where does that go, why are we collecting or storing it, who can access it, what computers/servers is it on, how long should we keep the data, what are we communicating with it?
Personal Information
The only time we collect Personal Information is when you voluntarily provide such information, such as when you contact us with inquiries, respond to one of our surveys, make a donation, or register to participate in certain projects, events, or campaigns. Wherever we collect Personal Information we make an effort to provide a link to this Privacy Policy.
By voluntarily providing us with Personal Information, you are consenting to our use of it in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
How We Use the Information
Non-Personal Information:
We use the Non-Personal Information collected to generate statistics and measure website activity in order to improve our impact in this work, and make our website a stronger tool for our visitors.
Personal Information:
We use the Personal Information you provide in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy. If you provide Personal Information for a certain reason, we may use the Personal Information in connection with the reason for which it was provided. If we intend on using any Personal Information in any manner that is not consistent with this Privacy Policy, we will inform you of the anticipated use before the Personal Information is collected.
Aggregated Personal Information:
In an ongoing effort to accomplish our mission and understand our website visitors, we may conduct research on its visitor’s demographics and interests based on the Personal Information and other information provided to us. This research may be compiled and analyzed on an aggregate basis, and Van Alen may share this aggregate information with its affiliates and allies. We may also disclose aggregated visitor statistics in order to describe the size, scope, and demographics of its network. This aggregate information does not identify you personally.
Storage:
Both Personal Information and Non-Personal Information collected in accordance with this Privacy Policy may be stored by itself or it may be included in databases owned and maintained by our affiliates, agents or service providers.
Donor Privacy Policy:
We do not rent, share, sell or trade any Personal Information from online or offline donations with any 2nd or 3rd party. In addition, we do not rent, share, sell or trade information about what donations supporters have undertaken on our Web site with any 2nd or 3rd parties.
When We Share the Information:
We will not sell your information. We consider this information to be a vital part of our relationship with you. There are, however, certain circumstances in which we may share your Personal Information with certain third parties without further notice to you, as set forth below:
Action and Signup Pages:
We do not share the information you’ve given us on sign up pages with unaffiliated groups or individuals without your explicit permission. For petitions, letters to the editor, and surveys you’ve signed or completed, we treat your name, city, state or province, and comments as public information. We will not make your street address publicly available, but we may transmit it in campaign targets specifically noted on the signup page.
Legal Requirements:
We may disclose your Personal Information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to (i) comply with a legal obligation, (ii) protect and defend the rights or property of Van Alen, (iii) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of Web Site visitors or the public, or (iv) protect against legal liability.
Security:
We make great efforts to protect the Personal Information provided via the website from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no Internet or e-mail transmission is ever fully secure or error-free. In particular, email sent to or from the Web Site may not be secure. Therefore, you should take special care in deciding what information you send to us via email.
We strive to ensure the secure collection and transmission of sensitive visitor payment information using industry accepted data collection and encryption methodologies. If you choose to make a donation your credit card information will be used only for transactions through our secure online payment system. If you choose to make that donation recurring, the information will be stored by our third party payment processors. We do not sell or otherwise disclose such visitor payment information outside the organization.
Updates and Email Tracking:
If you sign up to receive updates from us, we will strive to provide you accurate and timely information about our activities. In order to improve our engagement with our network, we may track whether the emails we send to you are being opened and whether the links they contain are being clicked.
Unsubscribing:
You can unsubscribe at any time by using the link provided in at the bottom of any email you receive from us or delete your profile by sending us an email at vai@vanalen.org.
Cookies:
Like most websites, our website may place a “cookie,” or small file, in the browser files of a visitor’s computer. We use cookies to save the information you give us so that you don’t have to re-enter it each time you visit our website.
Updating the Privacy Policy:
We reserve the right to change its policy at any time and from time to time without prior notice as necessary to support the movement. Please review this Privacy Policy periodically, and especially before you provide any Personal Information. This Privacy Policy was last updated on the date indicated above. Your continued use of the website after any changes are made to this Privacy Policy indicates your agreement with the terms of the changed Privacy Policy.
Exclusions:
This Privacy Policy only applies to information collected by us through the website. The Privacy Policy does not apply to any unsolicited information provided to us through the website or through any other means. This includes, but is not limited to, information posted to any public areas of the website and any unsolicited submissions. All such information will be treated as public information.
Links to Other Websites:
This Privacy Policy applies only to the website. The website may contain links to other websites not operated or controlled by us. The policies and procedures we described here do not apply to the Third Party Sites. The links from the website do not imply that we endorse or have reviewed the Third Party Sites. We suggest contacting those sites directly for information on their privacy policies.
Social Media:
Through the website, you can choose to access certain social media websites and services that are owned and controlled by third parties (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) (the “Social Media Services”). When you elect to access and use the Social Media Services, you will be sharing your information (which will include personal information if you elect to share such information) with those Social Media Services. As with other Third Party Sites, the information that you share with the Social Media Services will be governed by the privacy policies and terms of service of the providers of such Social Media Services and not by the policies and procedures we describe here.