Privacy Policy

Updated 5/9/2018

Welcome to Empowered.org (Website), an interactive online service. The mission of Empowered.org is to empower groups to mobilize for their desired social change. From small grass-roots clubs to complex international organizations, Empowered.org provides a flexible platform to fundraise, recruit/coordinate volunteers, and create awareness for international service. As part of that effort, Empowered.org directs money to the participating organizations’ merchant processor to fund activities designated by the donor (or users of the site). Empowered.org does not charge any set up costs or monthly fees, but if you elect to fundraise money on the Website we may receive a small percentage of each donation to administer and improve the Website if the donor elects to contribute to cover the online transactions. Empowered.org is wholly-owned by Global Brigades Ventures, a California-based Public Benefit Corporation. For more information, visit www.globalbrigades.org.

Empowered.org is committed to protecting your privacy and to complying with applicable data protection and privacy laws. We have adopted this Privacy Policy ("Privacy Policy") to explain what information may be collected on our Website, how we use this information, and under what circumstances we may disclose the information to third parties. This Privacy Policy applies only to information we collect through our Website and does not apply to our collection of information from other sources (unless specifically stated).

This Privacy Policy, together with the Terms and Conditions of Use posted on our Website, sets forth the general rules and policies governing the use of our Website. We may provide additional or amending privacy information in connection with a particular product or service. Such information will prevail over this Policy to the extent it conflicts.

WHEN YOU ACCESS OUR WEBSITE, YOU AGREE TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY, OR TO ANY CHANGES WE MAY SUBSEQUENTLY MAKE TO IT, IMMEDIATELY STOP ACCESSING OUR WEBSITE. WE ARE HAPPY TO CUSTOMIZE A POLICY FOR ANY PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATION THAT WISHES TO USE THE WEBSITE TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS.

Lawful Basis for Processing

You agree that we have a lawful basis to process any of your personal information necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests, or those of a third party, to the maximum extent permitted by law. By accessing this site, you agree that we have a legitimate interest:

To perform general business operations related to our purpose, and to seek capital in support thereof.
To comply with foreign and domestic legal requirements.
To improve of our existing operations and develop new operations.
To notify you of new products, services, and events that may be of interest.
To protect the vital interests of the public.
To personalize our services.
To seek donations in furtherance of our mission to empower volunteers to facilitate sustainable solutions in under resourced communities while fostering local cultures

You further agree that the uses of your personal information described below are necessary to our legitimate interests.

How We Use Your Personal Data

Empowered.org processes personal data and/or any additional service-specific privacy information for the purposes described in this Policy. Please note that one or more purposes may apply simultaneously.

Provision of products and services: We may use personal data to fulfill transaction requests, process an order or as otherwise may be necessary to perform a transaction between users and the participating organizations on Empowered.org, to ensure the functionality and security of our products and services, to identify you and to prevent and investigate fraud and other misuses. We may also store or otherwise record personal data in the course of providing products and/or services.
Development of products and services: We may use personal data to develop our products and/or services. However, for the most part we only use aggregate and statistical information in the development of our products and services. We may also use personal data to personalize our services and to provide users with service more relevant, for example, to make recommendations and to display customized content and advertising in our Website. We may combine personal data collected in connection with your use of a particular Empowered.org product and/or service with other personal data we may hold, except where such personal data was collected for a different purpose. We may create aggregate and statistical information based on personal data.
Communicating with you and marketing: We may use personal data to communicate with you, for example, to respond to your inquiries, to provide information relating to our services that your request from us or that we feel may be of interest to you, or to contact you for participant feedback and satisfaction queries. We may use your personal data for marketing or research purposes, for example, to conduct market research. And we may, in accordance with applicable law, contact you to inform you of new services or promotions we may offer. Some of our services may be used to promote other companies, but, Empowered.org does not disclose your personal data to such companies or any other company for marketing purposes without your prior consent unless otherwise described in this agreement.
Employment: We may use personal data to process applications for employment.
Legal requirements: We may use your personal data to comply with any foreign or domestic legal requirements.
Otherwise described: We may use your personal data in any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
Consent: We may use your personal data for any other purpose with your consent.

Information We Collect

For the purposes of the Website, we must collect the personal data of volunteers and donors when they use the Website, volunteer, register for an event, make a donation or otherwise interact with the Website. We endeavor to collect personal data only with the knowledge or consent of the participating organization. Below are examples of the categories of data that may be collected:

by which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, e-mail address, telephone number, or ANY OTHER INFORMATION THE WEBSITE COLLECTS THAT IS DEFINED AS PERSONAL OR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION OR PERSONAL DATA UNDER AN APPLICABLE LAW (“personal information” or “personal data”)
Technical Information: Often, users may visit the Website without having to tell us who they are. However, certain technical information is normally collected as a standard part of their use of the Website. Such information includes, for example, IP-address, access times, any other website that linked them into Empowered.org , pages visited, weblinks used, content viewed, information about devices and other such technical information web browsers provide. Please also see the section “Use of Cookies and Web Beacons” below.
Information you provide us with: When users (volunteers, donors, or members of participating organizations) interact with our Website, we will collect information such as names, email address, street address, phone numbers as well as user names, passwords and other such credentials that are needed to authenticate users and to validate their actions or that may be needed to provide users with the services of the Website. By the discretion of participating organizations using the platform, they may designate fields during registration and the donation process to collect demographic information, for example, age, gender and zip code which we would store in our records. We may also store and collect other information users provide, such as their consents, preferences and feedback. Please note that certain non-identifiable information collected from users may become personal identifiable information when they provide us with personal data. Some of our services may allow users to submit information about other people, for example, if participating organizations ask us to send information to other people.
Your transactions with us: We collect or ask for information relating to the use of our Website and users interactions with the Website. Such information may include, for example, details of the queries users have made, the products and services provided (including delivery details), financial details (including payments or donations made, credit card details, billing address, and other such financial information), details of agreements between users and participating organizations, records of contacts and communications, information and details relating to the content users provide and other such transactional information. Certain services may involve the use of user location data. Use of particularized location data for specific services is subject to consent. We may use aggregated location data for marketing and analysis purposes without consent.

Sharing Your Personal Data

We do not sell, lease, rent or otherwise disclose your personal data to third parties unless otherwise stated below.

Consent: By entering your data on the Website, you are consenting that it will be given to the affiliated organization with which users are choosing to participate with. We may also share personal data if we have consent to do so. Some services may include sharing personal data with other users of the Website, for example services where users publish their own content.
Empowered.org authorized third parties: We may share personal data with other Empowered.org authorized third parties who process personal data for Empowered.org for the purposes described in this Policy. Such parties are not permitted to use your personal data for other purposes, and we require them to act consistently with this Policy and to use appropriate security measures to protect your personal data.
Mandatory disclosures: We may be obligated by law to disclose personal data to certain authorities or other third parties, for example, to law enforcement agencies where we or third parties acting on our behalf operate. We may also disclose and otherwise process personal data in accordance with applicable law to defend Empowered.org’s legitimate interests, for example, in civil or criminal legal proceedings.
Mergers and Acquisitions: If we decide to sell, buy, merge or otherwise reorganize our business, this may involve us disclosing personal data to prospective or actual purchasers and their advisers, or receiving personal data from sellers and their advisers.

We are an international organization, and may decide to transfer your personal information to an affiliate or third party outside your home jurisdiction. Please be aware that the legal protections for personal information in these jurisdictions may not be equivalent to the protections in your home jurisdiction. By providing us with your information, you agree that we may store, transfer, and otherwise process your information in any reasonably necessary location outside your home jurisdiction.

Collecting the Data of Minors

Empowered.org does not seek to collect any information from or engage in any transactions with persons under the age of 13. Our databases may nevertheless contain personal data of children under 13 due to the fact that it is not always possible to determine precisely the age of the user. A parent or guardian of a child under the age of 13 may review and request deletion of such child’s personal identifiable information as well as prohibit the use thereof. If you are a parent or guardian of a child under the age of 13 and believe that he or she has disclosed personal identifiable information to us, please contact us at admin@empowered.org. If you are under the age of 18 you must have your parent or guardian’s permission before providing us with any personal information.

Data Quality

We take reasonable steps to keep the personal data we possess accurate and up-to-date and to delete out of date or otherwise incorrect or unnecessary personal data. As certain Empowered.org products, services and interactive portals may allow you to manage your profile, we encourage you to access your personal data from time to time to ensure that it is correct and up-to-date. Please remember that it is your responsibility to provide us with correct details as well as to update the personal data you have provided us with in case of any changes.

Security

While there are always risks associated with providing personal data, whether in person, by phone, via the internet or otherwise, and no technology is completely safe or “tamper” or ”hacker” proof, Empowered.org takes reasonable technical and organizational information security measures to prevent and minimize such risks. Such measures include, where appropriate, the use of firewalls, secure servers, encryption, implementing proper access rights management systems and processes, careful selection of processors and other technically and commercially reasonable measures to provide appropriate protection for your personal data against unauthorized use or disclosure. Where appropriate, we may also take backup copies and use other such means to prevent accidental damage or destruction to your personal data. If a particular part of the Website supports online transactions, we will use, or ensure that our vendors use, an industry standard security measure to protect the confidentiality and security of online transactions.

Use of Cookies and Web Beacons

From time to time when you visit Empowered.org, information may be placed on your computer to allow us to recognize your computer. This information is commonly in the form of a text file known as a “cookie”. Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your computer’s hard drive, rather than on the website. Typically, they enable collection of certain information about your computer, including your internet protocol (IP) address, your computer’s operating system, your browser type and the address of any referring sites. Our use of cookies is intended to provide benefits to you, such as eliminating the need for you to enter your password frequently during a session or the need to re-enter items you place in a shopping cart if you do not finish a transaction in a single visit. Cookies are also used for website traffic analysis and anonymous demographic profiling so that we may improve our services.

If you do not wish to receive cookies, or want to be notified before they are placed, you may set your web browser accordingly if your browser so permits. Please understand that if cookies are turned off, you may not be able to view certain parts of our site that may enhance your visit. Some of our business partners whose content is linked to or from this site may also use cookies. However, we have no access to or control over these cookies.

Your Rights

In case you wish to know what personal data we hold about you or you wish to replenish, rectify, anonymize or delete any incomplete, incorrect or outdated personal data, or you wish us to cease processing your personal data for the purpose of sending promotional materials or direct marketing or for the performance of market research, you may contact us using the information below. In some cases, especially if you wish us to delete or cease the processing of your personal data, this may also mean that we may not be able to continue to provide the services to you. We encourage you to use available profile management tools for the above purposes as such tools often provide you with direct access to your personal data and allow you to effectively manage it. Please note that Empowered.org may need to identify you and to ask for additional information in order to be able to fulfill your above request. Please also note that applicable law may contain restrictions and other provisions that relate to your above rights.

Residents of the State of California, under certain provisions of the California Civil Code, have the right to request from companies conducting business in California a list of all third parties to which the company has disclosed certain personal identifiable information as defined under California law during the preceding year for third party direct marketing purposes. You are limited to one request per calendar year. In your request, please attest to the fact that you are a California resident and provide a current California address for our response. You may request the information in writing at:

Global Brigades Ventures
1099 E. Champlain Drive, Suite A176
Fresno, CA 93720
Attn: California Privacy Request
admin@empowered.org

Your Rights to Access, Correct, Erase, Restrict, and Object to use of your Personal Information

Residents of the European Union and the United Kingdom have the right to request certain actions regarding the personal data that we possess. You may email admin@globalbrigades.org to request the following actions:

To access personal data about you that we possess. This includes information on the ways in which we use your personal data, categories of personal data concerned, recipients or categories of recipients to whom your data has been or will be disclosed, the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, the source of your personal data, and our use of automated decision-making in processing your data.
To correct and update your personal data.
To erase personal data, if that data is no longer necessary for the purpose it was collected or otherwise processed, if you object to the use of that data and a fundamental right is at stake, or if your personal data has been unlawfully processed. Where your data was made public, our responsibility to erase it is limited to deleting data in our possession, and taking reasonable steps to inform other data controllers of your request. In no event shall we have any obligation to erase your data where doing so would prevent exercise of the right of freedom of expression and information, would interfere with a legal obligation, would interfere with the processing of health data, would interfere with legitimate archiving, or would impede the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.
To restrict processing of your personal data, except for storage and other uses with your consent. We are not obligated to restrict processing of your personal data unless you contest the accuracy of that data for a period of time reasonably allowing us to verify accuracy, the processing is unlawful and you request that processing be restricted instead of erasing the data, your data is no longer necessary for processing but you require it for the establishment, exercise, or defense of a legal claim, or pending a determination after you object to data processing.
To object to any given form of data processing.

We will notify you of any action taken regarding your request. You may lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority for failure to provide you with a response within a period of one month.

For requests that are manifestly unfounded or excessive, we may charge a fee based on administrative costs or refuse to respond. If we refuse to respond, you will be informed of the reason for refusal, and of available recourse.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

Empowered.org may from time to time change this Privacy Policy or change, modify or withdraw access to this site at any time with or without notice. However, if this Privacy Policy is changed in a material, adverse way, Empowered.org will post a notice advising of such change at the beginning of this Policy and on this site's home page for 30 days. We recommend that you revisit this Privacy Policy from time to time to learn of any such changes to this Privacy Policy.