Privacy Policy
Children’s Defense Fund (“CDF,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of all donors and constituents, including visitors to our websites (www.childrensdefense.org and www.cdfactioncouncil.org). Outlined below is our privacy policy for information collected as a result of engagement with our various constituents, including by: (1) connecting with us on our websites; (2) making a donation; (3) registering for or provided it to us at our events; (4) filling out an enrollment form; or (5) contacting us. If you have questions about these policies, we encourage you to contact us by email. For general inquiries, contact us at cdfinfo@childrensdefense.org. For donor-specific inquiries, contact us at donations@childrensdefense.org or call us at 202-662-1901.
By accessing our websites on any computer, mobile phone, tablet, or other device, or otherwise interacting with us, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the policy, please do not use the websites.
Collection and Use of Information
We collect information that you choose to provide to us, such as your name, address, telephone number, email address, and company or organization name. We may combine the information we collect from you with information we receive about you from other sources, such as address update services.
Like other website operators, CDF analyzes our website logs to improve the value of our website. We use an external service to provide real-time reporting to us and our authorized agents of browser access to our site. This reporting includes page views, unique views, unique visitors, repeat visitors, frequency of visits, and peak-volume traffic periods. This helps us understand traffic patterns and know if there are problems with our website. We automatically may collect your IP address, cookie information, and other browser and device identifiers as part of this process. We do not respond to web browser “Do Not Track” signals.
We may also use embedded images in emails to track open rates for our mailings so that we can tell which mailings appeal most to CDF visitors, including online and offline donors and constituents. URLs contained in emails may contain an ID that enables us to correctly identify the person who takes an action using a web page. We use these URLs to simplify the process of signing petitions and filling out surveys. We may occasionally present a shortened URL that references a longer URL which contains an ID to simplify the display, to prevent links from becoming broken when copied, and to ensure compatibility with email programs which do not handle long URLs. When a shortened URL is displayed in an email, you will see the full URL in the browser’s address bar when you access the page.
We may use the information that we collect to provide the site and services to you, to communicate with you (including to send you promotional materials), to analyze and improve the site and services, to prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities and enforce our Terms of Use or rights, and otherwise as disclosed to you at the time of collection or with your consent. If you sign up for our mailing list, we will send you informational emails about us. At any time, you can ‘unsubscribe’ yourself from our email list simply by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ button. [Even if you opt-out of receiving these messages, we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to our services, and we may send you service announcements and administrative messages. We do not offer you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving those communications.]
Personalization of Content
CDF and our external service providers use “cookies” and other similar technologies to help personalize and maximize your online experience and time online. We also use these technologies to better understand how our visitors — including donors and constituents — use our site. Your browser preferences may allow you to control the use of cookies, but these browser controls might not apply to all technologies. Please note that if you reject some or all cookies, your experience on this and on other sites throughout the Internet may not be complete. In addition, if you do not allow cookies or other similar technologies, you may not be able to take advantage of personalized content delivery offered by us. Note that browser-management tools for cookies are outside of our control and we cannot guarantee their effectiveness.
Sale or Disclosure of Information to Third Parties
Except as provided in this privacy policy, CDF does not share, sell, exchange or otherwise disclose any personal information with other unaffiliated organizations, nor do we share, sell or exchange lists of donors or other constituents with unaffiliated organizations. We may share some of your personal information with our affiliated organization the Children’s Defense Fund Action Council.
We may also disclose your information with our service providers; when required by law or to respond to legal process, law enforcement requests, or government inquiries; and to defend the rights, interests, safety, and security of us, our affiliates, constituents, or the public. We may disclose your information in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our assets to a third party, such as in connection with a merger or in the event of a bankruptcy reorganization or liquidation. We may also disclose your personal information with your express consent. [We may share aggregate, non-personally identifiable information about website users with third parties.]
Updating Your Information
You may review, correct, update or change your account profile information at any time. Simply contact CDF at either of the email addresses above or call us at 202-662-1901. You may also exercise your rights, subject to applicable laws, to request that we delete or restrict access to your personal data. We may need to retain it for legally permitted purposes, and this will be explained to you if necessary.
Retention of Personal Information
Personal information that we collect, access or process will be retained only as long as necessary for the fulfilment of the purposes for which it was collected, unless otherwise provided in agreements between you and us or as required or authorized by law. Personal information that is no longer required to fulfill the identified purposes will be destroyed, erased or made de-identified.
Your Privacy is Important to Us
Our website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes, known vulnerabilities and Malware in order to make your visit to our site as safe as possible.
How We Protect Your Privacy
Your personal and identifiable information is contained behind secured networks, and it is CDF’s internal policy to keep that information confidential. We do not share or sell your information with 3rd party vendors or organizations outside of CDF’s direct work.
In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted adhering to PCI Compliance regulations and via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. All transactions are processed through a gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers. Even though we follow reasonable procedures to try to protect the information in our possession, no security system is perfect, and we cannot promise, and you should not expect, that your information will be secure in all circumstances.
Privacy of our Email Lists
CDF maintains several email lists to keep our supporters—including online and offline donors and constituents, the press and policy makers—informed about news and events. Individuals who provide optional information may also receive materials in the U.S. mail and/or be contacted by telephone by authorized CDF staff or representatives. We do not share the email addresses on our lists with staff outside of CDF. We configure our list server software to refuse to divulge the email addresses of our list subscribers — including online and offline donors and constituents—to anyone but CDF staff and authorized agents.
Sending Emails via the CDF Website
In certain cases, we enable you to send individual emails to the President, legislators, and other targets, as well as Letters-to-the-Editor to various news publications, through our website. These messages are sent in your name, with your email address as the return address and your full name and contact information is provided as part of the submission. These messages will only be sent out under your name as you approve them on an individual basis using our email tool. You are solely responsible for the specific message(s) you send using our email tool.
Links to Other Websites
CDF may provide links to third-party websites, and other websites may provide links to our websites. Third-party websites operate according to their own terms of use and privacy policies. CDF has no control over such third-party websites and, by using our websites, you acknowledge and agree that CDF is not responsible for the availability of such third-party sites and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products or other materials on or available from such sites. You further acknowledge and agree that CDF is not responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use or reliance on any content, advertising, products or other materials on or available from such sites.
Financial Donations
If you choose to make a donation to CDF or the CDF Action Council, your credit card, debit card or bank account information will be used only for this transaction through our secure online payment system. In the case of a recurring (e.g., monthly) donation or pledge, information will be retained securely in order to process each recurring gift. Neither CDF nor the CDF Action Council otherwise retains credit card information or transmits credit card information to other parties. Donations made to CDF through third-party websites such as Network for Good are processed by those websites, and funds are conveyed to CDF in aggregate. In such instances, personal financial information is not disclosed to CDF. CDF will provide an acknowledgement of such gifts if a method of contacting each donor, such as an email address or a mailing address, is provided to us by the third-party website.
Children
CDF does not knowingly solicit personal information from children, and our websites are not directed at children under the age of 13. Visitors who are under 13 years of age should ask their parent or legal guardian for assistance when using the site and should not submit any personal information to the site. For example, visitors under 13 years of age should not make donations or use the CDF email tool. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete that information. These practices are in place to ensure child privacy and safety, and in compliance with prevailing federal laws.
Changes to Privacy Policy
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post the updated policy here and a link on our website home page so that you will always know what information we gather, how we might use that information, and to whom we will disclose it. We will not change our policies and practices to make them materially less protective of personal information collected prior to the effective date of any changes without the consent of affected users. We encourage users to visit this page periodically to review our current policy.
[Your California Privacy Rights
California law permits our customers who are California residents to request certain information about our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year. This request is free and may be made once a year. To make such a request, please contact us at the number above.]
Right to Removal of Posted Information—California Minors
If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with us, you have the right to request removal of unwanted information that you publicly post on our websites. To request removal of such information, you can contact us as provided above. Upon receiving such a request, we will make sure that the information is not publicly available on the websites, but the information may not be completely or comprehensively removed from our systems and databases.
Visitors from Outside the United States—Cross-Border Transfer
We maintain information in the United States of America and in accordance with the laws of the United States, which may not provide the same level of protection as the laws in your jurisdiction. By using our websites and providing us with information, you understand and agree that your information may be transferred to and stored on servers located outside your resident jurisdiction and, to the extent you are a resident of a country other than the United States, that you consent to the transfer of such data to the United States for processing by us in accordance with this privacy policy.