Charity+Power Privacy Policy
Effective October 1, 2016
Charity+Power, Inc. (“C+P”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) Privacy Policy is intended to inform you of our practices regarding our collection, use, and sharing of information. This Privacy Policy also describes your choices with respect to the information we collect, use, and share.
1. Our Commitment to Privacy
C+P is committed to respecting and protecting your privacy. C+P has developed this Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) to help make sure you understand what information we collect and what C+P does with the information we collect. The Privacy Policy discloses the information we gather on www.charitypluspower.com (the “Site”), as well as ways in which we process and, share such information and how you can correct or change such information. This Privacy Policy addresses our privacy practices relating to the general use of our Site by anyone who visits, browses or otherwise uses the Site, or who otherwise contacts us by mail, email, social media or telephone in connection with the services we offer (collectively, “you”).
By visiting the Site, submitting information, making a donation or using any of our products or services, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Privacy Policy and consent to having your data transferred to and/or processed in the United States. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Site.
2. The Information We Collect
C+P is a platform for people and organizations to subscribe for utility services and raise support for charitable causes. C+P’s mission is to support donations to worthy 501(c) non-profit organizations and that raising money for charity and giving back should be rewarding. The Site is intended to provide this great experience without requiring you to submit any more personal information than is reasonably necessary to use the Site effectively.
a. Information collected from individuals
We collect the following categories of information from you:
- If you set up a membership account, we collect your name, email address and your current utility account information and your mailing address and phone number;
- Your email address and any personal information you provide to us when you email us or Contact Us;
- If you contact us by phone, a record of the phone call is maintained, which includes the date, time of day, and caller ID information. The purpose of such monitoring and recording is for training, quality assurance purposes, and to review specific transaction requests.
- After you have switched to C+P, we collect your meter usage and billing information provided to us by your utility provider.
If you do not want us to collect information about you, you can simply decide not to submit it to us, but then you may not be able to take advantage of all of the services and products offered on the Site.
b. Information Collected From Charities
If you are a charity or nonprofit (each a “Charity”) and you establish an account with C+P, we will collect the name, tax ID, physical address, email address, and phone number of the person who establishes a C+P account (the “Charity Contact”) and any other information that is provided to us by GuideStar about your Charity. We also may collect, if the Charity Contact chooses to provide it, the person responsible for paying the Charity’s utility bill and certain information about the Charity’s fundraising activities.
3. Passive Gathering of Information Electronically
a. Cookies
Browser cookies are small pieces data placed on your computer as you navigate websites with your browser. Browser cookies allow websites and various third-parties to distinguish your device from others by having the cookie consist of a unique identifier or other data. Cookies can have many uses, such as to target advertising as well as to enable website functionality and for security. If you choose to disable cookies, some areas of our website may not work properly.
b. Web Beacons
A web beacon is a transparent image file. Web beacons enable C+P to track website usage information, such as the number of times a given web page has been viewed. Web beacons are invisible to you and (unlike cookies) are not placed on your computer. We may use them in association with cookies to understand how visitors interact with the pages and content on the pages of the Site.
We may also use Web beacons to track whether you have opened an HTML email. When the email is opened, a part of the code that makes up the HTML page calls a web server to load the web beacon that then generates a record showing that the email has been viewed. Web Beacons may also recognize when the email was opened, how many times it was forwarded and which URL’s (links within the email) were clicked.
c. Pixel Tags
In addition, we use “Pixel Tags” (also referred to as clear Gifs, Web beacons, or Web bugs). Pixel Tags are tiny graphic images with a unique identifier, similar in function to Cookies, that are used to track online movements of Web users. In contrast to Cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, Pixel Tags are embedded invisibly in Web pages. Pixel Tags also allow us to send e-mail messages in a format users can read, and they tell us whether e-mails have been opened to ensure that we are sending only messages that are of interest to our users. We may use this information to reduce or eliminate messages sent to a user. We do not tie the information gathered by Pixel Tags to our users’ personally identifiable information.
d. How We Respond to Do Not Track Signals
We do not currently respond to “do not track” signals or other mechanisms that might enable consumers to opt out of tracking on our Site.
e. Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to help analyze how users use the Site. Google Analytics uses Cookies to collect information such as how often users visit the Site, what pages they visit, and what other sites they used prior to coming to the Site. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve our Site and Services. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit the Site, rather than your name or other personally identifying information. We do not combine the information generated through the use of Google Analytics with your personal information. Although Google Analytics plants a persistent Cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit the Site, the Cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to the Site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy.
f. Aggregated Information
From time to time, we may also ask you to provide us information that is not intended to allow us to identify you personally. This information may be aggregated and used for our internal purposes or for creating reports for utility regulators, third-party advertisers and partners, or otherwise shared with third parties for any lawful purpose, without your permission.
We also may automatically collect Site usage information, such as the numbers and frequency of users to the Site, pages visited and similar data. This data is used in the aggregate, that is, as a statistical measure, and not in a manner that is intended to identify you personally. Aggregate information generally is collected through the use of cookies and web beacons as discussed above. This aggregate information helps C+P determine general usage patterns and modify the Site in order to improve your experience. This type of aggregate information may be shared with third parties at any time.
g. Information from Third Parties
It may be necessary for us to obtain meter data, address or other information about you from third-party sources for fraud prevention or for legal compliance, to enforce our legal rights or to protect the rights of other users of the Site and our services.
4. How We Use Information
When you provide us with your personal information, we may use such information for a number of purposes, including:
- To facilitate communication between C+P and you including, without limitation, responding to your questions or comments, sending emails concerning our products and services including upcoming events, and announcements, or to contact you for feedback regarding us, advertisers, or charity partners;
- To administer your account, process donations, provide products or services to you and for C+P marketing and promotional activities;
- To provide a report to a Charity or an event supporting a Charity to whom you have made a donation or to a fundraiser to whom you have made a donation, supported a project or joined a team (even if you have marked the donation as non-public);
- To provide a report to a Charity or an event supporting a Charity to whom you have made a donation or to a fundraiser to whom you have made a donation, supported a project or joined a team (even if you have marked the donation as non-public);
- To provide a report to a partner who is helping promote a Charity or an event supporting a Charity to whom you have made a donation;
- To provide our gift registry partners with all the necessary data to accurately update their gift registries, including data related to the establishment of a donation registry and the applicable Charities, the applicable Event, the donors to such donations registry and the details of each donation;
- To provide you with important functionality changes to the Site, new C+P services and, to the extent permitted by law, special offers from C+P and reputable third parties that we think you will find valuable;
- To customize, analyze, adjust and improve the Site to meet our, advertisers’ or charity partners’ needs and expectations;
- To enforce our agreements with you, prevent fraud and other prohibited or illegal activities, for other legally permissible purposes and generally to ensure that we comply with applicable laws;
- To send emails to friends based on your instructions.
5. Accessing or Changing Your Information
Charity+Power allows you to change or correct inaccuracies in your personal information by logging into your account and making changes at any time. If you have questions about, or wish to review or correct the personal information we maintain about you, you may send an email to privacy@charitypluspower.com or through the Contact Us feature.
6. Disclosure of Information to Third Parties
C+P may give, share, sell or trade your personal information to or with any third parties under the following circumstances:
a. Charities and Event Organizers
Also, C+P shares with its Charity partners all of the details related to the donation registry sufficient to allow Charities to search for the donation registry, which will include your full name and email address, donation, and date of donation. C+P will continuously provide this information to its Charity partners to allow the Charity partners to accurately update their donation registries. If you wish to stop receiving communications from a Charity, please contact the Charity partner directly.
b. Fulfillment of Services
We may retain other companies and individuals to perform certain functions on our behalf. Examples include, but are not limited to, companies and individuals who: (i) administer the C+P accounts; (ii) process donations; (iii) conduct surveys or promotional activities; (iv) deliver products; or (v) provide customer support, web hosting, internet service, and data analysis. Such third parties may be provided with access to personal needed to perform their functions but may not use such information for any other purpose.
c. Compliance with Law and Fraud Protection
We may disclose any information we deem necessary, in our sole discretion and without your prior permission, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request. We may also exchange information with other companies and organizations for credit fraud protection, risk reduction and related activities or to protect the rights, property of safety of C+P, its agents, employees or affiliates or others. C+P reserves the right to use and to disclose to third parties the personal information of a user who we believe is in violation of our Privacy Policy or other terms as posted on the Site, even without a subpoena, warrant, court order or other governmental request, to the extent we deem necessary to protect the safety, security and rights of C+P and of third parties.
d. Credit Card Information
Charity+Power does not collect, store or otherwise maintain any credit card information from individuals who register or make a donation through the Site.
7. Information you Provide to Facebook and Other Social Networking Sites
The Site allow users to access Facebook to interact with friends and to share on Facebook through Wall and friends’ News Feeds. We do this currently through a third-party service. That third-party service may store some of the information as part of their provision of services to us. If you do not use Facebook or another social networking site (SNS) to log in then that third-party does not receive any data. If you are already logged into the Site and Facebook or another SNS, when you click on “Connect with Facebook,” or a similar connection on another SNS, you will be prompted to merge your profiles. If you are already logged into the Services but not logged into Facebook or another SNS that we support, when you click on “Connect with Facebook,” or a similar connection on another SNS, you will be prompted to enter your SNS credentials or to “Sign Up” for the SNS. By proceeding, you are allowing the Site to access your information and you are agreeing to the Facebook or other SNS’s Terms of Use in your use of the Services. Conversely, if you are not currently registered as a user of the Site, and you click on “Sign in” using Facebook or another SNS that we support, you will first be asked to enter your Facebook or SNS credentials and then be given the option to register for the Site. In this case, we may receive information from Facebook or another SNS to make it easier for you to create an Account on the Site and show our relevant content from your Facebook or SNS friends. Once you register on the Site and connect with Facebook or another SNS you will be able to automatically post recent activity back to Facebook or the other SNS. Any information that we collect from your Facebook or other SNS account may depend on the privacy settings you have with that SNS, so please consult the SNS’s privacy and data practices. Further, you can edit privacy settings for the reviews that appear on Facebook, or disconnect your Services activity stream by visiting the Facebook Applications Settings page.
8. Important Disclosures, Practices and Contact Information
a. Third-party Links
The Site may contain links to third-party websites. Please be aware that C+P cannot control and is not responsible for the information collection practices of such websites, which may differ from those of C+P. We encourage you to review and understand the privacy policies of these web sites before providing any information to them.
b. Data Security
We maintain a variety of safeguards designed to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration and disclosure. For example, we use industry accepted tools and techniques to protect against unauthorized access to our systems. We implement both physical and technological protocols to limit access to your personal information. Those employees or third parties who have access to your personal information are permitted to access and use it only to the extent necessary to fulfill their responsibilities to us, to keep the information confidential, and are not permitted to use such information for any other purpose. We keep your personal information only as long as it is required and we destroy, delete or convert such information into an anonymous form when it is no longer required.
You should be aware, however, that C+P has no control over the security of other websites on the Internet that you might visit even when a link may appear to those websites from our Site. If you share your computer or use a computer that is accessed by the general public, remember to sign off and close your browser window when you have finished your session. This will help to ensure that others cannot access your personal information.
We want you to feel confident using the Site. However, no system can be completely secure. Therefore, although we take commercially reasonable steps to secure your information, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information, searches or other communications always will remain secure. In the event of a breach of the confidentiality or security of your personal information, we will notify you if reasonably possible and as reasonably necessary so that you can take appropriate protective steps. We may notify you under such circumstances using the email address(es) we have on record for you. You should also take care with how you handle and disclose your personal information.
c. Children
The Site is not intended for persons under the age of 13. C+P does not knowingly market to, or solicit information, accept service or collect information from any person under the age of 13. If C+P becomes aware that any person submitting information to the Site is under the age of 13, we will attempt to delete the account and any related information as soon as possible. We require that only persons 13 years of age or older use the Site. By using the Site, you hereby represent that you are at least 13 years old.
d. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may change this Privacy Policy, and any of our policies and procedures concerning our practices for managing personal information, at any time and without prior notice subject to applicable law. When we post changes to this Privacy Policy, we will revise the updated date at the top of this Privacy Policy. If we make any material changes to our Privacy Policy, we only will notify you by sending an email to the email address(s) you provided to us, and by prominently posting notice of the changes on the Site. We will give you an opportunity to opt-out of any materially changed Privacy Policy or alternatively, delete the information you have provided to us. We recommend that you check the Site from time to time to inform yourself of any changes in this Privacy Policy or any of our other policies. Any changes that are made to this Privacy Policy will apply to both any personal information that we hold prior to the effective date of the amended Privacy Policy and any personal information that we collect on or after such effective date.
e. Contacting Us
If you have any questions about Charity+Power generally, this Privacy Policy or the Site, please feel free to contact us either by sending an email to info@charitypluspower.com or through the Contact Us feature.
f. Users From Outside the United States
The Site is hosted in the United States and is governed by United States law. If you are visiting the Site from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using the Site, you consent to your information being transferred to our facilities and to the facilities of those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Privacy Policy.
g. No Rights of Third Parties
This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties.
h. California Privacy Rights
If you are a California resident, California law permits you to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their “direct marketing purposes” as such term is defined by California’s Shine the Light Law (California Civil Code 1798.83). To make such a request, please email us or write us: info@charityluspower.com and Charity+Power, Inc., PO Box 2508, Los Angeles, CA 90078. We will provide a list of the categories of personal information disclosed to third parties for third-party direct marketing purposes, along with the names and addresses of these third parties. This request may be made no more than once per calendar year. We reserve our right not to respond to requests submitted other than to the email or postal address specified above. You should put “California Privacy Rights” in the subject line and in your request. You must provide C+P with specific information regarding yourself so C+P can accurately respond to the request.