Privacy Policy
This is the web site of the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Our postal address is:
201 W. Main St. Suite 14
Charlottesville, VA 22902
We can be reached via e-mail at [email protected] or you can reach us by telephone at (434) 977-4090.
Southern Environmental Law Center (referred to in this Privacy Policy as “SELC”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) is a non-profit corporation and respects your privacy and we are committed to protecting it through compliance with this Privacy Policy.
1. Introduction. This Privacy Policy describes the types of information we may collect through your use of SELC’s websites, including the website located at southernenvironment.org, (or any subdomains of those domain names) (collectively, the “SELC Websites”), your engagement with SELC through social media, your donations to SELC (whether online or offline), and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and sharing that information.
2. Updates to Privacy Policy. As technology changes and based on feedback from our supporters and other third parties, we may occasionally update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy to understand how we will collect and use your information. Information which we collect from you and which is governed by this Privacy Policy will be governed by the terms of the Privacy Policy in effect at the time of our receipt of such information.
3. Children Under Age 13. We are committed to protecting the privacy of children under the age of thirteen (13) years (each a “Child” and collectively, “Children”). The SELC Websites are not designed for or marketed to Children, and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information (as defined below) from Children. If we learn we have collected or received Personal Information from a Child, upon request from a parent or legal guardian, we will delete that information. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at: [email protected].
4. Definitions. As used in this Privacy Policy:
4.1. “Personal Information” means personally-identifiable information (information relating to an individual that can be used to identify, locate, or contact that individual, alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information), such as: name, physical or mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, or personal characteristics, Payment Information (as defined below), Sensitive Information (as defined below), or any other information about an individual that we collect and maintain in personally identifiable form in combination with other personally-identifiable information.
4.2. “Payment Information” means credit or debit card numbers, card type, card issuer, expiration dates, CVV/CSV/CSC or other security code, bank account numbers, routing numbers, and similar information.
4.3. “Sensitive Information” means government-issued identification numbers (such as Social Security numbers, passport numbers, state identification numbers, and driver’s license numbers), login or authentication credentials (such as passwords) for third party sites and services, and other similar information.
4.4. “Non-Personal Information” means information or content other than Personal Information, including, for example, aggregated, anonymized, or de-identified about visitors to the SELC Websites or our supporters, and other information that does not identify any individual.
5. Types of Information Collected.
5.1. Visitor Information. We may automatically collect information about you when you use the SELC Websites or our social media pages and content, such as the pages and other materials you access, the amount of data transferred, the links you click, the amount of time you spend interacting with each page, and other information about your interactions with the SELC Websites, as well as certain standard information that your browser sends to every website that you visit, including your Internet Protocol (IP) address, operating environment (such as browser type and version, browser plugins installed, operating system version, regional and language settings, screen size and/or resolution, windows size, and page size), access dates and times, and referring websites. The SELC Websites may use cookies, flash cookies, web beacons, and other technologies for a variety of purposes, such as saving and retrieving information about you, your visit, and assisting in displaying relevant promotions and advertising to you. We may use such technologies to share Non-Personal Information with third parties or to retrieve Non-Personal Information from third parties. At this time, the SELC Websites do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals sent to us by your browser.
5.2. Google Analytics. We may, from time to time, use a tool called “Google Analytics” (including Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting features) to collect information about your use of the SELC Websites and your engagement with us through social media, which helps us provide content that is relevant to you and optimized for the devices that you use (such as smartphones and tablets). We respect and value your privacy, and we never combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with your Personal Information. We use the information we receive from Google Analytics only to improve further our mission and our content and marketing. Google’s use and sharing of information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use (http://www.google.com/analytics/tos.html) and the Google Privacy Policy (http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html). For more information, see “ How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps” at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. You can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize Google Display Network ads using Google’s Ad Settings (https://www.google.com/settings/ads) tool. As an added privacy measure, you can use the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/).
5.3. Other Analytics Tools. We may, from time to time, use other third party analytics tools to measure and analyze visitor traffic to the SELC Websites and your interactions with the SELC Websites, which helps us provide content that is relevant to you and optimized for the devices that you use (such as smartphones and tablets).
5.4. Information You Provide. We collect Personal Information and Non-Personal Information that is voluntarily provided by people who engage with us through the SELC Websites, through social media, or offline (such as contacting us by phone or mail). You may provide us with a wide variety of information, such as your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, and Payment Information. For example, you may provide your e-mail address to subscribe to our e-mail newsletters, or you may provide your name, contact information, and Payment Information to make a financial donation to support our mission. We will store and use such information only in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
5.5. Sensitive Information. We do not intentionally collect or store any Sensitive Information. If you are asked to provide us with any Sensitive Information, please exercise caution as this may indicate a scam or other unauthorized attempt by a third party to obtain such information. Please contact us directly before providing or submitting any requested Sensitive Information.
6. Use of Personal Information.
6.1. We will store and use your Personal Information as is reasonably necessary or appropriate in connection with your engagement with us and your support of our mission, including: (a) to contact you, including to respond to your inquiries; (b) to provide information about SELC and our campaigns and events; (c) for authentication and identification purposes; (d) to process your donations and to provide you with notices about your donations; (e) to fulfill any other purpose for which you provide such information to us; (f) in any other way we may describe when you provide the information; (g) to carry out our obligations and enforce our rights; and (h) to protect our networks, data, software, or organizational interests. You understand and agree that we may transfer, process, maintain, and store your Personal Information and other information in any country (or in multiple countries), including countries other than your country of residence.
6.2. We are committed to protecting your privacy and we will not sell, lease, or disclose your Personal Information to any third party except as described in this Privacy Policy. We may use the information we have collected from you to enable us to display advertisements to our advertisers’ target audiences. We do not share Personal Information with our advertisers for their direct marketing purposes unless you opt-in to such sharing as described in Section 8 below. However, if you click on or otherwise interact with an advertisement, the advertiser may assume that you meet its target criteria.
6.3. In addition to using and disclosing your Personal Information in the manner described above and elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, we may also disclose your Personal Information:
6.3.1. to any person, entity or organization which you consent for us to disclose your Personal Information to;
6.3.2. to successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation or similar proceeding, in which Personal Information held by us about our users is among the assets transferred;
6.3.3. to our affiliates and to our business partners and agents who provide hosting services, and website and technical support providers, as is necessary or required in connection with the operation, maintenance, and support of our mission;
6.3.4. to our third-party payment processors if you make any donations;
6.3.5. to comply with any legal requirements, subpoena, discovery requests, or court orders, to defend any legal or administrative proceedings, or as we believe in good faith is necessary to comply with any laws or legal requirements;
6.3.6. as we believe is necessary or appropriate in an emergency situation, including without limitation, to prevent criminal activity, personal injury or property damage;
6.3.7. to law enforcement, financial institutions, or other appropriate authorities in connection with any investigation of suspected criminal or fraudulent activity by any person or entity; and
6.3.8. if we believe it is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of the SELC, our affiliates, our supporters, or third parties.
7. Communicating with You. If you provide us with your e-mail address, phone number, or mailing address, we may periodically contact you by e-mail, phone, or mail with information or requests for support regarding SELC and our activities, including our campaigns and upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive such communications by one or more of those communications methods, you may contact us to update your communication preferences.
8. Opt-In Sharing Features. We will not knowingly disclose your Personal Information to a third party if we know or have reason to believe that the third party will use your Personal Information for direct marketing purposes, unless you choose to opt-in to such sharing.
9. Use of Non-Personal Information. We may use Non-Personal Information (including, for example, aggregated information about our users or information that does not identify any individual) for any purposes whatsoever (including without limitation, advertising, marketing, enhancing, designing, or developing mission, strategies, and research), and we may share Non-Personal Information with others, including our partners, affiliates, and our service providers.
10. Cookie Policy. We may use cookies and other similar technologies, such as HTML 5 local storage, to provide the SELC Websites to you.
10.1. Cookies and Local Storage. Cookies are small text files placed onto your device when you visit and interact with the SELC Websites. Local storage is a technology that allows a website or application to store information locally on your device. These technologies enable us to provide and enhance your experience using the SELC Websites.
10.2. How We Use Cookies and Local Storage. We use these technologies to provide the SELC Websites to you and to analyze and improve the SELC Websites, and other aspects of the SELC Websites. Our uses generally fall into one of the following categories:
10.2.1. Essential Processes and Security: To enable essential functions of the SELC Websites, such as to facilitate logging you in to the SELC Websites, facilitating payments, protecting your security, and helping us fight spam, abuse, and violations of your agreements with us.
10.2.2. Preferences: To remember information about your browser and your preferences.
10.2.3. Performance, Analytics, and Research: To help us understand and measure how you use the SELC Websites and interact with our materials.
10.3. Blocking and Removing Cookies. We are committed to protecting your privacy, as described in this Privacy Policy. Most browsers allow you to modify your settings to accept or deny all cookies or to request your permission each time a website attempts to place a cookie on your device, and most browsers allow you to delete cookies that have already been placed on your device. However, the SELC Websites may not function properly if you prevent the SELC Websites from placing cookies on your device.
11. Payment Information. We may, from time to time, use one or more third party payment processors to process donations, including PayPal, Inc. (“PayPal”). You acknowledge and agree that the processing of payments is subject to the terms and privacy policies of our payment processors and that we are not responsible for any acts or omissions of our payment processors. You acknowledge and agree that payments processed using PayPal are subject to the PayPal User Agreement (https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full) and the PayPal Privacy Policy (https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full), as amended from time to time by PayPal.
12. Security; Release of Liability. We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure, including the use of TLS to encrypt information you send through the SELC Websites. The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information transmitted to or through the SELC Websites. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained in the SELC Websites. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, YOU FOREVER RELEASE US FROM ALL LIABILITY ARISING AS RESULT OF THE UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS, USE, OR DISCLOSURE OF ANY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION BY ANY THIRD PARTY.
13. Third Party Sites. The SELC Websites and our materials may contain links to other websites that are operated by third parties. Once you have clicked on a link connecting you to such third party website, you will leave the SELC Websites, and this Privacy Policy does not apply to any Personal Information (or other information) collected on a third party site. We suggest you read the privacy policy of the third party site before providing any Personal Information on such third party site. We are not responsible for any use by any person or entity of any information that you may provide while accessing or using any websites or services provided by a third party.
14. Access to and Change of Personal Information. You may contact us at any time to: (a) update your Personal Information; or (b) request the removal of the Personal Information you provided to us from our databases. However, certain information, including information associated with past financial transactions, may be retained permanently for legal, tax, and business reasons. When your Personal Information is updated or deleted, copies of such information may remain in our backups for a period of time. Additionally, if you request the removal of your Personal Information, any opt-out choices you have exercised will no longer be retained.15. Nevada Residents. Nevada residents who wish to exercise their sale opt-out rights under Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A may submit a request to this designated address: [email protected]. However, please know that we do not currently sell data triggering that statute’s opt-out requirements.
16. Contacting Us. You may contact us with questions relating to this Privacy Policy by email at [email protected], by phone at 434-977-4090, or by mail at: 201 W. Main St. Suite 14, Charlottesville, VA 22902.