Privacy Policy

CONTACT Helpline recognizes the importance of protecting the information we may collect from users of our services. Our policy is to use the information we acquire from users for internal purposes only, and we maintain appropriate security measures to keep this information private.

​

CONTACT Helpline takes precautions to keep the user information disclosed to us secure, and such information will not be disclosed to third parties for commercial purposes. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the appropriate use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect.

​

We respect the privacy of every individual who visits our website and adheres to state and federal privacy laws. 

 

Our Commitment to Our Donors

We will not sell, share or trade our donors’ names or personal information with any other entity, nor send mailings to our donors on behalf of other organizations. This policy applies to all information received by CONTACT Helpline as well as any electronic, written, or oral communications.

​

Privacy Policy Effective as of August 22, 2022

​

Introduction

Your privacy is a priority for CONTACT Helpline (http://www.contacthelpline.org) (sometimes referred to as “us”, or “we”) and we want you to be familiar with how we collect, use, and disclose information relating to you, your computer, or your device and that enable your identification (the “Personal Information”).  This Privacy Statement describes our practices with information that we (or our service providers) collect from a user (sometimes referred to as “you” or “your”) through our websites, applications, and our other network-connected products and services that link to this Privacy Statement (collectively, the “Site”).  This Privacy Statement only addresses information collected directly through or from our Site – it does not address or govern any information-gathering, use, or dissemination practices related to information collected from you other than directly through or from the Site, such as from telephone, facsimile, postal mail, personal delivery, or other or additional offline means or media.  

​

CONTACT Helpline can be contacted by email at contact@contacthelpline.org. 

 

1. Collection of Personal Information from Users

When you interact with us through the Site, we may collect information from you as described below.  

 

a. Information You Provide

Some elements of the Site may ask you to submit Personal Information in order for you to benefit from the specified features or participate in a certain activity, such as newsletter subscriptions, SMS alert signups, or donation processing.  For example, if you request that someone contacts you, we may request Personal Information such as your name and contact information.  If you donate on the Site, we will collect your credit or debit card or other financial account information.  When you perform a search within the Site, information may be captured identifying you or linking you to the search performed and recording information related to the search request.  We may combine information you submit through the Site with other information we have collected from you, whether online or offline.  We treat the combined information in accordance with this Privacy Statement.

​

b. Sensitive Information

Unless we specifically request or invite it, we ask that you not send or otherwise disclose to us your, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, criminal background, or trade union membership.  In those cases where we may request or invite you to provide the foregoing information, we will only do so with your express consent, in accordance with applicable data protection law requirements.  Where you provide us with such information without request from CONTACT Helpline, we reserve the right (but do not have any obligation) to erase any such information at our discretion.

​

c. Location Information

We may collect different types of information about your location, including general information (for example IP address or ZIP code) and more specific information (for example GPS-based functionality on mobile devices when used to access a Site, product, or service). This information may be used to customize the services provided to you, such as location-based information and features. To do this, your location information may be shared with our agents and stakeholders. If you access the Services through a mobile device and you do not want your device to provide us with location-tracking information, you can disable the GPS or other location-tracking functions on your device, provided your device allows you to do this. See your device manufacturer's instructions for further details.

 

d. Passive Information Collection, Use, and Choices

As you navigate the Site, certain Personal Information may be passively collected, meaning it is gathered without your actively providing it.  This is done using the following techniques in the following ways:

​

IP Addresses:  An IP address is a unique identifier that certain electronic devices use to identify and communicate with each other on the Internet.  When you visit our Site, we may view the IP address of the device you use to connect to the Internet.  We use this information to determine the general physical location of the device and understand from what geographic regions our website visitors come.  We also may use this information to enhance our Site.

 

Through your browser:  Certain information is collected by most browsers, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type, operating system type and version screen resolution, and Internet browser type and version.

 

Social Media Widgets:  Our Site may include social media tools, including social media widgets or plug-ins, to connect you to your social media accounts.  These features may set a cookie or use other automatic collection and tracking technologies to collect information about you and your use of the social media features through and in connection with our Site.  These social media tools may be hosted by a third party.  Your interactions with these tools and the corresponding social media platforms are governed by the privacy policies of the companies that provide such platforms.

Cookies:  Like many companies, our Site may use “cookies” to help make sure the Site is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements. Cookies are bits of text that are placed on your computer’s hard drive when you visit certain websites.  We may use cookies set by us on the Site to tell us, for example, whether you have visited us before or if you are a new visitor.  We use third-party cookies set by our service provider, Google Analytics, to collect information about how visitors use the Site, including how long you spend on each page, and how you got to the Site.  We do not use data collected by cookies to identify who you are.  We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. 

​

You can refuse our use of some or all cookies by turning off the use of cookies in your web browser.  If you use your browser settings to block all types of cookies you may not be able to access all or parts of our Site or functionality may be limited.  You can set your browser to notify you before you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether to accept it.  You can also set your browser to turn off cookies.

​

Changing your internet browser settings can prevent the use of cookies.  Each browser has a different procedure for disabling the use of cookies.  The Help function within your browser should tell you how.  Alternatively, you may visit http://www.aboutcookies.org where you can review information on how to control cookies on a variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer and other general information about cookies.  You can visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout for information on how to opt-out of Google Analytics cookies.

 

Google Analytics:  We use Google Analytics, which is provided by Google Inc.  It uses cookies to collect, for example, information about the operating system and the browser that you use, your IP address, the website you previously accessed (referrer URL), and the date and time of your visit to the Websites.  On subsequent repeated visits to the Websites, frequently used information is automatically displayed for you.  We are able to track your usage patterns with the help of cookies.  The information generated by cookies about the use of the Websites is transmitted to a Google server, which may be located within or outside of, the United States, and stored there. Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the Websites. Google may transfer these rights to third parties insofar as it is required to do so by law or so that data may be processed on Google’s behalf.  By accepting this policy, you consent to the processing of your data by Google.  You can visit https://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html to learn more about Google Analytics’ use of cookies

​

Our site currently does not respond to “Do Not Track” (DNT) signals and operates as described in this Privacy Statement whether or not a DNT signal is received, as there is no consistent industry standard for compliance. 

​

2. How We Use the Information We Collect

We use Personal Information submitted by you or otherwise collected through the Site and other sources for the purposes described in this Privacy Statement and as otherwise described to you at the point of collection.  Generally, we use the information you provide to us for the reason for which it was provided. For example, if you sign up to receive email notifications, we will contact you by email.  If you provide us with information to make a donation, we will use the information to process your donation.  If you sign up to receive SMS alerts, we will contact you via SMS. Specifically, we may use Personal Information from or about you:

​

i. to respond to your inquiries and send you information that you request and process your donations;

ii. to send you important information regarding our relationship with you or regarding the Site, changes to our terms, conditions, and policies, and other administrative information;

iii. to notify you about upcoming events and donations;

iv. for our business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, recordkeeping, reporting to funders, developing new products or services, enhancing the Site, improving our services, identifying Site usage trends, optimizing your experience on the Site, and determining the effectiveness of our fundraising campaigns;

v. if you choose to complete a survey, we may use the information for purposes of evaluating your feedback from the survey; and

vi. if we intend to collect and use Personal Information for another purpose, we may seek your permission at the time the information is collected.

​

We may use any information that does not personally identify you, your computer, or your device, for any purpose.

​

3. Our Disclosure of Your Information

CONTACT Helpline does not sell your Personal Information.  We may share your Personal Information with third parties only as described in this Privacy Statement or as otherwise described at the point where we collect the information from you, including:

​

i. to the companies or individuals that we hire to provide services to us, such as website hosting services and payment processing; and

ii. to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, or assets (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).

 

4. Uses and Disclosures to Comply with Laws

In addition, we use and disclose Personal Information collected through the Site as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (i) under applicable law; (ii) to comply with legal process; (iii) to respond to requests from public and government authorities; (iv) to enforce our terms and conditions; (v) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates; (vi) to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or others; and (vii) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

​

5. Links to Third Party Sites

The Site may contain links to other Web sites for the convenience of users in locating information, products, or services that may be of interest.  If you access a third-party website from a link on this Site, any information you disclose on that website is not subject to this Privacy Statement.  It is possible that these links may be used by third parties or others to collect personal or other information about you.  CONTACT Helpline is not responsible for the privacy practices of such websites, third parties, or the content of such websites and it is your sole obligation to review and understand the privacy practices and policies of these other websites. CONTACT Helpline does not control these third parties’ use of cookies, collection of information, or how they manage such information.  It is solely your obligation to review and understand the privacy practices and policies of these other websites, and any third parties.

 

6. Security

CONTACT Helpline will take reasonable steps to protect the information collected and provided via the Site from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.  However, you should understand that no transmission over the Internet is ever fully secure.  Also, CONTACT Helpline uses reasonable efforts to ensure that the Site is generally available.  However, there will be occasions when access to the Site will be interrupted or unavailable.  CONTACT Helpline will use reasonable efforts to minimize such disruption where it is within its reasonable control.  You agree that CONTACT Helpline shall not be liable to you for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of the Site.

​

7. Data Retention

We generally retain Personal Information for so long as it may be relevant for the purposes identified in this Privacy Statement unless a longer period is required by law.

​

8. Your Data Rights and Choices.

You can opt out of the use of certain cookie-related processing by following the instructions in Section 1(e)above (Passive Information Collection, Use, and Choices). 

​

9. Right to Change Privacy Statement. 

CONTACT Helpline reserves the right at any time to modify, alter, or update this Privacy Statement. Your use of the Site following any changes means that you agree to follow and be bound by the Privacy Statement as changed, subject to limitations under applicable law.  Any change to this Privacy Statement shall be effective as to any user who has visited the Site before the change was made.

 

Please review this policy periodically, and especially before you provide any Personal Information to us. The Privacy Statement was last updated on the date indicated above.

​

10. Contacting Us.

For questions about this website, please contact us at contact@contacthelpline.org.

​

For questions about privacy or handling of your personal information, please contact us at  contact@contacthelpline.org.

​

To contact us by mail:

CONTACT Helpline

P.O. Box 90035

Harrisburg, PA 17109

Tel.: 717- 652- 4987