EFFECTIVE DATE: November 1, 2021

Our website address is www.mgamfoundation.org.

PRIVACY POLICY OVERVIEW

The MGAM Scholarship Foundation (the “Foundation”), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, thank you for visiting the Foundation’s website (the “Site’).  The Foundation respects and is committed to protecting the privacy of its donors, scholarship applicants, volunteers, and other users of the Site at all times. To demonstrate our commitment, this document describes the Foundation’s Privacy Policy (the “Policy”), including, but not limited to:

  • What information the Foundation collects;
  • How the Foundation uses the information;
  • What options are available to donors, scholarship applicants and other users of the Site regarding the collection, use and distribution of their personal information; and
  • The security procedures the Foundation uses to protect personal information.

Please take a few minutes to read the Policy so you can understand how the Foundation treats your information.

In this Policy, the Foundation is referred to as “we”, “us”, “our” or other similar pronouns.   “Personal Information” means information that directly identifies you (e.g., your name; home and/or business address; e-mail address; telephone, wireless and/or fax number; credit card and other payment information) or data that could be used to indirectly identify you. 

INFORMATION COLLECTED AND STORED AUTOMATICALLY

If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the Site, read pages, or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store information concerning your visit:

  • The Internet domain (for example, “xcompany.com” if you use a private Internet access account or “yourschool.edu” if you connect from a university’s domain);
  • Your IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web) from which you access the site;
  • The type of browser and operating system used to access the site;
  • The date and time you access the site;
  • The pages you visit within the site; and
  • If you linked to our Web site from another Web site, the address of that website.

INFORMATION THAT YOU VOLUNTARILY PROVIDE

On certain pages of the Site, we may ask you to voluntarily provide personal data such as your name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, credit card information, and/or other similar information. That information is collected when you:

  • Donate to the Foundation.
  • Complete the “Contact Us” section

Providing data is required in these contexts for us to process your donations, requests, or respond to inquiries. If you provide us with personally identifiable information, for example, by sending an e-mail or by filling out a form and submitting it through the site, we use that information to respond to your message and to help us provide you with the information and services that you request. All uses of that information are described on the web page containing the form.

Submitting voluntary information constitutes your consent to the use of the information for the stated purpose. When you click the “Submit” button on any of the web forms found on the site, you are indicating your voluntary consent for us to use the information you submit for the purpose stated.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES

The Site may, from time to time, contain links to and from third-party websites of our partners, advertisers, and social networks.  If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies.  Please check the individual policies before you submit any information to those websites.

HOW DO WE USE INFORMATION?

We collect information primarily to accept donations, complete our charitable projects, and provide you with information concerning our programs, projects, and activities. We also use the information for internal purposes (to better understand our supporter and user networks) and for analytical purposes (to respond to requests for information. Additional ways we use your information:

  • to provide you with the information or services you have requested, and communicate with you in general;
  • to analyze, evaluate and improve our work, programs, services, activities or information;
  • to provide updates on our work and request donations;
  • to invite you to talks and events hosted by us;
  • to thank donors for their support;
  • to administer any financial transaction between us;
  • to recruit employees and volunteers;
  • to ensure we are not contacting people who have told us not to;
  • to satisfy legal obligations which are binding on us;
  • for research purposes;
  • for the prevention of fraud or misuse of services; and
  • for the establishment, defense or enforcement of legal claims.

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICANTS

The Foundation requests two types of information from scholarship applicants via the Foundation’s online application (which is managed by a third-party vendor): contact information and personal information about an applicant’s background, academic career, and achievements, including a resume. Personal information is used for the sole purpose of evaluating applicants’ qualifications and granting scholarship awards. Contact information is used to communicate with applicants during the application process to ensure that their application is completed in full and submitted on time, and to notify them of the Foundation’s award decision.

Applicant contact information may also be used to inform applicants of Foundation resources they may find helpful as they progress through their college career and initial job search and may be shared with third-party organizations for this purpose. If desired, applicants may opt out of receiving these communications (see the Opt-Out section below).

As a condition of accepting a scholarship award from the Foundation, recipients agree to allow use of their name, photograph, educational institution, course of study and other similar information on the Site and on other online platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc).

Other than as noted above and in the Legal Disclaimer below, information provided by applicants is never shared with third parties for any purpose. Furthermore, the Foundation has implemented procedures and security features to prevent the unauthorized release of, or access to, this information.

DONORS

The Foundation requests information from donors via the Site for the purpose of facilitating the donation process. This information includes contact information and financial information such as credit card number and expiration date. Contact information is used to communicate with donors during and after the donation process as necessary, including providing them with a receipt for the transaction and an email from the Foundation confirming their donation. Contact information may also be used to inform donors of Foundation resources and activities.

The Foundation uses a credit card processing company to process online donations. The company is authorized to use donor information only as necessary to provide these services to the Foundation and does not retain, share, store or use personal information for any other purpose.

The Foundation reserves the right to list the donor’s name and/or company name on the Site. Donors who do not want their information used in this way may elect to opt-out by contacting the Foundation via email at [email protected].

Other than as noted above and in the Legal Disclaimer below, information provided by donors is never shared with third parties for any purpose. Furthermore, the Foundation has implemented appropriate procedures and security features to prevent the unauthorized release of or access to this information.

HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION

The Foundation does not sell, rent, share or otherwise provide personal information collected to anyone outside the organization unless otherwise requested by you, the donor. For example, your personal information may be used to respond to your requests or to process your donations. Additionally, we may disclose to aggregate statistics third parties regarding donations or users, but these statistics do not include any personally identifying information. The Foundation maintains appropriate electronic and physical safeguards over its systems to prevent unauthorized access and/or use.

There may be instances in which we share your information with others. We may share your information, for example, in conjunction with your sponsorship of a certain project, as required by law, with law enforcement, to comply with legal process, to protect our legal rights, to protect the safety or security of a person, or to protect against fraud, criminal acts, or misconduct. We may also share your information with companies that provide us with services, or with a successor legal entity.

The Foundation engages third-party vendors to assist us with such functions as hosting our donor personal information database, sending email, and processing online and mail donations and credit card payments. In addition, the Foundation consults advisors in making organizational decisions and developing long term plans. These companies and advisors may have access to donors’ personal information as needed to perform their functions. The Foundation requires that they keep such personal information confidential and that they not use such information for purposes other than the functions they are assisting us with.

USE OF COOKIES

The site uses cookies for convenience and security and to enable the online scholarship application and donation functions. Cookies are text files stored on your computer. The cookies remember information that you’ve already typed in our Site fields, so you don’t have to enter them again. We do link information stored in cookies to personally identifiable information you submit while on our site.

You can accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the features of the Site.

SECURITY AND PERSONAL DATA

The Foundation takes reasonable precautions to protect your personal information and follows industry best practices to make sure it is not lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed. The Foundation protects personal data by only allowing limited, authorized personnel to have access to such personal data. If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL). Although no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all requirements and implement additional, generally accepted industry standards to ensure all such transmissions are as secure as possible. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk. If any information under our control is compromised as a result of a breach of security, we will take reasonable steps to investigate the situation and where appropriate, notify those individuals whose information may have been compromised and take other steps, in accordance with any applicable laws and regulations.

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

Personal information that we process shall not be kept for longer than is necessary in connection with the purposes for which it was collected and/or is used.

In some cases, we may keep your personal information for longer, for instance where we are required to do so in accordance with legal or regulatory requirements (such as tax and accounting).

In specific circumstances, we may also retain your personal information for longer so that we have an accurate record of your dealings with us in the event of any complaints or challenges.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

The Foundation does not knowingly collect or solicit any information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register as users.  The Site and its content are not directed at children under the age of 13. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible.  If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us a [email protected].  

CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

California residents have the right to annually request and obtain information free of charge about any third parties that received Personal Information from the Foundation during the preceding calendar year for direct marketing purposes by directing a request to the contact information provided below.

OPT-OUT

Individuals who no longer wish to receive email communications from the Foundation may opt-out by replying with “remove” or “unsubscribe” in the subject line of the reply or email the Foundation office at [email protected]; and may opt-out of receiving other communications from the Foundation (such as mail) by contacting the office by email.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

Although the Foundation is committed to preserving user privacy, we may need to disclose personal information when required to do so by law. The Foundation also reserves the right to disclose your personal information to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Foundation, our users, or others, or if you engage (or we reasonably suspect that you are engaging) in any illegal or potentially illegal activity. We may disclose personal information without a subpoena, warrant or other court order, to the extent we feel is necessary to inform and cooperate with law enforcement agencies or other appropriate authorities.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We reserve the right to change this Policy at any time at the Foundation’s sole discretion. When we make material changes to this Policy, we will notify you by posting the updated Policy on our website, and we will update the effective date at the top of this Policy.  By continuing to use our website after being notified of material changes to this Policy, you agree that the terms of this Policy as of the effective date will apply to information previously collected or collected in the future.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND CONTACTING US

If you have questions about this Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us by email at [email protected].