Privacy Policy

VIDA®: Women in Literary Arts (“VIDA”) is committed to maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and security of personal information about our current and prospective users. We are proud of our privacy practices and want you to know how we protect personal information collected from our website, www.vidaweb.org (the “Site”). We hope this will help you make an informed decision about sharing personal information with us. You do not have to contact us to benefit from VIDA’s privacy protections contained in this Privacy Policy; they apply automatically to all of our users.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES DESCRIBED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY OR IN THE TERMS OF USE, PLEASE DISCONTINUE USING THE VIDA WEB SITE AND FOLLOW THE PROCEDURES DESCRIBED IN THE OPT-OUT SECTION OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY.

Information We Collect

VIDA collects two types of user data: (1) technical data that is automatically collected from all users of the Site, and (2) information that users voluntarily provide:

Automatically Collected Data: When you visit the Site, we may collect technical and navigational information, such as information that allows the Site to communicate with your computer during your visit, computer browser type, Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, pages visited, and average time spent on the Site. This information may be used for statistical purposes to help improve and administer the Site.

Voluntarily Provided Information: You may be asked to voluntarily provide personally identifiable information if and when you register as a member of VIDA; make a contribution, sign-up for e-mail updates, make a donation, order items, connect, link or “share” our Site via other third party social networking sites; post comments in forums or other public areas of our Site, or engage in other similar activities. Personally identifiable information is information about you that specifically identifies you or, when combined with other information we have, can be used to identify you, such as a name, mailing address, e-mail address, user name and password. These are only examples of the types of personal information we may collect. The actual types of personal information collected depend on the specific product or service you request. You can refuse to provide us with any personally identifiable information and still access many features of the Site. However, enhanced features and services of this website, such as uploading documents content, may be available only to users who have registered as members.

Using the Information We Collect

Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy, we do not sell, lease, loan or give away any personally identifiable information to third parties using such information for commercial purposes. We use your personal information in the following way:

• We use your information to fulfill the specific request or purchase order for which you provided the data and/or to respond to your inquiries about us or our services.
• We may use your information to periodically communicate with you concerning VIDA matters if you have not opted out of receiving such communications.
• We may use your information to operate, maintain, and improve the Site, our services and fundraising efforts and our merchandise selections.
• We may use your information to enable you to post comments and other content on the Site or allow you to interact with certain third party content service providers.
• We may use or disclose your information to respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims.
• If necessary, we will share your information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person or the security of our network or services, violations of our Terms of Use, or as otherwise required by law.
• We may transfer your information to a third party in connection with a transfer of some or all aspects of the Site.
• We may share information, including personally identifiable information, with partners, distributors, service providers, affiliates, and other third parties who are assisting us in providing the features, products, content and/or services related to the Site, including technical support, customer inquiries, mailing and shipping operations, billing and payment processing functions, such as via a payment portal (e.g., PayPal), debt-recovery functions, data analysis, auditing, web hosting, data entry and services provided by professionals such as accountants, lawyers, business advisors and consultants.
• If you make a donation of $100 or more, your name and donation amount may be displayed on the Site. This is the default option, so by making a donation of $100 or more, you consent to the publication of your name on the Site, unless:  (a) you elect to make a donation anonymously by checking the applicable box at the time of the donation, which will prevent the display of your name and your donation amount on the Site; or (b) after making the donation, you notify us in writing to have your name and donation amount removed from the Site, in which case, we will remove your name and donation amount as soon as reasonably practicable.
• In addition, information that does not contain personally identifiable information may be provided to third parties for any legal purposes whatsoever.
• Any communication or material you transmit to us via e-mail or otherwise, including any data, questions, comments, suggestions or the like, but not including your personal information and any requests, comments or concerns regarding your personal information, will be treated as, non-confidential and non-proprietary.

Your Privacy Choices

VIDA complies with the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003. VIDA provides periodic site notifications, newsletters or other information via email. Users may elect to stop receiving such messages at their discretion. If you no longer wish to receive periodic email updates from VIDA, please send an email to questions@vidaweb.org.

Cookies

To enhance your experience with the Site, many of our web pages use “cookies.” Cookies are text files we place in your computer’s browser to store your preferences. Cookies, by themselves, do not tell us your e-mail address or other personally identifiable information unless you choose to provide this information to us by, for example, registering at the Site. However, once you choose to furnish the Site with personally identifiable information, this information may be linked to the data stored in the cookie. We use cookies to understand site usage and to improve the content and offerings on our Site. Additionally, we may use cookies to offer you products, programs or services.

You may set your browser to disable cookies altogether or prompt you before accepting a cookie. By declining or disabling cookies, the functionality of the Site may be limited and certain areas may not function at all.

We also use a tool called “Google Analytics” to collect information about use of the Site. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit the Site, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other sites they used prior to coming to this site. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve this Site. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit this site, rather than your name or other identifying information. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personally identifiable information. Although Google Analytics plants a permanent cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit this 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 this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to this site by disabling cookies on your browser.

Do Not Track Notice

Currently, we do not alter our data collection and use practices in response to Do Not Track signals.

Protection of Collected Information

While we may share information with various third parties, VIDA takes commercially reasonable measures to safeguard and secure personal information from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction while such information is stored on our computer systems. However, VIDA cautions users of the Site that no network, including the Internet, is entirely secure. Accordingly, you agree that VIDA is not responsible for loss, corruption or unauthorized acquisition of personal information provided to the Site, or for any damages resulting from such loss, corruption or unauthorized acquisition.

Any communication or material you transmit to the Site by electronic mail or otherwise that is not personally identifiable information, will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary by VIDA. Such non-personally identifiable communications or materials include, without limitation, questions or answers, comments, feedback, suggestions, etc.

The Site may now, or in the future, enable users to post information, including personally identifiable information, on web logs (“blogs”), chat rooms, forums, message boards, news groups and/or similar information sharing services. Any information, including personally identifiable information, disclosed in these areas will be deemed public information. Users are advised to exercise discretion before posting any content in these public areas. A user assumes any and all risk related to the content he/she may post in these public areas.

Collection Of Information By Third-Parties And Sponsors

The Site may contain links to other sites whose information practices may be different than ours. Visitors should consult the other sites’ privacy notices as we have no control over information that is submitted to, or collected by, these third parties.

We may share data you voluntarily provide to us with third-party service providers who fulfill your orders or transactions, contact you on our behalf, or facilitate some other aspect of VIDA’s activities, services or products, including those third-party service providers we use to assist us in our own fundraising and communications efforts and that collect data you voluntarily provide to us on behalf of VIDA for VIDA to use as described above. These service providers have access to data you voluntarily provide to us solely for the purpose of providing these services to us on our behalf, and they are contractually prohibited from sharing data you voluntarily provide to us with any third parties (other than subcontractors assisting them in their providing these services to us and who also are contractually prohibited from sharing our Voluntarily Provided Data with any other third parties).

Please note that we do not share data from non-U.S. residents with any other third parties (except where required by law, see below), even if a non-U.S. resident has subsequently authorized such use, for example, by checking an opt-in request.

Our Site may contain third party advertisements or offers that are complementary to your use of VIDA. If you choose to use these separate products or services, disclose information to the providers and/or grant them permission to collect information about you, then their use of your information is governed by their privacy policy. You should evaluate their practices before deciding to use their services.

No Guarantees

While this Privacy Policy expresses VIDA’s standards for maintenance of private data, VIDA is not in a position to guarantee that the standards will always be met. There may be factors beyond our control that may result in disclosure of data. As a consequence, VIDA disclaims any warranties or representations relating to maintenance or nondisclosure of private information.

Children

VIDA does not knowingly or intentionally collect information from any person under 13 years of age. We recognize that the responsibility of protecting children’s identities and privacy online rests with both the online industry and with the parents. If you become aware that such information has been provided by a child under 13, please send VIDA an e-mail at questions@vidaweb.org so that we may take appropriate action.

Users Located Outside the United States

The Site is targeted exclusively to users in the United States. Users located outside of the United States should familiarize themselves with the laws of their jurisdiction as they pertain to certain restrictions on the collection, use and transfer of information gathered by VIDA, including personally identifiable information. Users should note that the Site adheres to the laws of the United States, which may not provide the same level of protection afforded by other countries. If you are unsure of the particular laws of your jurisdiction and/or whether they conflict with this Privacy Policy, you should not submit any information on the Site. USERS LOCATED IN THE EUROPEAN UNION SHOULD NOTE THAT THEIR INFORMATION WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WHOSE LAWS MAY BE DEEMED INADEQUATE BY EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATE STANDARDS. Users of the Website located outside of the United States hereby consent to the collection, use and dissemination of any and all information, including personally identifiable information, in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the related Terms of Use, and further consent to such information being transferred to and/or stored in the United States.

Organization Change

We may disclose or transfer personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this Privacy Policy to any buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, in which your personal information is among the assets transferred.

Updating Your Personal Information

You can always contact us in order to change or remove the personally identifiable information that you have provided to us, or if you wish to stop receiving certain types of information from us, by sending an e-mail to questions@vidaweb.org. Because of technical constraints and the fact that we maintain backup copies of our systems, we can not guarantee that all of your personally identifiable information will be deleted. Therefore, you can not expect that all of your personally identifiable information will ever be completely removed from our systems.

Changes to This Policy

We reserve the right at our discretion to make changes to this Privacy Policy. You may review updates to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy at any time via links on the Site. In the event VIDA makes a material change to this Privacy Policy, it will be posted to the Site and become effective immediately upon such posting. VIDA encourages visitors to periodically review this page to ensure familiarity with the most current version of this Privacy Policy. For your convenience, the date of the last update to this Privacy Policy appears at the bottom of this document. Please see the Terms of Use for other terms and conditions governing your use of the Site.

_{Last updated: August 28, 2019.}