Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to Solutions Journalism Network (hereinafter “SJN” or “we,” “us,” or “our”), a New York State nonprofit corporation. We are committed to protecting your personal information with appropriate organizational, technological, and physical safeguards – but we cannot guarantee its absolute security. All the information we track, store and analyze is related to providing resources to our network and serving the mission of our organization: to transform journalism so that all people have access to news that helps them envision and build a more equitable and sustainable world.

It is the policy of SJN to respect the privacy of its donors, network members, grantees, partners and others with whom we interact (hereinafter “Users”). This privacy policy applies to information collected through our websites (“Sites”) and any other interactions we may have with you (collectively, the “Services”), in compliance with the applicable law.

Please review the entire Policy and use the contact information below if you have any questions. By using our Sites and Services, you are consenting to the collection, use and disclosure of your information as described in this Policy. (This Privacy Policy, our Terms of Use and our Copyright Policy are sometimes referred to collectively as the “Policies.”)

What Personal Information We Collect And How We Obtain Your Personal Information
How We Use Your Personal Information
How Long We Keep Your Personal Information
Sharing of Your Personal Information
How Secure is Your Information?
Your Choices
User Generated Content
Cookie Policy
Do Not Track
Your U.S. State Privacy Rights
International Users
Children
Third Party Links
Changes To Our Privacy Policy
Contact Information
Acceptance of Privacy Policy

1. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND HOW WE OBTAIN YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

“Personal information” is any information that can be used to identify a specific individual. We may collect the following kinds of personal information when you use our Sites or Services:

Personal information you provide directly to us. We collect information from you when you interact with us as a donor, send us an email, fill out a form, respond to a survey, register for an event or otherwise communicate with us. The personal information that we may collect includes, but is not limited to your name, address, email address, phone number, employment information and educational, journalism training and certification information

If you voluntarily provide us with your information, such as when you make a contribution, complete a survey, submit a grant application, join the directory or send an email, we may gather personal information through that communication. On certain pages of our Sites, such as our donation page or an information request form, you may be asked to provide information such as credit card, address and other information. We do not gather this information on our Sites or any affiliated giving sites without your permission.

Information from third parties. We may gather information about you that is available to the public from other websites or sources such as Google, X (formerly known as Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms.

Information we collect automatically. We may collect certain information automatically:

Log Data. As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information may include your Internet protocol (IP) address, browser type, device identifier, Internet service provider (ISP), pages that you visit before using our Sites, the date and time of your visit, information about the links you click, the pages you view, the general manner in which you navigate the Sites, and other standard server log information. We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you. We use log data to monitor the use of our Sites and Services for security purposes and to administer and improve our Sites and Services.
Device Information. We may collect information about the device you use to access our Sites or mobile applications, such as the hardware model, operating system and version, unique device identifiers and mobile network information. We may also collect certain location information when you use our Sites, such as your computer’s IP address, your mobile device’s GPS signal, information about nearby Wi-Fi access points and cell towers.
Photography. Photos and videos taken at our events may be shared in publications such as brochures, newsletters and annual reports. Such photos and videos may also be shared electronically in online publications, our Sites, email newsletters, social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and other electronic forms of media. If you are pictured and would like us to discontinue using the photo, please contact us.

2. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information. We use the information we collect to execute a specific request and/or further the mission of SJN. We will only process your personal data for the purposes for which we collect it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. The legal grounds for the above description of data we process is that we have a legitimate interest in educating, informing and attracting support for our charitable purpose.

We collect grantee application information you provide in order to support production of journalism and for facilitating payment and evaluation of grant effectiveness in promoting our mission as well as to fulfill the obligations of our contracts.

Statistics. We use log files in order to analyze trends, administer the site and collect broad demographic information for aggregate use. We utilize a third-party vendor, Google Analytics, to assist in collecting and analyzing such data. For more information about how Google collects and processes data when you visit websites or use apps that use Google technologies, please see www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners.

Our email newsletter analytics on MailChimp are collected and analyzed on both an individual and an aggregate basis. We use these statistics to improve our Services.

Donations and event registrations. Online donations and event registrations are processed by affiliated vendors, including Zoom, Click & Pledge and Eventbrite. Credit card and other information you provide when making an online donation is provided directly to the third-party vendor for the purpose of processing and recording gifts. All credit card information is encrypted at the time of processing and not stored for further use.

Business-related functions: Like many organizations, we may hire other companies to perform certain services on our behalf such as hosting specific portions of the Sites, maintaining databases or processing credit cards. When we employ a third party to perform these functions, that third party will be provided only with the particular personal information it needs to perform its function.

3. HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will retain your personal information for as long as is necessary, or permitted, to fulfill the purpose for which we obtained your personal information, to comply with applicable laws, resolve disputes and enforce our legal agreements and policies and any other purposes permitted by law and in compliance with our data retention policies. This means we might retain your personal information even after you stop using our site or conclude working with us. When deciding how long to keep your information we consider:

How long we have had a relationship with you;
Whether we are subject to any legal obligations (e.g., any laws that require us to keep transaction records for a certain period of time before we can delete them); and
Whether we have taken any legal positions (e.g., in connection with any statutes of limitation).

Rather than delete your data, we might de-identify it by removing identifying details.

4. SHARING OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We provide information to third-party vendors for updating and marketing purposes as described in this policy in support of our goals and objectives. We do not sell, trade, rent or otherwise provide any User information to other organizations, except for the sole benefit of our work, such as when information is provided to mailing service providers.

Although unlikely, we may be required by law enforcement or judicial authorities to provide information to the appropriate governmental authorities. In these cases, we will provide this information to the extent we have determined that the disclosure of any such information is legally required.

We sometimes share information with third-party vendors and service providers or with other organizations that may occasionally be commercial in nature if we determine there is a benefit to our Users. We may share personal information with our funders to report our programmatic progress. We may disclose your information to third-party representatives with whom we contract to update our files. We may use any information you disclose to us or in online applications to process your donations or to call, mail and market information about our work to you. We may also publicize your name and your category of support in annual reports and/or other donor recognition publications, which are publicly available, unless you specifically ask to remain anonymous.

Donations and payments are collected by third-party vendors, such as Click & Pledge, and are stored on third-party vendors such as Quickbooks, TSYS (Total System Services), Salesforce and Netsuite. We collect financial information you provide, including your credit card information, your name and address to process your donation. Donors voluntarily provide donation information at the time of donation and consent to the use of that information for processing the donation, recording gifts, fulfilling legal obligations related to the gift and for future charitable solicitation.

For grant applications, we use third-party vendors such as Form Assembly, Salesforce and Dropbox to review the quality of the application and determine if the deliverables will serve the goals of our mission. For job openings, we use Lever, a third-party vendor, to collect and review applications.

For communications with the network, we use third-party vendors such as Zoom, Mailchimp, Survey Monkey and Google Workplace to provide the best services possible and share funding opportunities and other network benefits.

To track program goals connected to realizing our mission, we use Form Assembly, Google Looker Studio and Salesforce to analyze our engagements and track interest in our offerings. We also collect attendee names from in-person and online trainings. We have a legitimate interest in educating, informing and attracting support for our charitable purpose.

Our Sites may use social media features, such as the Facebook “like” button, the “tweet” button on X and other sharing widgets (“Social Media Features”). You may be given the option by such Social Media Features to post information about your activities on a website to a profile page of yours that is provided by a third-party social media network in order to share with others within your network. Social Media Features are either hosted by the respective social media network or hosted directly on our Sites. To the extent the Social Media Features are hosted by the respective social media networks, the latter may receive information that you have visited our website from your IP address. If you are logged into your social media account, it is possible that the respective social media network can link your visit to our Sites with your social media profile even though we have taken steps to anonymize your data on our Sites. Your interactions with Social Media Features are governed by the privacy policies of the companies providing the relevant Social Media Features.

Except as stated in this Policy, we will not share any personal information you give us with any third party except with your consent or as required by law. We may aggregate personal information in a manner that does not identify you and use such data for purposes of research or analysis (“Non-Identifying Information”). We may share Non-Identifying Information, such as aggregated user statistics, at our discretion and without restriction, to administer and improve our Sites and Services. We may share such information with various affiliated and unaffiliated entities, including our agents, research partners and current and prospective business partners for such purposes.

Other disclosures. In addition, we may disclose personal information without providing you with the ability to opt out under the following limited circumstances to:

protect the legal rights, privacy or safety of SJN, its members, officers, employees and agents;
protect the safety and security of other users of the Sites;
protect against fraud or other illegal activity or for risk management purposes;
respond to inquiries or requests from public authorities;
permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain;
enforce our Terms of Use and this Privacy Policy; or
comply with the law or legal process.

With your consent or at your direction. We may share information for any other purposes disclosed to you at the time we collect the information or with your consent or at your direction.

5. HOW SECURE IS YOUR INFORMATION?

We use reasonable measures to help protect information from loss, theft, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. You should understand that no data storage system or transmission of data over the Internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Our Sites are hosted on Heroku, Pantheon and WordPress. You can read about Heroku security, Pantheon security and WordPress security.

Our Sites and databases, including the system administration logs, are password-protected. The information you provide is stored in a secure location and is used and disclosed only as set forth in this Policy. User information is accessible only to designated staff who need the information to perform a specific function or task related to our mission, such as gift recording, assisting and communicating with donors or providing donors with reports and receipts.

Our online giving page on Click & Pledge is a secure site, evidenced by the URL address beginning with “https” and the lock icon on the browser pages. Our application systems on Form Assembly and Lever are similarly secured, and data sent over our systems is encrypted. Our systems make it difficult for your information to be stolen or intercepted while it is being transferred over the Internet and while it is stored on our system. However, no encryption system can guarantee perfect security on the Internet.

6. YOUR CHOICES

If you do not wish to receive newsletter communications from us, you may unsubscribe at any time. If you are a registered user of the Sites, you may also go to My Profile and indicate that you would prefer not to receive website-related communications from us.

Before processing your request, we may need to verify your identity, in which case we may request additional information from you or send you a one-time use access code to the email address or phone number associated with your account. We will use reasonable efforts to respond to your request promptly and as required by applicable laws.

You may have other choices depending on where you live (see Sections 10 and 11).

7. USER GENERATED CONTENT

We offer you the ability to post content; however, information you disclose in your content becomes public. Anyone can read, collect and use any personal information that accompanies your posts. If the law requires us to take down, remove or edit your content, we will comply. We have the option not to publish any of your content. See our Terms of Use for more information on User Generated Content.

8. COOKIE POLICY

To better serve our Users, we use technology to track the activity of new and returning visitors while on the Sites, commonly referred to as “cookies.” Cookies and related technologies are simple text files that are stored on your computer or mobile device by a website’s server. Each cookie is unique to your web browser. It will contain some anonymous information such as a unique identifier, website’s domain name, and some digits and numbers. Our cookies do not contain any personally identifiable information.

The types of cookies we use

We use Google Analytics to analyze the pages viewed, location (country and city), search terms used, referral information (i.e., did the visitor come from another site, a search, or a link) and technology used (device, browser and operating system) by each website visitor, in order to improve our website offerings. This information is anonymized.

YouTube tracks video plays, location and user preferences, and their cookies may be used by YouTube to serve up ads and related videos.

Strictly necessary cookies. Strictly necessary cookies are essential to allow the Sites to function properly and allow you to access and navigate the Sites and use its features. For example, these cookies let us recognize that you have created an account and have logged into that account.

Functionality cookies. Functionality cookies let us operate the Sites in accordance with the choices you make. For example, we will recognize your username and remember how you customized the Sites during future visits.

Analytical cookies. These cookies enable us and third-party services to collect aggregated data for statistical purposes in order to improve the design and functionality of the Sites. These cookies do not contain names, email addresses or other personal information and are used to help us improve your user experience on the Sites.

If you wish to restrict or block the cookies that are set by our Sites, you can do so through your browser setting.

9. DO NOT TRACK

Your Internet browser and mobile device may allow you to adjust your browser settings so that “do not track” requests are sent to Sites you visit. We respect your wishes and will not track user activity once “do not track” signals have been activated. However, there is no consensus among industry participants as to what “Do Not Track” means in this context. Like many websites and online services, the Sites currently do not respond to or alter practices upon receipt of a “Do Not Track” signal from a visitor’s browser. To find out more about “Do Not Track,” you may wish to visit http://www.allaboutdnt.com.

10. YOUR U.S. STATE PRIVACY RIGHTS

Depending on where you reside you may have additional rights, including the following:

Right to Portability. The right to request that personal information about you be disclosed in a common file format.

Right to Access. The right to request, up to two times each year, access to categories and specific pieces of personal information about you that we collect, use, disclose and share.

Right to Delete. The right to request that we delete personal information that we collect from you, subject to applicable legal exceptions.

Right to Correct. The right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you, subject to applicable legal exceptions.

Right to Opt Out of Sale or Sharing of Personal Information. The right to “opt out” of the “sale” or “sharing” of your “personal information” to or with “third parties” (as those terms are defined by applicable law).

Requests for access, correction, amendment or deletion should be sent to us via email. If you delete any account information, we may retain certain information as required by law or for legitimate business purposes.

ADDITIONAL RIGHTS OF CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

Right to Know. If you are a California resident, you have the right to request that we disclose to you the categories of personal information we have collected about you, as well as the sources of such personal information, the purposes and the categories of third parties with whom such

Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information. If you are a California resident, you have the right to limit our use of sensitive personal information for any purposes other than to provide the services or goods you request or as otherwise permitted by law. To opt-out from such personal information being shared for additional purposes, please contact us.

Removal of Content. If you are a California resident under the age of 18, and a registered user of the Sites, California Business and Professions Code Section 22581 permits you to request and obtain removal of content or information you have publicly posted.

“Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information.” To the extent SJN “sells” your personal information (as the term “sell” is defined under the CCPA), you have the right to opt-out of that “sale” on a going-forward basis at any time.

11. INTERNATIONAL USERS

We maintain information in the United States and in accordance with the laws of the United States, which may not provide the same level of protection as the laws in your jurisdiction. By using the Sites and providing us with information, you understand and agree that your personal information may be transferred to and stored on servers located outside your resident jurisdiction and, to the extent you are a resident of a country other than the United States, that you consent to the transfer of such data to the United States for processing by us in accordance with this Privacy Policy. However, wherever your personal information is transferred, stored or processed by us, we will take reasonable steps to safeguard the privacy of your personal information. These steps may include obtaining your consent or other lawful means of transferring personal information as well as the right to know, access, delete, correct, opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information and the removal of content as discussed in Section 10 above.

12. CHILDREN

SJN’s Sites and Services do not provide content to children, and we do not collect personally identifiable information from these visitors. If we learn that a child under the age of 13 has provided us with personal information, we will delete it in accordance with applicable law. Therefore, the requirements of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) are not incorporated in this Privacy Policy. We do not knowingly “sell” or “share,” as those terms are defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the personal information of minors under 16 years old.

13. THIRD PARTY LINKS

Links to other sites. Our Sites may also contain links to other sites, including affiliated vendor sites, such as email services, online donor pages and event registration pages. A link to another website does not constitute an endorsement of that site or any of the content or information provided by that site. We are not responsible for the content or the privacy practices employed by those other sites. Once you have left the Sites, this Policy will no longer apply to personal information, or any other data collected from or provided by you on another site. We encourage our Users to be aware when they leave our Sites and to read the privacy policies of each website that collects personal information to determine how that site will manage such data.

14. CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

Our online privacy policy may change from time to time. We are always improving our services and creating new features. These updates sometimes require us to collect new information or use what we already have differently. Further, the laws regarding personal information and privacy frequently change. As a result, we must periodically update this Privacy Policy.

We will post any changes on this page by updating this policy. If we make a significant or material change in the way we collect, use or share your personal information, we will notify you at least 30 days prior to the changes taking effect. We will do this via a prominent notice on the SJN website. If you object to any change, you can stop using the SJN Services.

After we post any changes on this page, your continued use of SJN Sites and Services is subject to the updated Privacy Policy.

15. CONTACT INFORMATION

If your personal information changes, such as ZIP code, phone, email or postal address, or if at any point you'd like to be removed from our systems entirely, review or correct your information, you may contact us.

Should you have other questions or concerns about these privacy policies, please contact us.

16. ACCEPTANCE OF PRIVACY POLICY

By using SJN Sites and Services, you signify your acceptance of our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this policy, we ask that you refrain from using our Sites and Services. Your continued use of our site following the posting of changes to these terms will mean that you accept these changes.

Effective Date: September 26, 2014
Last Updated: July 18, 2024