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Privacy Policy

This policy has been updated on, and is valid as of, April 1, 2024.

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Fort Wayne (“Habitat GFW”) respects your privacy and preferences. This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) sets forth the terms under which you share your personal data with Habitat GFW, how Habitat GFW collects and uses your data, and your rights with respect to understanding and modifying how it will be collected and used.

I. How does this Privacy Policy apply to you?

Generally:

This Privacy Policy applies to the personal data provided to Habitat GFW when you make a donation, register for an event, sign up for a newsletter, purchase a product, or otherwise provide us with information via the Habitat GFW Website located at www.habitatgfw.com. It also applies to personal data you may provide to Habitat GFW via telephone, email, regular mail, social media, texting, mobile applications, at a special event, in response to a solicitation or face-to-face.

Minors:

It is Habitat GFW’s policy not to solicit knowingly any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13. Children under 13 are not authorized to make a donation or purchase, sign up for an event or program, or otherwise provide any personally identifiable information without consent from a parent or legal guardian.

II. Why do we hold and process personal data?

Habitat GFW may request from you, or you may volunteer to provide, your contact information, including your name, mailing address, phone number(s), social media handles and email address(es). We hold and process supporters’ personal data for a number of reasons:

 To keep a record of donations made and actions taken by our supporters and our communications with them
 To send our supporters marketing information about our projects, fundraising activities and appeals where we have their consent or are otherwise permitted to do so
* To support volunteers, such as during build or fundraising events

  • To support community-based fundraising and campaigning
  • To ensure we do not send unwanted information to supporters or members of the public who have informed us they do not wish to be contacted
    * To manage supporters’ accounts and provide customer service
  • To perform other functions as described at the time Habitat GFW collects information.

If you make a donation or a purchase with Habitat GFW, or otherwise provide us your information, Habitat GFW may contact you from time to time about opportunities to make additional donations or purchases or to provide you information about upcoming programs.

We may also analyze your personal information to create a record of your interests and preferences. This allows us to ensure communications are relevant and timely, to contact you in the most appropriate and relevant way and in general to provide you with an improved user experience. It also helps us to understand the background of our supporters so that we can make appropriate requests for support, enabling us to raise funds and help beneficiaries sooner and more cost-effectively.

III. When will we send you personalized marketing communications?

Habitat GFW will contact you for marketing purposes—for example, to keep you up to date on our work, or let you know how you can support that work—only where we have your consent or we are otherwise allowed to do so because of your prior engagement with Habitat GFW, as explained further below (see “Our Reliance on Your Prior Support”).

We will make it easy for you to tell us if you would like to receive marketing communications from us and hear more about our work and the ways in which you would like to receive this information. We will not send you marketing material if you tell us that you do not wish to receive it. To update your communication preferences please see section IX for contact information.

Duration:

Your ongoing consent is presumed unless you inform us that you wish to be removed from our contact list.

Our Reliance on Your Prior Support:

You may also receive marketing information from Habitat GFW if you have previously made a similar donation to, or have previously purchased similar goods and services from, Habitat GFW or a Habitat National Organization. However, we will not rely solely on the fact that you once supported us as the basis for our continued marketing to you if you have opted out of receiving emails, newsletters, or other marketing materials in your communications to Habitat GFW or a Habitat National Organization.

IV. How and when do we obtain information about you?

Habitat GFW may obtain your personal data in the following circumstances:

a. When you give it to Habitat GFW

We will obtain your personal data directly when you make a donation, sign up for one of our events, purchase or donate products from the Fort Wayne ReStore, or when you communicate with us directly in some other way.

b. When you give it to a Habitat Affiliate or Habitat National Organization

We may obtain your personal information indirectly when you are referred by or sign up for an event sponsored by a Habitat Affiliate or National Organization. In such cases, the Habitat National Organization will share your data with Habitat GFW to enable us to contact you about your volunteer event or about future Habitat GFW programs and support opportunities. It may also be shared if it is a necessary part of completing a contract or other legal obligations to you in connection with your participation in an event.

c. When you give it to Habitat GFW indirectly

We will obtain your personal data when you communicate to your employer or to a retail partner of Habitat GFW during your point of purchase that you affirmatively designate Habitat GFW to receive a personal contribution from you.

Sometimes your personal data is collected by an organization working on Habitat GFW’s behalf (for example, a professional fundraising agency). In such cases, the agency is acting on our behalf, and we are the “data controller” responsible for the security and proper processing of your data, just as if you had given it to Habitat GFW directly.

d. When you access Habitat GFW’s sponsored social media

We might also obtain your personal data through your use of social media such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or LinkedIn, depending on your settings or the privacy policies of these social media and messaging services. To change your settings on these services, please refer to their privacy notices, which will tell you how to do this.

https://www.facebook.com/policy.php
https://instagram.com/privacy
https://www.youtube.com/privacy
https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy

e. When the information is publicly available

We might also obtain personal data about individuals who may be interested in giving major gifts to charities or organizations like Habitat GFW. In these cases, we may seek to find out more about these individuals’ interests and motivations for giving through publicly available information. The information sources may include newspaper or other media coverage, open postings on social media sites such as LinkedIn, and services that aggregate data on charitable giving.

f. When we use cookies

Cookies are a useful way for us to understand how supporters use Habitat GFW’s web site. When you visit our web site, we will use cookies to collect data from your computer or other device, such as a smart phone or tablet. Cookies are created by your web browser when you visit our website. Every time you return to our website, your browser will send the cookie file back to the website’s server. They improve your experience of using our website by, for example, preserving your preference settings so that you are shown information likely to be most relevant to you, and measuring your use of the website so that we may continuously improve it. Cookies can also be used to show you relevant Habitat GFW content on social media services. For more information on our use of cookies and how you can control your cookie preferences, see below at Habitat GFW’s Cookies Policy.

The Habitat GFW website may contain hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by other organizations, including private sector partners, other NGOs and charities, and Habitat National Organizations. These third-party websites have their own privacy policies, including policies on the use of cookies, which would apply to the use of personal information you submit or which is collected by cookies while visiting those websites. Habitat GFW cannot accept responsibility for the privacy practices of such third-party websites, and we recommend therefore that you familiarize yourself with their policies.

V. What personal information might Habitat GFW collect?

Habitat GFW will only collect personal data about you that is relevant to the type of transaction or project you have engaged in with us.

For example, we may receive and retain personal information about you when you contact Habitat GFW to make a donation, purchase or donate and item at the Fort Wayne ReStore, or sign up to any of Habitat GFW’s activities or online content (such as newsletters); or when you telephone, email, or write to us, or engage with us via social media channels. In each of these cases, the information we collect is relevant to the type of transaction you are entering into. Data such as your name email or postal address, telephone or mobile number will be necessary both to execute these transactions as well as to enable us contact you for further engagement. Bank account or credit card details will be necessary to process any donations.

Credit card and billing information:

**** In addition to your contact information, when you make a donation or purchase, Habitat GFW asks for your billing address and credit card or other financial services information. Habitat GFW uses a third-party banking agent to process your payments via a secured socket layer connection (TLS 1.2 using SHA 256 encryption) to a secured server that verifies your credit card/bank information. They return a unique tracking number only, which cannot be decrypted to obtain the payment card information, and Habitat GFW never retains your complete credit card number. Only employees who need access to your personal information to perform a specific job are granted access to that information, and Habitat GFW and our banking agent will not share your credit card/bank information with any other third party.

Sensitive Personal Data: We do not collect your “sensitive personal data” (e.g., health or dietary information) unless there is a clear reason for doing so—such as your participation in a sponsored physical event—and then only to the extent such data is required to ensure that we provide appropriate facilities or support to enable you to participate in the event.

Should you support Habitat GFW in a substantial way, we may provide an account manager to help tailor your relationship to us and the information you receive from us to suit your interests. If this is the case, we may collect demographic data where relevant to your relationship with Habitat GFW. If you provide us with information about your health or your family, this may also be recorded so we can communicate with you in a considerate and appropriate manner.

All sensitive personal data is stored on a password-protected system to which only a limited number of relevant staff have access. It is deleted when no longer needed by us, is never shared with third parties, and is available to you at any point should you wish to see it.

VI. How will Habitat GFW use your personal data?

Habitat GFW will use your personal information for the following purposes:

a. For administrative reasons, including:

  • “service administration”, which means that Habitat GFW may contact you for reasons related to administering any donations you have made, the completion of commercial or other transactions you have entered into with us, or the activity or online content you have signed up for;
  • to confirm receipt of donations (unless you have asked us not to do this), and to say thank you and provide details of how your donation might be used;
  • in relation to correspondence you have entered into with us whether by letter, email, text, social media, message board or any other means, and to contact you about any content you provide;
  • for internal record keeping so as to keep a record of your relationship with us;
  • to complete sales transactions you have entered into with us, for example at The Fort Wayne ReStore;
  • to implement any instructions you give us with regard to withdrawing consent to send marketing information;
  • to use IP addresses to identify the location of users, to block disruptive use, and to establish the number of visits from different countries.

b. For marketing and fundraising
Sections II and III above describe what data may be used for marketing and fundraising purposes and under what circumstances.

c. Analysis

To analyze and improve the activities and content offered by the Habitat GFW website to provide you with the most user-friendly navigation experience. We may also use and disclose personal information in aggregate (so that no individuals are identified) for marketing and strategic development purposes.

VII. Will we share your information outside the Habitat network?

Habitat GFW will not share your information outside the Habitat network.

VIII. How long will Habitat GFW keep your personal information?

We will hold your personal information on our contact lists only for as long as you continue to provide your consent. Your ongoing consent is presumed unless you inform us that you wish to be removed from our contact list. To update your communication preferences please see section IX for contact information.

If you request that we stop sending you marketing materials, we will keep a record of your contact details and appropriate information to enable us to comply with your request not to be contacted by us.

Legacy income is vital to the running of the charity. We may keep data you provide to us indefinitely, to carry out legacy administration and communicate effectively with the families of people leaving us legacies.

This also enables us to identify and analyze the source of legacy income we receive.

IX. How to control what we send you and update your personal information

The accuracy of your information is important to us. We want to ensure that we are able to communicate with you in ways that you are happy with and to provide you with information that is of interest.

If you wish to change how we communicate with you or update the information we hold, then please contact us:

  • To amend your contact preferences for any type of communication, email us info@habitatgfw.com, or write to us at: Habitat for Humanity of GFW; 2020 E. Washington Blvd., Suite 500, Fort Wayne, IN 46803 (to amend your preferences for any communication channel);
  • To amend your contact preferences for e-newsletters, you may unsubscribe at the bottom of the email any time by clicking the unsubscribe link or by contacting us at info@habitatgfw.com.

Timing of implementation. In responding to requests to not receive marketing information, we will take all reasonable steps to remove you from all Habitat GFW marketing lists.

If you have already been selected for inclusion in a Habitat GFW marketing campaign at the time you requested to not receive such information, we may be unable to remove you from that campaign.

X. How Habitat GFW keeps your data safe

We ensure that there are appropriate technical controls in place to protect your personal details. For example, our online forms that ask for personal information are stored on networks that are password-protected and routinely monitored. Laptops are not used to store sensitive personal information unless they are both password protected or encrypted. All sensitive personal data is stored on a secure database, to which only a limited number of relevant personnel have access. It is deleted when no longer needed by us and is never shared with third parties, except as expressly set forth in Sections III and IV.

Within Habitat GFW, we undertake regular reviews of who has access to information that we hold to ensure that your information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff, volunteers, and contractors. Where we share your personal data with a Habitat National Organization, the National Organization is required to take comparable steps to assure that your information is securely stored and accessed only by appropriately trained personnel.

XI. Changes to Habitat GFW’s Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time, so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to Habitat GFW. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page. If you do not agree to these changes, please do not continue to use the Habitat GFW website to submit personal information to Habitat GFW. If material changes are made to the Privacy Policy, we will notify you by placing a prominent notice on the website.

Habitat GFW Cookies Policy

How and why we use cookies: Cookies are used to enable us to improve our services by, for example:

  • remembering if you are logged in so you can move around the website without having to log in again on each page;
  • measuring how many people are using each page of the website and for how long so that we can try to improve the quality of our website;
  • enabling you to view content shared on social media or sharing sites, such as YouTube or Facebook.

If you reside in the United States or Canada, cookies may also be used for “re-targeting” in advertising campaigns so that third-party vendors can display advertising to you about Habitat GFW or other related entities as you use the internet.

How to manage and delete cookies. If you wish to restrict or block the cookies set by the Habitat GFW website, you can do this through your computer or device’s browser settings. The Help function within your browser should tell you how.

Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org, which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer as well as more general information about cookies.

Please be aware that restricting cookies may affect the functionality of the Habitat GFW website.

If you visit our website as an anonymous visitor (e.g. you switch off cookies), Habitat GFW may still collect certain information from your browser, such as the IP address (which uniquely identifies a computer or other internet device).

Privacy Agreement

This policy may change at any time and will be updated on this website. We encourage you to check for policy updates regularly, and if you do not agree with this or any revised policy, we ask that you exit the website immediately.

If you have any questions about our company’s privacy policy, or would like any currently collected data removed, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Content

All content available on this Website, including, but not limited to, trademarks, photographs, images, characters, names, graphics, logos, illustrations, audio clips and video clips (collectively, “Content”), is protected by copyright, trademark and other rights that are owned and/or controlled by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Fort Wayne (Habitat GFW) or by other parties that have licensed their material to Habitat GFW. You may use content from this Website for your own personal, non-commercial use only. You may not copy, reproduce, publish, upload, post, transmit or distribute any Content in any way without Habitat GFW’s express permission.

Copyright and copyright agent

Habitat GFW respects the rights of all copyright holders. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide to Habitat GFW’s Copyright Agent the following information, as required by the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. Sec. 512:

A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed; Identification of the copyright work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site; Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material; Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party; A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. For copyright inquiries under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, please contact:

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Fort Wayne
2020 E. Washington Blvd
Suite 500
Fort Wayne, IN 46803

Email: info@habitatgfw.com

Linked sites

The Website may contain links to other sites that are not operated or managed by or on behalf of Habitat GFW. Habitat GFW is not responsible for the content of any such lined-to sites. The links to these sites are for your convenience only, and you access them at your own risk.

Habitat GFW welcomes links to the Website. You may include on your site(s) a link to the Website, provided that the link does not state or imply any sponsorship or endorsement of you or your site by Habitat for Humanity or any Affiliate. You may not use on your site any logos, trademarks, service marks or other copyrighted materials appearing on the Website, including, without limitation, any logos, without Habitat for Humanity’s express written permission. You may not frame or otherwise incorporate into another site any of the Content or other materials on the Website without Habitat for Humanity’s prior written consent.

User-generated content

From time to time, Habitat GFW may allow you to communicate, submit, upload or otherwise make available comments, messages, images, audio, video and/or other content via the Website (“User Generated Content”), some or all of which may be accessible to the public. You agree that you will not submit or otherwise publish any User Generated Content that:

(a) is libelous or defamatory;

(b) is obscene, pornographic or otherwise offensive;

(c) is abusive or harmful (or threatens to abuse or harm) any person or entity;

(d) infringes another person’s or entity’s intellectual property rights or any other rights, including, without limitation, copyrights, trademark or the right of publicity or privacy;

(e) violates any law or regulation;

(f) advocates illegal activity;

(g) advertises a product or service; or

(h) solicits funds or solicits goods or services.

By submitting User Generated Content to the Website, you grant to Habitat GFW a non-exclusive, sublicensable, irrevocable and royalty-free worldwide license to use, reproduce, transmit, print, publish, publicly display, exhibit, distribute, redistribute, copy, index, comment on, modify, adapt, translate, create derivative works based upon, publicly perform, make available and otherwise exploit such User Generated Content, in whole or in part, in all media now known or hereafter devised, for any purpose, including, without limitation, advertising, promotional and commercial purposes, without further notice to you, with or without attribution.

You represent and warrant that your User Generated Content conforms to these Terms of Service and that you own or have the necessary rights and permissions, without the need for payment to any other person or entity, to use and exploit, and to authorize Habitat for Humanity to use and exploit, your User Generated Content in all manners contemplated under these Terms of Service.

You shall indemnify Habitat GFW and its subsidiaries and Affiliates, and each of their respective officers, directors, employees and agents from and against any and all third-party claims, demands, liabilities, costs or expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, resulting from arising out of or in connection with our use and exploitation of your User Generated Content. You also agree not to enforce any moral rights, ancillary rights or similar rights in or to the User Generated Content against Habitat for Humanity or its licensees, distributors, agents, representatives and other authorized users, and agree to procure the same agreement not to enforce from others who may possess such rights.

To the extent that Habitat GFW expressly authorizes you to create, post, upload, distribute, publicly display or publicly perform User Generated Content that requires the use of our copyrighted works, Habitat GFW grants you a non-exclusive license to create a derivative work using our copyrighted works, solely as required for the purpose of creating the materials, provided that such license shall be conditioned upon your assignment to Habitat GFW of all rights in the work you create. If such rights are not assigned to Habitat GFW, your license to create derivative works using Habitat GFW’s copyrighted works shall be null and void.

Habitat GFW is not responsible for any User Generated Content or user communications published or transmitted by users of the Website. Habitat GFW reserves the right to edit or delete User Generated Content or user communications at any time and for any reason without any prior notice, but has no obligation to do so.

Unsolicited creative submissions/communications

Habitat GFW does not accept or consider creative ideas, suggestions or materials other than those Habitat GFW has specifically requested. If you do send or post any creative materials, including creative suggestions, ideas, notes, drawings, concepts or other information or if you transmit by electronic mail or otherwise, communications, including any data, questions, comments, suggestions or the like (collectively, the “Submitted Material”), the Submitted Material will be deemed and remain Habitat GFW’s property. None of the Submitted Material will be subject to any confidentiality obligation on the part of Habitat GFW and Habitat GFW will not be liable for any use or disclosure of any Submitted Material. Habitat GFW will exclusively own any now known or hereafter existing worldwide perpetual rights to the Submitted Material, without compensation to the provider of the Submitted Material.

Disclaimer

The content on and available via this Website is provided “as is” and without warranties of any kind either express or implied. To the fullest extent permissible pursuant to applicable law, Habitat GFW disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, without limitation, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Habitat GFW makes no warranty that the functions contained in the content will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that Habitat GFW or the server that makes them available are free of viruses or other harmful components. Applicable law may not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so the above exclusion may not apply to you.

The information and opinions expressed in bulletin boards, chat rooms or other forums conducted on this site (“Forums”) are not necessarily those of Habitat GFW or its affiliates or related entities or content providers, and Habitat GFW makes no representations or warranties regarding that information or those opinions. Habitat GFW is not responsible or liable to any person or entity whatsoever (including, without limitation, persons who may use or rely on such content or to whom such content may be furnished) for any loss, damage (whether actual, consequential, punitive or otherwise), injury, claim, liability or other cause of any kind or character whatsoever based upon or resulting from any content, information or opinions provided in the Website.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permissible by applicable law, in no event will Habitat GFW, or its present or future affiliates, be liable to you for any personal injury, property damage, lost profits, cost of substitute goods or services, loss of data, loss of goodwill, work stoppage, computer and/or device or technology failure or malfunction or for any form of direct or indirect, special, incidental, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages based on any causes of action arising out of any alleged failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect or delay in service, operation or transmission of the Website or any alleged computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction of property and/or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of or posting of any record, content or technology, pertaining to or on the Website. You agree that this limitation of liability applies whether such allegations are for breach of contract, tortious behavior, negligence, or fall under any other cause of action, regardless of the basis upon which liability is claimed and even if Habitat GFW has been advised of the possibility of such loss or damage. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you also specifically acknowledge that Habitat GFW and/or its present or future affiliates are not liable for any actual or alleged defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of other users of the Website or any other third parties.

If applicable law does not allow all or any part of the above limitation of liability to apply to you, the limitations will apply to you only to the extent permitted by applicable law.

Jurisdiction

The Content and features on the Website are presented for the purpose of providing news and/or information and/or promoting programs, and other products and/or services that are or may become available in the United States, its territories and possessions. Any and all disputes, claims and controversies arising out of or in connection with your access to, and/or use of the Website, and/or the provision of Content, services and/or technology on or through the Website is governed the laws and decisions of the State of Georgia applicable to contracts made, entered into and performed entirely therein, without giving effect to its conflict of laws provisions.

Changes of these terms of service

Habitat GFW reserves the right to change these Terms of Service at any time, without notice to you. Please consult the most recent version of these Terms of Service each time you view the Website.