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Privacy policy

LAST UPDATED: August 10, 2023

The Optimist LLC (“Project Optimist,” “we,” or “us”) wants you to be familiar with how we collect, use, and disclose information.  This Privacy Policy describes our practices in connection with information that we collect through:

●        The projectoptimist.us, theoptimist.mn, and any other Project Optimist-operated website from which you are accessing this Privacy Policy (the “Websites”);

●        Our social media pages located at https://www.instagram.com/theoptimist.mn/ , https://www.facebook.com/theoptimist.mn ,  https://twitter.com/MnTheoptimist , and https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-optimist/ (collectively, our “Social Media Pages”); and

●        HTML-formatted email messages that we send to you that link to this Privacy Policy or other communications with you.

We refer to the Websites, Social Media Pages, and emails as the “Services.”

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal Information” is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable individual.  The Services collect Personal Information, including:  

●        Name

●        Postal address (including billing and shipping addresses)

●        Telephone number

●        Email address

●        IP address (we may also derive your approximate location from your IP address)

●        Login and logout activity on our site

●        Information you share when contacting us

●        Credit or debit card number, expiration date, and CVC number

●        Social media handles

 Collection of Personal Information

We and our service providers collect Personal Information through the Services, for example, when you sign up for a newsletter, register an account to access the Services, make a donation online, purchase a subscription, post a message on a forum we operate, or contact us through the Services.

We collect Personal Information in order to provide the requested Services to you.  If you do not provide the information requested, we may not be able to provide the Services. If you disclose any Personal Information relating to other people to us or to our service providers in connection with the Services, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

 Use of Personal Information

We and our service providers use Personal Information for the following purposes:

●        To provide the Services’ functionality to you, such as arranging access to your registered account, and providing you with related services and support.

●        To complete your transactions, including processing your subscriptions, donations, or orders, and verifying your information.

●        To respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests, for example, when you send us questions, suggestions, tips, or complaints, or requests for information about our Services.

●        To send administrative information to you, such as changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.

●        To send you our newsletter or other marketing communications, with information about our services, new topics or series, and other updates about our organization.

●        To analyze or predict our users’ preferences in order to understand how our digital content is used and consumed.

●        To better understand your interests and preferences, so that we can personalize our interactions with you and provide you with information or offers tailored to your interests.

●        To accomplish our business purposes, including:

−         For data analysis, for example, to improve the efficiency of our Services;

−         For audits, to verify that our internal processes function as intended and to address legal, regulatory, or contractual requirements;

−         For fraud prevention and fraud security monitoring purposes, for example, to detect and prevent cyberattacks or attempts to commit identity theft;

−         For developing new content and services;

−         For enhancing, improving, repairing, maintaining, or modifying our current content and services;

−         For determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns, so that we can adapt our campaigns to the needs and interests of our users; and

−         For operating and expanding our business activities, for example, understanding which parts of our Services are of most interest to our users so we can focus our energies on meeting our users’ interests. 

Aggregated or Anonymized Personal Information

We may aggregate and/or anonymize Personal Information so that it will no longer be considered Personal Information. We do so to generate other data for our use, which we may use and disclose for any purpose, as it no longer identifies you or any other individual.

Disclosure of Personal Information 

We disclose Personal Information:

 ●        To our third party service providers, to facilitate services they provide to us.

−         These can include providers of services such as website hosting, data analysis, payment processing, fraud prevention, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service or related benefits (including special promotions), email delivery, auditing, and other services.

●        By using the Services, you may elect to disclose Personal Information.

−         On message boards, chat, profile pages, blogs, and other services to which you are able to post information and content (including, without limitation, our Social Media Pages).  Please note that any information you post or disclose through these services will become public and may be available to other users and the general public.]

Other Uses and Disclosures

We also use and disclose your Personal Information as necessary or appropriate:

●        To comply with applicable law and regulations.

●        To cooperate with public and government authorities.

●        To cooperate with law enforcement.

●        For other legal reasons.

−         To enforce our terms and conditions; and

−         To protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you or others.

●        In connection with a sale or business transaction.

−         For example, in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).

●        To accomplish any additional purposes disclosed to you at the time you provide the information.

OTHER INFORMATION

Other Information” is any information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an identifiable individual. The Services collect Other Information such as:

●        Browser and device information

●        Information collected through cookies, pixel tags, and other technologies

●        Demographic information and other information provided by you that does not reveal your specific identity

●        Information that has been aggregated in a manner such that it no longer reveals your specific identity

Collection of Other Information

We and our service providers may collect Other Information in a variety of ways, including: 

●        Your browser or device

−         Certain information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (PC or Mac), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, Internet browser type and version and the name and version of the Services (such as the App) you are using.  We use this information to ensure that the Services function properly. 

●        Cookies. 

−         Cookies are pieces of information stored directly on the computer that you are using.  Cookies allow us to collect information such as browser type, time spent on the Services, pages visited, language preferences, and other traffic data.  We and our service providers use the information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to display information more effectively, and to personalize your experience.  We also gather statistical information using services such as Google Analytics about use of the Services in order to continually improve their design and functionality, understand how they are used, and assist us with resolving questions regarding them. For more information on how Google Analytics collects and stores information, please see https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.  We do not currently respond to browser do-not-track signals. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, most browsers allow you to automatically decline cookies or be given the choice of declining or accepting a particular cookie (or cookies) from a particular website.  You may also wish to refer to http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/index.html. If, however, you do not accept cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of the Services.

●        Pixel tags and other similar technologies. 

−         Pixel tags. Pixel tags (also known as web beacons and clear GIFs) may be used to, among other things, track the actions of users of the Services (including email recipients), measure the success of our marketing campaigns, and compile statistics about usage of the Services and response rates. 

Uses and Disclosures of Other Information

We may use and disclose Other Information for any purpose, except where we are required to do otherwise under applicable law.  If we are required to treat Other Information as Personal Information under applicable law, we may use and disclose it for the purposes for which we use and disclose Personal Information as detailed in this Policy.  In some instances, we may combine Other Information with Personal Information.  If we do, we will treat the combined information as Personal Information as long as it is combined.

SECURITY

We seek to use reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures to protect Personal Information within our organization.  Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.  If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contacting Us” section below.

CHOICES AND ACCESS 

Your choices regarding our use and disclosure of your Personal Information

We give you choices regarding our use and disclosure of your Personal Information for marketing purposes. You may opt out from: 

(1)    Receiving marketing-related emails from us.  If you no longer want to receive marketing related emails from us on a going-forward basis, you may opt out by by following the instructions contained in each such email or by emailing us at nora@theoptimist.mn.

We will try to comply with your request(s) as soon as reasonably practicable.  Please note that if you opt out of receiving marketing related emails from us, we may still send you important administrative messages, from which you cannot opt out.

THIRD PARTY SERVICES

This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information, or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any website or service to which the Services link, such as, for example, links to social media services embedded in content published on the Services.   The inclusion of a link on the Services does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us or by our affiliates.

In addition, we are not responsible for the information collection, use, disclosure, or security policies or practices of other organizations, such as Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM, or any other app developer, app provider, social media platform provider, operating system provider, wireless service provider, or device manufacturer, including with respect to any Personal Information you disclose to other organizations through or in connection with the App.

THIRD PARTY ADVERTISING

Although we may directly, or may use third-party advertising companies to, serve advertisements regarding goods and services when you access and use the Services and other websites or online services, we do not collect or use information relating to your access to and use of the Services or other websites or online services from any of your devices, or information received from any third parties, to determine the advertising that is served to you or any other users of the Services.

USE OF SERVICES BY MINORS

The Services are not directed to individuals under the age of thirteen (13), and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from individuals under 13.

APPLICABLE LAW

Project Optimist is located in the United States.  Your Personal Information may be stored and processed in the United States and any country where we have facilities or in which we engage service providers, which may have data protection rules that are different from those of your country. 

SENSITIVE INFORMATION

Unless we request it, we ask that you not send us, and you not disclose, any sensitive Personal Information (e.g., social security numbers, information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, biometrics or genetic characteristics, or criminal background) on or through the Services or otherwise to us.

THIRD PARTY PAYMENT SERVICE

The Services may provide functionality allowing you to make payments to the organization using third-party payment services with which you have created your own account.  When you use such a service to make a payment to us, your Personal Information will be collected by such third party and not by us, and will be subject to the third party’s privacy policy, rather than this Privacy Policy.  We have no control over, and are not responsible for, this third party’s collection, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information.]

UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

The “LAST UPDATED” legend at the top of this Privacy Policy indicates when this Privacy Policy was last revised.  Any changes will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on the Services.

CONTACTING US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at nora@theoptimist.mn or P.O. Box 298, St. Michael, MN 55376.

Because email communications are not always secure, please do not include credit card or other sensitive information in your emails to us.