Bird Ecology and Conservation Ontario (BECO) is a non-profit organization that uses ecological research to advance the conservation of birds in Ontario.
We deeply value our relationships with our community of donors, partners, and supporters, and are committed to respecting the privacy of personal information in our care. As part of this commitment, we want you to be fully aware of what happens to the personal information we collect through your use of BECO’s website (“Website”) and any other interactions you may have with us (by telephone, email, and through our programs and events). This privacy statement (“Statement”) describes the way BECO collects, uses, and discloses your personal information. When a donor, partner, volunteer, or supporter chooses to support BECO, they are consenting to BECO’s collection, use, or disclosure of personal information in accordance with this Statement.
Personal information is any information about an identifiable person, such as your name, personal contact information, and financial information. This Statement is not intended to cover business contact information or anonymous information.
We will obtain your consent (through this Statement or other means) to collect, use, and/or disclose personal information, except where we are authorized or required by law to do so without consent.
We identify the purposes for which personal information is collected at or before the time the information is collected and collect only that information necessary for the purposes that have been identified.
We collect personal information about you from your interactions with us and other sources such as our third-party partners. We collect personal information that is relevant to your relationship with BECO for the purpose of providing communications and information about programs and events, for program and project delivery, administering events and initiatives, processing donations and funding, as well as to establish, maintain, and manage our relationship with you.
From time-to-time we may collect information through a targeted survey. In this case, the purpose of the survey and use of information will be made explicit and information will only be collected from participants who voluntarily choose to complete the survey.
We do not collect information indiscriminately and will limit collection of information to that which is reasonable and necessary for the purposes it was collected or as authorized by law. We do not collect personal information about visitors to our Website, except when visitors voluntarily choose to submit their personal information by sending a message through the contact form, signing up for our newsletter, or making a donation.
Collection through cookies
A cookie is a small data file that a website may write to your hard drive. A cookie file can contain information (such as a user ID) that a website can use to track the pages you have visited and to record your preferences for future visits.
We do not collect personal information that can identify you when you are browsing our Website. Additionally, we do not routinely collect or use cookies to collect anonymous information about visitors to our Website. However, our Website platform and plugins may use cookies to temporarily store information or record general information, such as the browser you are using. This information is not connected to the personal information you choose to submit to BECO. You can manage website cookies in your browser settings. If you choose to change your settings, you may find that certain functions and features will not work as intended on the Website. All browser settings are slightly different. To manage cookies, you should refer to the relevant settings within your browser. For more information on blocking cookies or targeted advertising, visit the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada page at http://youradchoices.ca/choices/.
We may use your personal information to:
- Process a donation.
- Establish and maintain communication with donors, partners, volunteers, and supporters.
- Respond to you in an appropriate manner (e.g., respond to your inquiry, thank you for your donation).
- Provide information about our programs, projects, and fundraising initiatives, including through BECO’s newsletter.
- Establish, build, and manage relationships with supporters, donors, volunteers, and partners.
- Administer and promote our projects, programs, events, and other initiatives.
- Administer surveys or request feedback to improve and manage our relationship with you.
- Help us manage and improve our projects, programs, events, and other initiatives.
- Manage BECO and BECO’s day-to-day needs.
- Comply with our legal obligations.
- Fulfill other purposes related to any of the above.
We may also de-identify, aggregate, or anonymize information to identify trends, manage the organization, develop statistical information, understand how we are performing, or develop relevant programs, initiatives, and events. Such information may also be shared with third parties for other analytical purposes but will not personally identify any individual; therefore, is not subject to this Statement.
We do not disclose your personal information to any third-party organizations, except with the consent of the individual, to organizations or individuals that assist us in providing services or who perform functions on our behalf, or as required by law. For example, our external auditing firm or the Canada Revenue Agency may require us to provide them with donor records or receipts during the course of an audit.
In all cases, the third party is contractually bound to comply with this Statement and applicable privacy laws, and to maintain the confidentiality of all personal information BECO provides to it.
We do not sell, barter, trade, or rent lists of donors or supporters and their contact information with other organizations. In certain circumstances, partners may be provided with personal information, when appropriate (e.g., a list of attendees’ contact information after an event for follow-up, to provide presentation material, etc.).
BECO uses the email newsletter service MailChimp to send email updates about our projects and other relevant information. Website visitors can sign up to the BECO newsletter through the Website. Email distribution lists are stored by MailChimp on a secure server. MailChimp never sells email distribution lists of members using their services. More information on MailChimp’s privacy policy is available here: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/#3._Privacy_for_Contacts.
Online donations are securely processed through Charitable Impact, a platform that helps people and charities manage charitable giving. Charitable Impact is a registered charity that issues receipts directly to donors and disburses funds to BECO. Donors have the option to share their contact information with BECO, including their name, address, and email, or to remain anonymous. No credit card information is ever shared with BECO. Charitable Impact’s privacy policy can be accessed here: https://www.charitableimpact.com/privacy/.
We take precautions to protect your personal information. Personal information is safeguarded by appropriate physical measures (i.e., restricted access to offices), organizational measures (i.e., limiting access on a need-to-know basis), and technological measures (i.e., passwords and other online security measures), commensurate to the sensitivity of the information.
We retain personal information only for the amount of time needed to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected or as permitted by law, after which the personal information is destroyed or made anonymous.
Our Website contains links to other sites and embedded content (e.g., videos). We provide links to third-party sites and embedded content for information purposes; however, this does not constitute endorsement of these sites. When you link to an external website or view embedded content you are subject to the privacy policies of that third-party website. BECO is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of these third-party sites.
You can contact us to request access to your personal information to review its accuracy or to update your personal information. Please make a request in writing, using any of the contact methods outlined below.
Contact us: If you have any questions or concerns about this Statement or about BECO’s handling of your personal information, please contact us in writing at:
Bird Ecology and Conservation Ontario
1840 Bathurst St., Suite 206
Toronto, Ontario
M5P 3K7
Email: [email protected]
Please note that we may need to confirm your identity or request additional details to process your request.
BECO reserves the right to change this Statement at any time, without notice, in its sole discretion. This Statement will be updated periodically to reflect changes to our personal information practices and services. The revised Statement will be made available on our Website. We will treat your personal information in accordance with the Statement in place at the time of collection of such information, or as you otherwise consent. Whenever you need to refer to this Statement you should refer to the Website to ensure you have the most up-to-date version.
This Statement was last updated on November 1, 2019.