Privacy Policy

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Last Updated: April 17, 2023

This Privacy Policy describes how the Robert R. McCormick Foundation (“the Foundation,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), collects and uses information about you through your use of our website made available at https://www.mccormickfoundation.org/ (the “Site”).

BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SITE, YOU AGREE ON BEHALF OF YOURSELF AND ANY COMPANY THAT YOU REPRESENT (COLLECTIVELY, “YOU”) THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND THAT YOU ACCEPT AND CONSENT TO THE COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION AS DISCUSSED BELOW. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS PRIVACY POLICY, DO NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SITE.

1. Changes to Privacy Policy.
We reserve the right to modify or amend this Privacy Policy at any time. All changes will be effective immediately upon posting to the Site. Material changes will be conspicuously posted on the Site or otherwise communicated to you. By accessing or using the Site after changes are posted, you agree to those changes.

2. Information We Collect
We may collect information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with you or your household (“Personal Information”) about you when you use our Site. The information we collect falls into three categories: (a) information you provide to us; (b) information we collect through automated methods when you use our Site; and (c) information we collect from other sources (as further detailed below).

A. Information You Provide to Us. You may visit the Site without sharing Personal Information. We collect Personal Information that you provide directly to us if you choose to do so. If you elect to provide data that personally identifies you, such as your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, or payment information, we will collect, use, and share such Personal Information pursuant to this Policy and applicable law. This may occur in the following ways:

  • Payment Information. Donations made through the Site, must be made by credit or debit card. All credit and debit card information is provided directly to our PCI-compliant third-party payment processor, Blackbaud. The Foundation does not directly access or handle your credit or debit card information, except that the Foundation will store the last four digits of your credit or debit card number in order to assist our payment processor with recurring donations. If you make a donation, you will need to submit your name, whether or not the donation is being made on behalf of a company (and if so, the name of that company), your credit or debit card number, the card type, the cardholder’s name, the expiration date, the security code, your billing address, your email address, your telephone number, and, if a company will match your gift, the name of that company. We encourage you to review our payment processor’s privacy policy, which is located at https://www.blackbaud.com/privacy-policy.aspx.
  • Donation Information. If you elect to make a donation through the Site, in addition to the payment information listed above, you will also need to provide your email address and telephone number. Our donor management software supplier maintains a record of the donations that you make and the information you submit in the process. If you elect to have a name published when making a donation, that name may be listed on the respective web sites and publications (online and hardcopy) of the Foundation and the applicable fund partner.
  • Marketing Opt-Out. If you sign up for our mailing lists or otherwise opt in to receive communications from us (including by making a donation), you will need to submit your name and email address. You may also provide your physical address and telephone number. We will use this information to provide you with promotional and other communications regarding the Foundation. You may opt out of receiving promotional emails from us at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of the applicable email. Opting out of marketing communications does not opt you out of non-marketing communications, such as emails about your donations or transactions.
  • Mailing Lists. Our mailing lists are managed by our email service suppliers, which may collect the Internet protocol (“IP”) addresses assigned to your computer, your operating system type, and demographic information about you. They may also use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect information about your online activity and uses web beacons to track behavior (for example, which recipients opened emails and when, which recipients clicked on links contained in those emails, and your browser and email client type). Our email service supplier may combine this information with information about you obtained by searching the Internet (for example, your use of social media platforms) or use your information and share it with third parties and for purposes of promoting its services, communicating with you, to comply with legal requirements, and to protect its legal rights. We encourage you to review our email services providers’ privacy policies, which are located at https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy and https://www.blackbaud.com/privacy-policy.aspx.
  • Social Media. The Site may allow you to connect and share information with various social media platforms, for example, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter. Anything you post on social media is public information and will not be treated confidentially. We may post (or re-post) on the Site and our Social Media pages any comments or content that you post on our social media pages. These features may require us to implement cookies, plug-ins, and application protocol interfaces (APIs) provided by those social media platforms. We may share information that you provide us or that we may collect about your use of the Site with those platforms and that information will be subject to their privacy policies. Your use of social media is governed by the privacy policies and terms of the providers that own and operate those websites and not by this Policy. We encourage you to review those policies and terms. We cannot control any policies or terms of such third-party platform. As a result, we cannot be responsible for any use of your information or content by a third-party platform, which you use at your own risk.
  • Applying to Work with the Foundation. To submit job application materials online to work with the Foundation, you will be redirected to our careers page, which is operated by our third party service provider, Paylocity. You may be required to create an account and submit Personal Information to that Paylocity. We encourage you to review the terms and privacy policy posted here, https://www.paylocity.com/who-we-are/protecting-our-clients/privacy-center/ as that policy will govern your use of that website. If you send us your job application materials directly, we will only use and share those job application materials to evaluate your qualifications to work with the Foundation and its affiliates. 
  • Feedback. When you provide comments or feedback about our Site or the content on the Site, (“Feedback”), we will not treat that Feedback as confidential, and we may use that Feedback for any purpose in our sole discretion so long as it does not personally identify you. Feedback will be used without attribution or compensation to you.

B. Information that is Automatically Collected. We may use automated technology to collect information from your computer system or mobile device when you use our Site. This may include the following:

  • The Site uses cookies to track Site use and to facilitate and enhance the user experience. These may be cookies that we implement or third-party cookies implemented by our suppliers. We do not have access to or control over any cookies implemented by our suppliers. “Cookies” are small data files that are stored by your browser on your computer’s hard drive to remember certain information. The Site’s cookies enable us to facilitate access to different areas of the Site, for example, by showing when and how you and others visit the Site, by telling us how popular the Site pages are (or aren’t), what search terms are used to find the Site, and which third-party web sites direct you to the Site. Cookies can also help us improve your enjoyment of the Site, for example, by remembering your contact and other information when you access or use the Site. Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can disable this function so that your browser will not accept cookies. Please be aware that disabling cookies may impact your use and enjoyment of the Site. WE WILL AUTOMATICALLY COLLECT COOKIES WHEN YOU VISIT THIS SITE. DUE TO THIS AUTOMATIC COLLECTION, WE DO NOT HONOR “DO NOT TRACK” REQUESTS. Our Site suppliers also use cookies and other tracking technologies to track Site visitors across the Internet to understand how you get to the Site.
  • IP Addresses and Related Data. The web servers used to operate the Site may collect certain data pertaining to you and the equipment, software, and communication methods you use to access the Internet and the Site. This information includes the IP addresses assigned to your computer, your Internet service provider (ISP), your approximate geographic location, your Internet browser type, the pages you accessed on the Site, the web sites you accessed before and after visiting the Site, the length of time you spend on the Site, date and time stamps, and clickstream data. We may use this information to administer the Site and the servers that host the Site, to generate statistical information, to monitor and analyze Site traffic and usage patterns, to monitor and prevent fraud, to investigate complaints and reported violations of our policies, and to improve the Site’s content and the products, services, materials, and other content that we describe or make available through the Site. For security reasons and to confirm the integrity of the Site, we may combine this information with personally identifiable information and other Collected Information, as well as with information we obtain from third parties. Our suppliers may collect information about your visits to the Site and other web sites.
  • Analytics. The Site uses Google Analytics to collect information about your use of the Site, which information your web browser automatically sends to Google. This information includes the web address of the web sites that you visit and your IP address. Google may also set cookies or read preexisting cookies. This information is stored on Google’s servers. Google uses this information to provide us with reports about Site traffic and your visits to the Site (for example, the domain from which you access the Internet, the web address of the web site from which you linked to the Site, and the date and time of your visit to the web sites that you view and click through). We will use this data to improve the Site’s structure and content. Google may use this data in accordance with its Privacy Policy, which is located at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy. For more information on how Google uses your data, visit http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners. You may opt out of our use of Google Analytics by visiting the Google Analytics opt-out web site at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout and installing the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On. Please remember that you will need to opt out for each browser you use.
  • Data from Other Sources. We obtain data about individuals from various third-party companies and public sources and we may combine that data with other Personal Information. This enhances our existing data about our users, improves our ability to contact you, and enhances our marketing capabilities.

3. How We Use Personal Information
We use Personal Information that we collect for the following purposes:

  • As Stated or Agreed to at the Point of Collection. We may use Personal Information for the purposes stated or agreed-to (or as is obvious) at the point of collection. For example, we use Personal Information to respond to your questions, comments, or complaints. We may also use Personal Information as requested or consented to by you.
  • Support. We may use Personal Information, including information about your computer hardware and software, to verify whether or not your system meets the minimum requirements needed to use and make payments through the Site.
  • Donation We also maintain Personal Information to track donation activity and maintain our donation records.
  • We use Personal Information for administrative purposes, such as managing and facilitating donations, to inform our business strategies, and to understand the Site’s demographics and user preferences.
  • Site Management. We use Personal Information for Site management, such as troubleshooting problems, improving the content and functionality of the Site, statistical and other analyses of the Site, and to customize the Site to you and our users.
  • Business We use Personal Information to assess the effectiveness of our marketing and advertising, as well as to notify you of new services or programs, new features of our Site, to notify you of changes to our Terms or this Policy, and for other similar communications.
  • Security and Protection of Rights. We may use Personal Information to the extent permitted or required by applicable law, including, in the event of a subpoena, court order, law enforcement request, or other security issue. We may use Personal Information if we believe doing so is necessary to operate the Site or to protect our rights or the rights of others.
  • Aggregate Data. We may aggregate your Personal Information, either alone or with other data, to create anonymous aggregate data on Site users. Aggregate data describes the habits, usage patterns, or demographics of users as a group but does not reveal the identity of individual users and so will not identify you. We may use aggregate data for any use, including in order to understand the needs of Site users, to determine Site user demographics and usage patterns, to determine what kinds of products and services we can provide, and to improve and enrich our products, services, and the Site.

4. How We Use Data Collected by Automatic Technologies.
We use Cookies to: (i) make our Site function properly; (ii) provide personalized experiences; (iii) tailor our interactions with you; (iv) help with our marketing efforts; (v) provide us with valuable data and statistics about the usage and effectiveness of our Site and to help us improve our Site; and (vii) help us improve our services.

5. How We Disclose Personal Information
We do not sell, rent or lease Personal Information to any third party.  We may disclose Personal Information with the following categories of parties, in compliance with applicable laws:

Fund Partners. As noted elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, we share certain Personal Information with fund partners as necessary to facilitate grant applications. Additionally, we may provide your name, mailing address, email address, and telephone number to the applicable fund partner so that the fund partner can send you a thank you or other acknowledgment of your donation. You consent to receiving telephone calls from those fund partners pertaining to your donation(s) and the fund partner’s other campaigns and fundraising activities. If you want to remain anonymous and do not want your name or other information to be disclosed, please let us know and we will withhold that information unless disclosure is required by law.

Employees and Affiliates.  We may disclose Personal Information with our employees and affiliates who have a need to know the information for our business purposes. This includes sharing Personal Information with our partnerships to fulfill and distribute donations to our funds and investments as needed.

Third Parties, Suppliers and Vendors. We may share Personal Information with our web site suppliers, email suppliers, payment processors, telephone campaign services providers, and other suppliers as necessary for us to provide the Site and our products and services to you and as may otherwise be permitted by applicable law. We require our suppliers to comply with all applicable data privacy laws and regulations and they are authorized to use your Personal Information as necessary to provide the applicable services to the Foundation.

Government Officials / Law Enforcement.  We will cooperate with law enforcement and other governmental agencies, and may disclose Personal Information:  (i) if we believe in good faith we are legally required to disclose that Personal Information, (ii) if we are advised to disclose Personal Information by our legal counsel, or (iii) when necessary to identify, contact or bring a legal action against someone who may cause or be causing harm to, or interfering with the legal rights of, the Foundation or any other party.

Professional Advisors.  We may disclose Personal Information with our professional advisors, such as our attorneys, accountants, financial advisors and business advisors, in their capacity as advisors to the Foundation.

Other.  We may disclose Personal Information with third parties when explicitly requested by or consented to by you, or for the purposes for which you disclosed the Personal Information to us as indicated at the time and point of the disclosure (or as was obvious at the time and point of disclosure).

6. Use and Disclosure of Non-Personal Information
The Foundation may collect, use, disclose, transfer and otherwise process de-identified and aggregated information that it receives or creates for any purposes in its sole discretion, in compliance with applicable laws. The Foundation is the sole and exclusive owner of such de-identified and aggregated information, including if the Foundation de-identifies Personal Information so that it no longer considered Personal Information under applicable laws.

7. Information Security
While we cannot guarantee that loss, misuse, or alteration will not occur, the Foundation has security measures in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of information under our control. Specifically, on our donation pages, the information passed between your browser and our system is encrypted with Secure Socket Layers technology to create a protected connection between you and the Site in order to ensure confidentiality.

the storage and communication of information can never be completely secure, so we do not guarantee that information that you transmit or otherwise provide to us, or any communications conducted on or through the Site, is or will be totally secure. You submit Personal Information at your own risk.

8. Ownership of Personal Information; Retention
All Personal Information collected via the Site is exclusively the property of the Foundation. In the event of a change in control of the Foundation, merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets by the Foundation, all information owned by or in the control of the Foundation may be transferred or sold to the successor of the transaction and that successor will be bound to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

If you make a donation via the Site to a fund, you understand that if the organization in charge of that fund transfers the fund to a third-party charitable organization, or if the fund otherwise changes control, then the Foundation will itself disclose—or permit the organization in charge of the fund to disclose—your name and the mailing address, email address, and telephone number associated with that donation to that third-party charitable organization. That third-party charitable organization may use such information to update its donor records and to communicate with you regarding the applicable fund, its campaigns, and its fundraising activities.

We will keep Personal Information for the period necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this Policy, unless a longer retention period is permitted or required by law.

9. Access by Children
The Site is not directed toward children under 13 years of age and the Foundation does not knowingly collect or use information from children under 13 through the Site. If we obtain actual knowledge that any Personal Information that we collected has been provided by a child under the age of 13, we will promptly delete that information. If a parent or legal guardian learns that their child provided us with Personal Information without his or her consent, please contact us and we will make commercially reasonable attempts to delete such Personal Information.

10. Third-Party Websites
The Site may link to websites not controlled by us. We are not responsible for third-parties’ privacy policies or practices. This Policy does not apply to any third-party websites or to any data that you provide to third parties. You should read the privacy policy for each website that you visit.

11. Site Access From Outside the United States.
If you are visiting the Site from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States, where our and our suppliers’ servers and central databases are located and operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States might not be comprehensive as those in the country from which you are accessing the Site or otherwise deemed adequate, but please be assured that we take steps to protect your privacy as set forth above.

12. Contact Us
If you have any other questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email at info@mccormickfoundation.org or by mail at Robert R. McCormick Foundation, 205 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 4300, Chicago, Illinois 60601.