What information we collect
When you visit our website: We use Google Analytics which uses your IP address and information from your computer (“cookies”) to track what you visit and how long you stay on our website. In addition, we may connect different “sessions” together (e.g., we can tell that the person who looked at our website last week also visited the website this week). Google Analytics gives us some other basic information like your general location, device type, browser, and how you got to the website. We don’t connect your name or identity to your website activity.
When you sign up for our newsletter: We’ll keep your name and email address.
When you participate in our workshops or programs: We collect personally identifiable information like your name, birth date, email address, phone number, school, racial identity, and more. You can decline to provide this information. We track sessions you participate in our programs for the purpose of understanding your engagement and reporting our impact. You may opt-in to receive text messages from our staff.
When you participate in our community events: We usually ask you to sign in when you come to an event, or pre-register online. We may also ask for demographic information like your race, age, zip code, etc. For demographic information requested, there will be an option for “I do not which to report”.
When you volunteer with us: At minimum, we’ll ask for your name, contact information, and race/ethnicity information. You may opt-in to receive text messages from staff. If you are volunteering in one of our youth programs we’ll ask you to complete a background check through the school district. This process requires your social security number, previous names, and addresses. However we do not have access to this information as the process is done by Savannah Chatham County Public Schools. Upon completion of the background check Deep Center only receives verification that you have passed or failed, with no additional information.
When you donate to support our work: We store your name and email address, and any other information you provide on the donation form. We use a third-party tool to process credit card and bank transactions so we don’t store, and can’t see, your credit card information. If you send us a bank check we protect your bank account information by keeping it securely in a restricted location, and making it only accessible to the staff in the finance department.
How we collect information
Fundraising, newsletter, and website information is collected either automatically or when you fill out forms on our website. Our forms have been built with accessibility in mind.
Program registration information is collected via online forms, on the phone, on paper forms, or in person.
If you feel uncomfortable when giving us information, please contact our privacy advocate (see below) or our executive director (contact information is on our website).
Your rights
We believe that information about you belongs to you. However, we are also required by some funders to record and keep some information. We try to balance these as best we can.
We are required by law to store certain information for at least seven years after the last time we provide you with services. Some of our funders might require us to keep information for even longer. You do not have the right to request the deletion of your information. However, you can request a copy and can also request that we update any incorrect information.
Unsubscribing from our newsletter will remove your contact information from our mailing list.
We are required to keep basic information about volunteers and donors. However, you can request a copy and also request that we update any information.
Who you can talk to
Our privacy advocate is Louise Tremblay – louise@deepcenter.org. If you need to contact Louise anonymously, we recommend signing up for a new email address and emailing Louise from there.
If you feel that Louise isn’t addressing your needs, please contact our Executive Director. Their contact information is available on our website.
Who sees your information (and how they use it)
We limit access to information only to people who need it. For example, only the fundraising team can access detailed donor information, the website, and our mailing list. They may share summaries without identifiable information outside of their team. You may opt-out of sharing your name publicly on our donor rolls by making a donation anonymously.
If you participate in one of our programs or attend one of our events, the personal data you share with us is only accessible to our staff. We do not share personal information about our participants with outside organizations. If you are a minor, your guardian has the right to request to see your informational record.
We may sometimes hire third-party organizations to help us understand data. We require that these companies delete personally identifiable data when they are done, or we only share data with personal information removed.
Note that our staff are mandatory reporters. If a staff member has reason to believe that you are the victim or perpetrator of abuse or neglect, we are required by law to notify law enforcement.
How long we keep your data
We try to delete data once it is no longer needed but are subject to several laws regarding data retention. For example, donor records are kept for at least seven years after the last interaction with us.
How we update this policy
We may update this policy occasionally. We’ll keep it up to date on our website and posted in our offices. If you have given us permission to email you and/or text you, then we may also use those to notify you of significant changes.