Taproot Plus Privacy Policy

Last Updated: January 23, 2019
Welcome, and thank you for your interest in Taproot Plus and the Taproot Foundation, Inc. ("Taproot", "we," or "us") and our web site at https://www.taprootplus.org/ (the "Site"), as well as all related web sites, networks, mobile applications, and other services provided by us and on which a link to this Privacy Policy (this "Privacy Policy") is displayed (collectively, together with the Site, our "Service").
This Privacy Policy describes the information that we gather from you on the Service, how we use and disclose such information, and the steps we take to protect such information. By using the Service, you consent to the privacy practices described in this Privacy Policy.
This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is subject to the Taproot Terms of Service. Capitalized terms used but not defined in this Privacy Policy have the meaning given to them in the Taproot Terms of Service. For clarity, any private information or data collected in connection with the website, services or projects offered directly by the Taproot Foundation (as opposed to information gathered through use of the Taproot Plus Service) will be governed by a separate Taproot Foundation privacy policy.

The information we collect on the Service.

We may collect information, including personal information, in the various ways described below. Personal information means any information that directly or indirectly identifies an individual such as name, email address, mailing address, mobile phone number, and credit card or other billing information. Personal information may also include other information, such as date of birth, geographic area, professional skills and background, or preferences.

  • User-provided Information. You may provide us with personal information in various ways on the Service. For example, you provide us with personal information when you register for an account, use the Service, post User Content, interact with other users of the Service through communication or messaging features, or send us customer service-related requests. In addition, when you use the Service, you may provide and we may collect information related to your qualifications and your participation in projects posted through the Service, such as your position title, information regarding you application to participate, information regarding your skillset, and your satisfaction rates with the Service or projects posted through the Service. We may also collect from non-profits you interact with through the Service information such as satisfaction rates, location information, data regarding updates to projects, as well as any reviews we might later receive.

  • "Cookies" Information. When you use the Service, we may send one or more cookies (a small text file containing a string of alphanumeric characters) or similar code to your devices. Some of this code may remain on your devices and may be used by your browser or devices on subsequent visits to the Service. This allows us to "remember" what you have done on the Service before and personalize the Service for you. Please look through your browser’s or devices’ technical support resources to learn the correct way to remove or disable this code. Please note that disabling this code may prevent you from accessing some of the functionality and offerings available via the Service.

  • "Automatically Collected" Information. When you use the Service, we may automatically record certain information from your device by using various types of technology, including "clear gifs" or "web beacons." This "automatically collected" information may include your IP address or other device address or ID, web browser and/or device type, the pages or other content you view or otherwise interact with on the Service, and the dates and times that you visit, access, or use the Service. We also may use these technologies to collect information regarding your interaction with email messages, such as whether you opened, clicked on, or forwarded a message. This information is gathered from all users.

  • Third Party Web Beacons and Third Party Buttons. We may also implement third-party content or advertising on the Service that may use clear gifs or other forms of web beacons, which allow the third-party content provider to read and write cookies to your browser in connection with your viewing of the third party content on the Service. Additionally, we may implement third party buttons (such as Facebook "like" or "share" buttons) that may allow third parties to collect information about you through such third parties’ browser cookies, even when you do not interact with the button. Information collected through web beacons and buttons is collected directly by these third parties, and Taproot does not participate in that data transmission. Information collected by a third party in this manner is subject to that third party’s own data collection, use, and disclosure policies.

  • Analytics. We may work with different companies who offer services that can assist us in better understanding how users of our Service interact with and use our Service. For example, we currently use and may continue to use a product called Google Analytics by permitting Google to use technologies such as web beacons and cookies to collect certain non-personally identifiable information that helps us understand your usage of our Service. We may permit Google and other third party analytics providers to combine information collected through our Service with information collected from third party services, and these analytics providers may use this information to help us better understand our users, and these analytics providers may also use this information to help their other customers better understand their users. Additionally, we currently use and may continue to use a version of Google Analytics called Google Analytics for Display Advertisers, which enables Google to collect, use, and disclose information in connection with certain advertising activities. You may opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize Google Display Network ads at https://www.google.com/settings/ads.

  • Integrated Services. You may be given the option to access or register for the Service through the use of your user name and passwords for certain services provided by third parties (each, an "Integrated Service"), such as through the use of your LinkedIn or Facebook credentials, or otherwise have the option to authorize an Integrated Service to provide personal information or other information to us. By authorizing us to connect with an Integrated Service, you authorize us to access and store your name, email address(es), date of birth, gender, current city, profile picture URL, and other information that the Integrated Service makes available to us, and to use and disclose it in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You should check your privacy settings on each Integrated Service to understand and change the information sent to us through each Integrated Service. Please review each Integrated Service’s terms of use and privacy policies carefully before using their services and connecting to our Service.

  • Information from Other Sources. We may obtain information, including personal information, from third parties and sources other than the Service, such as our partners, corporate sponsors, advertisers, and Integrated Services. If we combine or associate information from other sources with personal information that we collect through the Service, we will treat the combined information as personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

How we use the information we collect.

We use information we collect on the Service in a variety of ways in providing the Service and operating our business, including the following:

  • To provide the Service. We use the information that we collect on the Service to operate, maintain, enhance and provide all features of the Service, to provide services and information that you request, to respond to comments and questions and otherwise to provide support to users, and to process and deliver entries and rewards in connection with promotions that may be offered from time to time on the Service.

  • To improve our Service. We use the information that we collect on the Service to understand and analyze the usage trends and preferences of our users, to improve the Service, and to develop new products, services, feature, and functionality. Similarly, we may use this information to understand and analyze how to strengthen our partnerships with certain corporate partners or sponsors.

  • To communicate with you. We may use your email address or other information we collect on the Service (i) to contact you for administrative purposes such as customer service, to address intellectual property infringement, right of privacy violations or defamation issues related to your User Content posted on the Service or (ii) to send communications, including updates on promotions and events, relating to products and services offered by us and by third parties we work with. Generally, you have the ability to opt-out of receiving any promotional communications as described below under "Your Choices."

  • To personalize and streamline your experience with Service. We may use "cookies" information and "automatically collected" information we collect on the Service to: (i) personalize our services, such as remembering your information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you visit the Service; (ii) provide customized advertisements, content, and information; (iii) monitor and analyze the effectiveness of Service and third-party marketing activities; (iv) monitor aggregate Site usage metrics such as total number of visitors and pages viewed; and (v) track your entries, submissions, and status in any promotions or other activities on the Service.

When we disclose information.

Except as described in this Privacy Policy, we will not disclose your information that we collect on the Service to third parties without your consent. We may disclose information to third parties if you consent to us doing so, as well as in the following circumstances:

  • Areas of Taproot Plus Accessible to Other Users. Any information that you voluntarily choose to include in an area of the Service that is intended to be viewed by others, such as a public profile page, will be available to anyone who has access to the Service, including other users.

  • Applicants and Volunteers. If you apply to participate as a volunteer, we may disclose the information you provide us to senior-level volunteers: (i) as part of your application process to become a Taproot volunteer; and (ii) for the purposes of staffing volunteers to work on pro bono projects. Typically, only a small fraction of volunteers are senior-level volunteers. Volunteers who have been assigned to certain pro bono project may have access to the contact information of the other volunteers who are participating in the same pro bono project, if applicable. Taproot sometimes works with third parties to provide Taproot’s Services to such third parties’ employees. If your employer is such a third party, we may also disclose the information you provide to us, including personally identifiable information, to your employer.

  • With Participating Non-Profit Organizations. If you are a Taproot consultant we may share information about your involvement with certain projects posted on the Site, in addition to any personal information you provide to us, with non-profit organizations that have expressed an interest in someone with your skillset or whom you have expressed an interest in.

  • With Participating Corporate Partners or Corporate Sponsors. If you are an employee or consultant who signs up to volunteer through your company-specific Taproot Plus page or through any other partnership that your company may have with Taproot, we may share some of the information that we collect with your company. We may disclose information such as your name, the volunteer projects which you have applied for, are working on or have completed, or the total number of hours you have worked. We share this information in order for your company to measure its employees’ level of engagement with the Service, and for Taproot to understand how to strengthen its partnerships. For example, by identifying a particular type of project which has become popular at with the employees who have volunteered from your company, Taproot will be able to recommend it to your company which in turn may increase your satisfaction with the Service.

  • Service Providers and Other Third Parties. We work with third party service providers to provide website, application development, hosting, maintenance, and other services for us. These third parties may have access to or process your information as part of providing those services for us. We contractually require service providers to keep information confidential, and to only process information on our written instructions

  • Aggregate and Non-identifying Information. We may make certain automatically-collected, aggregated, or otherwise non-personally-identifiable information available to other users of the Service or third parties for various purposes, including (i) compliance with various reporting obligations; (ii) for business or marketing purposes; or (iii) to assist such parties in understanding our users’ interests, habits, and usage patterns for certain programs, content, services, advertisements, promotions, and/or functionality available through the Service.

  • Compliance with Law and Law Enforcement. We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with state and federal laws (such as U.S. copyright law), in response to a court order, judicial or other government subpoena or warrant, or to otherwise cooperate with law enforcement or other governmental agencies.

  • Business Transfers. Information about our users, including personal information, may be disclosed and otherwise transferred to an acquirer, or successor or assignee as part of any merger, acquisition, debt financing, sale of assets, or similar transaction, as well as in the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership in which information is transferred to one or more third parties as one of our business assets.

  • Referrals. As part of our referral program, we may request the contact information of our users’ friends and family whom they think would like to receive information on Taproot. The persons referred to us will be contacted only by our staff. We use and treat information our users provide about their referrals in the same way we use and treat information about users who register directly with Taproot.

  • Other sharing. We also reserve the right to disclose your information that we believe, in good faith, is appropriate or necessary to (i) take precautions against liability, (ii) protect ourselves or others from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses or activity, (iii) investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations, (iv) protect the security or integrity of the Service and any facilities or equipment used to make the Service available, or (v) protect our property or other legal rights (including, but not limited to, enforcement of our agreements), or the rights, property, or safety of others.

Retention period

We will retain information we collect from or about you no longer than necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless otherwise required and authorized by applicable law.

Your Rights and Choices

You may, of course, decline to share certain personal information with us, in which case we may not be able to provide to you some of the features and functionality of the Service. You may update or correct your account information and preferences at any time by accessing your account preferences page on the Service. If you wish to access or amend any other personal information we hold about you, or to request that we delete any information about you that we have obtained from an Integrated Service, you may contact us at help@taprootplus.org. Please note that while any changes you make will be reflected in active user databases instantly or within a reasonable period of time, we may retain all information you submit for backups, archiving, prevention of fraud and abuse, analytics, satisfaction of legal obligations, or where we otherwise reasonably believe that we have a legitimate reason to do so.

Subject to applicable law, you may have different rights regarding our use of your information. You may have the right to request access to and receive information about the information we maintain about you, update and correct inaccuracies in your information, and have such information deleted. You also may have the right to object to our processing of your information and withdraw your consent to our processing of your information at any time. When you request the deletion of your information, object or withdraw your consent to the processing of your information, we may not be able to provide all the features of the Service to you. To exercise your rights please contact us using the contact information provided at the bottom of this privacy policy.

If you receive a commercial email from us, you may unsubscribe at any time by following the instructions contained within the email. You may also opt-out from receiving commercial emails from us, and any other promotional communications that we may send to you from time to time, by sending your request to us by email at help@taprootplus.org or by writing to us at the address given at the end of this Privacy Policy. We may allow you to view and modify settings relating to the nature and frequency of promotional communications that you receive from us in user account functionality on the Service.

Please be aware that if you opt-out of receiving commercial emails from us or otherwise modify the nature or frequency of promotional communications you receive from us, it may take up to ten business days for us to process your request, and you may receive promotional communications from us that you have opted-out from during that period. Additionally, even after you opt-out from receiving commercial messages from us, you will continue to receive administrative messages from us regarding the Service.

Third-Party Services

The Service may contain features or links to web sites and services provided by third parties. Any information you provide on third-party sites or services is provided directly to the operators of such services and is subject to those operators’ policies, if any, governing privacy and security, even if accessed through the Service. We are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of third-party sites or services to which links or access are provided through the Service. We encourage you to learn about third parties’ privacy and security policies before providing them with information.

Children’s Privacy

Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important. Our Service is not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 without obtaining parental consent. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use or access the Service at any time or in any manner. If we learn that personally identifiable information has been collected on the Service from persons under 13 years of age and without verifiable parental consent, then we will take the appropriate steps to delete this information. If you are a parent or guardian and discover that your child under 13 years of age has obtained an account on the Service, then you may alert us at help@taprootplus.org and request that we delete that child’s personally identifiable information from our systems.

Data Security

We use certain physical, managerial, and technical safeguards that are designed to improve the integrity and security of your personally identifiable information. We cannot, however, ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or store on the Service, and you do so at your own risk. We also cannot guarantee that such information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards.

If we learn of a security systems breach, then we may attempt to notify you electronically so that you can take appropriate protective steps. We may post a notice through the Service if a security breach occurs. Depending on where you live, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing. To receive a free written notice of a security breach you should notify us at help@taprootplus.org.

Privacy Settings

Although we may allow you to adjust your privacy settings to limit access to certain personal information, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures on the Service. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other users with whom you may choose to share your information. Further, even after information posted on the Service is removed, caching and archiving services may have saved that information, and other users or third parties may have copied or stored the information available on the Service. We cannot and do not guarantee that information you post on or transmit to the Service will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.

International Visitors

The Service is hosted in the United States and is intended for visitors located within the United States. If you choose to use the Service from the European Union or other regions of the world with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law, then please note that you are transferring your personal information outside of those regions to the United States for storage and processing. Also, we may transfer your data from the U.S. to other countries or regions in connection with storage and processing of data, fulfilling your requests, and operating the Service. These countries may not provide the same level of protection of personal data as your country of residence. By providing any information, including personal information, on or to the Service, you consent to such transfer, storage, and processing.

Changes and Updates to this Privacy Policy

Please revisit this page periodically to stay aware of any changes to this Privacy Policy, which we may update from time to time. If we modify the Privacy Policy, we will make it available through the Service, and indicate the date of the latest revision. In the event that the modifications materially alter your rights or obligations hereunder, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you of the change. For example, we may send a message to your email address, if we have one on file, or generate a pop-up or similar notification when you access the Service for the first time after such material changes are made. Your continued use of the Service after the revised Privacy Policy has become effective indicates that you have read, understood and agreed to the current version of the Privacy Policy.

Our Contact Information

Please contact us with any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, your personal information, our use and disclosure practices, or your consent choices by email at help@taprootplus.org.

Taproot, Inc.
40 Worth Street, Suite 601, New York, NY 10013