Privacy Policy

Commitment to Your Privacy

Thank you for viewing our website (“Site”), which is owned and operated by the Austin Humane Society (“AHS, we, our or us”). This Site is designed to provide information about AHS and services associated with its operations. At AHS, we want to make your online experience satisfying and safe because we understand that you value your privacy, and we value it as well. To help you understand how we use any information you voluntarily provide to AHS, we have drafted this Privacy Policy (“Policy”). Our Policy governs information you voluntarily provide to us or we learn from your use of the Site. It also tells you how we may collect, use, protect, and in some instances share this information. This Privacy Policy is an agreement between you and AHS. If you do not agree to any of these terms, please cease using this Site and any of its interior pages. By viewing or using any of the information on this Site, you expressly consent to the information handling practices described in this Policy.

For the Donor Privacy Policy please click here.

The Information AHS Collects

AHS gathers several types of information about the Site’s users:

Voluntary Information Collection

This site is designed to allow you to submit and AHS to receive certain types of personally identifiable information such as your:

• name;

• e-mail address,

• e-mail correspondence;

• postal mailing address,

• home/mobile telephone number,

• credit card number,

• card verification value,

• billing information; and

• other user generated content.

You are not required to supply the aforementioned information, except if you wish to use certain features on the website. For example, the Site may call for a user to voluntarily create a user log-in profile/ID or permit an online donation. These features require AHS to verify certain information so as to complete the requested transaction. As a part of the verification or profile process, you may be required to submit the personally identifiable information above.

Usage Tracking and “Automatically Collected” Information

Tracking Information

The Site automatically tracks and collects categories of information when you visit our Site such as the: (1) IP addresses; (2) domain servers; (3) types of computers accessing the Site; and (4) types of web browsers used to access the Site (collectively “Traffic Data”). Traffic Data is anonymous information that does not personally identify you but is helpful for marketing purposes or for improving your experience on the Site. We also use “cookies” to customize content specific to your interests, to ensure that you do not see the same advertisement repeatedly, and to store your password so you do not have to re-enter it each time you visit the Site.

“Cookies” Information

You do not need to have cookies turned on to use the Site. As stated above, “cookies” or text files may be placed on your computer when you use the Site. A cookie cannot read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. Cookies may be of limited duration, which will disappear after you exit the Site or they may be there for unlimited periods of time, even after you leave the site. The cookie will enable us to understand and relate your use of this Site to information we provided or may provide in the future. Some cookies may contain personal information that you voluntarily provided. In addition, the cookie may be encrypted so as to authenticate you on other pertinent parts of the Site.

You do not need to have cookies turned on to use the Site. You should also note that you will be able to remove any of the cookies we place on your hard drive. If you feel you cannot do so, please e-mail development@austinhumanesociety.org.

The Way AHS Uses Information

Generally, AHS uses any information obtained from or for the site to operate and enhance the various features and services found on the Site, or, for other components of AHS business. We use the personal information about you stored in our member database.

• To facilitate and track online donations to AHS;

• To acknowledge receipt of your payments for tax purposes and to help prevent fraudulent transactions;

• To register you online for AHS classes, events, and appointments;

• To provide you updated Site information, publications or notices about/from AHS to improve Site flow and usability, tailor content to your needs, and make it more responsive to our users’ preferences.

This Privacy Policy addresses only the use and disclosure of information we collect from you or that you disclose to us. If you disclose your information to others besides AHS, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them. We do not control the privacy policies of third parties, and you are subject to the privacy policies of those third parties where applicable. Typically, a different privacy policy is triggered when you leave the austinhumanesociety.org or community.austinhumanesociety.org websites.

Children

While this Site does contain information and content appealing to a host of people who care for animals, the Site is not primarily or directed to children or minors. Consistent with the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly collect or maintain personally identifiable information on the Site from anyone under the age of 13 without parental consent. IF YOU ARE UNDER 13 YEARS OF AGE, THEN PLEASE DO NOT USE OR ACCESS THE SITE AT ANY TIME OR IN ANY MANNER. Any person who provides their personal information to AHS through this Site represents that they are 13 years of age or older and represents that he/she has the express consent of his/her parent and is under the direct supervision of his/her parent. If AHS learns that personally identifiable information of persons under the age of 13 has been collected on the Site without verifiable parental consent, then AHS will take the appropriate steps to delete this information. If you are a parent or guardian and discover that your children under the age of 13 has obtained a Site account without your supervision or knowledge, then please contact AHS at community@austinhumanesociety.org and you may request that AHS delete that child’s personal information from its systems.

As stated above, we do not intentionally collect personal information directly from children under 13 years old. Parents may voluntarily supply information relating to their children for AHS related events. This information is never shared with third party organizations.

AHS Transfer and Information Sharing Policy

AHS does not share personal information collected on this Site with third parties for their marketing purposes.

The Site may include interactive forums such as discussion boards. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information. Please be aware, however, that any personally identifiable information that you voluntarily choose to display on any publicly available portion of the Site becomes publicly available and may be collected and used by others without restriction. To the extent such use has occurred, AHS is not responsible for any actions taken by those third parties. However, we may take down any information posted by any party by users.

AHS may disclose automatically collected and other aggregate non-personally-identifiable information with certain third parties to assist us with understanding the usage, viewing, and demographic patterns for certain programs, content, services, advertisements, promotions, and/or functionality on the Site.

AHS provides personal information to trusted businesses or persons for the purpose of processing personal information on our behalf. Thus, we may disclose user information to businesses or persons to: provide website hosting, maintenance, and security services; fulfill orders; conduct data analysis and create reports; offer certain functionality; and assist AHS in improving the Site and creating new services and features.

We require that these parties process such information in compliance with this Privacy Policy, we authorize only a limited use of such information, and we require these parties to use reasonable confidentiality measures. If you do not want AHS to share your Contact Data with any third parties, please email us at community@austinhumanesociety.org, but please understand that such a request will likely limit your ability to take advantage of all of the features and services we offer on the Site.

Except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, we may disclose your personal information when necessary to: (a) comply with a court order or other legal process; (b) protect our rights or property; (c) enforce our Terms of Service; (d) protect AHS from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses; (e) to initiate, render, bill, and collect for amounts owed to AHS; (f) to investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations; (g) to assist government enforcement agencies; and (h) to protect the security or integrity of the Site; or to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of AHS, our users, or others.

Your Personal Information is stored on secure servers that are not accessible by third parties. We provide you with the capability to transmit you Personal Information via secured and encrypted channels if you use a similarly equipped web browser.

Your Choices

You may, of course, decline to share your personally identifiable information with AHS, in which case AHS will not be able to provide to you some of the features and functionality found on the Site. Your information and preferences may be deleted by you at anytime, so long as you are in good standing with AHS. We will gladly remove your name and contact information from any mailing lists that AHS sponsors by notifying AHS at community@austinhumanesociety.org.

Periodically, we may ask you to verify your identity before further access to the Site is permitted. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE SECRECY OF YOUR UNIQUE PASSWORD AND ACCOUNT INFORMATION AT ALL TIMES.

You must promptly notify us if your credit card, user name, or password is lost, stolen, or used without permission. In such an event, we will remove that credit card number, user name, or password from your account and update our records accordingly.

Dog Training Class Policies

For refund, cancellation, attendance and other policies related to our Dog Training classes, please contact dogtraining@austinhumanesociety.org.

Third Party Advertisers

AHS may allow third-party ad servers or ad networks, to serve advertisements on the Site. These advertisers may provide icons or hyperlinks to their products or services and effectively take you out of the Site and its control.

You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers or ad networks if you respond to any of their advertisements. This Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of such other advertisers or web sites. AHS reserves the right to add or remove third-party ad networks or ad servers in its discretion and AHS may not at all times list such updated ad network or ad server partners in this Privacy Policy.

International Visitors and Customers

The Site is hosted in the United States. If you are visiting from the European Union or other regions with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law, please note that you are transferring your personal data to the United States, which does not have the same data protection laws as the EU and other areas of the world, and by providing your personal data you consent to:

• the use of your personal data for the uses identified above in accordance with this Privacy Policy; and

• the transfer of your personal data to the United States as indicated above.

Changes and Updates

We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy without further notice to you. When we do, we will also revise the “last updated” date on the Privacy Policy. Please revisit this page to stay aware of any changes. In general, we only use your personal information in the manner described in this Privacy Policy in effect when we received that personal information. Your continued use of the Site constitutes your agreement to this Privacy Policy and any future updates.

AHS reserves the right, at any time and without notice, to add to, change, update, or modify this Privacy Policy, simply by posting such change, update, or modification on the Site and without any other notice to you. Any such change, update, or modification will be effective immediately upon posting on the Site.

General Provisions

This Privacy Policy shall be construed in accordance with, and governed by the laws of the United States and the State of Texas, without reference to their rules regarding conflicts of law. You hereby irrevocably consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state or federal courts in Austin, Texas, USA in all disputes arising out of or related to this policy.

If, for whatever reason, a court of competent jurisdiction finds any term or condition in this Privacy Policy to be unenforceable, all other terms and conditions will remain unaffected and in full force and effect. No waiver of any breach of any provision of this Privacy Policy shall constitute a waiver of any prior, concurrent, or subsequent breach of the same or any other provisions hereof, and no waiver shall be effective unless made in writing and signed by an authorized representative of the waiving party.

The Site is controlled and operated by AHS from its office in the State of Texas. AHS makes no representation that any of the materials or the services to which you have been given access are available or appropriate for use in other locations. Your use of, or access to the Site, should not be construed as AHS purposefully availing itself of the benefits or privilege of doing business in any state or jurisdiction other than Texas.

Contacting AHS

Your privacy is very important to us. We rely on the good will and generosity of our supporters and want to make sure that your experience with AHS is as positive as possible. We do want to let you know about how we strive to save and protect animals, to provide care and treatment, to advocate for their welfare, and to enhance the human-animal bond, but not at the expense of your privacy. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this Privacy Policy, your personal information, our third-party disclosure practices, or your consent choices, please email us at community@austinhumanesociety.org or contact us at:

Postal Mail Address:

Austin Humane Society

124 W. Anderson Ln.

Austin, TX 78752

Attention: Development & Marketing Department

A copy of the latest financial report and registration filed by AHS can be obtained by contacting AHS at the above addresses.

Effective Date, Date Last Modified:

This Privacy Policy last modified on June 9, 2010.