Privacy Policy

Effective as of November 4, 2024

Bernie’s Book Bank (“Bernie’s Book Bank,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a 501(c)(3) organization that sources, processes, and distributes quality new and gently used children’s books to children at Title 1 schools and early childhood programs. This Privacy Policy describes how Bernie’s Book Bank processes personal information that we collect through our digital or online properties or services that link to this Privacy Policy (including, as applicable, our website, https://www.berniesbookbank.org/ (the “Website”) and our social media pages) as well as our marketing activities, live events, third-party sources, and other activities described in this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Service”). Bernie’s Book Bank may provide additional or supplemental privacy policies to individuals for specific services we offer at the time we collect personal information.

Personal information we collect

Information you provide to us. Personal information you may provide to us as a partner, Website visitor, volunteer, or donor through the Service or otherwise includes:

  • Contact data, such as your first and last name, email address, address, and phone number.
  • Profile data, such as the username and password you may set to establish an online donor and/or volunteer account on the Website, company name, date of birth, and any other information you add to your account profile.
  • Communications data based on our exchanges with you, including when you contact us through the Website, social media, or otherwise.
  • Research data, such as your responses to surveys we might ask you to complete for research purposes related to our organization.
  • Marketing data, such as your preferences for receiving our marketing communications and details about your engagement with them.
  • User-generated content data, such as photos, images, videos, comments, questions, messages, works of authorship, and other content or information you generate, transmit, share, or otherwise make available on the Service, as well as associated metadata. Metadata includes information on how, when, where, and by whom a piece of content was collected and how that content has been formatted or edited. Metadata also includes information users can add or have added to their content, such as keywords, geographical or location information, and other similar data.
  • Volunteer data, including volunteer history, signed waivers and photo releases, testimonials, and screening documentation (for court-ordered volunteers).
  • Donations data, such as information relating to or needed to complete your donations on or through the Website, including donation amount and donation history.
  • Payment data needed to complete donations, such as name, address, contact information, and donation amount. Note any payment card information needed to complete donations is collected and processed directly by our payment vendor, Classy, as further described below in the How we share your personal information section.
  • Other data not specifically listed here, including data inferred or derived from the categories listed in this section, which we will use as described in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise disclosed at the time of collection.

Third-party sources. We may obtain personal information falling within one of the categories identified above from third-party sources, such as:

  • Public sources, such as public records, social media platforms, and other publicly available sources.
  • Private sources, such as data providers, social media platforms, and data licensors.

Automatic data collection. We, our service providers, and our organization partners may automatically log information about you, your computer or mobile device, and your interaction over time with the Website, our communications, and other online services, such as:

  • Device data, such as your computer or mobile device’s operating system type and version, manufacturer and model, browser type, screen resolution, RAM and disk size, CPU usage, device type (e.g., phone, tablet), IP address, unique identifiers, language settings, mobile device carrier, radio/network information (e.g., Wi-Fi, LTE, 3G), and general location information such as city, state, or geographic area.
  • Online activity data, such as pages or screens you viewed, how long you spent on a page or screen, the website you visited before browsing to the Website, navigation paths between pages or screens, information about your activity on a page or screen, access times and duration of access, and whether you have opened our emails or clicked links within them.
  • Communication interaction data, such as your interactions with our email or other communications (e.g., whether you open and/or forward emails) — we may do this through use of pixel tags (which are also known as clear GIFs), which may be embedded invisibly in our emails.

For more information concerning our automatic collection of data, please refer to the Cookies and similar technologies section below.

Cookies and similar technologies

Some of the automatic collection described above is facilitated by the following technologies:

  • Cookies, which are small text files that websites store on user devices and that allow web servers to record users’ web browsing activities and remember their submissions, preferences, and login status as they navigate a site. Cookies used on our sites include both “session cookies” that are deleted when a session ends, “persistent cookies” that remain longer, “first party” cookies that we place, and “third-party” cookies that our third-party organization partners and service providers place.
  • Local storage technologies, like HTML5, that provide cookie-equivalent functionality but can store larger amounts of data on your device outside of your browser in connection with specific applications.
  • Web beacons, also known as pixel tags or clear GIFs, which are used to demonstrate that a webpage or email was accessed or opened, or that certain content was viewed or clicked.

For information concerning your choices with respect to the use of cookies and similar technologies, see the Your choices section, below.

How we use your personal information

We may use your personal information for the following purposes or as otherwise described at the time of collection:

Service delivery and operations. We may use your personal information to:

  • Provide the Service
  • Enable security features of the Website
  • Communicate with you about the Service and our organization generally, including by sending announcements and updates regarding the Service, events and opportunities, and other information regarding our organization, security alerts, and support and administrative messages
  • Understand your needs and interests
  • Communicate with you about events in which you participate
  • Provide support for the Service, and respond to your requests, questions, and feedback

Website personalization, which may include using your personal information to:

  • Personalize your experience with the Website and our Website-related communications
  • Remember your selections and preferences as you navigate webpages on the Website

Service improvement and analytics. We may use your personal information to analyze your usage of the Website, improve the Website, improve the rest of our organization and our services generally, help us understand user activity on the Website, including which pages are most and least visited and how visitors move around the Website, as well as user interactions with our emails. For example, we use Google Analytics for this purpose. You can learn more about Google Analytics and how to prevent the use of Google Analytics relating to your use of our Website here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

Marketing. We may send you direct marketing communications. You may opt out of our marketing communications as described in the Opt out of marketing communications section below.

Events. We may use your personal information to administer events that we hold or events that we co-sponsor with our partners.

Compliance and protection. We may use your personal information to:

  • Comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, and legal process, such as to respond to subpoenas, investigations, or requests from government authorities
  • Protect our, your, or others’ rights, privacy, safety, or property (including by making and defending legal claims)
  • Audit our internal processes for compliance with legal and contractual requirements or our internal policies
  • Enforce the terms and conditions that govern the Website and any other applicable terms of use or agreements (e.g., volunteer agreements)
  • Prevent, identify, investigate, and deter fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical, or illegal activity, including cyberattacks and identity theft

Data sharing in the context of corporate transactions. We may share certain personal information in the context of actual or prospective corporate transactions — for more information, see the How we share your personal information section below.

Cookies and similar technologies. In addition to the other uses included in this section, we may use the Cookies and similar technologies described above for the following purposes:

  • Technical operation. To allow the technical operation of the Website.
  • Functionality. To enhance the performance and functionality of our services.
  • Analytics. To help us understand user activity on the Website, including which pages are most and least visited and how visitors move around the Website, as well as user interactions with our emails.

Further uses. In some cases, we may use your personal information for further uses, in which case we will ask for your consent to use of your personal information for those further purposes if they are not compatible with the initial purpose for which the information was collected.

How we share your personal information

We may share your personal information with the following parties and as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, in other applicable notices, or at the time of collection.

Service providers. Third parties that provide services on our behalf or help us operate the Website, help us with our other services, or help us with our organization (such as donor screening, volunteer scheduling and management, website hosting, information technology, customer support, email delivery, marketing, research and website analytics).

Payment vendors. Any payment card information you use to make a purchase on the Website is collected and processed directly by our payment vendor, Classy. Classy may use your payment data in accordance with its privacy policy, https://www.classy.org/terms/privacy/.

Third parties designated by you. We may share your personal information with third parties where you have instructed us or provided your consent to do so.
Partners. Third parties with whom we partner, including school partners, distribution partners, and parties with whom we co-sponsor events.

Professional advisors. Professional advisors, such as lawyers, auditors, bankers, and insurers, where necessary in the course of the professional services that they render to us.

Authorities and others. Law enforcement, government authorities, and private parties, as we believe in good faith to be necessary or appropriate for the Compliance and protection purposes described above.

Corporate transferees. We may disclose personal information acquirers and other relevant participants in corporate transactions (or negotiations of or due diligence for such transactions) involving the acquisition, sale, or other disposition of all or any portion of the assets of Bernie’s Book Bank (including in connection with a bankruptcy or similar proceedings).

Other users and the public. User-generated content data may be seen, collected, and used by other users of the Service and the public, including being cached, copied, screen captured, or stored elsewhere by others (e.g., search engines), and we are not responsible for any such use of this information.

Your choices

In this section, we describe the rights and choices available to you.

Opt out of marketing communications. You may opt out of marketing-related emails by following the opt-out or unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of the email, or by contacting us. Please note that if you choose to opt out of marketing-related emails, you may continue to receive service-related and other non-marketing emails.

Cookies. Most browsers let you remove or reject cookies. To do this, follow the instructions in your browser settings. Many browsers accept cookies by default until you change your settings. Please note that if you set your browser to disable cookies, the Website may not work properly. For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your browser and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. You can also configure your device to prevent images from loading to prevent web beacons from functioning.

Do Not Track. Some Internet browsers may be configured to send “Do Not Track” signals to the online services that you visit. We currently do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals. To find out more about “Do Not Track,” please visit https://fpf.org/thank-you-for-visiting-allaboutdnt-com/.

Declining to provide information. We need to collect personal information to provide certain services. If you do not provide the information we identify as required or mandatory, we may not be able to provide those services.

Other sites and services

The Website may contain links to websites, mobile applications, and other online services operated by third parties. In addition, our content may be integrated into web pages or other online services that are not associated with us. These links and integrations are not an endorsement of, or representation that we are affiliated with, any third party. We do not control websites, mobile applications or online services operated by third parties, and we are not responsible for their actions. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of the other websites, mobile applications, and online services you use.

Security

We employ technical, organizational, and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information we collect. However, security risk is inherent in all internet and information technologies, and we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.

International data transfers

We are headquartered in the United States and may use service providers that operate in other countries. Your personal information may be transferred to the United States or other locations where privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your state, province, or country.

Children

The Website is not intended for use by anyone under 13 years of age. If you are a parent or guardian of a child from whom you believe we have collected personal information in a manner prohibited by law, please contact us. If we learn that we have collected personal information through the Website from a child without the consent of the child’s parent or guardian as required by law, we will comply with applicable legal requirements to delete the information.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by updating the date of this Privacy Policy and posting it on the Website or other appropriate means. Any modifications to this Privacy Policy will be effective upon our posting the modified version (or as otherwise indicated at the time of posting). In all cases, your use of the Service after the effective date of any modified Privacy Policy indicates your acknowledgment that the modified Privacy Policy applies to your interactions with the Service and our organization.

How to contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:

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