Privacy

PRIVACY & DATA POLICY

Start the Wave, Inc. (“we”, “us”, “our”, “STW”) is a nonprofit organization registered in Delaware, USA. We use Delaware law as our governing law and abide by all applicable data privacy legislation.

This Community Platform:

This STW Community platform website (“Platform”) is built on ToucanTech Ltd’s infrastructure (a company registered in England and Wales with company number 08793687 and its registered address at 15 Warwick Road, Stratford-Upon-Avon CV37 6YW, UK). ToucanTech has built the Platform with careful consideration to data management and security, in terms of both the functional design of the product and our processes for handling data.

We maintain this Platform and corresponding database in order to allow our STW Community to share information about themselves and their STW Funded Projects, promote their volunteer efforts, and share resources.

This Platform Privacy Policy:

For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and any subsequent UK legislation covering data protection, the data controller in this Policy is STW.

We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and this Policy sets out what information we collect about you, where and how we use (“process”) it. 

This Policy relates specifically to data collected and processed on this website and for our solicitation and marketing purposes. 

We may change this Policy from time to time. We will announce any significant changes on this website or by contacting you directly with the information. Please check this page occasionally to make sure you are in agreement with any changes.

Types of Personal Information We Collect:

The information we have about you may include:

Name

Email 

Address

Participation in our events, emails, competitions, surveys and other activities on the Platform

Geo-location data (your geographical location based on your IP address)

Activity on this Platform

Consent options and communication preferences

Content (such as announcements, stories, photos, documents, comments, events, jobs) that you post on this Platform, or that you provide to us by other means

Notes relating to discussions and interactions that we've had with you via phone, email, messaging or in-person

Where we Collect Information from:

We collect personal information when you:

• visit this Platform 
• post content on any websites and social media channels managed by STW
• complete information in our 'contact us’ forms
• take part in an event, such as a webinar or conference, organised by us 
• open or click on an email sent via our email software
• attend a meeting with us, speak to us on the phone, or correspond via email and provide us with information
• contact us in any way including online, email, phone, SMS, social media or post

How we Use your Information:

We will use your personal information in a number of ways, always with a legal basis for processing your data. These may include:

• providing you with the information, updates or resources that you have asked for
• responding to your request 
• sending you communications that may be of interest, including news, reports, donations, fundraisers, or invites to events
• seeking your views on the services or activities we carry out, so that we can make improvements
• updating our database records with your contact and work details
• analysing your engagement with our website and other content to help us improve our services for you

Our Legal Basis for Processing your Information:

The use of your information for the purposes set out above is lawful because one or more of the following applies:

• you have given us your consent for the information to be used
• it is necessary for our legitimate interests to hold and use your information and we are not impacting your privacy by doing so

Updating your Consent Preferences:

If you click ‘unsubscribe’ at the bottom of an email we send you, you will be automatically opted-out of these types of email communications in the future.

How we keep your information safe

We understand the importance of keeping your personal information secure and take appropriate steps to safeguard it.

Your data is stored on a dedicated, secure cloud server hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) with industry standard firewalls, anti-virus, encryption and back-up methods in place, as well as strict data handling protocols pursuant to ToucanTech Ltd’s policies and procedures.

Who has access to your information? 

• Members of the STW and ToucanTech Ltd teams who have access to the company database and operational systems
• Web hosting, email hosting, analytics and search engine providers that enable us and ToucanTech Ltd to run and improve the Platform and its use
• Digital marketing partners that enable us and ToucanTech Ltd to run marketing and communications campaigns
• Administrative softwares that enable us and ToucanTech Ltd to manage internal operational processes such as invoicing, customer support and account management

Keeping your Information Up to Date:

Please keep your contact and personal information up-to-date within your Account details. 

Cookies:

Some information and data may be automatically collected through the use of cookies on this website. Cookies are small text files employed on the website to recognise repeat users and allow us to observe behaviour and compile aggregate data in order to improve the user-experience we provide for our website visitors.

The law states that we can store cookies on your machine if they are essential to the operation of the Platform, but that for all others we need your permission to do so.

The list below explains the cookies we use and why:

Opting out of cookies:

 If you do not wish to receive cookies from us, you should be able to turn cookies off on your web browser: please follow your browser provider’s instructions in order to do so.  We cannot accept liability for any malfunctioning of your computer or its installed web browser as a result of any attempt to turn off cookies.

To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

Use of Aggregated Data:

Where data can be aggregated and anonymised, we might use this for research purposes without restriction. For example, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage, response rates and data trends to help make improvement to the website software. We are entitled to do this because the resulting data will not personally identify you and will therefore no longer constitute personal data for the purposes of data protection laws.

How Long we Keep your Information for:

We will hold your personal information for only as long as it is necessary. We will process your data only when we have a genuine and legitimate interest to do so, and we are not harming any of your rights or interests when we process your data in this way. 

If you ask us to stop contacting you, we will keep a record of your contact details and limited information needed to ensure we comply with your request. If you ask us to remove your personal data from our database we will delete all the information we hold apart from your name, organisation and your request to be removed and we will then archive your record in our database (so that we don't accidentally add information about you back in to our database).

Contact Us:

Should you have any concerns or questions about the details of how we use your personal information, you may email us at: community@startthewave.org or send physical mail to: P.O. Box 12929, Wilmington, NC 28405. 

This Policy was last updated in January 2022.