Privacy Policy

Our Policy:

Welcome to the web site (the “Site”) of Step Forward Initiative, Inc. (“SFI”, “we”, “us” and/or “our”). This Site is operated by SFI and has been created to provide information about our company and to provide information related to the programs we run, our research, our outreach and fundraising efforts (the “SFI Activities”) to our Site visitors (“you”, “your”). This Privacy Policy sets forth SFI’s policy with respect to information including personally identifiable data (“Personal Data”) and other information that is collected from Site visitors.

Information We Collect:

When you interact with us through the Site, we may collect Personal Data and other information from you, as further described below:

Personal Data That You Provide Through the Site: We collect Personal Data from you when you voluntarily provide such information, such as when you contact us with inquiries, sign up for our mailing or email list, volunteer with us, make donations to SFI, or register or participate in certain SFI Activities. Wherever SFI collects Personal Data we make an effort to provide a link to this Privacy Policy. We may collect contact information.  We may also collect other personal information from volunteer applicants.

By voluntarily providing us with Personal Data, you are consenting to our use of it in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you provide Personal Data to this Site, you acknowledge and agree that such Personal Data may be transferred from your current location to the offices and servers of SFI and the authorized third parties referred to herein located in the United States.

Other Information:

Non-Identifiable Data: When you interact with SFI through the Site, we receive and store certain personally non-identifiable information. Such information, which is collected passively using various technologies, cannot presently be used to specifically identify you. SFI may store such information itself or such information may be included in databases owned and maintained by SFI affiliates, agents or service providers. This Site may use such information and pool it with other information to track, for example, the total number of visitors to our Site, the number of visitors to each page of our Site, and the domain names of our visitors’ Internet service providers. It is important to note that no Personal Data is available or used in this process. 

In operating this Site, we may use a technology called “cookies.” A cookie is a piece of information that the computer that hosts our Site gives to your browser when you access the Site. Our cookies help provide additional functionality to the Site and help us analyze Site usage more accurately. For instance, our Site may set a cookie on your browser that allows you to access the Site without needing to remember and then enter a password more than once during a visit to the Site. In all cases in which we use cookies, we will not collect Personal Data except with your permission. On most web browsers, you will find a “help” section on the toolbar. Please refer to this section for information on how to receive notification when you are receiving a new cookie and how to turn cookies off. We recommend that you leave cookies turned on because they allow you to take advantage of some of the Site’s features.

In addition, this Site may use Adobe Flash Player. Adobe’s Flash Player is used by the vast majority of websites that offer video and other interactive content. By default, your use of the Adobe Flash Player generates “flash cookies”. Flash cookies are different from browser cookies because of the amount and type of data and how that data is stored.  Cookie management tools provided by your browser will not remove flash cookies.  To learn how to manage privacy and storage settings for flash cookies click here.

Aggregated Personal Data: In an ongoing effort to better understand and serve the visitors to our website, SFI may conduct research on visitor and volunteer demographics, interests and behavior based on the Personal Data and other information provided to us. This research may be compiled and analyzed on an aggregate basis, and SFI may share this aggregate data with its affiliates, agents and business partners. This aggregate information does not identify you personally. SFI may also disclose aggregated user statistics in order to describe our activities to current and prospective business partners, and to other third parties for other lawful purposes.

Our Use of Your Personal Data and Other Information:

SFI uses the Personal Data you provide in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy. If you provide Personal Data for a certain reason, we may use the Personal Data in connection with the reason for which it was provided. For instance, if you contact us by e-mail, we will use the Personal Data you provide to answer your question. Also, if you provide Personal Data in order to obtain access to information on or participate in the SFI Activities, we will use your Personal Data to provide you with access to such activities. SFI and its subsidiaries and affiliates (the “SFI Related Companies”) may also use your Personal Data and other personally non-identifiable information collected through the Site to help us improve the content and functionality of the Site, to better understand visitors to our site and to improve the SFI Activities. SFI and its affiliates may use this information to contact you in the future to tell you about our programs, research, outreach, activities, fundraising efforts or other information we believe will be of interest to you. If we do so, each communication we send you will contain instructions permitting you to “opt-out” of receiving future communications. In addition, if at any time you wish not to receive any future communications or you wish to have your name deleted from our mailing lists, please contact us as indicated below.

The Site is hosted by servers in the United States. Accordingly, if you are located outside of the United States, the data you provide to us will be transferred to the United States. By submitting such information, you consent to its transfer and storage in the United States and its use in accordance with the purposes for which it was originally collected.

If SFI intends on using any Personal Data in any manner that is not consistent with this Privacy Policy, you will be informed of such anticipated use prior to or at the time at which the Personal Data is collected.

Our Disclosure of Your Personal Data and Other Information:

SFI is not in the business of selling your information. We consider this information to be a vital part of our relationship with you. There are, however, certain circumstances in which we may share your Personal Data with certain third parties without further notice to you, as set forth below:

Business Transfers: As our organization develops, we might merge, sell or buy businesses or assets. In the event of a corporate sale, merger, reorganization, dissolution or similar event, Personal Data may be part of the transferred assets. 

Related Companies: We may share your Personal Data with our SFI Related Companies for purposes consistent with this Privacy Policy. We may also share your Personal Data with other non-profit organizations and publications.

Agents, Consultants and Related Third Parties: SFI, like many businesses, sometimes hires other companies to perform certain business-related functions. Examples of such functions include mailing information, maintaining databases and processing payments. When we employ another company to perform a function of this nature, we only provide them with the information that they need to perform their specific function.        

Legal Requirements: SFI may disclose your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to (i) comply with a legal obligation, (ii) protect and defend the rights or property of SFI, (iii) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of the Site or the public, or (iv) protect against legal liability.

Your Choices:

You can use the Site without providing any Personal Data. If you choose not to provide any Personal Data, you may not be able to access certain areas of the SFI site or participate in certain SFI Activities.

Exclusions; Third-Party Payment Processors:

(“Public Areas”), any ideas for new products or modifications to existing products, and other unsolicited submissions (collectively, “Unsolicited Information”). All Unsolicited Information shall be deemed to be non-confidential and SFI shall be free to reproduce, use, disclose, and distribute such Unsolicited Information to others without limitation or attribution.

SFI uses PayPal to process donations.  This third-party payment processor (and not SFI) is responsible for collecting and processing credit card and other payment information and SFI does not collect or store your credit or debit card number.  We suggest contacting PayPal directly for information on its privacy policies.  You can find PayPal’s user agreement and privacy policy here. 

Children:

SFI does not knowingly collect Personal Data from children under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13, please do not submit any Personal Data through the Site. We encourage parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s Internet usage and to help enforce our Privacy Policy by instructing their children never to provide Personal Data on this Site without their permission. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 13 has provided Personal Data to SFI through this Site, please contact us, and we will endeavor to delete that information from our databases.

Links to Other Web Sites: 

This Privacy Policy applies only to the Site. This Site may contain links to other web sites not operated or controlled by SFI (the “Third Party Sites”). The policies and procedures we described here do not apply to the Third Party Sites. The links from this Site do not imply that SFI endorses or has reviewed the Third Party Sites. We suggest contacting those sites directly for information on their privacy policies.

Security:

SFI takes reasonable steps to protect the Personal Data provided via the Site from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no Internet or e-mail transmission is ever fully secure or error free. In particular, e-mail sent to or from this Site may not be secure. Therefore, you should take special care in deciding what information you send to us via e-mail. Please keep this in mind when disclosing any Personal Data to SFI via the Internet.

Changes to SFI’s Privacy Policy:

The Site and our mission may change from time to time. As a result, at times it may be necessary for SFI to make changes to this Privacy Policy. SFI reserves the right to update or modify this Privacy Policy at any time and from time to time without prior notice. Please review this policy periodically, and especially before you provide any Personal Data. This Privacy Policy was last updated on the date indicated above. Your continued use of the Site after any changes or revisions to this Privacy Policy shall indicate your agreement with the terms of such revised Privacy Policy.

Access to Information; Contacting SFI:

To keep your Personal Data accurate, current, and complete, please contact us as specified below. We will take reasonable steps to update or correct Personal Data in our possession that you have previously submitted via this Site.

Please also feel free to contact us if you have any questions about SFI’s Privacy Policy or the information practices of this Site.

You may contact us at .