Houston Audubon Society is strongly committed to protecting your privacy and providing a safe online experience for all our visitors and members. This policy applies to information collected online through Houston Audubon Society's NARBA Internet web site. Please read the complete Houston Audubon Society Online Privacy Policy below and contact us if you have any questions.
Our Commitment to Privacy
Our Online Privacy Policy was developed as an extension of our commitment to conservation and environmental preservation. The Policy is designed to assist you in understanding how we collect, use and safeguard the personal information you provide to us and to assist you in making informed decisions when using our site and our products and services. This statement will be continuously assessed against new technologies, business practices and our customers' needs.
Houston Audubon Society is concerned about our visitor's Internet privacy and is committed to honoring their privacy preferences. We recognize that visitors to our site may be concerned about the information they provide to us and how Houston Audubon Society treats that information. Be assured, Houston Audubon Society will never misuse the information you provide.
What Information Do We Collect?
When you visit our site, you may provide us with two types of information:
- Web site use information collected as you and others browse the pages on our site.
- Personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis.
Web Site Usage Information
Houston Audubon Society does not sell, trade or lease user information outside the organization.
Web Site Use of Cookies
Similar to other nonprofit and commercial web sites, our web site has the capability to utilize a standard technology called cookies (see explanation below, What Are Cookies?). Houston Audubon Society uses cookies written by our site, but not to obtain information on other web sites that you may visit. Cookies help us by providing some history about the parts of our site that you have visited. This enables us to help you navigate our site more easily, to determine what pages are most attractive to our visitors, and to alert you to related pages on our site that may interest you.
What Are Cookies?
A cookie is a small text file sent to your computer's hard drive by a web site's server. Each time you return to the site that "set" the cookie, the server retrieves its cookie from your computer and thereby knows you are a previous visitor who has returned. Cookies may contain information about your ISP, operating system, browser type, screen resolution and number of colors, your computer's processor type, your ISP's server, your Internet protocol address, and what server you were last on. Other information can be added to a cookie, but only information that you give to us.
Personal Information You Choose to Provide
If you choose to make online donations, obtain or renew membership in Houston Audubon Society or NARBA, or purchase products from our online store, you may need to give personal information and authorization to obtain information from various credit services. For example, you may need to provide the following information:
- Name
- Mailing address
- E-mail address
- Credit card number
- Home and business phone number
- Other personal information (e.g., gift recipient information, memorial gift information, etc.)
How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to Us?
Broadly speaking, we use personal information for purposes of administering our activities, providing customer service and making available other services to our visitors, members and prospective members. Occasionally, we may also use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our web site, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. The lists used to send you product and service offers are developed and managed under our traditional Society standards designed to safeguard the security and privacy of our members' personal information. When you start or renew your membership online, you will be given the opportunity to notify us of your desire not to receive these communications.
Security of Your Credit Card Information
We have made every effort to insure the secure collection and transmission of sensitive user information using industry accepted data collection and encryption methodologies.
If you are still concerned about the safety of your credit card information online, you may also submit contributions or other payment to Houston Audubon Society by mailing a check as directed by instructions on the appropriate pages of our web site.
How Do We Secure Information Transmissions?
When you send confidential personal credit card information to us on our web site, a secure server software encrypts all information you input before it is sent to us. The information is scrambled en route and decoded once it reaches our web site.
Other e-mail that you may send to us may not be secure unless we advise you that security measures will be in place prior to your transmitting the information. For that reason, we ask that you do not send confidential information such as Social Security or account numbers to us through an unsecured e-mail.
Our Internet Hosting Service Provider
Our site is hosted on (i.e., installed on) Netsential, an Internet hosting service. The secure server software used to encrypt forms and shopping information is provided by Netsential.
E-mail Information
In addition to providing the foregoing information, if you choose to correspond further with us through electronic mail, we may retain the content of your e-mail messages together with your e-mail address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received by mail and telephone.
Links to Third Party Sites
We provide links to third party sites. These links are provided solely as pointers to information on topics that may be useful to the users of our web site. Because we do not control those web sites, we encourage you to review the privacy policies posted on these third party sites. That another web site is linked to our site does not constitute an endorsement by Houston Audubon Society of the owner of the other site, the content of its site, or its products or services.
Children 13 and Under
Visitors 13 years of age and under need to obtain permission from a supervising adult before supplying personal information. Houston Audubon's online policy is to be child-friendly as much as possible.
Do We Disclose Information to Outside Parties?
We may provide aggregate information about our sales, web site traffic patterns and related web site information to our affiliates or reputable third parties, but this information will not include personally identifying data, except as otherwise provided in this Online Privacy Policy.
What About Legally Compelled Disclosure of Information?
We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights.
Questions
Houston Audubon Society welcomes comments and questions on this policy. We are dedicated to protecting your personal information, and will make every reasonable effort to keep that information secure. If you have any questions, please contact us at webmaster@houstonaudubon.org
Due to the rapidly evolving technologies on the Internet, we may occasionally update this policy. All revisions will be posted to this site. The revised Online Privacy Policy will apply to all data collected by Houston Audubon Society, both prior to and subsequent to the revised policy's effective date.
