Privacy Policy

Muscular Dystrophy Association, Inc.
Privacy Policy

Welcome to www.mda.org (the “Site”), which is operated by the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Inc. (“MDA”, “we”, “us” or “our”). This is the privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) for the Site and all web pages and websites associated therewith together with any other features, functionality, documentation and services offered by us on or through the Site (e.g., online giving, posting features, blogs, apps, badges, etc.) (collectively, the “Services”). Please review our Terms of Service Agreement which governs your use of the Services. Any capitalized terms that are not defined in this Privacy Policy shall have the meaning ascribed in the Terms of Service Agreement.  By accessing, interacting with and/or otherwise using the Services and providing and/or otherwise making available your Information to us, (a) you expressly choose to receive certain communications from us and, unless you otherwise indicate, third parties as described in this Privacy Policy and (b) you expressly agree to the privacy practices described herein.

1. INTRODUCTION; GENERAL TERMS.

1.1 This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect in connection with your access to and/or use of the Services, how the information is used, and how and when we disclose such information. Please take a few minutes to read this Privacy Policy so that you understand how we treat your information.

1.2 This Privacy Policy will remain in full force and effect, even if your access to, use of and/or participation in connection with the Services or any other particular service, feature, function or promotional activity offered on or through the Services terminates, expires, is suspended or deactivated for any reason. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please do not participate in or use any Services. This Privacy Policy applies regardless of the device you use to access the Services and whether you are accessing the Services as a registered user (i.e., an end user with a User Account) or otherwise.

1.3 This Privacy Policy governs only the information collected by us on or through your use of the Services, and does not cover any other information collected in any other manner or collected by any other third party, unless specifically stated. Where you have provided any of your information to third parties, including, but not limited to, marketing companies, advertisers and product/service providers, we may obtain such personal information and combine it with your Information (as defined herein).

1.4 For purposes of this Privacy Policy, (a) when we use the term “Personal Information” we mean any information that we collect on or through the Services that would allow someone to identify you or contact you, such as your full name, address, e-mail address, physical address, payment card information, telephone number(s), etc., and (b) when we use the term “Additional Information”, we mean any information that we collect about you on or through the Services other than Personal Information (Personal Information and Additional Information shall be collectively referred to herein as “Information”).

2. INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

2.1 Registration, Features, Functionality and Communications. In order to access and/or use the Services and certain content, features and functionality thereof (e.g., communication/networking features, online giving, account registration, newsletters, etc.), we may require that you provide and/or otherwise make available to us certain Information, which may include, among other things, your legal name, email address, physical address/location, diagnosis and other descriptive information, and, in order to conduct fee-based transactions and other activities, your payment data (e.g., payment card data, PayPal account details, etc.), demographic information, authentication data and other information. Further, access to and/or use of certain content, features and functionality of the Services may be subject to Additional Terms, including, but not limited to, notices, requirements and settings, which may require that you provide certain Information about yourself in order to personalize and/or allow you to use these Services. In addition, you may be presented with the opportunity to sign up to receive additional newsletters, email communications, or other communications from us in order for us to provide up-to-date information and other news about the Services, and to publicize and promote certain events, content, initiatives and services offered by us, our business/organizational partners and other third parties, which may require that you provide, among other things, contact information such as name and email address, and, sometimes, demographic and other profile information.

2.2 Automatic Information Collection; Tracking Technologies. When you access and/or use the Services, we automatically collect certain Information, such as a unique device identifier assigned to your device (“UDID”), anonymous identifiers, your Internet protocol (IP) address, location data and other Information regarding your access to and/or use of the Services, which may, among other things, assist us in authenticating your usage and/or device, keeping track of your preferences, creating a more tailored user experience, better serving your particular interests and needs, etc. In addition, the Services and/or third parties may use “cookies” (which are small data files containing information about you that is stored on your device), “embedded scripts”, web beacons and other similar tracking technologies (collectively, “Tracking Technologies”) to collect Information automatically as you interact with the Services. Tracking Technologies enable us, among other things, to track your interaction with the Services, and target your interests to enhance your experience with the Services. We may also use Tracking Technologies to collect “clickstream” data, such as your device type, operating system and platform, the average time spent using the Services, content viewed and searched for, access times and other relevant statistics, and may assign unique identifiers to your device or other credentials you use to access and/or use the Services for the same purposes. We may associate the information obtained through these Tracking Technologies and your UDID, anonymous identifiers and other identifiers and data with your Personal Information so we can better customize your experience using the Services and provide tailored recommendations, advertisements, promotions and other content related to your specific interests, activities and/or profile.

2.3  EXPRESS CONSENT AND AGREEMENT. BY ACCESSING AND/OR USING THE SERVICES, WHETHER AS A REGISTERED USER OR OTHERWISE, YOU AFFIRMATIVELY ACKNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTAND AND HEREBY AGREE THAT YOU ARE GIVING US YOUR CONSENT TO TRACK YOUR ACTIVITIES AND YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES AS DESCRIBED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY.

3. HOW WE USE INFORMATION

3.1 We may use your Personal Information for the following purposes:

• Providing any information, services or products that you request or purchase on through the Services;
• Contacting you regarding the administration of any features or functions of the Services;
• Sending you marketing, promotional and other e-mails and correspondence;
• Allowing you to participate in the support and other features of the Services;
• Responding to your questions or other requests;
• Tailoring your experience with the Services and/or otherwise customizing what you see when you use the Services;
• Saving your User Account, registration and profile data or other Personal Information (so you are not required to have to re-enter it each time you use and/or access the Services);
• Providing and/or otherwise making available the Services and any other information, products and services of enhanced value to you;
• Marketing and promoting the Services, including promotions and other initiatives and activities;
• Where you order information, goods or services, performing credit checking where relevant;
• For the prevention and detection of fraud or infringement of our or any third party’s rights;
• Tracking your return visits to and use of the Services;
• To comply with legal obligations or legal process; and
• For any other purposes described in this Privacy Policy or disclosed at the time you provide us with the Personal Information or which are reasonably necessary to provide the Service or other related information, product and/or service requested.

3.2       In addition, we may use your Additional Information for the following purposes:

• For research purposes, marketing/promotional purposes and/or to provide anonymous reporting for internal and external clients, business partners, third party organizations, etc.;
• Accumulating and reporting aggregate, statistical information in connection with the Services and user activity;
• Determining which features, functionality and portions of the Services users like best to help us operate the Services, enhance and improve the Services and display advertising and marketing information;
• Saving certain Additional Information for your ongoing use of the Services;
• For the uses described for “Personal Information” above; and
• For other purposes disclosed at the time you provide us with the Additional Information or which are reasonably necessary to provide the service requested.

4. USER CHOICE, WITHDRAWAL OF CONSENT AND OPT-OUT

4.1 Preferences.  You may change your privacy preferences (e.g., ask us not to share your Personal Information with a particular third party) by sending an email to us at mda@mdausa.org detailing your privacy request. Other privacy preferences (e.g., limiting location services), depending on the nature of the specific feature, functionality or offering, may be designated by modifying your account privacy, permission and/or account options on the Services (if applicable) or your device (if applicable). If you ask us to stop using your Personal Information, we will honor that request while retaining a record of any Personal Information as necessary to comply with applicable foreign, federal, state or local law, and/or to conduct legitimate business activities; provided, however, that you may be unable to continue to use the Services (in whole or in part), if you require us to stop using your Personal Information. You always have the right to review and correct the Personal Information you have provided to us and generally you may update or delete (subject to our rights above) certain Personal Information by contacting us as described in Section 13.

4.2 Marketing and Promotional Communications. From time to time, you may be presented with the option of whether to receive, or you may be automatically entered to receive, certain marketing, promotional and/or fund raising communications from us and others that we think will be of interest to you. You can unsubscribe to receive certain such communications by either following the specific instructions included in such communications or you may “opt-out” of receiving certain marketing and promotional e-mails from us by sending an email to us at mda@mdausa.org detailing your privacy request. Please note that “opt-out” and “unsubscribe” requests may not take effect immediately and may take a reasonable amount of time to receive, process and apply, during which time your Information shall remain subject to the prior privacy settings. Additionally, you should be aware that any Information provided to third parties prior to your election to opt out or unsubscribe cannot be retrieved or rescinded by us unless required by applicable law, and you cannot retroactively opt out or unsubscribe with respect to such third parties. Further, also please note that in order to keep you informed about the operation of the Services, we may always send you emails, notifications and announcements that are needed for the proper functioning and administration of the Services, including, without limitation, for the purposes described in Section 3 above, in connection with your use thereof. We may also have features that allow you to submit information, questions or feedback to us. In those instances, we may retain your emails and other information you submit to us for our internal purposes, and to help us, our service providers and affiliates serve you better.

5. SHARING AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

5.1 Disclosure to Third Parties. We reserve the right to use, share, exchange, sell, rent, lease and/or disclose to third parties any of your Information (i.e., Personal Information and Additional Information) for any lawful purpose, including, but not limited to, for the purpose of furthering our charitable mission and as may otherwise be described in Section 3 above, and your access to and/or use of the Services shall be deemed your express, affirmative “opt-in” consent to the foregoing. You can choose to opt-out of certain such uses as described in Section 4 above.

5.2 Co-Branded Services and Features. The Services may offer co-branded services and features, such as fund raising events, initiatives and promotions provided by us and/or our affiliated organizations and entities or other third party partners, and that may be hosted on the Services and/or our co-branded partner's platform, website or service. The co-branded partner will be identified on the co-branded feature or service, along with the co-branded partner's privacy policy. If you wish to opt-out of a co-branded partner's future use of your Personal Information for marketing or other purposes, you will need to contact the co-branded partner directly. Please note that the use of such information by co-branded partner is subject to co-branded partner's privacy policy.

5.3 Service Providers. We may also disclose your Information to third parties for the purpose of administering and maintaining the Services (“MDA Service Providers”). We use MDA Service Providers to efficiently provide the full range of content, activities, services, features and functions we bring you and we disclose your Information to MDA Service Providers for the purpose of providing services to us and our affiliated companies, organizations and initiatives.

5.4 Additional Disclosures. There may be instances when we may access and/or disclose Information without providing you a choice in the following circumstances: (a) to protect or defend our legal rights or property, or those of our affiliated companies, organizations and initiatives, and their employees, agents and contractors (including enforcement of our agreements); (b) to protect the safety and security of the Services and our users; (c) protect against fraud or for risk management purposes; (d) if we believe your actions violate the Terms of Use Agreement, this Privacy Policy or any Additional Terms; or (e) to comply with law or legal process. In addition, if we sell or transfer all or a part of our business, organization and/or assets (or those of an affiliated company, organization or initiative), or all or a part of our business, organization and/or assets (or those of an affiliated company, organization or initiative) are otherwise involved in a merger or any other similar transaction, we may transfer your Information to the party or parties involved in the transaction as part of that transaction.

6. MINORS

We do not knowingly collect information from minors under 18 years of age. No information should be submitted to or otherwise made available on or through the Services by individuals under 18 years of age.

7. SECURITY

While no data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure from intrusion, we maintain commercially reasonable physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your Personal Information. Our server uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to protect information submitted via the forms on this site. SSL is the industry standard security protocol. All credit card information is protected in accordance with PCI standards. All off-line information is securely stored and is accessible only by authorized staff. However, regardless of our efforts and the device you use to access the Services, it is possible that third parties may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications over an unsecured transmission.

8. YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

If you are a resident of the State of California, we provide you with information on how to exercise your disclosure choice options such as your right to opt-out (which we may sometimes refer to as “unsubscribe”) with respect to use of your Personal Information by third parties for marketing purposes. Therefore, pursuant to the California Civil Code, we are not required to maintain or disclose a list of the third parties that received your Personal Information for marketing purposes during the preceding year. If you are a California resident and wish to request information about how to exercise your third party disclosure choices, please send a request by email to our Privacy Administrator at mda@mdausa.org detailing your privacy request. All requests must be labeled “Your California Privacy Rights” on the email subject line. For all requests, please clearly state that the request is related to “Your California Privacy Rights”, include your name, street address, city, state, zip code and e-mail address (your street address is optional if you wish to receive a response to your request via email) and indicate your preference on how our response to your request should be sent (email or postal mail). We will not accept requests via the telephone, postal mail or by fax. We are not responsible for notices that are not labeled or sent properly, or do not have complete or legible information.

9. INTEGRATION AND INTERACTION WITH THIRD PARTY PLATFORMS AND SERVICES

The Services may be linked to, rely on and/or be integrated with websites, applications, interfaces, services and platforms operated by other companies, including Third Party Services. The Services may also feature advertisements from other third parties. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of such websites, applications, interfaces, services and platforms operated by third parties that are linked to, rely on and/or integrated with the Services or for the privacy practices of third party advertising companies or otherwise. Once you leave the Services via such a link, access a third party application, interface, service or platform or click on or navigate to an advertisement, you should check the applicable privacy policy to determine, among other things, how they will handle any personally identifiable or other information that they may collect from you.

10. PRIVACY POLICY CHANGES

From time to time, we may modify this Privacy Policy to reflect industry initiatives, third party requirements or changes in the law, our Information collection, use and disclosure practices, the features and functionality of the Services, or technology, and such modifications shall be effective upon posting. Your continued use of the Services after we post a revised Privacy Policy signifies your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy. It is therefore important that you review this Privacy Policy regularly to ensure you are updated as to any changes. If we materially change our practices regarding collection, use or disclosure of your Personal Information, your Personal Information will continue to be governed by the privacy policy under which it was collected unless you have been provided notice of, and have not objected to, the change.

11. ACCURACY

It is your responsibility to give us current, complete, truthful and accurate information, including Personal Information, and to keep such information up to date. We cannot and will not be responsible for any problems or liability that may arise if you do not give us accurate, truthful or complete information or Personal Information or you fail to update such information or Personal Information. We will reject and delete any entry that we believe in good faith to be false, fraudulent or inconsistent with this Privacy Policy.

12. International USAGE
The Services are controlled, operated and administered entirely within the United States of America. If you visit, access, interact with and/or otherwise use the Services from a location outside the United States, please be advised that any Information you provide in connection with any such activity may be processed in and/or transferred to the United States of America and/or other territories and locations, where privacy protections may not be as comprehensive as those in the territory or location where you interact with or otherwise use the Services. By using the Services, you affirmatively consent to this transfer, use and other administration of your Information as described herein.

13. CONTACT US

If you have any questions about our privacy practices, concerns regarding misuse of personal data, or other inquiries related to the terms or conditions of this Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us as follows:

Email: mda@mdausa.org(link sends e-mail)

OR

Mail:     Muscular Dystrophy Association
Attn:    c/o Privacy Matters
            222 S. Riverside Plaza
            Suite 1500
            Chicago, IL 60606

14. SOLE STATEMENT

This document is the sole statement of the Privacy Policy for the Services and no summary, restatement or other version thereof, or other privacy statement or policy, in any form, including, without limitation, machine-generated, is valid.

This Privacy Policy was last modified on the date indicated above and is effective immediately

August 2016