Privacy Policy

Effective Date: March 14, 2016 -- This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website www.gridalternatives.org (our “Website”), and our practices for using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information.  This Policy does not cover how GRID Alternatives treats information that it collects from other sources, such as offline or through email or written communications with us.

GRID Alternatives may update this Policy at any time.  If we do so, we will notify you by posting the updated Policy on our Website or as required by law.  Continuing to use the Website after a new Policy is posted means that you accept and agree to the changes.


WHAT INFORMATION DOES GRID ALTERNATIVES COLLECT?

We collect contact or demographic information directly from you, such as your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, income or other information.  We collect this information when you fill out a form on our Website, such as to sign up to volunteer, when applying to pre-qualify for a program, when applying for a job or when using the Donate Now feature on the Website. 

When you visit our Website, we automatically collect information from your browser, which may include your IP address, when you visit our Website and what pages you look at on our Website.  Although this information by itself may not personally identify you, some of the data we collect (such as IP addresses) could potentially identify you if combined with other information.  We may aggregate the data we collect to analyze the viewing habits of visitors to our Website so that we can improve our Website or provide more relevant content, but we do not match this data to any personally identifiable information.


HOW DOES GRID ALTERNATIVES USE THE INFORMATION IT GATHERS FROM ITS WEBSITE?

We may use the information we collect in the following ways:

  • To send you relevant communications such as newsletters, notices of volunteer opportunities, or information about our services.  You can update your communications preferences (for instance to unsubscribe from such communications) at any time via the Email Preference Center; or a link that will be provided on each email.
  • To contact you about services or volunteer opportunities you have expressed interest in or jobs you have applied for.
  • To process payment for an on-line donation.
  • To monitor the effectiveness or statistics of our Website or programs.
  • To respond to inquiries and customer service requests.
  • To improve website design and content.
  • To protect our company, our clients, our volunteers and our Website.

We may also use the information we collect in any other way permitted by law.


WHEN DOES GRID ALTERNATIVES SHARE THE INFORMATION IT COLLECTS?

We share information gathered on our Website with our website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our Website, conducting our business, or servicing you.  We may also share your information with state or federal regulatory agencies, or when we believe disclosure is appropriate to enforce our site policies, protect ours or others' rights, property, or safety, or comply with the law. 

Non-personally identifiable information gathered on the Website may be provided to third parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

We may share your information if we are merged into or acquired by another company or organization.

We may also share your information for other reasons that we may describe to you.

DOES GRID ALTERNATIVES USE THIRD PARTY LINKS AND TRACKING?

GRID Alternatives uses several common tracking tools such as browser cookies and web tags.  Our vendors may also use these tools.  Cookies are text information files placed on your computer by your browser (such as Internet Explorer or Google Chrome) when you visit our Website.  Cookies may store information about your visit to and use of the Website, such as any information you have previously entered into one of our forms.  The cookies do not gather any information from your computer.  Most webs browsers automatically accept cookies, but may allow you to modify security settings so you can approve or reject cookies on a case-by-case basis or always reject cookies.  You do not need to accept cookies to visit or use our Website, but if you block cookies, certain features on our Website may not work.  A web tags is code placed on a website to collect information about general visitation patterns.  Cookies may be placed in a web tag.  We and our vendors may also use web beacons, pixel tags, flash cookies, and similar technologies.

We do not offer or advertise third party products or services on our Website.  However, our Website may have links that, if clicked, will take you to a third party website or platform that GRID Alternatives does not own or control.  This Policy does not cover the privacy practices of those third party websites or platforms.  We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these third parties carefully before disclosing any personally identifiable information. 

Some websites have “do not track” features that allow you to turn off tracking.  The Grid Alternatives Website does not have a “do not track” feature and does not respond to “do not track” signals. 

HOW DOES GRID ALTERNATIVES PROTECT THE INFORMATION IT COLLECTS?

Information collected by Grid Alternatives Is protected through physical, electronic and procedural safeguards.  All transactions requiring sensitive information such as credit card numbers are processed through a third-party provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.  We will keep personal information as long as it is necessary or relevant for the practices described in this Policy.  We also keep information as otherwise required by law.  Grid Alternatives encourages you to use caution when using the Internet and when providing personally identifiable information to anyone.

DOES GRID ALTERNATIVES COLLECT INFORMATION FROM CHILDREN?

This site is meant for adults.  We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13 without permission from a parent or legal guardian.  If you are a parent or legal guardian and believe your child has provided information to us, please contact us with the contact information provided below. 

HOW CAN I CONTACT GRID ALTERNATIVES?

If you have any questions regarding this Policy you may contact us using the information below.

GRID Alternatives
1171 Ocean Avenue, Suite 200
Oakland, CA 94608
(510) 731-1310
info@gridalternatives.org