Privacy Policy

Holy Covenant United Church of Christ (“HCUCC,” “we,” or “us”) is the owner of this Website, https://holycovenantucc.org/ (the “Website”). We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of personal information collected from our members, visitors to the Website, and other individuals who interact with us.

This Privacy Policy explains how we gather, use, and protect your personal information. By accessing our website or providing us with your personal information, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Personal Information We Collect

When you visit the Website, we may collect, use, and store different kinds of information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with you (“Personal Information”).

We may collect the following types of Personal Information:

• Contact information: This may include your first and last name, email address, street address, mailing address, and phone number.
• Social media accounts: We may also collect information available to us through your social media accounts, such as your profile URLs and profile data.
• Donation and giving information: If you make donations or contributions to us, we may collect information about your payment method and donation history.
• Membership and attendance information: If you are a member of HCUCC or attend any of our virtual or in-person events, we may collect information about your involvement, such as attendance records and volunteer activities.
• Website Usage Information: When you visit our Website, we may collect information about your device, browser, and browsing activity, such as the pages you visit, the links you click, access dates and times, your internet protocol (IP) address, and referring website addresses.

Children Under 13

Our Website is not directed at children under the age of 13. We adhere to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and will not knowingly collect personal information from any child under the age of 13. We ask that minors (under the age of 13) not use our Website. If a child under the age of 13 has provided us with personal information, a parent or guardian of that child may contact us and request that such information be deleted from our records.

 How We Collect Personal Information

We collect this information through various means, including:

• Direct interactions with you, such as when you fill out forms, surveys, or communicate with us.
• Automated technologies or interactions, such as cookies and similar technologies used on our website.
• Third parties or publicly available sources, where permitted by law.

Like most websites, we use automatic data collection technology when you visit our Website to record information that identifies your computer, to track your use of our Website, and to collect certain Website usage information. We collect usage information by using cookies and pixel tags.

We may also use third-party technology providers (such as Google Analytics or a Website host such as Wix or Squarespace) to evaluate your use of the Website, compile reports on Website user activity, collect demographic data, analyze performance metrics, and collect and evaluate other information relating to the Website and Internet usage. These third parties may use cookies and other technologies to help analyze and provide us data used to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content. You consent to the processing of data about you by these analytics providers in the manner and for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

You may set your browser to notify you before it receives a cookie, giving you an opportunity to decide whether to accept the cookie. You may also set your browser to turn off cookies; however, our Website may not work properly if you do this.

Types of Information Automatically Collected

We use automated tracking technologies and third-party analytics providers to identify your computer, to identify which pages on our Website you visit, and to track your movement throughout our Website. We may also use these technologies to identify who opens our email messages or clicks on links contained in those messages.

In doing so, we may collect the following information about you: IP address, browser type, referring and exit pages, date and time you visited our Website, details regarding your activity on our Website, the type of device used to access our Website, and the operating system used to access our Website.

How We Use the Information We Collect

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose.

We use the Personal Information we collect for the following purposes:

• To provide and improve our services: We use your information to administer your membership, process your donations, provide our Website to you, and communicate with you about HCUCC events and activities.
• To analyze and enhance our Website: We use website usage information to understand how our Website is being used and to make improvements to the user experience.
• To create donation and financial records: We may use Personal Information to process and maintain records of donations and to create financial reports and projections.
•  To send notices: We may use Personal Information to send notice to you, such as acknowledgements of donations and tax statements.
• To protect our interests or comply with legal requirements: We may use your information to protect our interests and legal rights and to comply with applicable laws and regulations, such as financial reporting requirements for charitable donations.
• To market to you: We may use Personal Information for marketing purposes, such as adding you to our mailing list, planning events, managing events, promoting events, and other fundraising activities. We may send you communications by e-mail, text, phone, or mail.
•  To process payments: We may use your payment information to process your authorized payments.

Sharing of Personal Information

HCUCC does not sell or share the Personal Information you provide to use with third parties for their own marketing purposes. However, we may share your information in the following circumstances:

• With service providers: We use third party service providers to assist us in our operations, such as our bank, our insurers, payment processors, marketing vendors, or website hosting companies.
• In the event of a merger or acquisition: If HCUCC is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, we may share your information with the new owner.
• As required by law: We may disclose your information to comply with a court order, law enforcement request, or other legal obligation or process. We will only disclose information that we are legally required to share and will take reasonable steps to limit the scope of any such disclosure. We may also share your Personal Information as necessary to enforce any contract or agreement between us.

Data Retention

We will retain your Personal Information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by applicable laws and regulations. The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:

• The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you
• Whether there is a legal obligation we must follow
• Any other legitimate business interest

Opting Out of Communications

You may opt-out of our mailing list at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in e-mails or replying “STOP” in response to texts.

Security of Information

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we take reasonable measures to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to our Website or transmitted to us via email. Any electronic transmission of personal or confidential information is at your own risk.

Links to Other Websites

Our Website may contain links to other websites that are not owned or controlled by us. Our Privacy Policy applies only to our Website, so we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those other websites. We encourage you to review their privacy policies to make sure you understand their practices.

Notice for Non-U.S. Residents

We operate in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that any information you provide to us may be transferred to the United States or another governmental jurisdiction where the privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your jurisdiction. By providing us with any information, you consent to this transfer.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right, at any time and without notice, to add to, change, update or modify this Privacy Policy, by posting such change, update or modification on this Website. Your continued use of our services after any changes or revisions to this Privacy Policy shall indicate your agreement with the terms of such revised Privacy Policy.

Questions and Comments

If you have any questions or concerns about our data practices or about this privacy policy, we encourage you to e-mail us at [email protected].