Privacy Policy

Effective September 20, 2011

Not only does American Humane (“AH”) care about the welfare of children and animals, we care about privacy. This privacy policy serves to inform you of the information we may collect about you, how we may use that information and how we will protect your personal privacy within our Website (located at the URL www.americanhumane.org). The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices. In addition, it sets forth a mechanism by which you can opt out of receiving communications from our affiliates and from us regardless of whether we obtained your content information through our Website or any other source.

In order to fully understand your rights we encourage you to read this Privacy Policy. AH reserves the right at any time and without notice to change this Privacy Policy simply by posting such changes on our Website. Any such change will be effective immediately upon posting.

By visiting this Website you agree that no information you submit to the Website shall contain libelous or otherwise unlawful, abusive or obscene material. You are solely responsible for the content of any information you provide to American Humane.

Because we want to demonstrate our commitment to your privacy, this Privacy Policy notifies you of:

• The effective date and privacy policy’s scope (above);
• What information does AH collect;
• How that information is used and shared;
• Policy relating to public forums on this Website;
• Information collection and use pertaining to surveys, polls, promotions, sweepstakes and contests;
• Website use by children;
• Website security measures;
• Policy relating to linking to other websites;
• Option to opt-out of use and distribution of your information; and
• How to contact us with questions.

What Information Does American Humane Collect:

Information You Provide

If you register as a user to this Website, request additional information about AH, make a donation or participate in any other program or service of AH (including but not limited to via this Website, direct mail, mobile or text message), we may request personal information including your name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, birthday or birth year, format preference (e.g., HTML vs. Text), interests, eligibility to vote or similar information and add it to our contact databases. Users of the Website may email us to request information or otherwise communicate with us; we collect the names and email addresses of those who communicate with us by email. Please also see sections below regarding Surveys, Polls, Promotions, Sweepstakes and Contests.

Referral Programs

AH participates in several referral programs. Through these programs, individuals have the opportunity to purchase products that generate royalties for AH. When such purchases are made, the individual becomes a customer of the company providing the product and is then subject to the policies of that company. AH does not collect information about individuals in these transactions, however the affiliate companies in our referral programs may choose to share customer lists back with AH. These lists may be entered into our contact databases for use by AH and sharing by AH with third parties as described herein. One may opt-out using the opt-out mechanism described below.

Internet Protocol Addresses and Environmental Variables

AH may also collect information through IP addresses or environmental variables. An “IP address” is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet. “Environmental variables” include, among other things, the domain from which you access the Internet, the time you accessed our Website, type of web browser and operating system or platform used, the Internet address of the web site you left to visit AH, the names of the pages you visit while at our Website, and the Internet address of the web site you then visit. We may collect all of this information to allow us to detect broad demographic trends, to provide information tailored to your interests and to enhance your experience on our Website.

Use of “Cookies”

Our Website may use cookies to enhance your experience while using our Website. Cookies are pieces of information that some websites transfer to the computer that is browsing these sites and are used for record-keeping purposes at many websites. Use of cookies makes web-surfing easier by performing certain functions such as saving your passwords and your personal preferences regarding your use of the particular website. Many consider the use of cookies to be an industry standard.

How We Use That Information:

American Humane Use

AH may collect and store the personally and non-personally identifiable information you provide us to add to our contact databases, and send you information about AH and AH-approved third parties from time to time. AH may e-mail you with commercial e-mails pertaining to AH or those third parties. AH will not disclose financial information except as necessary to fulfill a user’s donation requests. AH collects such financial information in a secure manner and discards such financial information after processing (and, for recurring gifts, after processing the last such gift). We do not request or store social security numbers from our visitors. We may use information as described above from any user or individual from whom we have gathered information as described above.

Sharing with Approved Entities

AH may share your personally and non-personally identifiable information with third party companies that we have approved which may want to contact you with offers that we have approved. AH may also contract with third parties to provide your personally and non-personally identifiable information to other third parties provided that we have approved such other third parties and their offers to you. AH retains third party vendors to provide specific services. When an individual signs up for these services, we may share personally and non-personally identifiable information that is necessary for the third party to provide these services. We may share information as described above from any user or individual from whom we have gathered information as described above.

Public Forums:

AH may make message boards and email discussion lists available to its Website users. Participation in these services is voluntary. Please be advised that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information. AH makes no guarantees or assurances nor is it responsible for the manner in which third parties may use such voluntarily offered public information. AH does not collect information posted in public forums.

Facebook Privacy Policy

Surveys, Polls, Promotions, Sweepstakes and Contests:

From time-to-time AH may request information from users via surveys, polls, promotions, sweepstakes or contests. Participation in these surveys, polls, promotions, sweepstakes or contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. Information requested may include, among other things, contact information (such as name, address and e-mail address), and demographic information (such as age). Contact information will be used to notify the winners and award prizes, and any information collected may be added to our contact databases for use by AH itself and AH-approved third parties as described above. Survey information may be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of AH’s websites, programs and/or services, and may be added to our contact databases for use by AH itself and AH-approved third parties as described above.

Usage by Children:

While we are a 501(c)(3) organization exempt from compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), we encourage parents and guardians to review in advance both this privacy policy – which discusses our information collection and disclosure practices – and any areas of our Website, to evaluate the site’s appropriateness for their children.

With respect to any sweepstakes or contest for which children under 13 are eligible, AH will not intentionally use the names of any children under the age of 13 for purposes beyond prize notification and sweepstakes/contest-related communications. Any parent or guardian wishing to remove their child from any sweepstakes/contest may do so by sending us an e-mail at info@americanhumane.org.

Security Measures:

All financial information provided to AH is transmitted using encryption. We also protect account information by placing it on a secure portion of our Website that is only accessible by authorized personnel. Unfortunately, however, no data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of such information.

Other Web Sites:

Our Website may contain links to other websites. Please note that when you click on one of these links, you are entering another website for which AH has no responsibility. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on all such sites as their policies may be different than ours.

Opt Out:

You may opt-out of receiving communications from AH and AH-approved third parties and request deletion from our contact databases by sending an email to us at info@americanhumane.org. AH will not share or sell an opt-out list to any third party. Opt-out requests will be honored within ten business days.

AH reserves the right, in limited, narrowly defined circumstances, to release information to local, state or federal law enforcement agencies when we have a good faith belief that the applicable law requires it. Additionally, AH reserves the right to release information pursuant to a court order or the order of a duly authorized governmental administrative agency.