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Privacy Policy
This site is provided by Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW). BGCGW is committed to complying fully with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. BGCGW does not intend to collect personal information from children under the age of 13. Our information collection practices are described below. While we encourage children to visit our site and learn more about our programs, we recommend, however, that parents approve and closely supervise the activity of their children at this and all other online sites. We urge children to check with their parents before entering information on any website and we urge parents to discuss with their children restrictions regarding the online release of personal information to anyone they don’t know.
The Information BGCGW Collects
We respect your privacy as our online guest, and we will not collect any identifying or personal information about you while you are here except as set forth in this Privacy Policy.
BGCGW collects information in several ways from different parts of this site. BGCGW may collect personal information from you when you register with this site. BGCGW also may ask you for personal information at other times, such as when you ask a question or report a problem with this site. If you contact BGCGW may keep a record of that session or correspondence, including a record of your e-mail address. BGCGW may also occasionally ask users to complete surveys for research purposes. There also may be services on this site that require you to fill out an online form or send BGCGW an e-mail message in order to utilize these services. BGCGW collects any information that you provide in such circumstances, including any personal information.
We may ask you for identifying and personal information to:
- Invite you to receive periodic e-mail updates about our progress: When you accept, or “opt in,” we ask you to give us your e-mail address and respond to some questions that help us tailor our information to your interests. You can “opt out” of receiving these periodic updates at any time.
- Processing any online donations you make to Boys & Girls of Greater Washington. When you donate to honor someone else, we do not use the information you give us about that person for any other purpose.
- Accepting your online “registration” at our site: When you agree to give us identifying and personal information, you are giving that information only to Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the parties we have involved in operating this site. You are giving it solely to enable the services this site provides.
BGCGW also may collect IP addresses, domain names, and similar items regarding users of this site to measure the number of visits, pages visited, average time spent on this site, and similar items.
“Cookies” may be used in connection with this site. A cookie is a small amount of identifier data that is sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive. By using cookies, information is potentially collected without your express knowledge. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies but permit you to change the setting to refuse cookies or to be alerted when cookies are being sent. While refusal to accept cookies will not prevent the use of some portions of this site, other portions of this site may not function properly without cookies.
How BGCGW Uses the Information it Collects
BGCGW uses the information it collects through this site to improve its marketing and promotional efforts, to improve its content, and to customize this site’s services, content, and layout. BGCGW may provide the information it collects through this site to BGCGW’s business partners, and to third parties who provide services on BGCGW’s behalf. BGCGW may use the information it collects through this site to inform you of new services, changes, or promotions. If you do not want us to send you this type of information, please let us know by contacting us at info@bgcgw.org. We will not disclose your personal information collected through this site to third parties except as described in this Privacy Policy without first informing you of such change in our disclosure practices and providing you a choice regarding such disclosure.
BGCGW understands the importance of privacy and confidentiality to users of this site. BGCA will not share personal information you submit through this site with companies not affiliated with BGCA for purposes of marketing or promoting events, products, or similar items, unless such events, products, or similar items are related to BGCA, and except that BGCA may, from time to time, make personal information available to selected third parties, but only in the aggregate.
BGCGW may disclose information it collects through this site when required to do so by a court, regulatory agency, subpoena, law, regulation, or other body of competent jurisdiction and authority, and for administrative and other purposes that BGCA deems necessary to maintain, service, and improve its products and services and to protect its rights and property. Finally, if you become involved in any violation of security, violation of this website’s Terms of Use, or violation of any party’s or third party’s rights, BGCA may release information about you to assist in investigating, resolving, or remediating any such incidents.
Integrity and Security
BGCGW employs commercially reasonable managerial and technical measures to help protect the security and integrity of the personal information it collects online through this site. You acknowledge, however, that no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while BGCGW strives to protect your personal information, BGCGW cannot ensure the security of any information you transmit to or from this site.
Fraud/Unauthorized Solicitations
BGCGW has been the target of an increased number of fraudulent activities that include local on-foot solicitations and most recently on-line check scams. We would like to share this information in the event that you, a family member, colleague of friend may have been approached or unknowingly asked to participate in or donate to such unauthorized activities.
BGCGW has already notified local authorities and are currently developing internal safeguards to limit these types of transactions in the future. Our goal is to protect the integrity of our brand and discourage any unauthorized third party use of our name, image or likeness. Any information that you may have leading to the identification of individual(s) or organizations involved in this kind of illegitimate solicitation would be greatly appreciated and held in the strictest of confidence. In order to protect yourself please review the following information.
BGCGW is not affiliated with any on-foot individuals or street vendors that sell goods for the purpose of raising money for our clubs or related programs. These merchants are often found soliciting in front of high foot-traffic establishments, such as major grocery stores, drug store chains, metro stations and home improvement retail outlets among others. They are usually young males between the ages of 8-18 and carry ID placards which at first glance seem to be legitimate BGCGW business identification. Often times the sales pitch will include the name of a club or team that is supposedly affiliated with BGCGW and that the funds will go to securing uniforms, pay for team travel, or other related expenses. The items sold are candies, cookies or in some cases counterfeit or “bootleg” CD’s and DVD’s.
Please do not give monetary donations to any on-foot solicitors thinking that your donations go directly to our organization, they do not. These types of solicitations while used with other non-profit organizations, are not part of BGCA or BGCGW’s authorized fundraising efforts. Please visit our website at www.bgcgw.org for more information on sending donations to our organization in a secure manner via the web or regular mail.
Do not accept any “on-line check cashing exchange fee” offers from individuals or organizations that falsely claim they represent the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington. Please contact us at 202-540-2335 if you have received such offers. These transactions are fraudulent and part of an on-line scam targeting unsuspecting donation givers across the country.
Changes To This Privacy Policy
BGCGW may revise this Privacy Policy at any time by updating this posting. Please consult this Privacy Policy regularly.