Operation Pathways is an independent 501(c)(3) subsidiary of The NHP Foundation (NHPF). This policy describes the types of information we may collect about individuals, including users of our Sites, donors and other supporters, and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, and disclosing that information.
This Privacy Policy is intended for individuals in the United States. If you live outside of the United States and choose to use the Sites connected with this Privacy Policy, you do so at your own risk and understand that your information will be sent to and stored in the United States. By using Operation Pathways’ website, mobile application, and social media pages that link to this policy (collectively “Sites” and each a “Site”), or otherwise providing personal information to us in a non-resident capacity, you agree to this Privacy Policy.
Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It
“Personal information” generally means any information that identifies you as an individual, and any other information that we associate with it. We collect several categories of personal information, from a few different sources:
Information You Provide to Us
We collect the information that you provide to us, which may include:
- Name, email, address, and other such information that you provide by filling in forms on our Sites, such as when you sign-up for our newsletter or other communications, or when you register to attend an event (online or offline). We may also ask you for information when you choose to respond to a survey, provide us with feedback, or when you report a problem with our Sites.
- Your search queries on the Sites.
- Your available social media information when you interact with us through those channels.
- Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses) if you contact us.
- Details of your transactions, such as event registration and donations. Operation Pathways relies on a third-party payment processing vendor to securely process donations and credit card information.
- Photographs and/or videos from our events, such as our annual symposium, ribbon cutting and groundbreaking ceremonies, dedications, or online programs.
Information Collected from Third Parties
We may use third parties to help enhance our supporter lists. For example, we may provide email addresses to a third party and ask that they append certain social media data (e.g., Twitter handle) to our data. We do this to learn more about our supporters, and so that we can better target our supporters.
Information that is Automatically Collected
As you navigate through and interact with our Sites, we or our third-party vendors may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns. This includes:
- Details of your visit to our Sites, including web requests, traffic data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Sites.
- Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.
- We may also collect similar information from emails you receive from us that can help us track which emails are opened and which links are clicked by recipients.
This information helps us to improve our Sites and to deliver a better and more personalized online experience, including by enabling us to estimate our audience size and usage patterns; store information about your preferences, such as language; speed up your searches on our Sites; and recognize you when you return to our Sites.
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection include:
- Cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts or use certain features of our Sites. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Sites.
- Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Sites may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our Sites. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.
- Web Beacons. Pages on our Sites may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
Third Party Cookies
Some content or applications on the Sites are provided by third parties, including content and application providers. These third parties may use cookies, alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies, to collect information about you when you use our Sites. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based advertising or other targeted content.
How We Use Your Information
We use information that we collect about you, including any personal information:
- To present our Sites and their contents to you.
- To facilitate the processing of donations and receipts.
- To communicate with you regarding Operation Pathways, our upcoming events, developments in the area of affordable housing, or other areas we think may be of interest to you.
- To respond to your questions or requests for information.
- To monitor and analyze activity on the Sites, enhance the performance and functionality of our Sites, and conduct analyses of visitors to our Sites. For more information, see “Information that is Automatically Collected” above.
- To send you marketing communications, surveys, and invitations.
- To allow you to participate in interactive features on our Sites.
- To conduct analyses for our Thought Leadership, evaluate what needs are going unmet, and how best to ensure low to moderate income people have sustainable housing they can afford.
- To notify you about changes to our Sites or the content or services we provide though them.
- To promote the mission and vision of Operation Pathways. Specifically, if you attend an Operation Pathways event (online or in-person), your image and the sound of your voice may be recorded on audio or video tape. If you are identified during the recording, or identify yourself by name, that information may be included in our materials. Operation Pathways may use such media in fundraising materials, advertising, social media, web content and other publications. Recordings may be edited, copied, exhibited, published, or distributed.
As described below, we may use third-party vendors and service providers to assist us in any of the above.
Disclosure of Your Information
Your personal information may be disclosed to third parties in the following circumstances:
- With organizations that participate in The NHPF Affiliate Program and Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF), which provides development, financial, asset management, resident services, and fundraising support to local housing not-for-profits facing financial and organizational challenges.
- To third-party vendors and professional service providers we use to perform services on our behalf, such as audit, accounting, legal, data analysis, recruiting, surveys, research and analytics, monitoring and analyzing activity on the Sites, relationship and event planning/management, fundraising, donation processing, maintaining our supporter database, advocacy activities, website hosting, infrastructure provision and IT services, external communications (email, mail, and text delivery services), and other such services, for the purpose of providing those services.
- To a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business or assets (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).
- With supporters of Operation Pathways or the general public, if you attend an event and you appear in a photograph or video that we later use in our fundraising materials, advertising, web content or other publications.
- For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information or to fulfill the purpose for which you provide information.
- To comply with any legal obligations.
- If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Operation Pathways or others.
We may also disclose aggregated information about users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.
Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information
- Mail Communications. If you no longer wish to receive mailings from us, please contact us at information@operationpathways.org and request to opt-out.
- Email Communications. You may opt out of receiving marketing and fundraising communications via email by clicking “unsubscribe” at the bottom of any email. We may still continue to send you certain emails relating to use of the Sites, and administrative or transactional messages.
- Text Messages. You may opt out of receiving text/SMS message communications from or on behalf of Operation Pathways by replying “STOP” to any such message.
- Tracking Technologies and Advertising. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit the Flash player settings page on Adobe’s website. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of the Sites may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
Do Not Track
Do Not Track (DNT) is a privacy preference you can set in most browsers. There is no standard interpretation or practice for responding to DNT signals, so we handle all user information consistent with this Privacy Policy.
Third Party Links and Widgets
The Sites and certain communications we send to you may contain links to third-party sites, applications, or platforms. These links are provided for your convenience only, and your use of third-party sites is subject to the privacy and other policies of those third parties.
The Sites also include social media features, such as the Facebook Like button, and widgets, such as the Share This button. These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on the Sites, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy statements of the companies that provide them.
Updating Your Information
If you need to update or correct the personal information we have about you, for instance if you move, you may contact us as indicated below and we will make reasonable efforts to update your personal information as soon as practicable. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.
Our Commitment to Security
We have implemented reasonable measures designed to secure personal information we hold from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. Please be aware that despite our best efforts, no data security measures can guarantee 100% security. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Sites.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The date the privacy policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for periodically visiting our Sites and this privacy policy to check for any changes.
Contact Information
To ask questions or comment about this privacy policy and our privacy practices, contact us at information@operationpathways.org.