Privacy and acceptable use statement

Terms and conditions

Your use of the SOS-USA website constitutes your agreement to the terms and conditions of this statement.
Throughout this statement of policies and agreements, you will see the terms "SOS Children's Villages-USA," "we," "our," and "us" - these terms refer to SOS Children's Villages-USA, a Washington, DC based 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. You will also see the terms "you," "your," and "yours" - these terms refer to visitors and users of our Website.
SOS Children's Villages-USA's website has several features including descriptions of our programs and how we help orphaned and abandoned children in the United States and around the world. The website also gives you the opportunity to provide direct support to SOS Children's Villages USA via online donations and sponsorships.
We encourage you to read this statement in its entirety as it sets forth our mutual understanding when you visit our website.

 

Our website

Do I have to submit any personal information in order to visit the SOS Children's Villages USA website?

We do not ask you for any personal information if you are just visiting our website. However, for you to take advantage of some of our services, we will ask for some personal information. Also in order to help us continually to learn and improve our content and services, data is collected in an anonymous and aggregated manner, for example the number of visitors to certain pages or the use of such features as e-cards and tell-a-friend.

 Some personal data such as name, address and preferences are collected when you register on our website and when you sign up for a sponsorship. The data you provide enables us to give you information in a personalised manner. For example if you sign-up for our electronic sponsorship programme, which is a form of regular support of all SOS Children's Villages USA activities in a specific town or village, you will receive news and stories. Registration and sign-up are completely voluntary. Completing the optional fields is your choice.

 Data such as credit card numbers or other billing information are collected in order to process a donation. It is your decision whether you would like to store these payment details with us for a longer period than it takes to process the contribution. If you do, you will not have to re-enter all your details the next time you decide to make a donation or sponsorship payment.

 

Your privacy

Does SOS Children's Villages USA ever collect personal information, such as my name, address or credit card information, through it's website?
To make online contribution to SOS Children's Villages USA, we may ask you to provide credit card or other billing information. This includes, but may not be limited to, your name, address, billing address, credit card type, number, and expiration date. In addition, to subscribe to our newsletter, you may be asked to submit personal information including name, address, and email address.  

How is personal information used by SOS Children's Villages USA, and can I control it's use?
Personal information will be used by SOS Children's Villages-USA and SOS Children's Villages International to provide you updates on information you have requested. You do not have to disclose any personal information if you do not want to.  Simply do not use those website services or features that require such information. Our interest is to offer you convenient online services that match your interests.

What are cookies and does the SOS Children's Villages USA website use cookies?
A "cookie" is a small piece of data that is sent to your browser from our web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. SOS Children's Villages-USA uses cookie information in order to provide better and more personalized content and services to the visitors of this website. For example, we may use the information for tracking which areas of our website you have visited, and how frequently. We may match information obtained from cookies with other data you provided in order to develop statistics.

 Please check your computer or software manual for specifics on how cookies work on your computer. It is possible to block cookies from being loaded onto your computer. Please note, however, that blocking cookies can affect the performance of websites.

 Any change of our policy concerning cookies will be communicated on our homepage and through a new version of this privacy statement.

Does SOS Children's Villages USA share information (personal or cookies)?
Our policy regarding personal information is simple: except as provided in this Privacy Policy, SOS Children's Villages-USA will not give, sell or rent any personal information to third parties without telling you in advance and giving you the opportunity to tell us not to share the information. We make an effort to include a link to this Privacy Policy and Acceptable Use Policy whenever we ask you for personal information.

SOS Children's Villages-USA hires third parties to provide certain administrative services - such as processing credit card transactions, preparing address labels, managing databases, managing online promotions, online advertising, and sending mailings - which requires SOS Children's Villages-USA to provide third parties with access to certain information. We make an effort to require all third party service-providers to hold personal information in strict confidence. While we believe these other companies are upstanding and will treat your personal information responsibly, we do not own or control them.

SOS Children’s Villages-USA may occasionally share, exchange or rent donor names and postal addresses to like-minded third party organizations we feel could be of interest to you.  These list exchanges are common practice among nonprofit organizations.  Donors are provided the opportunity to opt out of this exchange at least once per year and may choose to opt out any time by contacting us.  Email and phone lists are not shared.  SOS Children’s Villages-USA will never disclose financial information to third party organizations.

Further, if we are compelled by law, or some other regulatory authority, SOS Children's Villages-USA will disclose personal information. Also, if we have reason to believe that there has been some inappropriate interference with or use of the SOS Children's Villages-USA website, or if we have reason to believe that one of our website users may have been injured or some other party harmed, we will disclose personal information as we deem appropriate or if asked by a legal or regulatory authority.

Personal data collected is not rented or sold to companies or organisations that are not a part of the SOS Children's Villages-USA's organisational structure. In the case that administrative services such as credit card processing are required from third parties, such services are acquired under the understanding that all personal information is treated confidentially and only for the purpose of SOS Children's Villages USA's.

 Aggregated, statistical and other non-personal information such as the number of visitors to our website and their use of certain features or services may be shared with third parties working with us, for example for the promotion of our website.

You are under no obligation to disclose any personal information if you do not want to. If you are not comfortable with the SOS Children's Villages USA's uses of information, you can choose not to use those services or features that require such information.

What rules apply if I "click" over to another website?
In order to provide certain services and materials, SOS Children's Villages-USA contracts with other companies and individuals to support our website activities. These additional services and materials may include providing "links" to other websites from our website. Except as may be outlined in this statement, this Statement does not apply to any third-party sites. Anytime you leave the SOS Children's Villages-USA website, we have no control regarding what information may be collected about you, nor can we control what third-parties might do with the information. SOS Children's Villages-USA is not responsible for, and has no control over, the information collection or privacy practices of other websites. It is important that you review any privacy policies on third-party sites carefully, BEFORE you use any services or programs offered. If you cannot find or do not like a website's privacy policy, you may choose not to offer information to that site.
 

Security

How does the SOS Children's Villages USA website provide security of information?
SOS Children's Villages-USA works with our parent organization, SOS Kinderdorf International, to host and manage our website with security measures in place to protect against the loss or misuse of the information under our control. When you contribute to SOS-USA online, your financial and other personal information are protected and encrypted at all times on secure servers during transmission and payment processing according to strict data security guidelines and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (“PCI" requirements).


Warning regarding phishing
SOS Children's Villages is aware that there are increasingly frequent phishing attempts from fraudsters trying to illegally obtain sensitive information from donors -- at the expense of children.

Phishing is a method of attempting to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or company in an electronic communication. Most methods of phishing use some form of technical information designed to form a link in an e-mail. The bogus website the link leads to appears to belong to the real organization.  
 

Terms of use

Are there limitations on my use of the information and technology on the website?
When you use our website, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions contained in this statement. These terms and conditions have been developed for your protection, as well as ours. SOS Children's Villages USA owns the materials and technology, or has the right to use the materials and technology, included on the SOS Children's Villages-USA site. No one outside SOS Children's Villages USA may use any of the material or technology for any purpose, including personal financial gain or other inappropriate activity. If you choose not to accept the terms and conditions of this statement, you are free to leave our website.

It is improper, and may be a violation of law, for you to post or download and distribute any material that you do not own or for which you do not have permission to use. Please be aware: violation of someone's copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights may subject you to civil or criminal penalties.

Use of SOS Children's Villages-USA materials or technology for illegal, inappropriate, or obscene purposes, or in support of such activities is strictly prohibited. We define these terms as follows:

• "Illegal activities" are those that violate laws, regulations and/or private agreements, including federal or state laws governing charitable activities, copyright laws, trademark laws, license agreements or other intellectual property rights.

• "Inappropriate uses" are any uses other than for legitimate informational, educational or fundraising purposes.

• "Obscene activities" are those that violate generally accepted social standards for use of this type of material or technology.

You are entirely responsible for all of your activities on the SOS Children's Villages USA website. Please be aware: SOS Children's Villages USA may terminate your ability to interact at our website in the event we, in our sole discretion, determine that you have engaged in a prohibited activity. Listed below are some, but not all, prohibited activities that may result in termination:

• Posting, transmitting, or facilitating in the promotion of illegal content through our website.

• Use of our website to harass, threaten, embarrass, or do anything else to another visitor or third-party that is unwanted.

• Transmitting or facilitating distribution of content that is untrue, threatening, harassing, abusive, racially or ethnically offensive, vulgar, sexually explicit, obscene, defamatory, or objectionable.

• Disrupting the flow of any chat areas with vulgar language, abusiveness, or other conduct that may disrupt normal activities.

• Pretending to be anyone whom you are not. You may not impersonate SOS Children's Villages USA staff, or anyone else.

• Attempting to get a password, other account information, or other private information from others, or harvest e-mail addresses or other information.

• Posting any unsolicited advertising, promotional materials, or any other forms of solicitation at our website.

 

Change in policies

Does SOS Children's Villages USA ever change its website policies?
From time to time, SOS Children's Villages-USA may add features or services to our website. This may include collecting different types of information and/or changing the uses of the information. In these instances, we will endeavor to edit this policy in a timely fashion to explain the new practices. PLEASE check these policies occasionally to find out if there are any changes (there is a date of publication at top). If we make substantial changes in our web-site policies, we will try to include an announcement on our homepage so that you will know to look for the revised policy.

 

Contact us

Who do I contact with questions about the privacy policy, to update my personal information or to unsubscribe from mail/email?
If you have any questions about our privacy policy or acceptable use policy, or if you would like to update or remove your personal information, please e-mail us at info@sos-usa.org or contact us at:

SOS Children's Villages USA​
1620 I Street, NW Suite 220
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 347-7920
(888) SOS-4KIDS
e-mail: info@sos-usa.org