Effective Date: May 25, 2018 Last Modified: April 12, 2021
The Humane League (“The Humane League”, “THL”, “we”, or “us”) is committed to protecting the privacy of our supporters and the Personal Information provided to or collected by us. This Privacy Policy explains the way we collect information from you, how it is used, and with whom it may be shared. It also identifies the security procedures in place to protect your Personal Information and what choices are available to you regarding the use of your data. For purposes of this Privacy Policy, “Personal Information” shall mean any information that can be used to identify an individual.
This Privacy Policy applies to THL websites https://thehumaneleague.org and https://openwingalliance.org, and to all associated subdomains, online services, and applications, such as THL’s Fast Action Network (collectively, the "Site"). Each time you use our Site, the current version of this Privacy Policy will apply. Accordingly, whenever you use our Site, you should check the date of this Privacy Policy (which appears at the top) and review any changes since the last version. This Privacy Policy applies to all Site visitors and users.
If you have any concerns that aren’t addressed in this Privacy Policy, please reach out to us by emailing privacy@thehumaneleague.org.
Information We Collect
We collect the following types of information:
- Personal Information, such as your name, home address, telephone number, date of birth, pronouns, credit card information, and email address (Note: we do not store full credit card information); and
- Non-personal, aggregate information, such as information regarding the pages you have visited and your IP address.
Information You Provide
If you choose to provide it, we collect Personal Information when you complete an online form (such as subscribing to receive our email updates, registering for our Fast Action Network, or RSVPing for an event), make a donation, order merchandise, sign a petition, sign up to be a volunteer, apply for a job or a Fellowship, participate in research studies performed by The Humane League Labs, apply for a grant or membership through the Open Wing Alliance (“OWA”), enter a giveaway, or request information about veg eating. This Personal Information may include your name, phone number, email address, mailing address, social media URLs, and financial information (OWA grant applicants only). The Humane League partners with NGP VAN, Inc., operating under the name EveryAction, a customer relationship management platform, to store and process much of this information. More about EveryAction’s privacy policy can be found on their website. We may also manually collect Personal Information, such as Personal Information obtained during an in-person meeting.
The Humane League does not see, store, or retain credit card numbers submitted online, which are processed directly through our payment processor partners (DirectConnect, Stripe, WePay/Classy, Paragon, and PayPal).
Some THL forms, such as donation forms or petitions, utilize EveryAction’s FastAction function (not to be confused with THL’s Fast Action Network application). EveryAction’s FastAction function is not a payment processor, but it is a convenient way for you to save your contact and payment information for the future. From a donation form to a petition, EveryAction’s FastAction function allows you to show your support with a single click, without reentering your information. With your EveryAction FastAction profile (also known as ActionID) you can take actions like donating or filling out a petition instantly from your email or with one click on the web. You can learn more about how to opt-out of EveryAction’s FastAction function here.
Information Gathered by the Site
The Humane League and its service providers may collect other information in a variety of ways, including:
Logging
We use several services to log visitor activity in our Site and servers. In order to best serve our supporters, it is crucial for us to be able easily to search server logs when debugging issues. The following are examples of the types of information that can be logged:
- Passwords logged in their encrypted value.
- Geolocation based on IP address to suggest the appropriate locale. Location is not stored (e.g. IP is logged, from which location can be inferred).
- Some demographic data via Google Analytics, which is installed on all (or nearly all) of our web properties.
Cookies
When you use and access our Site, we may store a number of cookies in your web browser.
Cookies are small pieces of text sent to your web browser by a website you visit. A cookie file is stored in your web browser and allows the Site or a third party to recognize you and make your next visit easier and the Site more useful to you.
How The Humane League Uses Cookies
The Humane League uses cookies to help us monitor traffic and collect information about the use of our Site.
We use cookies to enable certain functions of our Site, to provide analytics, and to store your preferences.
We use both “session” and “persistent” cookies on our Site and we use different types of each:
- Functionality Cookies (persistent). These cookies allow our Site to remember choices you make when you use our Site, such as dismissing a pop-up or displaying certain content. Additionally, some of our Functionality Cookies include those from our customer management platform, EveryAction, to remember choices you make when you use their services, such as pre-filling a form from data from previous sign-ups. The purpose of these cookies is to provide you with a more personal experience and to avoid you having to re-enter your information every time you fill out a form on our Site. You can find out more about EveryAction’s cookies here, including how to opt-out of EveryAction’s FastAction function.
- Analytics and Performance Cookies (session). These cookies are used to collect information about traffic to our Site and how users use our Site. The information gathered does not identify any individual visitor. The information is aggregated and anonymous. It includes the number of visitors to our Site, the websites that referred them to our Site, the pages they visited on our Site, what time of day they visited our Site, whether they have visited our Site before, and other similar information. We use this information to help operate our Site more efficiently, to gather broad demographic information, and to monitor the level of activity on our Site. We use Google Analytics for this purpose. The Humane League also uses Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting. Google Analytics uses its own cookies. It is only used to improve how our services work. You can find out more information about Google Analytics cookies here.
Disabling Cookies
You can typically remove or reject cookies via your browser settings. In order to do this, follow the instructions provided by your browser (usually located within the “settings”, “help”, “tools”, or “edit” facility). Many browsers are set to accept cookies until you change your settings. You may opt out of Google's use of cookies by visiting the National Advertising Initiative’s Ads Settings at any time.
For further information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your computer or mobile device and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org and https://www.cookiesandyou.com/.
If you do not accept our cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of our Site. For example, we may not be able to recognize your computer or mobile device and you may need to log in every time you visit our Site.
Pixel Tags
We may also use pixel tags (which are also known as web beacons and clear GIFs) on our Site to track the actions of users on our Site. Unlike cookies, which are stored on the hard drive of your computer or mobile device by a website, pixel tags are embedded invisibly on webpages. Pixel tags measure the success of our campaigns and compile statistics about usage of the Site, so that we can manage our content more effectively. The information we collect using pixel tags is anonymous and is not linked to our users’ Personal Information.
California’s Online Privacy Protection Act
The California Online Privacy Protection Act protects your right to visit our Site anonymously. Some Internet browsers—like Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Safari—include the ability to transmit “Do Not Track” or “DNT” signals. Since uniform standards for “DNT” signals have not been adopted, our Site does not currently process or respond to “DNT” signals. The Humane League takes privacy and choice seriously and will make efforts to continue to monitor developments in DNT browser technology and the implementation of a standard. To learn more about “DNT”, please visit All About Do Not Track. If you would like to opt out of Google Analytics specifically, try this browser add-on: Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
Children’s Privacy
The Humane League does not knowingly collect or solicit any information from anyone under the age of 13 without the written consent of a parent or legal guardian. You can provide written consent for your minor by contacting us. If we discover that Personal Information has been collected from a child under 13 and their parent or legal guardian has not provided written consent, the Personal Information will be deleted from our system as quickly as possible. If you believe we have this type of Personal Information on file, please contact us immediately.
How Your Information Is Used
In addition to the tailoring of web content described above, your and/or your organization’s Personal Information may be used to:
- Contact you via email, phone, or SMS (text) regarding updates and important information about The Humane League’s work, events, new services, donation opportunities, or changes to our policies;
- Accept payment for, ship, and send you confirmation of your merchandise orders;
- Contact you regarding prizes you win during a social media giveaway;
- Ship prizes to you won during a social media giveaway;
- Manage membership in, and award grants through, the OWA;
- Manage and process your Fellowship, volunteer, or job application;
- Track your activity with THL, such as volunteering, event attendance, and donations;
- Provide you with targeted messaging and invitations based on your interests, activities, and/or locality;
- Communicate with companies and their employees about improvements to animal welfare, such as petitions; and
- Perform anonymized research.
Opting In and Opting Out of THL Communications
You may opt in to receiving emails from The Humane League via forms on our Site. These forms will always clearly state if they are linked to an email subscription list, and/or will offer you the choice to subscribe to receive email updates on submission. Emails sent from THL may include campaign updates, action alerts, fundraising opportunities, and other ways to help animals. We aim to tailor our email content and frequency based on the interests of our supporters. All subscription-based emails sent from The Humane League include a ‘Manage your Subscriptions’ and ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom that allows you to customize the type of electronic communication you receive from us, including the option to unsubscribe from all emails. You are also welcome to use the Self Service Portal, email us at privacy@thehumaneleague.org, or call us at 888-211-5241 with unsubscribe requests. To request closure or deletion of an EveryAction FastAction (also known as ActionID) profile, you should email EveryAction at privacy@everyaction.com.
If you would like to opt out of receiving physical mail from us, please contact us via email or phone at 888-211-5341 and include your full name and mailing address so we may update our system with your preferences.
If you would like to opt out of receiving SMS (texts) from THL, you may reply “STOP” to any text message you receive from us, or use the above-mentioned contact points to request that your phone number not be sent text updates from us. When you receive text messages from The Humane League, we will always clearly identify ourselves as the sender.
When Your Information May Be Shared
We may share your Personal Information in the following ways:
- The Humane League works with some third-party consultants, vendors, and service providers who may have access to your Personal Information. We do our best to ensure our agreements with those consultants, vendors, and service providers include assurances that they will not retain, sell, rent, or otherwise distribute or share Personal Information for any reason other than providing The Humane League with services. We note that some vendors, such as EveryAction, are subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and their cookie practices meet the CCPA’s broad definition of “Sell” even though EveryAction does not actually sell personal data to third parties in exchange for payment. The services provided to THL by third-party vendors include, but are not limited to, identifying and providing targeted advertisements, billing, payments, payment processing, order fulfillment, and providing analytic services. For example, we use Shopify to power our online store—you can read more about how Shopify uses your Personal Information here. We also use Twitter and other social media platforms to provide targeted advertising to our supporters and individuals with similar interests. You can opt out of Twitter’s interest-based advertising through the methods described here.
- If your organization submits information for the purposes of applying for a grant or membership through the OWA, we may share your information with third-party coalition and funding partners.
- We may occasionally make names, mailing addresses, and giving level histories of donors available to a licensed list broker to conduct modeling for our direct mail efforts, helping us to identify future supporters with similar characteristics. Names and mailing addresses may then be exchanged through the list broker to third parties for marketing purposes. This is not a direct one-to-one exchange between two entities, and the names and addresses THL submits must also be submitted by at least two other entities to be eligible for sharing. During the exchange, only a giving level is provided (not a detailed giving history). If a third party receives your name and address, they may send you a solicitation. However, you will only be added to their customer or supporter database if you respond to their solicitation. Due to the way this information is shared, THL does not have information about which entities have received any specific individual’s Personal Information. If you do not want your Personal Information shared with third parties in this way, please contact us with this request. We do not rent, trade, or sell email addresses you provide to us. We do rent names and physical mailing addresses.
- The Humane League may share your Personal Information with third parties, as required by law or subpoena, or if we reasonably believe that such action is necessary to (a) comply with the law and the reasonable requests of law enforcement; (b) enforce our Terms of Use or to protect the security or integrity of the The Humane League Sites; and/or (c) exercise or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of the The Humane League, our supporters, or others. If we are required by law to disclose the Personal Information you have submitted, we will attempt to provide you with prior notice (unless we are prohibited or it would be futile) that a request for your Personal Information has been made in order to give you an opportunity to object to the disclosure. We will attempt to provide this notice by email, if you have given us an email address, or by postal mail if you have entered a postal address. If you do not challenge the disclosure request, we may be legally required to turn over your Personal Information. In addition, we will independently object to requests for access to information about users of our Site that we believe to be improper.
- Other uses as specifically posted or agreed upon when your Personal Information is collected (for example, if you provide Personal Information for a use that is not covered in this Privacy Policy, but is explained on the mechanism in which you provide your Personal Information).
Information Security and Storage
We take the security of your Personal Information very seriously and utilize industry-standard security systems, software, and encryption technologies when transferring and storing Personal Information.
Transfer of Personal Information and International Users
We are headquartered in the United States. The Personal Information about you that we collect, process, and/or use is controlled by The Humane League, and is stored on servers located in the United States. If you are visiting our Site from outside the United States, be aware that your Personal Information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located, and our central database is located. By using our Site, you consent to any transfer of this Personal Information.
How Long We Keep Your Personal Information
We keep your Personal Information, in a form which permits us to identify you, for no longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. Retention periods can vary significantly based on the type of Personal Information and how it is used. Our retention periods are based on criteria that include legally mandated retention periods, pending or potential litigation, our intellectual property or ownership rights, contract requirements, operational directives or needs, and historical archiving. When we no longer need to use your Personal Information and there is no need for us to keep it to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements, we will either remove it from our systems or depersonalize it so that it can’t identify you.
Third-Party Websites
You may be able to access third-party websites directly from The Humane League’s Site. This Privacy Policy does not apply when you leave THL’s Site in order to access third-party websites. We cannot control how third parties may use Personal Information you disclose to them, so you should carefully review the privacy policy of any third-party website you visit before using it or disclosing your Personal Information to its provider.
Your Rights
- If you wish to access, correct, update, or request deletion of your Personal Information, you can do so at any time by emailing us at privacy@thehumaneleague.org.
- In addition, you can object to the processing of your Personal Information or ask us to restrict processing of your Personal Information. Again, you can exercise these rights by emailing us at privacy@thehumaneleague.org.
- You have the right to opt-out of email, phone, postal mail, and text communications we send you at any time. You can exercise this right by clicking on the "unsubscribe" or "opt-out" link in the emails we send you. You can also update the types of messages you would like to receive from us by clicking on the “Manage your Subscriptions” link in the emails we send you. To opt-out of other forms of marketing (such as postal marketing, text messages, and phone calls), you may email us at privacy@thehumaneleague.org.
- Similarly, if we have collected and processed your Personal Information with your consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your Personal Information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.
Updates
If you have updates for us:
If you would like to update any of the Personal Information we have on file for you, including your contact preferences, please use the self-service portal where you can manage your email subscriptions yourself anytime, or contact us at privacy@thehumaneleague.org to let us know and we will make those changes for you. Additionally, if you prefer not to receive messages from us, please let us know by clicking on the unsubscribe link within any message that you receive, or by sending a message to us at privacy@thehumaneleague.org. Please note that this request must be made for every email address, mailing address, and telephone number that The Humane League has on record for you.
We respond to all requests we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws. However, we reserve the right to keep any Personal Information in our archives that we deem necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.
Please note that to request closure or deletion of an ActionID or EveryAction FastAction profile, you will need to email EveryAction at privacy@everyaction.com.
If we have updates for you:
If we make changes to our Privacy Policy, we will post those changes on our privacy policy page so you will always be aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it. If at any point we decide to use Personal Information in a manner that is materially different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will notify you via email. You will then have a choice as to whether or not we may use your Personal Information in this manner. If you do not request deletion of your data from THL after receiving notice of the changes, you will be deemed to have consented to these changes in the use of your Personal Information.
Contact Information
The Humane League P.O. Box 10476 Rockville, MD 20849 Phone: 888-211-5241 Email: privacy@thehumaneleague.org