Privacy Policy
Northern Virginia Bird Alliance (“NVBA”) respects its visitors’ privacy interests and is committed to honoring your preferences. This privacy policy governs the way we collect and use your information both offline and online, including at nvbirdalliance.org and its subdomains, websites accessed through your mobile devices, and NVBA’s social media sites (“Media”). Your use of Media or provision of personal information to Audubon constitutes your acceptance of the terms of this policy.
The Information We Collect
We collect and use the information you provide when you interact with NVBA offline and through NVBA Media. This information falls into two categories: 1) personal information, which includes items such as your name and address, which you provide when you become a member, make a donation or participate in an activity; 2) non-personal information, which includes your IP address or website browsing patterns, which we collect through technology.
Personal Information
In most cases, you may use NVBA’s Media without registering or submitting any personal information. Some Media sites, however, require that you supply certain personal information, such as a verifiable email address, to register or to fully use the site.
National Audubon Society (“Audubon”) provides NVBA with personal information about Audubon members within NVBA’s geographic area. Audubon members within NVBA’s geographic area are automatically members of NVBA as well as Audubon. If NVBA receives your email address from Audubon, NVBA includes you on its email list, discussed below. NVBA also shares with Audubon the personal information you provide when you join Audubon through the NVBA website. Audubon’s use of this personal information is governed by its own Privacy Policy: Audubon Privacy Policy.
NVBA hires event management contractors who collect personal information to coordinate signup and notification for classes and other activities. The privacy policies of those contractors, Eventbee and Eventbrite, are at Eventbee Privacy Statement and Eventbrite Privacy Policy. Credit card information for sustaining members is retained by Stripe, the credit card processor NVBA uses. Donorbox, which makes the form NVBA uses to collect donations, retains information from that form (such as name, email address) but NVBA limits how that data can be used. The privacy policies of those service providers are at Stripe Privacy Policy and Donorbox Privacy Policy.
Depending on the nature of your interaction with NVBA, you may be asked to provide personal information such as your name, address, telephone and mobile phone numbers, and email address. Examples include when you sign up for a class, register at an NVBA program, or participate in an NVBA community science or conservation project, such as the Christmas Bird Count and the Great Backyard Bird Count (“GBBC”). NVBA may use your email address to send you its monthly newsletter and notices of NVBA events such as meetings and classes. NVBA also may use your personal information to contact you in fund-raising drives by e-mail or the U.S. postal service. You may opt-out from receiving email communications in response to any email communication by unsubscribing, or from any other communications by contacting NVBA’s office directly.
Engage on Other Social Media Sites: NVBA maintains presence on several social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This policy applies to our use of information you submit to us, but it does not apply to what Facebook or any other third party platforms do with your information. Those platforms have their own privacy policies, and we encourage you to read them.
Note on Information Collected in Community Science and Conservation Projects: Your participation in community science and conservation activities such as the Christmas Bird Count and the GBBC becomes part of the historical record of those activities, and your consent to preservation of that record is presumed. The Christmas Bird Count is a collaboration of Audubon and its network, including NVBA. Any data submitted to the Christmas Bird Count is governed by the Audubon privacy policy: Audubon Privacy Policy. The GBBC is a collaboration of Audubon and its network, including NVBA, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada. Any data submitted to the GBBC databases, including bird observations and photos, is governed by the GBBC privacy policy: GBBC Privacy Policy.
Wildlife Sanctuary Program Activities: Wildlife Sanctuary Program displays on the NVBA website an Esri GIS map showing properties certified as wildlife sanctuaries. To obscure home addresses (which Wildlife Sanctuary Program collects at the time an Ambassador visit is scheduled), exact addresses of properties do not appear on the map, and the coordinates are not available to the viewer; instead, the map will indicate your property as within a nearby region. The Esri privacy policy is at Esri Privacy Policy. The Wildlife Sanctuary Program also uses Salesforce to manage data and email communications for its programs. Use of that information is governed by the Salesforce privacy policy: Salesforce Privacy Statement.
Non-Personal Information
We may collect non-personal information about the computer, mobile phone, tablet or other device you use to access NVBA Media, such as IP addresses, geolocation information, unique device identifiers, and browser type. NVBA’s website use cookies and similar technologies, which are small files or pieces of text that download to a device when a visitor accesses its website. The cookies allow Squarespace, the hosting platform, to provide a secure website. Analytics and performance cookies allow NVBA to understand how people use our website and improve its functioning. See the Cookie Policy for NVBA’s website host, Squarespace, at Squarespace Cookie Policy. NVBA’s e-mail service provider, Mailchimp, also uses cookies, beacons and pixel tags to collect analytic and performance information. See Mailchimp’s cookie statement at Mailchimp Cookie Policy. NVBA contracts with third parties to provide analytics information, reports and analysis about the usage and browsing patterns of our Media visitors.
Embedded applications, such as Google Calendars and Google Maps, also may collect non-personal information. The privacy policies of those embedded applications govern their use of the collected information.
How NVBA Uses the Information We Collect
NVBA employees, volunteers and contractors assist us to perform certain business functions, such as credit card processing or email list services. All of them are provided only the information necessary for them to do their jobs and are prohibited from using the information they receive from NVBA in any way other than to provide their services to NVBA. They may not share, resell or use the information they collect for their own direct marketing purposes.
Use of information NVBA provides to Audubon is governed by the Audubon privacy policy: Audubon Privacy Policy.
Miscellaneous
Children under Thirteen Years of Age: We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under thirteen years of age.
Data Security: NVBA is committed to protecting all your information. To this end, NVBA has in place commercially reasonable physical, technical and administrative controls to protect the information.
Data Retention: NVBA will delete the personal information collected through NVBA Media upon request. Contact info@nvbirdalliance.org.
Changes to the Privacy Policy: NVBA reserves the right to revise this privacy policy at any time and without notice. Check this site frequently for updates.
Applicable Law: This site is intended for users in the United States. This policy shall be interpreted consistent with the laws of the United States and the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Any dispute arising out of, in connection with, or related to this policy shall be brought in any federal or state court located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the parties hereby waive any objection they may have to personal jurisdiction in these courts.