Support Community, Inc.

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) applies to the Support Community, Inc. (“SupportCommunity,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) websites and applications (collectively, “Platform”) and governs data collection and usage. For the purposes of this Policy, unless otherwise noted, all references to SupportCommunity include the Platform and SupportCommunity. This Policy does not apply to any website, application, content, service, or third party that may link to or be accessible through the Platform but that SupportCommunity does not own or control. Please read this Policy carefully. By accessing, reviewing, downloading, installing, or using the Platform, you indicate that you have read, understood and agree to this Policy. If you do not want to agree to this Policy, then you must not access or use the Platform.

Each time you visit the Platform, you consent to the collection, use, disclosure, and processing of personal information in accordance with this Policy. If you are located in a jurisdiction outside the United States, you consent to the transfer of your personal information to our servers and computer systems anywhere in the world, including to countries that may not provide an equivalent level of data protection to the laws in your home jurisdiction. If you provide any personal information that relates to another person, you hereby state and agree that you have obtained proper consent from such person for the collection, use, disclosure, and processing of such personal information as described in this Policy.

Your access to and use of our Platform is governed by our Website Terms of Use and Mobile Application Agreement (“Terms of Use”), as amended from time to time.

We reserve the right to change or amend this Policy at any time. Please see the “Changes to this Policy” section for details. Your continued use of the Platform after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check this Policy periodically for updates.

SupportCommunity works with nonprofits and other institutions (each, an “Organization”) to provide tools and peer-based social networks to the clients of those Organizations (each a “Participant”) and their families and friends. Please note that SupportCommunity provides services under the direction and control of the applicable Organization. By using the SupportCommunity Platform, you consent to the data practices described in this Policy. In some cases, the use, collection, processing, storage, and management of your information and data may be governed by the Organization’s practices. You may need to reach out to the applicable Organization directly in order to request access to, modify, or control your data. We encourage you to carefully review the policies of each of the applicable Organizations you engage with on or through our Platform.

If you are a Participant or the parent or guardian of a Participant with questions about your or a Participant’s personal information, please contact the Organization that is administrating your version of the SupportCommunity application.

Collection and Use of Participant Information

The Platform actively collects personal information from you when you visit, download, register with, or use the Platform, when you send an email to the Platform administrator or otherwise communicate with SupportCommunity or the Organization, and when you request or submit any information to or through the Platform. We may collect personal information such as your name, contact information, including your email address, postal address, telephone number, user ID, details of the transactions you carry out through the Platform, and information related to the fulfillment of your service requests. Some of the third-party services that our Organizations utilize through the Platform may allow you to make donations or other payments to the Organization, in which case the Platform will collect certain financial information, such as credit/debit card information and account numbers, solely to the extent required by the Organization and its third-party service provider, when you make a donation through the Platform. We also collect other information that you choose to provide, such as records and copies of your correspondence if you contact us, and the User Content that you provide through the SupportCommunity Platform for the purposes of utilizing the Platform tools and services, connecting with other users on the Platform’s public forums, and communicating with the Organization or SupportCommunity. We may also collect information and data about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access the Platform, and details about your use of the Platform, which may include IP addresses, operating system type and version, device identifiers, and other information collected through cookies or other passive means. We may also collect information about your downloads and usage of our Platform, including how you use and interact with our Platform, or other products and services you may receive through our tools (including information about frequency, duration, date and time, quantity, quality, and performance information related to logins, clicks, and other use information). We may collect your geolocation, such as where you are located when you are using our Platform or other data or pieces of information that may identify you individually.

Other than your name, email, and telephone number, SupportCommunity does not require you to provide your personal information, including any health or medical information in order to use our Platform. The collection of any personal information, health, medical, or case management information is solely at the direction and responsibility of our Organizations, if they choose to do so. You acknowledge and agree that SupportCommunity’s Platform only collects and process such information if the Organization instructs us to do so, and in such case, Support Community will collect, process, and store such information only to the minimum extent necessary to complete our Organization’s requests.

Children Under the Age of 13

The SupportCommunity Platform is not directed to, and SupportCommunity does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from, children under the age of 13. If you have any questions or concerns about the information that SupportCommunity collects, please contact us using the contact information set forth below.

Information in Your User Content

Our Platform provides you with tools to enable you to utilize available Organization services, foster and maintain a support system through peer-based social networks and forums, connect with others in like circumstances, and manage your resources when faced with critical life events. We provide a space for people to tell their story, learn from others, manage resources, and create a meaningful and lasting sense community when facing difficult life situations. You may provide and upload User Content, which may include Solicited User Content (each as defined in our Terms of Use), to the Platform through its message boards, chat rooms, personal web pages or profiles, forums, bulletin boards, and other interactive features.

It is completely optional whether or not you choose to upload such User Content, and you choose the nature and kind of the User Content that you upload. We strongly discourage you from including any identifying information (such your name or address) in your User Content. All User Content must comply with the Content Standards set out in the Terms of Use.

When sharing User Content, you are making that User Content publicly available. Anyone using the Platform may be able to view your User Content. We are not responsible for the User Content that you provide through the Platform. You may have the option to delete your User Content, but in some cases, we cannot ensure that it can or will be deleted. Copies of your User Content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages, or it might have been copied or stored by other site users. Do not provide any User Content that you do not want to be accessed or used by SupportCommunity and third parties.

To the extent that you choose to include the name, story, image, likeness, voice, and other personal characteristics, biographical, or professional information of yourself or anyone else, and any other content or materials that contain or incorporate any of the foregoing in your User Content, you expressly consent to the use of such materials as set forth in our Terms of Use. Many of the Organizations, entities and partners that we work with are nonprofit organizations. One of our core values is to provide tools, resources, and support to our Organizations that may further their organizational values and missions. One of the tools that we provide to such Organizations is the ability to use User Content to tell their story, create a sense of community, and in some cases, solicit donations from third parties. In order to support this endeavor, you have the option to expressly consent to the use and license of your User Content by us and our Organizations for public relations and promotional purposes, including advertising and the solicitation of donations. Please review our Terms of Use carefully to understand how such materials may be used by us, should you choose to permit such use. If you do not want us to use your User Content in this way, you must select the appropriate user options and other settings made available through our Platform.

Your Privacy and Links to Other Sites and Resources

Our Policy only applies to information collected by SupportCommunity. Our Platform contains links to other third-party sites that are not owned or controlled by SupportCommunity. SupportCommunity is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites and third parties. We encourage you to review the privacy statements of websites and resources that you choose to visit from SupportCommunity so that you can understand how those websites collect, use and share your information. SupportCommunity is not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on websites outside of the SupportCommunity website.

How We Use and Disclose Your Information

We may process and use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us:

  • To provide our Platform, including our website, its contents, and the products, services, or information that you request from the Organization or us.
  • To configure and maintain your account.
  • To create or derive anonymous, aggregate information or data that does not identify you or any other particular individual.
  • To develop, operate, maintain, improve, and enhance our services and to train our personnel.
  • To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it. For example, if you provide your personal information to us for technical or help support, we may use your information in order to contact you and to provide support services.
  • To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts between you and SupportCommunity, including the Terms of Use.
  • To protect SupportCommunity, our Platform, and our customers, in the event of breach of contract, fraud, harmful, unauthorized, illegal or other types of activity.
  • If you wish to subscribe to our newsletter, we will use your name and email address to send the newsletter to you. We may also notify you about products and services that may be of interest to you, or we may contact you about your account, the Platform, or our policies.
  • In any other way we may describe when you provide the information, or for any other purpose upon your consent or request.
Certain Organizations may choose to allow you to make donations through the Organization’s version of the Platform. If you provide your personal and financial information in order to make a donation through the Platform, that information will be used by the Organization and its third-party payment processors in order to process your payment. You should contact the applicable Organization to request information or to ask questions related to your donation.

We may disclose anonymous, aggregate information about you and users of our Platform without restriction as long as that information does not identify any particular individual. We may disclose personal information that you provide to us or that that we collect from you:

  • To the Organization whose version of the Platform you are using (as described above).
  • To our affiliates or other related entities and subsidiaries.
  • To our contractors, service providers, and other third parties that we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to protect your information and only use it for limited purposes associated with our Platform. Please note that the Organization whose version of the Platform you are using may also use contractors, service providers, and other third parties in the operation of their version of the Platform or related services. You should contact the applicable Organization if you have any questions related to your information and the Organization’s use of such parties.
  • To enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements.
  • To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request, or if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of SupportCommunity, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
  • To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of SupportCommunity’ assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by SupportCommunity from our website users is among the assets transferred.
  • For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information, or with your consent.
While we may disclose personal information to your applicable Organization and as otherwise noted above, we do not sell, rent or lease personal information to third parties.

When and How We Collect and Maintain Your Information

We collect your information at the direction of our Organizations:

  • Directly from you, when you provide it to the Platform.
  • Automatically as you access, navigate, or use the Platform. This information may include traffic data, location data, logs, usage details, IP addresses, browser and device type, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies.
  • When you interact with our advertising and applications on third-party websites and services, if those applications or advertising include links to this Policy.
A number of methods and technologies for automatically collecting data and information may be used, which may include:

  • Cookies (or browser cookies). A “cookie” is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. The SupportCommunity websites may use “cookies” to help you personalize your online experience and perform analysis of the use of the SupportCommunity websites. One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. For example, if you personalize or register with Platform sites or services, a cookie helps SupportCommunity to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, such as billing addresses, shipping addresses, and so on. When you return to the same site, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the SupportCommunity features that you customized. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the SupportCommunity Platform.
  • Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Platform may use local stored objects or “Flash” cookies to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our Platform. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit the Flash player settings page on Adobe’s Platform.
  • Web Beacons. Certain parts of our Platform may contain small electronic files known as “web beacons” (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us to track certain types of data, for example, to count users who have visited those websites, and for other related Platform statistics (for example, recording the traffic data of certain Platform and verifying system and server integrity).
We manage your information at the direction of our Organizations. An Organization may retain your personal information pursuant to its privacy practices. We may retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Policy, at the direction of our Organizations, or such longer retention period as may be required or permitted by law.

Additionally, we use certain third-party service providers, including Google Analytics, to assist us by providing analytics information for our Platform. For more information about Google Analytics’ privacy practices, see here: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. You may opt out of Google Analytics on our website by installing the following browser extension from Google: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.