RURAL INNOVATION STRATEGIES, INC. PRIVACY POLICY

Last Updated: Oct 26, 2022

Welcome to the RISI Privacy Policy.

This policy (the “Privacy Policy”) explains how information about you is collected, used, and disclosed by Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc. (“RISI” or “our” or “we” or “us”). This Privacy Policy applies to information we collect when you use our website (located at https://ruralinnovationstrategies.com/), including all associated web pages and mobile sites (collectively, the “Site”) or when you otherwise interact with us.  This Privacy Policy applies to your use of the Site and should be read together with, and is incorporated into, the RISI Terms of Service (“TOS”). All terms in this Privacy Policy that are defined in the TOS have the meanings ascribed to them in the TOS. 

By using the Site, you acknowledge and agree that you have read and accepted the terms of this Privacy Policy. Except where provided by law, your use of the Site and/or provision of Personal Information (as defined in this Privacy Policy) via the Site constitutes your consent to our use, storage, processing, and transfer of that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, you expressly and unequivocally consent to: (a) the collection and processing of your Personal Information by us in accordance with the indicated purposes and this Privacy Policy and the TOS; and (b) the collection and processing of Personal Information on your behalf, as indicated in this Privacy Policy. 

Changes to the Policy.  We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time and in our sole discretion. If we make any changes, we will notify you by revising the “Last Updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy and, in some cases, we may provide you with additional notice (such as adding a statement to our homepage or sending you an email notification). Any such changes will be effective immediately upon posting. Your continued use of the Site will constitute your acceptance of such changes. Because this Privacy Policy may change from time to time, it is important that you regularly review this Privacy Policy to ensure that you are updated as to any changes. We encourage you to review the Privacy Policy whenever you access the Site to stay informed about our information practices and the ways you can help protect your privacy. This Privacy Policy, and any posted changes to its terms, shall remain in full force and effect while you use the Site. 

As provided in the TOS, the Site is intended for access and use by United States residents only, and it is not intended for use by anyone under 18 years of age. 

If you are providing Personal Information to us relating to a third party, you confirm that you have the consent of the third party to share such Personal Information with us and that you have made the information in this Privacy Policy available to the third party.

COLLECTION OF INFORMATION 

Personal Information

“Personal Information” includes any information by which you or your household may be identified, directly or indirectly, such as by reference to an identifier such as your name, identification number, location data, online identifier, or one or more factors specific to you. Personal Information includes pseudonymized Personal Information but excludes anonymous information or information that has had the identity of an individual permanently removed (“deidentified”).

The type of information we may collect could include, but is not limited to, your name, email address, postal address, phone number, mobile number, credit card information, device/browser/site usage information, and other personal, identifying, or preference information you choose to provide. 

How We Collect Information. 

We may collect information about you, including Personal Information, as follows: 

Information You Provide to Us. We collect information you provide directly to us. For example, we collect information when you fill out a form, make a donation, send us an email, sign up to receive email updates, sign a petition, sign up as a volunteer, create an account, schedule an event, participate in a contest or promotion, make a purchase or contribution, communicate with us via third party social media sites, request information, or otherwise communicate with us. We collect information that you provide when you communicate with us through the Site or otherwise (such as by email, phone, regular mail, or via our social media pages). 

Information We Collect Automatically When You Use the Site. When you access or use our Site, we automatically collect certain information about you, including:

  • Log Information: We log information about your use of the Site, including the type of browser you use, access times, pages viewed, your IP address, and the page you visited before navigating to the Site.
  • Device Information: We may collect information about the computer or mobile device you use to access the Site, including the hardware model, operating system and version, device identifiers, and mobile network information.
  • Information Collected by Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies: We use various technologies to collect information, and this may include sending cookies to your computer or mobile device. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive or in device memory that help us to improve the Site and your experience, see which areas and features of the Site are popular, and count visits. We may also collect information using web beacons (also known as “tracking pixels”). Web beacons are electronic images that may be used in the Site or emails and help deliver cookies, count visits, understand usage and campaign effectiveness, and determine whether an email has been opened and acted upon. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, please see Your Choices below.

Information We Collect from Other Sources. We may also obtain information from other sources and combine that with information we collect through the Site. For example, if you create or log into your account through a social media site, we will have access to certain information from that site in accordance with the authorization procedures determined by such social media site. We may also use such information for list matching purposes. Another example is if you visit the website for our partner institution, Center on Rural Innovation, we may collect your information for the purposes of customer relationship management and analysis. 

USE OF INFORMATION

We may use information about you, including Personal Information, for various purposes in accordance with the terms of the Privacy Policy in effect at the time of such use, including to:

  • Provide, maintain, and improve the Site;
  • Provide and deliver information you request, process contributions and transactions, and send you related information, including confirmations and invoices;
  • Send you confirmations, technical notices, updates, security alerts, and support and administrative messages;
  • Request feedback and otherwise contact you about your use of the Site;
  • Respond to your comments, questions, and requests and provide customer service;
  • Send you newsletters and otherwise provide you with information or services you request or that we think will be of interest to you, such as sending you information to keep you informed about various issues, events, resources, promotions, products, and services;
  • Determine your eligibility, including verifying your identity, for certain aspects of the Site, such as promotions, services, products, which may include verification of you rage, date of birth, and state of residence;
  • Engage in internet-based advertising, including where we and our third-party partners may engage in interest-based advertising using personal information gathered across multiple websites, devices, or other platforms to serve you relevant advertising on our Site or on other sites, services, and mobile applications or on other devices you may use;
  • Communicate with you about this Privacy Policy or the TOS, changes to the Site, or feedback requests;
  • Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities in connection with the Site;
  • Personalize and improve the Site and provide advertisements, content, or features that match user profiles or interests;
  • Link or combine with information we get from others to help understand your needs and provide you with better service; 
  • Carry out our contractual obligations, including any obligations arising from any agreement entered into between you and us, including the TOS; 
  • Help maintain the safety, security, and integrity of the Site, products, services, databases, technology assets, and business assets, and to help prevent and detect fraud;
  • Administer and protect our business and the Site, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data, protecting and enforcing our legal rights, and protecting our company;
  • Comply with all applicable laws or legal processes, including providing information on individual users to the appropriate governmental authorities or judicial authorities where required by law; responding to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations; and
  • Carry out any other permissible purpose for which the information was collected.

SHARING OF INFORMATION

We may share information about you as follows or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy.

We reserve the right to disclose and share your Personal Information: 

  • With third-party service providers, vendors, consultants, and volunteers (together, “Service Providers”) engaged to assist us in providing the Site and its content to you or to carry out one or more of the purposes described above or in the TOS. These Service Providers are prohibited from using your Personal Information for any purpose other than to provide this assistance and are contractually required to protect Personal Information disclosed by us and to comply with the general privacy principles described in this Privacy Policy. When we use such Service Providers, we provide limited access to your information so that such Service Providers can perform the tasks on our behalf;
  • With our partner institution, Center on Rural Innovation, for the purpose of customer relationship management and analysis;
  • With business advisors, such as accountants and lawyers, who assist us in carrying out our business activities;
  • In response to a request for information (such as a subpoena, warrant, or other court order) if we believe disclosure is in accordance with any applicable law, regulation, or legal process, or as otherwise required by any applicable law, rule, or regulation, or to respond to an emergency situation;
  • If we believe your actions are inconsistent with the spirit or language of the TOS, any user agreements or policies, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of RISI, our employees, volunteers, or others persons associated with RISI;
  • In connection with, or during negotiations of, any reorganization, formation of new organization, asset sale or transfer, financing or lending transaction, or in any other situation where Personal Information may be disclosed or transferred as one of the assets of RISI; 
  • With a third party if we have reason to believe that disclosing Personal Information is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) our rights or property, other Site users, or anyone else who could be harmed by such activities.
  • With governmental agencies or other companies assisting us in fraud prevention or investigation. We may do so when: (1) permitted or required by law; or (2) trying to protect against or prevent actual or potential fraud or unauthorized transactions; or (3) investigating fraud that has already taken place. The information is not provided to these companies for marketing purposes. 
  • With your consent or at your direction, including if we notify you through the Site that the information you provide will be shared in a particular manner and you provide such information.

Deidentified or Aggregated Information. We may share statistical, deidentified, or aggregated non-personal information about our users with business partners, affiliates, sponsors, and/or other third parties, including but not limited to Google Analytics. Such data may be used to customize our website content to deliver a better experience to our users. You may opt out from Google Analytics implementations and features that we use (see the “Your Choices” section of this Privacy Policy. 

Social Sharing Features. The Site may offer social sharing features and other integrated tools (such as the Facebook “Like” button), which let you share actions you take on the Site with other media, and vice versa. The use of such features may enable the sharing of information with your friends or the public, depending on the settings you establish with the entity that provides the social sharing feature. For more information about the purpose and scope of data collection and processing in connection with social sharing features, please visit the privacy policies of the entities that provide these features. 

Sale of Personal Information.  We do not sell your personal information to third parties for monetary consideration.

ADVERTISING AND ANALYTICS SERVICES PROVIDED BY OTHERS

We may allow third parties to use cookies or other technologies to provide analytics services and to serve ads on other websites based on your visits to this site and other sites across the Internet. These entities may collect information about your use of the Site and other websites, including your IP address, web browser, pages viewed, time spent on pages, links clicked, and conversion information. This information may be used by RISI and others to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, deliver advertising and content targeted to your interests, and better understand your online activity. 

For example, we may use remarketing with Google Analytics or other remarketing tools to advertise online. This enables third-party vendors, including Google, to show our ads on sites across the Internet. Such third-party vendors, including Google, may use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) together to inform, optimize, and serve ads based on your past visits to our website.  You may opt out from Google Analytics implementations and features that we use (see the “Your Choices” section of this Privacy Policy).

SECURITY

The Site uses security measures at least equal to those reasonably expected in the industry, to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of your Personal Information under our control. These measures include commercially reasonable industry-standard physical, administrative, and technological methods to protect your Personal Information. 

We cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will never be able to defeat our security measures or use your Personal Information for improper purposes. In the event that any information under our control is compromised as a result of a breach of security, we will take commercially reasonable steps to investigate the situation and, where appropriate or required by law, notify those individuals whose information may have been compromised and take other steps, in accordance with any applicable laws and regulations.

Please keep in mind that you are responsible for the security of any Personal Information in your control. You should log out of your browser at the end of each computer session to ensure that others cannot access your Personal Information and correspondence, especially if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place such as a library or Internet cafe. When you see either a solid key icon or a locked padlock icon at the lower portion of your browser window, this indicates that you site is secured through Secure Sockets Layer. If you do not see one of these icons, please contact your Internet service provider.

YOUR CHOICES

Cookies. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you may be able to set your browser to remove or reject browser cookies. Please note that if you choose to remove or reject cookies, this could affect the availability and functionality of the Site. For information on how you can opt out of Google’s use of cookies for interest-based ads please visit Google’s Ads Settings.

To opt out of having your web browsing information used for behavioral advertising purposes, please visit www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp and
www.aboutads.info/choices.

“Do Not Track” Requests. Please note that our Site is not designed or set up to respond to “do not track”  signals or requests from browsers. 

Promotional Communications. You may opt out of receiving updates and newsletters from RISI by following the instructions in those emails or by emailing us hello@ruralinnovation.us. If you opt out, we may still send you other types of emails, such as those about your use of the Site or any donations or transactions.

CONFLICT IN TERMS

Some browsers utilize privacy enhancing technology to translate our Privacy Policy into a computer readable format and then translate it back into human readable format for you to read. This translation back into human readable format is often referred to as a “Policy Summary.” To the extent that this Policy Summary is inconsistent with, fails to address, or addresses an issue not raised in our Privacy Policy, you should rely on our Privacy Policy as it is the controlling authority.

NOTICE TO USERS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES

As detailed in the TOS, the Site is designed to be used by residents of the United States. If you are a user located outside of the United States, please be advised that any information you enter on the Site may be transferred outside of your country to the United States of America, which may not offer an equivalent level of protection to that required in your country. In particular, you are advised that the United States of America uses a sectoral model of privacy protection that relies on a mix of legislation, governmental regulation, and self-regulation. By accessing or using the Site, you unambiguously consent to the transfer, storage, and processing of all such information to the United States of America, which may not offer an equivalent level of protection to that required in your country, and to the processing of that information by RISI on our servers located in the United States.

CONTACT US

To change your Personal Information or preferences (such as to modify your Personal Information, or opt out of or change your preferences regarding receiving communications or information), please send an email to support@ruralinnovation.us.

For legal matters, including notices of violation of this Privacy Policy: 

Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc

2 Quechee Road

P.O. Box 202

Hartland, Vermont  05048
Attention: Robin Kilfeather-Mackey

(802) 436-4100

ops@ruralinnovation.us

Please note: When you contact us, provide your name and address exactly as it appears on correspondence you have received from us. 

You are entitled to make an anonymous complaint or inquiry in relation to this Privacy Policy or your privacy rights; however, we may require you to identify yourself if required by law or it is impracticable for us to address your matter otherwise.