Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy discloses the privacy practices for the website located at college-church.org, including all of its subdomains (collectively referred to as the “site”), which is provided by College Church in Wheaton, an Illinois not-for-profit corporation (referred to as “us” or “we”). This Privacy Policy governs the use of information you provide us through the site. You acknowledge and agree that by accessing or using our site, you agree to be bound by all terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy and consent to the collection, storage, use, and disclosure of your information, as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree and consent to such terms and conditions, please do not access or use this site.
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. Such changes, modifications, additions, or deletions shall be effective immediately upon notice thereof, which may be given by any means including, but not limited to, issuing an email to the email address you provided or posting the revised policy on this page. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to maintain a valid email address with us, to review this site and this Privacy Policy periodically, and to be aware of any modifications. Your continued use of the site after such modifications will constitute your: (a) acknowledgment of the modified policy and (b) agreement to abide and be bound by the modified policy. This version of the Privacy Policy became effective immediately upon posting on 6-10-2024.
1. Types of Information Collected
In order to better provide our services, we collect two types of information about our users: Personally Identifiable Information and Non-personally Identifiable Information. Our primary goal in collecting information from you is to provide you with a smooth, efficient, and customized experience while using our site.
Personally Identifiable Information: This refers to information that lets us know the specifics of who you are. When you engage in certain activities on this site, such as inquiring about our services, registering to attend worship services, a conference, an event, or an activity; signing up to receive a newsletter, e-mail notifications, or other correspondence; send a text message to register your attendance at a service or to contact a member of the church staff; registering your child to participate in our ministries or activities; providing a reference for a volunteer or mission trip participant; submitting an application to become a member of the church or to volunteer or participate in a ministry; making a donation; interacting with the site; or sending us feedback, we may ask you to provide certain information about yourself. It is completely optional for you to engage in these activities. However, we may ask that you provide us personal information, such as your first and last name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, and other personal identifying information. When registering for a conference, event, or activity or making a donation, you may be asked to provide a credit card number or bank account information. Depending upon the activity, some of the information we ask you to provide is identified as mandatory and some as voluntary. If you do not provide the mandatory data with respect to a particular activity, you will not be able to engage in that activity.
Non-personally Identifiable Information: This refers to information that does not by itself identify a specific individual. We gather certain information about you based upon where you visit on our site in several ways. This information is compiled and analyzed on both a personal and an aggregated basis. This information may include the website’s Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) that you just came from, which URL you next go to, what browser you are using, and your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address. A URL is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. An IP address is an identifier for a computer or device on a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) network, such as the World Wide Web. Networks like the Web use the TCP/IP protocol to route information based on the IP address of the destination. In other words, an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are using the Internet, allowing web servers to locate and identify your computer. Computers require IP addresses in order for users to communicate on the Internet.
2. Collection Methods, Use of Information, and Length of Retention
We do not collect any Personally Identifiable Information about you unless you voluntarily provide it to us. You provide certain Personally Identifiable Information to us when you: (a) register to attend or participate in a worship service, conference, event, or activity; (b) sign up to receive a newsletter, e-mail notifications, or other correspondence; (c) send a text message to register your attendance at a service or to contact a member of the church staff; (d) register your child to attend or participate in our ministries and activities; (e) submit an application to become a member of the church or to volunteer or participate in a ministry; (f) provide a reference for a volunteer or a mission trip participant; (g) send an email message; (h) submit a form; (i) make a donation; (j) submit information in connection with the interactive features of the site; (k) transmit other information through the site; or (l) submit your credit card, bank account, or other payment information through our site. We may also collect information from you at other points on our site that state that such information is being collected.
In addition, we or our third-party analytics providers may collect certain Non-personally Identifiable Information. This information is ultimately stored in the form of categories, and, in some cases, specific URLs. We use your IP address to diagnose problems with our servers and software, to administer our site, and to gather demographic information.
We will primarily use your Personally Identifiable Information to provide our services to you. We will also use Personally Identifiable Information to enhance the operation of our site; process your registration for a conference or event; process your donation; respond to your questions or inquiries; send periodic communications to you about our services and activities; improve our outreach efforts; statistically analyze site use; improve our offerings; customize our site’s content, layout, and services; resolve disputes; troubleshoot problems; and other administrative matters.
We keep your Personally Identifiable Information for as long as we need it to fulfill the purposes for which we have collected it and for a reasonable period afterward.
3. Release of Information
We do not sell, trade, or rent your Personally Identifiable Information to others. We do, however, use service providers and other third parties to provide our services to you. We and our service providers use your Personally Identifiable Information to operate our sites and to provide our services. For example, we must release your credit card information to the card-issuing bank to confirm payment, provide your name and contact information to conference or event organizers or hosts, and provide other information to third parties that help us provide our services. The use of your Personally Identifiable Information by our service partners is governed by the privacy policies of those service partners, and is not subject to our control.
Occasionally we may be required by law enforcement or judicial authorities to provide Personally Identifiable Information to the appropriate governmental authorities. We will disclose Personally Identifiable Information upon receipt of a court order, subpoena, or to cooperate with a law enforcement investigation. We fully cooperate with law enforcement agencies in identifying those who use our services for illegal activities. We reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we in good faith believe to be unlawful.
4. User Choices on Collection and Use of Information
We may, from time to time, send you mailings or email messages containing devotional messages, Bible readings, and information regarding our services, activities, and events. If you do not want to receive such correspondence, simply tell us when you give us your personal information or contact us at any time to indicate that you no longer desire to receive such correspondence
You also have choices with respect to cookies, as described below. By modifying your browser preferences, you have the choice to accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is set, or to reject all cookies. If you choose to reject all cookies, some parts of our site may not work properly in your case.
5. Security of Information
At our site we take steps to secure your Personally Identifiable. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your Personally Identifiable Information, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations of the Internet which are beyond our control; (b) the security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and us through this site cannot be guaranteed; and (c) any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with in transit by a third party.
6. Cookies
When you use our site, we will store cookies on your computer in order to facilitate and customize your use of our site. A cookie is a small data text file, which a website stores on your computer’s hard drive (if your Web browser permits) that can later be retrieved to identify you to us. Our cookies store randomly assigned user identification numbers, the country where you are located, and other information to recognize you as a previous visitor to the site. The cookies make your use of the site easier, make the site run more smoothly, and help us to maintain a secure site. You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, but some parts of our site may not work properly in that case.
7. Privacy Policies of Third-Party Sites
Except as otherwise discussed in this Privacy Policy, this policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. Other sites linked to or accessible through our site have their own privacy policies and data collection, use and disclosure practices. Please consult each site’s privacy policy. We are not responsible for the policies or practices of third parties.
8. Children Under 13 Years
Our site is not directed to any person under the age of 13 years. We do not knowingly collect Personally Identifiable Information from children under 13. If we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with Personally Identifiable Information, we immediately delete this information from our servers. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with Personally Identifiable Information, please contact us so that we can delete the information.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact us at: [email protected].
Change Log
[06/23/2021] – Originally published [06/10/2024] – Clarified scope of the Privacy Policy to indicate it covers our main domain (college-church.org) and all of its associated subdomains.