Privacy Policy
You have arrived at 4-h.org and/or are otherwise interacting with a web site or online service (“Site”) owned and operated by the National 4H Council (“4H or “we,” “our,” or “us”). Certain information about you is collected when you use the Site. Some of the information collected may be “Personal Information” – information that identifies you personally, alone or in combination with other available information. Other information may be non-identifiable.
This Online Privacy Statement (this “Statement”) applies to the Site and explains what information may be collected through your use of the Site, why the Site collects such information, how your information is protected, and the choices you have about how your information is used. This Online Privacy Statement does not apply to our data collection activities offline or otherwise outside of our Site (unless otherwise stated), and does not govern the data practices of third parties that may interact with our Site. If you are a 4H donor, please refer to our DONOR PRIVACY POLICY, which governs our collection of donor information both online and offline. Please review the “Children’s Privacy” section below for details on 4-H’s information collection, use, and sharing practices related to information collected from children.
This Online Privacy Statement is part of the TERMS & CONDITIONS that govern your use of the Site. By using the Site, you are consenting to the collection, use, disclosure, and transfer of your information as described in this Statement. If you do not consent to the collection, use, disclosure and transfer of your information as described in this Statement, you may not use the Site.
This Statement may be supplemented or amended from time to time by privacy notices (“Privacy Notices”) provided at the time your information is collected. For example, certain pages of the Site may contain Privacy Notices providing more details about the information collected on those particular pages, why the Site needs that information, and choices you may have about the ways the Site uses that information.
1. Changes to this Statement
We reserve the right to update or modify this Statement and any Privacy Notice, at any time and without prior notice, by posting the revised version of the Statement or Privacy Notice on this Site. These changes will only apply to the information the Site collects after we have posted the revised Statement or Privacy Notice on this Site. Your use of the Site following any such change constitutes your agreement that all information collected from or about you after the revised Statement is posted will be subject to the terms of the revised Statement. You may access the current version of this Statement at any time by clicking on the link marked “Privacy Policy” within the site.
2. Information Collection
2.1 Contact and Demographic Information. On the Site, we may ask you to provide us with certain categories of information such as: (1) contact information, such as your first and last name, e-mail address, and home address; and (2) demographic information, such as information about your gender, age, education level, occupation, zip code, etc. (“Demographic Information”). We may collect this information through various forms and in various places on the Site, including at account registration.
2.2 Account Registration. In order to have full access to this Web site and to affiliated web sites, a user may be requested to complete a registration form which will require certain contact information. This information is used to contact the user about the services for which they have expressed interest. In addition, a user may be asked to provide, at the user’s option, certain Demographic Information, which will assist us in providing a more personalized experience. By registering, you may receive email communications from National 4H Council and/or from your state 4H office.
2.3 User-Generated Content. As further described in the TERMS & CONDITIONS, you may be able to submit User-Generated Content through the Site via your profile, forums, blogs, message boards, social networking environments, content creation tools, gameplay, social communities, contact us tools, email, and other communications functionality.
2.4 Usage Information. In addition to any information you chose to submit to us via the Site, we and our third party service providers may use a variety of technologies that automatically (or passively) store and collect certain information whenever you visit or interact with the Site (“Usage Information”). This may include:
- Information Automatically Sent by Your Web Browser. Information is sent to the Site automatically by your web browser. This information typically includes the IP address of your Internet service provider, the name of your operating system, the name and version of your browser, the date and time of your visit, and the pages you visit. The information the Site receives depends on the settings on your web browser. Please check your browser if you want to learn what information your browser sends or how to change your settings. The information the Site receives from your web browser is not, in and of itself, personally identifiable. Generally, this information is used in the aggregate to help us improve the Site and make it more compatible with the technology used by our visitors. However, we may combine this information with other information that does identify you. We may also review our server logs for security purposes—for example, to detect intrusions into the Site—and we might share our server logs, which contain visitors’ IP addresses, with the appropriate investigative authorities who could use that information to trace and identify you.
- Information From Your Mobile or Tablet Device. Likewise, if you access the Site through your mobile device, the Site may automatically collect certain information from or about your device. The types of information the Site may collect includes the type of device you use, the IP address of your device, your device’s operating system, the type of mobile or tablet Internet browsers you use, and information about the way you use our Site. This information is not, in and of itself, personally identifiable, but we may combine it with other information that does identify you.
- Information Collected by Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies. The Site uses “cookies” and other technologies to collect information and to support certain features. For example, the Site may use these technologies to:
- collect information about the ways visitors use the site—which pages they visit, which links they use, and how long they stay on each page;
- support the features and functionality of the site—for example, to save you the trouble of reentering information you have previously provided to us or to prompt the settings you established on previous visits; and
- personalize your experience. The information the Service collects using cookies and similar technologies is not, in and of itself, personally identifiable, but we may combine it with other information that does identify you.
2.5 Combining Information from Multiple Sources. We may receive information about you from your friends and others that use the Site, such as when they submit content to us (or post) on the Site. Additionally, we may, from time to time, supplement the information we collect directly from you on our Site with outside records from third parties for various purposes, including to enhance our ability to serve you, to tailor our content to you and to offer you opportunities that may be of interest to you. To the extent we combine information we receive from those sources with your Personal Information we collect on the Site, it will be treated as Personal Information and we will apply this Online Privacy Statement to such combined information, unless we have disclosed otherwise.
3. Information Use
We may use your contact information, Demographic Information, Usage Information, and other Personal Information that that we collect from/about you:
1) to provide you with information or services or process transactions that you have requested or agreed to receive, including to send you electronic newsletters, or to provide you with special offers or promotional materials on behalf of us or third parties;
(2) to enable you to participate in a variety of the Site’s features including online promotions;
(3) to process your registration with us for programs and services offered through the Site, including to verify that your information is active and valid;
(4) to manage and administer the Site including content management and account management;
(5) to analyze usage trends, to improve the Site or create new service offerings;
(6) to customize your experience on the Site, or to serve you, or suggest to you, specific content that may be most relevant to you;
(7) to contact you with regard to your use of the Site and, in our discretion, changes to the any of the Site’s policies;
(8) to prevent unauthorized, improper or illegal activities on the Site;
(9) for internal business purposes;
(10) for purposes disclosed in a Privacy Notice at the time you provide your information; and
(11) for any other legal purpose not inconsistent with this Online Privacy Statement or our Terms of Use.
As further described in the “Information Use” section above, we use this information to: (i) measure the child’s performance in activities; (ii) adapt the learning experience to their needs; (iii) assess the child’s progress and provide reports to the relevant adults on children’s performance on activities; (iv) analyze use of the services and improve the content, functionality, and usability of the services, enhance the user experience, and improve our business; (v) understand, detect, and resolve problems with the services and other issues being reported; (vi) comply with applicable laws and regulations; (vii) establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights, including the enforcement of our TERMS & CONDITIONS, other usage policies and agreements, and other legal terms or conditions; and (viii) fulfill other requests with the relevant adult’s consent.
4. Information Sharing
We may share your contact information, Demographic Information, Usage Information and other Personal Information that that we have collected from/about you in the following circumstances:
(1) We share your information subject to applicable law with 4H related entities at the state, local and county levels.
(2) We reserve the right to disclose and transfer all such information: (i) to a subsequent owner, co-owner or operator of the Site or applicable database; or (ii) in connection with a merger, consolidation, restructuring, the sale of substantially all of our interests and/or assets or other corporate change; including, in either case, during the course of any related due diligence process.
(3) We may use third-party vendors and partners to perform certain services on behalf of us or the Site, such as hosting or distributing the Site, designing and/or operating the Site’s features, tracking the Site’s activities and analytics, customer service, and enabling us to send you special offers or perform other administrative services. We may provide these third parties with access to your information to carry out the services they are performing for you or for us.
(4) We may partner with a third party in order to obtain access to specialized services or expertise. When we do so and a user signs up for these services, we will share such Personal Information as is necessary for the delivery of the services or success of the program. Any recipient of such information is required to restrict use solely to furtherance of the purposes for which the services are intended.
(5) We may share aggregated Demographic Information with our partners and advertisers. Such information is not linked to any Personal Information that can identify any individual person.
(6) To the fullest extent not prohibited by applicable law, we may also disclose your information if we believe in good faith that doing so is necessary or appropriate to:
(i) protect or defend the rights, safety or property of 4H or third parties (including through the enforcement of this Policy, our TERMS & CONDITIONS, and other applicable agreements and policies);
(ii) comply with legal and regulatory obligations and government requests (e.g., pursuant to law enforcement inquiries, subpoenas or court orders);
(iii) comply with our obligations and commitments to safeguard the privacy and security of your information; or
(iv) prevent unauthorized, improper or illegal activities on the Site. Further, we may disclose information about you as otherwise permitted under our Terms & Conditions or as specifically disclosed when we collect information from you.
To the fullest extent not prohibited by applicable law, we have complete discretion in electing to make or not make such disclosures, and to contest or not contest requests for such disclosures, all without notice to you.
(7) If you notify us that you believe your rights have been violated in connection with the Site or another user of the Site, we may disclose information about you to the extent necessary to evaluate and respond to your concern.
5. Information You Disclose Publicly
The Site may permit you to submit User-Generated Content, as described in the TERMS & CONDITIONS. We or others may store, display, reproduce, publish, distribute or otherwise use User-Generated Content online or offline in any media or format. Others may have access to this User-Generated Content and may have the ability to share it with third parties. Please think carefully before deciding what information you share, including Personal Information, in connection with your User-Generated Content. Please note that 4H does not control who will have access to the information that you choose to make public, and we cannot ensure that parties who have access to such publicly available information will respect your privacy or keep it secure. We are not responsible for the privacy or security of any information that you make publicly available on the Site or what others do with information you share with them on the Site.
We may also publish your name, voice, likeness and other Personal Information that is part of your User-Generated Content, and we may use the content, or any portion of the content, for advertising, marketing, publicity and promotional activities. If you elect to participate in a 4H sponsored online community, you are agreeing that any information that you post or upload (such as questions, answers, comments, etc) will be public and generally available to all via the internet. For full terms and conditions regarding User-Generated Content you submit to the Site, please review our TERMS & CONDITIONS.
6. Exercising Choice
Our users are given the opportunity to ‘opt-out’ of having their information used for purposes not directly related to our Site at the time when such information is requested.
Users who no longer wish to receive our newsletter or promotional materials may also opt-out by sending an email with “unsubscribe” in the subject line to the designated contact for the Site or to webmaster@fourhcouncil.edu or by calling Council at 301-961-2800.
7. Children's Privacy
Once you, as an adult, have registered for an account and been authenticated, you may register your own child(ren) for account access. Adults provide 4-H with basic information about the child and allow the child to use the adult’s account on the adult’s devices. 4-H then collects information about the device, the account log in information, information related to the status of the child’s completion of the activities offered through the services, and related Usage Information.
As further described in the “Information Use” section above, we use this information to: (i) measure the child’s performance in activities; (ii) adapt the learning experience to their needs; (iii) assess the child’s progress and provide reports to the relevant adults on children’s performance on activities; (iv) analyze use of the services and improve the content, functionality, and usability of the services, enhance the user experience, and improve our business; (v) understand, detect, and resolve problems with the services and other issues being reported; (vi) comply with applicable laws and regulations; (vii) establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights, including the enforcement of our TERMS & CONDITIONS, other usage policies and agreements, and other legal terms or conditions; and (viii) fulfill other requests with the relevant adult’s consent.
As further described in the “Information Sharing” section above, we may share this information with hosting, maintenance, data storage, analytics, customer service, security and fraud prevention, and similar vendors and partners. We may also share this information in connection with business transfers, to comply with laws, protect our rights and the rights of others, and with the appropriate adult’s consent. Our services do not allow children to make personal information publicly available.
Parents or legal guardians may login to their own accounts to review their child’s information, keep their child’s information accurate, current, and complete, delete their child’s information, or restrict us from further collecting or using their child’s information.
8. Third Party Services
The Site may include functionality that allows certain kinds of interactions between the Site and a third-party web site, platform, tool, application or other service, and accessing or display of third-party content via the Site (“Third Party Services”). The use of Third Party Services may involve the third-party operator thereof (“Third Party Operator”) providing certain information, including Personal Information, to us. In addition, you may be able to access our Site, your Account and/or Site content via a third party platform, site, app or other service, and those Third Party Operators may collect Personal Information and other data about you in connection therewith, and may provide some or all of it to us. If we offer and you choose to use Third Party Services to access or use our Site, the Third Party Services may send Personal Information about you to us. If we discontinue use of any Third Party Service, you consent that we may nevertheless retain any Personal Information, and other information and data, we may have already received in connection therewith in accordance with this Online Privacy Statement.
In addition, we may provide Third Party Services’ interfaces or links on the Site to facilitate your sending a communication from the Site. For example, we may use third parties to facilitate e-mails, tweets, “likes,” content submissions or postings of comments on Facebook or other social media platforms. We may also enable access to or display of third party content via the Site, that is actually being served or published by the third party, and such third party may be collecting data from you in connection with that content. These third parties may collect and retain any information used or provided in any such communications or other activities and these third parties’ practices are not subject to our Online Privacy Statement.
In addition, when you are on the Site you may be directed to other services that are operated and controlled by third parties that we do not control. For example, if you “click” on a link, the “click” may take you off the Site onto a different site. We encourage you to note when you leave our Site and to review the third-party privacy policies of all third-party locations and exercise caution in connection with them.
Be sure to review any available privacy policies and notices before submitting any Personal Information to a third party or its services, or otherwise interacting with Third Party Services or other locations you link to from our Site, and exercise caution in connection with them. We are not responsible for the availability, completeness or accuracy of such third parties’ policies or notices.
Account Registration
In order to have full access to this Web site and to affiliated web sites, a user may be requested to complete a registration form which will require certain contact information (such as name and email address). This information is used to contact the user about the services for which they have expressed interest. In addition, a user may be asked to provide, at the user’s option, certain Demographic Information (such as income level and gender) or other unique identifiers, which will assist us in providing a more personalized experience. By registering, you may receive email communications from National 4‑H Council and/or from your state 4‑H office.
Exercising Choice
Our users are given the opportunity to ‘opt-out’ of having their information used for purposes not directly related to our Site at the time when such information is requested.
Users who no longer wish to receive our newsletter or promotional materials may also opt-out by sending an email with “unsubscribe” in the subject line to the designated contact for the Site or to webmaster@fourhcouncil.edu or by calling Council at 301-961-2800.
9. Security
We endeavor to incorporate commercially reasonable safeguards to help protect and secure your Personal Information. However, no data transmission over the Internet, mobile networks, wireless transmission or electronic storage of information can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. When we transfer and receive certain types of sensitive information such as online orders and account information, we utilize encryption to reduce the possibility of interception and hacking. However, please note that we cannot ensure the security of any information you transmit to us. You use our Site and provide us with your information at your own risk.
