PRIVACY POLICY

Who We Are

The Gideons International is an Association of Christian business and professional men and their wives dedicated to telling people about Jesus through associating together for service, sharing personal testimony, and by providing Bibles and New Testaments. While we are often recognized for our work with hotels, we also place and distribute Scriptures in strategic locations so they are available to those who want them, as well as to those who may not know they need them.

We focus on distributing complete Bibles, New Testaments, or portions thereof. We print in over 95 languages and take copies of God’s Word to the world by either personally handing them to individuals or by placing them in select public locations.

The Data We Collect

The Gideons International may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together follows:

• Identity Data includes [first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender].
• Contact Data includes [billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers].
• Financial Data includes [bank account and payment card details].
• Transaction Data includes [details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us].
• Technical Data includes [internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website].
• Profile Data includes [your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses].
• Usage Data includes [information about how you use our website, products and services].
• Marketing and Communications Data includes [your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences].

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.

The Gideons International does not collect Special Categories of Personal Data about our supporters unless there is a clear reason for doing so i.e., if you share a health concern as part of a prayer request. We will only collect and store special categories of personal data with your consent.

Children Under 16

The Gideons International does not collect personal data on individuals under 16 without parental consent. If we become aware that a child under 16 has provided us with Personal Information, we will take steps to require that consent is given or authorized by the holder of parental responsibility over the child. If you become aware that a child under the age of 16 has provided us with Personal Information without parental consent, please contact us at tgi@gideons.org.

How We Collect Your Personal Data

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

• Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
  
  • make a contribution
  • create an account on our website
  • Sign up to receive our newsletter or other publications
  • Submit a testimonial
  • Register as a Partner in Prayer
  • Become a Friend of Gideons
  • Submit a request for Scriptures
  • Purchase an item from the online store
  • Apply for employment with us
  • Participate in a survey
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, [server logs] and other similar technologies. [We may also receive Technical Data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies.] Please see our cookie policy for further details.
• Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:
  
  • Technical Data from analytics providers.
• Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services as set out in the “Service Providers” section below.
• Identity and Contact Data from publicly availably sources [such as Companies House, listed Directorships and the Electoral Register based inside the EU].
• Identity and Contact Data from third-party social networks such as Facebook.

How We Use Your Personal Data

The Gideons International is the sole owner of the information collected on this site. We will not sell, share, swap or rent this information.

The legal basis that we rely on for processing your data will depend upon the circumstances in which it is being collected and used, but will in most cases fall into one of the following categories:

• where you have provided your consent to allow us to use your data in a certain way
• where the processing is necessary to carry out for the performance of a contract with you
• where the processing is necessary in order for us to comply with a legal obligation; or
• where it is in our legitimate interests to perform our functions, for example, processing donations or sending you administrative communications where our legitimate interest is to raise funds and to deliver our charitable purposes

From time to time, our site may request information from you via surveys. Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary, and you may choose whether or not to disclose your information. Information requested may include contact information and demographic information. The information that the Gideons International collects through surveys will be used for the purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of our Association.

When you make a purchase from our online store or online donation, we will collect certain information from you including your name, address, phone number, email address, gift aid status, marketing preferences and payment details, so that we can process your gift and thank you product shipment, or contact you if we have any queries regarding your transaction.

The Gideons International uses Internet Protocol addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Internet Protocol addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Marketing Communications

Where you give us your consent, we will also use your personal data in order to send you marketing and fundraising communications in connection with the following marketing and fundraising activities and services:

• Devotional Magazines and updates – including our newsletters, magazines and other publications informing you about our work
• Appeals and fundraising activities – including requests for donations, information about how you can leave us a gift in your will, or attend or take part in a fundraising event, and updates on the impact that your fundraising activities have had on our Kingdom mission
• Shop products and other services – including information about products offered by our online shop and catalogue and other services that may be of benefit to you
• Membership Appeals – From time to time, information on how you can become a Friend of Gideon may be communicated.

You decide how you want us to contact you, whether by mail, email or by phone or text message (SMS/MMS) and you can update your communication preferences at any time by contacting us here. Occasionally, we will also send you a communication to update and refresh your communication preferences.

Data Profiling and Analysis

We may also carry out analysis of the personal information we collect about you and add publicly available information to create a profile of your interests, preferences and your ability to support us, including the amount or level of potential donation or legacy you may be able to give.

This is so we can contact you in the most appropriate way and with the most relevant information, which enables us to raise funds for ministry outreach more cost-efficiently.

Publically available information is compiled from sources such as public registers (e.g. listed Directorships), newspaper articles, and social media posts.

Please let us know if you would prefer us not to process your data in this way by contacting us here.

Our donors and supporters

If you wish to support us by making a donation, becoming a Friend of Gideons, or joining our Torchbearer Legacy Society, we will collect your name and contact details as a minimum.

Where appropriate, we may also ask for your date of birth and your motivation or personal experience for supporting us. We will use the information you provide to give you the services, products or information you asked for, tailor communications to you, to administer your donation including processing gift aid, to send you a thank you letter or thank you call, to support your fundraising or manage your marketing preferences.

If you enter your details into one of our online forms and you don’t “send” or “submit” the form we may contact you to see if we can help you with any problems you may be experiencing with the form or our website.

We may also send you administrative communications, for example confirming a direct debit instruction when you have made a donation to us.

How We Share Your Personal Data

Service Providers

The Gideons International may share your information with certain outside vendors and service providers.

Outside vendors are used in processing credit card information and shipping Scripture orders. We only use companies who agree not to retain, share, store, or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

We work with the following companies to facilitate provision of our services:

• US Bank – Bank Wire
• Tempus –Bank Wire
• Regions Bank – Bank Wire
• Crescendo – Online Planned Gifts Processing
• PayPal - Online Payment Gateway and Bank Card Processing
• Cornerstone – Online Payment Gateway and Bank Card Processing
• Paya – Online Payment Gateway and Bank Card Processing
• Worldpay – Online Payment Gateway and Bank Card Processing
• iDonate – Cash and non-cash donations
• Direct Mail Processors – Lockbox services
• Concur SAP – Expense reporting

These companies have payment gateways operated on behalf of and under contract to us. Further information about the collection and use of your data will be provided on the relevant payment gateway for you.

We also partner with certain third parties to provide specific services. When you sign up for these services, which will be identified to you before or during the sign-up process, we will share names or other contact information necessary for the third-party to provide these services. These parties have agreed not to use personally identifiable information except for the purpose of providing these services.

Given that the Internet is a global environment, using it to collect and process personal data necessarily involves the transmission of data on an international basis. This means for instance that data you pass to us may be processed outside the European Economic Area (EEA). In such cases where such transfer occurs, we endeavor to maintain an adequate level of protection in accordance with GDPR, including, where appropriate requiring contractual commitments between companies transferring personal data, as these clauses bind the parties and require them to protect the privacy and security of the data.

Legal Requirements

Notwithstanding the foregoing, we will consider, and may release, personally identifiable information to third parties: (1) to comply with valid legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena, or court order; or (2) in special cases, such as a physical threat to you or others.

User Disclosures

Subscribers may have access to certain electronic forums, such as chat rooms, bulletin boards, e-mail lists, or others, to which other subscribers also have access. The information and materials on those platforms have not been verified or approved by us. The views expressed by other users on our site may not be representative of our views or values. The Gideons International does not routinely monitor these forums and is not responsible for protecting the privacy and confidentiality of any information that you disclose in such a forum.

Third-Party Links

This website contains links to other sites, not owned, associated or managed by the Gideons International. Please be aware that while we try our best to only link to reputable websites, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. Users are encouraged that when they leave our site they should read the privacy statements of each website that collects personally identifiable information.

Data Security and Access

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

Cookies and Log Files

The Gideons International uses cookies to help us minister to you more effectively. A cookie is a unit of data stored on the user's hard drive that helps us remember you and your preferences. Once the user closes their browser, the cookie terminates. For instance, by setting a cookie on our site, the user would not have to re-enter a password, thereby saving time while on our site.

You can refuse to use cookies by turning them off in your browser. You do not need cookies turned on to use our site. However, a drawback to this is that you will be limited in some areas of our site and notice some impact on overall functionality. For more information about the cookies we use, please see COOKIE POLICY.

Data Retention

We regularly review personal information we hold, and delete anything we no longer need. We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Different laws require us to keep different data for different periods of time, for example:

• Certain regulations we are subject to, including the United States Internal Revenue Code require that we keep records of financial transactions for seven years.
• Certain regulations we are subject to in the United States of America require that we retain information on former employees for up to three years after termination of employment.
• Data on former partners and supporters is typically retained.
• Information that does not need to be accessed regularly, but which still needs to be retained, is archived or placed offline.

Correction/Updating Personal Information

You can help us keep our records up to date by telling us when your contact details and other personal information changes. You can make changes yourself using the Change of Address form on the Connections Portal. You can also change your mind at any time about how we contact you or ask us to stop contacting you altogether.

Please contact our Office and they’ll make the changes for you:

• By telephone: 615-564-5000
• By email: tgi@gideons.org
• write to: The Gideons International • PO Box 140800 • Nashville, TN 37214

If you tell us that you no longer want to receive further contact from us and you are in our donor database, it may take a short while before our communications stop altogether as selection of donor information for some of our mail appeals is completed a few weeks in advance of the mailing. If you request to receive no further contact from us, we will keep the information we hold on you and add you to our suppression lists to ensure that you do not receive unwanted materials in the future.

Your Rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please click on the links below to find out more about these rights:

• Request access to your personal data.
• Request correction of your personal data.
• Request erasure of your personal data.
• Object to processing of your personal data.
• Request restriction of processing your personal data.
• Request transfer of your personal data.
• Right to withdraw consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please Contact us.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Contact Details

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know by contacting us:

• By telephone: 615-564-5000
• By email: tgi@gideons.org
• write to: The Gideons International • PO Box 140800 • Nashville, TN 37214

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

Glossary

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS 

You have the right to:

  Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

  Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

  Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

  Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

  Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data's accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

  Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

Last updated May 25, 2018