Privacy Policy

Your Privacy and Security are Important to Us 

Last updated and effective as of: 2/1/21
 

PRIVACY POLICY

This privacy policy (“Policy”) covers the information collected through www.bellxcel.org and www.sperlingcenter.org (“BellXcel Sites”). By visiting the BellXcel Sites, the BellXcel Enterprise Platform (the “Platform”), and/or using the features made available to you on the BellXcel Sites and Platform (the “Services”), you are accepting the privacy practices described below.

BellXcel’s Privacy Statement describes:

  • What personal or non-personal information BellXcel collects.
  • What personal and non-personal information third parties collect through the BellXcel Sites.
  • How BellXcel uses the information.
  • With whom BellXcel may share or disclose the information.
  • What choices are available to users regarding collection, use, correction, access to, and distribution of the information.
  • What types of security procedures are in place to protect information entered online.
  • Our data retention policy.
  • Children’s privacy.
  • Third-party links. 
  • Policy changes.
  • Appropriate information for International Users.
  • Contact information.
  1. Information Collection

Data collected through the Platform 

If you are a teacher or an administrator and you utilize Platform, we will collect your personal information in order to create an account for you. This information may include your name, contact information, school name, and position. We will also collect the information you input about your students, including their name, age, grade level, and additional information you provide regarding the students, such as their race and ethnicity, phone number, address, family or guardian contact information, health information (such as allergies), and information about their grades and classes. Please note that we protect this student information consistent with all applicable laws, including the Family Education and Privacy Rights Act (FERPA). 

Other personal information we collect
BellXcel also collects personal information you give us when you visit our Bell Xcel Sites; contact BellXcel by e-mail (including via the “Contact Us” feature on BellXcel Sites); fill out requests for information through our advertisements and promotions; fill out information to initiate your program assessment; utilize the BellXcel Resource Library; request our e-mail newsletters; and/or make a donation. We collect only personally identifiable information that you provide to us such as: name, address, phone number, e-mail address for orders (for donations) and any information you may volunteer, such as survey information.

Web log data
When you use the Services, we automatically receive and record certain information from your computer (or other device) and your browser. We may collect and record information regarding information on how many visits each page receives and user-specific information on what pages on the BellXcel Sites were visited. We may track the URLs of the page you visited before coming to the BellXcel Sites and the page you link to when you leave. And we obtain certain types of technical information when your Web browser accesses the BellXcel Sites such as your Internet protocol (IP) address (a unique number that identifies your Internet access), the domain name and host from which you access the Internet, the pages you visit on the BellXcel Sites, the date and time of your visit, the files that you downloaded, and computer and connection information such as browser type and version and operating system. [We may collect your general geographic location (e.g., your city, state, or metropolitan region), and certain cookie information (see below).] We may utilize software tools that measure and collect session information including download errors, visit length to certain pages, page response times and technical interaction information regarding scrolling, clicks and other methods used to browse BellXcel  Site’s pages. To obtain the information mentioned in this section, we may use web logs or applications that recognize your computer and gather information about its online activity.   

Cookies
Like many Web sites, we receive and store certain types of information automatically through the use of “cookies.” Cookies are files that your Web browser places on your computer’s hard drive that enable us to track your experience on the BellXcel Sites and therefore customize the BellXcel Sites for our constituencies in order to provide a more enjoyable web site experience. For example, cookies can be used to collect or store information about your use of the BellXcel Sites during your current session and over time (including the pages you view and the files you download), your computer’s operating system and browser type, your Internet service provider, your domain name and IP address, your general geographic location, the website that you visited before the BellXcel Sites, and the link you used to leave the BellXcel Sites. You may set your browser to reject cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being set allowing you to decide whether to accept it. You can also delete cookies from your computer. However,  if you choose to block or delete cookies, certain features of the BellXcel Sites may not operate correctly.

 

Web beacons  

The BellXcel Sites or the emails that you receive from BellXcel may use an application known as a “web beacon” (also known as a “clear gif” or “web bug”).  A web beacon is an electronic file that usually consists of a single-pixel image.  It can be embedded in a web page or in an email to transmit information, which could include personal information.  For example, it can allow an email sender to determine whether a user has opened a particular email.

 

SDKs and mobile advertising IDs 

Our services may include third-party software development kits (“SDKs”) that allow us and our service providers to collect information about your activity. In addition, some mobile devices come with a resettable advertising ID (such as Apple’s IDFA and Google’s Advertising ID) that, like cookies and pixel tags, allow us and our service providers to identify your mobile device over time for advertising purposes. 

 

[Aggregated and deidentified information

From time to time, we may also collect and share aggregated or deidentified information about BellXcel Site users, such as by publishing a report on trends in the usage of the Services.  Such aggregated or deidentified information will not identify you personally.]

  1. Information Collection by 3rd Parties

 

Service providers

BellXcel may employ third parties to perform certain business services on our behalf. These functions may include but not be limited to (a) collect information that you provide to us such as: name, address, phone number, e-mail address and any information you may volunteer, such as survey information; (b) analyzing data; and (c) generating and revising constituency lists. These include: 

 

Third-party plugins

Our services may include plugins from other companies, including social media companies (e.g., the Facebook “Like” button).  These plugins may collect information, such as information about the pages you visit, and share it with the company that created the plugin even if you do not click on the plugin.  These third-party plugins are governed by the privacy policies and terms of the companies that created them.  

 

Third-party online tracking  

We also may partner with certain third parties to collect, analyze, and use some of the personal and other information described in this section.  For example, we may allow third parties to set cookies or use web beacons on the BellXcel Sites or in email communications from us.  This information may be used for a variety of purposes, including online website analytics.  

None of these third parties may use any personal information collected for any purpose other than to carry out their business function on our behalf.

  1. Information Usage

We use the information we collect for a variety of purposes, including to better serve our constituency. 

These purposes include, for example: responding to your requests, modifying areas that need to be improved upon, customizing your online experience, fulfilling the terms of any agreement you have with us, delivering confirmations, account information, notifications, and similar operational communications, complying with legal and/or regulatory requirements, communicating with you for outreach purposes, improving your user experience and the quality of our products and services, and managing our business. We may also use technical data and information collected by third parties for internal business and outreach purposes, and to monitor site security.

Additionally, we may use the information we collect automatically through the BellXcel Sites to count and recognize visitors to the BellXcel Sites, to analyze how visitors use the BellXcel Sites and site features, to improve the BellXcel Sites and enhance user experiences with the BellXcel Sites, to create new products and services or improve existing products and services, to enable additional website analytics and research concerning the BellXcel Sites, to engage in interest-based advertising and to manage our business.

For donor information specifically, BellXcel retains the right to publish donors’ first and last names unless the donor specifically indicates they would like to remain anonymous at the time of donation.

We may link information gathered through the BellXcel Sites with information that we collect in other contexts. But in that event, we will handle the combined information in a manner consistent with this Policy.

  1. Information Sharing

BellXcel does share your information under the limited conditions described below:

Service providers: BellXcel shares certain information with its third party service providers as described in Section 2. The provision of personally-identifiable information to such third parties is for core operational purposes, such as to process scholar enrollment or conduct background checks on prospective employees. 

Analytics:  We partner with certain third parties to obtain the automatically collected information discussed above and to engage in analysis, auditing, research, and reporting.  These third parties may use web logs or web beacons, and they may set and access cookies on your computer or other device.  The BellXcel Sites use Google Analytics to help collect and analyze certain information for the purposes discussed above.  You may opt out of the use of cookies by Google Analytics here.   

Interest-based Advertising: The BellXcel Sites also enable third-party tracking mechanisms to collect information about you and your computing devices for use in online interest-based advertising. For example, third parties may use the fact that you visited BellXcel Sites to target online ads to you.  In addition, our third-party advertising networks might use information about your use BellXcel Sites to help target advertisements based on your online activity in general.  For information about interest-based advertising practices, including privacy and confidentiality, visit the Network Advertising Initiative website or the Digital Advertising Alliance website.

The use of online tracking mechanisms by third parties is subject to those third parties’ own privacy policies, and not this Policy.  If you prefer to prevent third parties from setting and accessing cookies on your computer or other device, you may set your browser to block cookies.  Additionally, you may remove yourself from the targeted advertising of companies within the Network Advertising Initiative by opting out here, or of companies participating in the Digital Advertising Alliance by opting out here.  

Although our Services currently do not respond to “do not track” browser headers, you can limit tracking through these third-party programs and by taking the other steps discussed above.

Other: BellXcel occasionally sends e-mail offers to you. If you would prefer to not be included in our e-mail campaigns, see your options in section 5 of this privacy policy below.

Notwithstanding anything else in this policy, we may disclose personal and other collected information when required by law or when we deem it necessary to protect the rights or safety of BellXcel Site users, our employees or property. This includes exchanging information with third parties and organizations in connection with credit risk reduction and fraud protection. We may also transfer or disclose personal information in the context of the sale of some or all of our assets or our purchase of another party’s assets.

  1. Your Choices 

If you want to learn more about the personal information that BellXcel has about you, please contact us.

You can always choose not to be included in mailing lists or in e-mail outreach campaigns. If you do not wish to be included in online outreach efforts, wish to have your name removed from a mailing list or wish to correct or update personal information we have for you, please contact us. You may also opt out of emails from us through the information that we provide in the emails that we send you. We will process your request, but please note that you may receive additional contacts before your request takes effect which could be up to 2 months.

  1. Security Procedures in Place to Protect Information

We employ physical, technical, and administrative procedures to safeguard the personal information we collect online.  

Our web servers are authenticated so you can trust that you are doing business with BellXcel. We protect the security of sensitive information you provide online by using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) security software that encrypts such information in transit to us. The security features are automatic. For example, once you’ve clicked the SUBMIT button on an application page, your browser looks for a digital certificate to confirm that it is communicating with BellXcel.org. Once a positive ID is made, your order continues. We use software to enable the use of digital certificates. For your security, the verification process happens in the background every time you make a transaction on the BellXcel Sites.

Additionally, BellXcel employs industry standard firewall and anti-virus protection along with maintaining vendor security patches.

Although BellXcel has implemented measures designed to secure personal information collected on the BellXcel Sites from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration or disclosure, no website is 100% secure, and we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to the BellXcel Sites and you transmit such information at your own risk.

If you have any questions or concerns about security on the BellXcel Sites, please contact us.

  1. Data Retention

We retain personal information about you necessary to fulfill the purpose for which that information was collected or as required or permitted by law.  We do not retain personal information longer than is necessary for us to achieve the purposes for which we collected it.  When we destroy your personal information, we do so in a way that prevents that information from being restored or reconstructed.

  1. Children’s Privacy

Content on the BellXcel Sites is directed at individuals over the age of 18. While BellXcel’s mission focuses on serving children, BellXcel does not knowingly collect information directly from the children it serves in grades PreK-8 (ages 4 to 15). The Services are entirely aimed at guardians and adults, who will, on behalf of their children, enroll them in BellXcel’s educational programs, thereby providing information about their children to BellXcel. Under no circumstances does BellXcel knowingly collect information directly from children under the age of 13.

  1. Third-party Links
    We may provide links to third party web sites on the BellXcel Sites. We are not responsible for the content or information collection practices of those pages. Likewise, BellXcel cannot be responsible for policies relating to privacy on any of such linked web sites. We strongly advise you to review the policies at any web site you visit.
  2. Notification of Changes
    If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, and any other places we deem appropriate. We may notify our constituency as appropriate via e-mail and/or by posting a notice on the BellXcel Sites for 30 days if at some future time there is a material change to our information usage practices that affect your personally identifiable information, but you should check this privacy policy frequently for changes.
  3. International Users

The information that we collect through or in connection with the BellXcel Sites is processed in the United States for the purposes described above. We do not provide our Services to, or otherwise target, individuals outside of the United States. However, if you are located outside of the United States and you access the BellXcel Sites, your personal information may be transferred to and processed in the United States. We also may subcontract the processing of your data to, or otherwise share your data with, affiliates or third parties in the United States. The data protection laws in the United States may be different from, and less stringent than, those in your location or country of residence.  By accessing the BellXcel Sites, you expressly consent to such transfer and processing. 

  1. Contact Information

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of the BellXcel Sites, or your dealings with the BellXcel Sites, you may contact us.