Introduction
Families Empowered is dedicated to protecting your privacy and respecting your rights. Our privacy policy outlines the various information practices in place at Families Empowered and shares the steps we take to protect the families that we serve. This privacy policy details what information we collect, why we collect it, how that information is used and protected, and what federal, global, and state regulations and laws we currently comply with.
What information do we collect?
Families Empowered collects Non-Personally Identifiable Information (Non-PII) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is any information that can be used to personally identify an individual such as name, address, zip code, email address, credit card number, and/or phone number. This information is collected to help Families Empowered provide a unique browsing experience and to assist with marketing efforts.
Non-Personally Identifiable Information (non-PII) is information that cannot directly be used to identify you as a person such as anonymous information or information collected by browsers. Families Empowered collects this information to determine how users and visitors interact with our content and to assist marketing efforts.
Families Empowered does not collect sensitive information such as social security numbers and health information.
All personally identifiable information (PII) update or deletion requests must be received in writing and emailed directly to info@familiesempowered.org.
All requests to opt out of personally identifiable information (PII) disclosures must be received in writing and emailed directly to info@familiesempowered.org.
When do we collect and store information?
Families Empowered collects information when users or visitors:
- Fill out a contact form
- Fill out or participate in a paper, digital, or phone survey
- Sign up to receive newsletter communications
- Sign up to attend a Families Empowered event online or in-person
- Directly connect with or reach out to the Families Empowered team via email, phone or in-person
- Visit or engage with content on any Families Empowered website
Families Empowered stores user/customer and partner information in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, Salesforce.
Families Empowered student information is collected in compliance with FERPA and is stored in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, Salesforce.
Financial Data
Families Empowered stores the financial receipts and invoices from donors or funders within a secure cloud-based financial management system. All transactions processed through Give Lively links or widgets are stored with their third-payment processing companies and exported to Families Empowered’s secure cloud-based file management system.
Families Empowered backs up all user/customer, partner, and student data in a secure cloud-based file management system.
When do we share information?
Families Empowered routinely shares personally identifiable information (PII) with the following third-party categories:
- Vendors, Consultants & Other Third-Party Service Providers
- Families Empowered shares information with third-party vendors: Give Lively to process credit card payments and manage donations on our website.
- Families Empowered gives third-party Salesforce-certified consultant agency, Plutus, access to our Salesforce CRM account to maintain functionality of our CRM software. We do not share or sell any personal information with these vendors.
- Third-Party Advertisers
- Families Empowered uses Google and Facebook to run targeted ad campaigns to promote our services and events from data collected from our websites listed above or general geo-targeted ad campaigns.
- Contracted Local Education Agencies (LEA) / Local Education Agencies
- Families Empowered currently shares personal information with contracted LEAs and with additional LEAs that attend our in-person events. All school partners and school entities will receive a list of event RSVPs. All parents/guardians provide consent via registering for a Families Empowered event either digitally, over the phone, or in person. All parents/guardians are welcome to opt out of this consent at any time by sending a written request to info@familiesempowered.org.
- Families Empowered only shares information with LEAs after receiving verbal consent from parents/guardians via phone. All parents/guardians are welcome to opt out of this consent at any time by sending a written request to info@familiesempowered.org.
All opt-out requests must be submitted in writing via mail or email to the contact information below and will be processed within ten business days of the received request.
Email:
Mailing Address:
2050 N. Loop W,
Suite 230.,
Houston, TX 77018
How long do we keep your personal data?
Families Empowered will keep personal information on users as long as users have opted-in to our communications and services or until users directly request for their information to be deleted. Users are welcome to request Families Empowered delete personal information at any time.
All deletion requests must be submitted in writing via mail or email to the contact information below and will be processed within ten business days of the received request.
Email:
Mailing Address:
2050 N. Loop W,
Suite 230.,
Houston, TX 77018
How do we protect your information?
Families Empowered takes protecting your data very seriously and implements a variety of security measures to ensure your information is protected from unauthorized access, misuse, or alteration.
Websites:
All Families Empowered websites use the secure Uniform Resource Layer (URLs) protocol Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) to provide a secure connection for users per industry standards. HTTPS is the secure protocol version of HTTP which uses the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol to encrypt information being transmitted on the web. Our websites also utilize Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption on the backend to add an additional layer of security to our websites.
User data:
Families Empowered uses Salesforce Shield to provide enhanced protection with 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption, monitoring, and retention of personal information. Salesforce Shield is also compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) security standard which regulates how businesses manage credit card, debit card, and cash card information and payments.
All employee accounts have proper security measures in place to protect the personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive information of all users, customers, and partners.
No information is sold, traded, or shared with third-party companies unless Families Empowered receives consent to share directly from a parent/guardian.
How do we collect and use information?
Families Empowered uses the personally identifiable information (PII) and non-personally identifiable information (non-PII) collected to support business purposes, enhance marketing and advertising efforts, and customize our content to align with the needs of the communities we serve.
This information will be used to share information about our company and the services we provide. We will use e-mail addresses and phone numbers to directly connect with local area families and inform them of upcoming events, and important school information such as application deadlines and community events.
All Families Empowered sites are hosted through WordPress.org. Click HERE to learn more about WordPress’s Privacy Policy.
Families Empowered automatically collects the following information:
Cookies:
Cookies are small text files that are sent to user browsers from any website you visit. Cookies are used to collect integral information that helps a website remember a device, save browser preferences, and track site activity. Cookies are generally safe and cannot transfer viruses or malware to your computer and will not impact the functionality of your device. Users can Opt-in or Opt-out of an organization’s cookie policy. Cookie Consent is required from users and is typically managed by an organization.
There are many types of cookies that users may come into contact with but the most common types are First-party, Session, Permanent, and Third-party.
- First-party cookies are created by a website you’re actively visiting
- Third-party cookies are created by other websites that are integrated into the site or page you’re visiting
- Session cookies are temporary cookies that only retain information about a user’s activities while they’re on a website. Once the browser is closed, these will be deleted.
- Permanent cookies (also known as Persistent cookies) remain in the browser even after it is closed. These remember login details and must be deleted after twelve months in accordance with the law.
Families Empowered Cookies Usage, Consent Management, and Policy
First-party, Session, and Third-party cookies are collected on the Families Empowered sites to enhance the user experience and to collect information like IP address metadata and website and/or internet activity.
Click HERE to manage Cookie Consent settings for the Families Empowered sites.
Third-Party Cookies Policies
Click the links below to explore what cookies are collected by third-party companies on our sites:
- Facebook Cookie Policy
- Google / Youtube Cookie Policy
- Give Lively Cookie Policy
- Salesforce Cookie Policy
Click HERE to manage Cookies preferences in your browser
Web Beacons & Other Tracking Technologies:
Web Beacons are used to monitor what content has been accessed by users on an organization’s website or through email. This information is used for web analytics, email tracking, and page tagging purposes. Web Beacons do not solicit marketing information from a user’s device and do not collect any data. Families Empowered utilizes web beacons via Google Analytics for page tagging, user engagement analytics and gathering visitor information.
Clickstream data is collected during a single session in which a user interacts with a website. Clickstream data does not include personal user information and is typically stored on an organization’s server. Families Empowered utilizes clickstream data gathered from Google Analytics for web traffic path tracking purposes and to gather detailed information on how long a user spends on a site, what pages they land on, and more website engagement information.
Google, Facebook & Social Media
Families Empowered uses Google Analytics 4, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads to collect user information from our websites and utilizes this information to run targeted ad campaigns.
Google Analytics 4 is a web analytics service provided by Google that allows Families Empowered to collect unique information about visitors and how they interact with our sites and content. Google Analytics 4 automatically collects information such as user engagement actions like clicks, form submissions, file downloads, scroll depth, video engagement, and coarse geo-location metadata from IP addresses. Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses.
Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google to launch ad campaigns for consumers. Families Empowered uses Google Ads to enhance marketing and advertising efforts and to run campaigns promoting our services and company. Families Empowered does not use Google Adsense or Google Display Ads.
Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Facebook to launch targeted social media ad campaigns. Families Empowered uses information gathered from our websites to launch targeted advertising campaigns on Facebook to target past, current, and potential visitors.
All information collected will be in accordance with the third-party privacy policies below.
Google Policies:
Click HERE to view Google’s Advertising Policies
Click HERE to view Google’s Privacy Policy
Click HERE to opt-out of Google Analytics with the Google Analytics browser add-on
Meta Policies:
Click HERE to view Meta’s Privacy Policy
Click HERE to view Facebook’s Advertising Policy
Click HERE to learn how to opt-out of Facebook Ads
Click HERE to opt-out of various interest-based advertising via the Network Advertising Initiative
Salesforce CRM Information & Privacy Policy
Salesforce CRM is a cloud-based Customer Relationship Management software used to manage all customer and partner relationships within Families Empowered. Families Empowered uses Salesforce Shield to provide enhanced protection with 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption, monitoring, and retention of personal information. Salesforce Shield is also compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) security standard which regulates how businesses manage credit card, debit card, and cash card information and payments.
Click HERE to view Salesforce’s Privacy Statement
Give Lively Information & Privacy Policy
Give Lively is a tech company committed to providing nonprofit organizations with a streamlined and simple fundraising platform to manage and process company donations. Give Lively partners with Stripe, Inc, Plaid Technologies, Inc (Plaid), and Paypal payment processing companies to process donations. Families Empowered uses Give Lively to manage credit and debit card donations via embedded links and widgets on our website.
Give Lively may disclose information to Stripe, Ince (Stripe), Plaid Technologies (Plaid), and/or PayPal for payment processing services. More information about these disclosures can be found below.
Click HERE to view Give Lively’s Privacy Policy
Click HERE to view Give Lively’s Terms of Use
Click HERE to view Stripe’s Privacy Policy
Click HERE to view PayPal’s Privacy Policy
Click HERE to view Plaid Technology’s Privacy Policy
Click & Pledge Information & Privacy Policy
Click & Pledge is an all-in-one fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations. Click & Pledge may disclose your information with third-party companies that perform services for them such as payment processing, data analysis, email delivery, hosting services, network services, customer service, and marketing assistance.
These third-party companies include:
- TSYS
- Global Payments
- Optimal Payments
- iATS Payments
- ProPay
Families Empowered does not directly share or send personally identifiable information to the third parties listed above or any future companies that Click & Pledge directly works with.
Families Empowered uses Click & Pledge to process invoices sent to LEAs that contract with our organization under our Apply School Partnership Program.
Click HERE to view the Click & Pledge Privacy Policy
We encourage all users/customers and partners to review the privacy and cookie policies for each of the third-party companies listed above.
Outbound Links & Tracking
Families Empowered features limited outbound links on our websites to third-party or individual organization pages. Families Empowered does not collect cookies or data for these sites. Users may manage cookie and data collection preferences on each individual organization’s website.
Families Empowered will internally track user engagement of outbound links but will not send or share analytics with these organizations.
Families Empowered may share information from third-party websites and those links may feature or contain our trademarks, intellectual property, or information regarding our services.
We encourage all users to review the privacy and cookie policies for each of the linked sites.
COPPA Compliance
Families Empowered does not knowingly directly collect or solicit personally identifiable information (PII) from children under the age of thirteen in accordance with the Children’s Online Protection Privacy Act (COPPA) of 1998.
In compliance with COPPA, Families Empowered does not market to children under the age of 13. If we become aware that information has been collected from a child, this information will be promptly deleted from our database and the parents will be notified.
Please feel free to contact us at info@familiesempowered.org for any questions or concerns.
CalOPPA Compliance
The California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2014 is a privacy law that protects the personally identifiable information (PII) of all California residents.
Families Empowered may collect personally identifiable information (PII) and non-personally identifiable information (non-PII) from California residents that visit our websites, in accordance with COPPA.
Families Empowered will collect the following personally identifiable information (PII) about California residents as described in Section 1798.80(e):
- First & last names
- Home or physical address
- Email address
- Telephone Number
Families Empowered will respect all Do Not Track signal requests and other anti-tracking requests received. All residents that we collect data will have the option to opt out of data and cookies collection and update their PII at any time. Families Empowered will also inform all California residents in our databases if and when our Privacy or Cookie policies are updated.
All personally identifiable information (PII) update requests must be received in writing and emailed directly to info@familiesempowered.org.
GDPR Compliance
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a global privacy law that regulates the way businesses collect the personally identifiable information (PII) of European Union (EU) citizens, even if your business is not based in the EU.
Families Empowered may collect the data of EU citizens that visit our websites. In accordance with the GDPR law:
- Families Empowered will process data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner
- Families Empowered will only process data for business purposes
- Families Empowered will only store PII for as long as necessary for business purposes
- Families Empowered will encrypt data and process data confidentially with security measures like end-to-end encryption or two-factor authentication
- Families Empowered will assign a Data Controller in compliance with the GDPR law
- Families Empowered will obtain consent that is “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous” in compliance with the GDPR law
Families Empowered will respect all Do Not Track signal requests and other anti-tracking requests received. All residents that we collect data from will have the option to opt out of data and cookies collection and update their PII at any time. Families Empowered will also inform all EU citizens in our databases if and when our Privacy or Cookie policies are updated.
All personally identifiable information (PII) update requests must be received in writing and emailed directly to info@familiesempowered.org.
Data Breach Concerns
Families Empowered understands how critical data protection is and aims to protect our users from any potential data breaches. In the event of a data breach, Families Empowered will act in accordance with Texas Business and Commerce Codes 521.002 and 521.053 to notify all affected individuals immediately after the breach is discovered. If more than 10,000 individuals are affected, the appropriate consumer reporting agencies will be notified as well.
Please note: Notifications may be subject to delays due to compliance with active law enforcement investigations.
Internal Opt-in / Opt-out Policy
All users are free to manage their opt-in/opt-out preferences HERE.
All opt-out requests for email communications must be in writing and emailed to the Families Empowered team at info@familiesempowered.org or individually reported from the opt-out or unsubscribe buttons in our regional newsletters.
Click HERE to opt-out of Google Analytics 4 with the Google Analytics browser add-on
Click HERE to learn how to opt-out of Facebook Ads
Click HERE to opt-out of various interest-based advertising via the Network Advertising Initiative
Contact us
Do you have questions about this Privacy Policy? Please feel free to contact the Families Empowered team to discuss any questions or concerns about how we manage personally identifiable information.
Email:
Regional Phone Numbers:
Houston: (713) 589-8767
Austin: (512) 580-4046
San Antonio: (210) 263-3524
Tarrant County: (817) 663-2004
Mailing Address:
2050 N. Loop W,
Suite 230,
Houston,TX 77018