Privacy Notice

Our Commitment to Privacy
The Arthritis Foundation respects the privacy of each individual who contacts us. We are grateful for your support and the crucial role you play in helping us continue our valuable work. This Privacy Notice describes the types of personal information we collect about visitors to our website and mobile apps (collectively, the “Sites”) and other individuals with whom we interact in connection with our charitable and fundraising activities, how we may use the personal information we collect and with whom we may share it, and provides additional information concerning our personal information practices.

Personal Information that We Collect
The Arthritis Foundation may collect the following categories of personal information about you when you visit our Sites, contact us by mail or over the phone, or register for, participate in, or interact with us in connection with our events.  

The types of personal information we may obtain include:

• Your name, postal address, telephone number, e-mail address and other contact information.
• Information about contributions you make to us, including amounts, payment card details or other account information.
• Information about volunteer activities in which you are interested or engaged.
• Certain information you choose to share concerning your health, such as the type of arthritis you may have.
  • Information you provide about other individuals such as their name, postal address, telephone number, email address or other contact information.
• The geographic location of your computer system or mobile device from which you access our Sites.
  • Username, password and other access credentials used to access the Sites.
  • Social media handles, content and other data posted on our official social media pages or elsewhere on the Internet (such as other public locations), and information (such as email address and other information you allow to be shared) we obtain through Arthritis Foundation-related social media apps, tools, widgets and plug-ins.

We also may receive personal information about you from third parties, including public databases, social media platforms, or third party partners such as analytics or marketing providers.

Interactive Features of arthritis.org and Our Mobile Apps
We collect personal information when you use and interact with our Sites, including certain data collected through automated technologies as we discuss below. The Sites include certain interactive features that may enable you to post information viewable by members of the public.  Information that you post publicly on the Sites is not subject to this Privacy Notice.

Automated Data Collection Technologies
When you visit our Sites or interact with Arthritis Foundation-related tools, widgets or plug-ins, we may collect certain information by automated means, such as cookies and web beacons. A "cookie" is a text file that websites send to a visitor's computer or other Internet-connected device to uniquely identify the visitor's browser or to store information or settings in the browser. A "web beacon," also known as an Internet tag, pixel tag or clear GIF, links web pages or apps to web servers and may be used to transmit information back to a web server. Through these automated collection methods, we obtain and store “clickstream” data.

The information we collect in this manner may include IP address, unique device identifier, browser characteristics, device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, information on actions taken, and dates and times of activity. We may link certain data elements we have collected through automated means, such as your browser information, with other information we have obtained about you to let us know, for example, whether you have opened an email we sent to you. We also may use third-party analytics tools that collect information about visitor traffic on our websites or apps.

Your browser may tell you how to be notified when you receive certain types of cookies or how to restrict or disable certain types of cookies. Please note, however, that without cookies you may not be able to use all the features of our websites or apps. Both we and others (such as our advertising networks) may collect personal information about our visitors' online activities, over time and across third-party websites, when using our websites and apps.

How We Use the Personal Information We Collect

We may use information that we collect to:

• Establish and manage your Arthritis Foundation membership.
• Receive and process donations.
• Fulfill requests for volunteer opportunities.
• Coordinate gift memberships, including contacting recipients of gift memberships.
• Communicate with you about fundraising or volunteer opportunities or initiatives and share news and updates with you. 
• Distribute and process voluntary surveys seeking feedback for quality and service improvement purposes.
• Communicate about, and administer your participation in, special events, programs, surveys and contests.
• Invite you to participate in programs (e.g., contests, sweepstakes, or promotions) that are sponsored by or co-branded with identified third parties.
• Enable you to post on our blogs and interact with the Arthritis Foundation through social media.
• Operate, evaluate and improve our organization (including developing new products and services; managing our communications; determining the effectiveness of our fundraising, marketing and advertising; analyzing and enhancing our products, services, websites and apps; protecting the security of our networks and information systems; performing accounting, auditing, invoicing and reconciliation activities; and improving and maintaining the quality of our customer service activities).
• Perform data analyses (including market research and analytics, trend analysis and profiling, financial analysis and anonymization of personal information).
• Protect against, identify and prevent fraud and other prohibited or illegal activity, claims and other liabilities.
• Comply with applicable laws and our policies.

We use information collected online through automated means for purposes such as (i) customizing our users' visits to our Sites, (ii) delivering content (including advertising) tailored to our users' interests and the manner in which our users browse our Sites, and (iii) managing our business. We may supplement data we collect through automated means with information about your location to provide you with content that may be of interest to you.

We also use this information to help diagnose technical and service problems, administer our Sites, identify users of our Sites, and gather demographic information about our users. We use clickstream data to determine usage patterns and how we may tailor our websites and apps to better meet the needs of our users. 

Please note that our Sites are not designed to respond to "do not track" requests from browsers.

Disclosure of Personal Information
We do not share personal information about you with third parties except as described in this Privacy Notice.

• From time to time, the Arthritis Foundation may make personal information available to other nonprofit and commercial organizations whose services may be of interest to our supporters. Your name and address is only made available to these carefully screened organizations through third-party mailing agents for a limited use. Our agreements with these organizations do not permit them to have continued access to your name and address unless you choose to respond to their initial mailing. 
• We share personal information with third parties who perform services on our behalf. These third parties are not authorized by us to use or disclose the information except as necessary to perform services on our behalf or comply with legal requirements.
• We also may disclose information about you (i) if we are required to do so by law, regulation or legal process (such as a court order or subpoena), (ii) in response to requests by government agencies, such as law enforcement authorities, or (iii) when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity. 
• We reserve the right to transfer any information we have about you in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our organization or assets to a third party (including in the event of a reorganization, dissolution or liquidation).

Interest-Based Advertising
We may collect information on our Sites about your online activities for use in providing you with advertising about Arthritis Foundation events, activities and fundraising efforts tailored to your individual interests.

You may see certain ads on other websites because we participate in advertising networks. Ad networks allow us to target our messaging to users through demographic, interest-based and contextual means. These networks track your online activities over time by collecting information through automated means. The networks use this information to show you advertisements that may be tailored to your individual interests. The information our ad networks may collect includes information about your visits to websites that participate in the relevant advertising networks, such as the pages or advertisements you view and the actions you take on the websites. This data collection takes place both on our websites and on third-party websites that participate in the ad networks. This process also helps us track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts. To learn how to opt out of this ad network interest-based advertising, see the section How to Contact Us below.

The Arthritis Foundation follows the online Privacy Guidelines and the Guidelines on Ethical Business Practice of The Direct Marketing Association (DMA). For more information on these guidelines, visit the DMA at http://the-dma.org.

How We Secure Your Data
We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information you provide against accidental, unlawful or unauthorized access, disclosure or use. Although we have measures in place reasonably designed to protect against unauthorized access, the safety and security of your information also depends on you. We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the Sites and to refrain from providing any of the information necessary to access your membership to any other person.

Your Choices About How We Use and Share Your Information
You can opt out from receiving communications from us for promotional or fundraising purposes or limit the types of promotional or fundraising communications we send by visiting our Email Preference Form. 

You can also opt out from information sharing we conduct with other non-profit organizations for their own promotional or other purposes on our Email Preference Form.

In addition, all Arthritis Foundation e-newsletters and direct email communications for promotional or fundraising purposes have easy-to-follow unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each communication.

Your Personal Data
If you like to request the deletion of your personal data, you can contact the Arthritis Foundation at 800-283-7800 or email us at [email protected]. 

Children Online

Information Collected
The Arthritis Foundation produces a website section that is intended for use by children, including those under the age of 13 years. Protecting the privacy of children is especially important, and for this reason we have adopted certain policies and procedures. We do not collect any more personal information than reasonably necessary to enable children to participate in the activities we offer at our website.

As described in this Privacy Notice, we directly collect personally identifiable information from a child when a user submits a form through our website. This information may include the child's name, age, and gender. We also request a name, email address, mailing address and telephone number of the child’s parent or guardian so that we may seek parental permission to post personal stories submitted by the child.

Please note that parents may consent to the above collection and use without necessarily consenting to the disclosure of personal information to third parties.

We do not have any agreements with outside organizations to collect personal information at our site.

Use and Sharing of Information
The information we collect from children is compiled personal stories that may be published only after obtaining parental permission.

We do not share children’s personal information with anyone other than those who provide support for the internal operations of the website and our agents (e.g., contractors who provide fulfillment services or technical support to the website).

All third parties with whom we share information have agreed to maintain security and integrity of personal information.

Parental Review
Parents can review the information that we have collected from their children online, prevent the further use or maintenance of such information, or direct the deletion of their children’s personal information by calling us at the telephone number provided above, emailing us at the above address and/or writing to us at the above address. 

Links to Other Sites

The Sites provide links to other websites where you can find out more about our sponsors or products. The Foundation is not responsible for the information practices or content of such sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy or notice of each third-party site you visit.

How to Contact Us

Questions or Concerns

If or concerns, or would like to contact us for any other reason relating to you have any questions our personal information practices, please feel free to contact us at [email protected] or write to:

Arthritis Foundation
c/o Privacy Requests / Marketing Department
1355 Peachtree St NE
6th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30309

Access & Correction 
You may update certain personal information by accessing your profile at arthritis.org.  

Upon request, we will also provide you with the Contact Information that we maintain about you. The description will be sent via postal mail which we believe is the most secure method of communication. Further, we will respond to requests for updates or changes to your personal information. Contact us by email or in writing at the contact information listed above.  To protect your privacy and security, we may take reasonable steps to verify your identity before providing information or making corrections.

California Residents
Users who reside in California and have provided personal information to us may request information about our disclosure of certain categories of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. Such requests must be submitted to us at the following address: Arthritis Foundation, Attn: Privacy Requests / Marketing Department, 1355 Peachtree Street NE, 6th Floor, Atlanta, GA 30309. Within thirty days of receiving such a request, we will provide a list of the categories of personal information disclosed to third parties for third-party direct marketing purposes during the immediately preceding calendar year, along with the names and addresses of the third parties that received the personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice
We reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Notice.  We encourage you to review our Privacy Notice from time to time.

Effective Date: July 31, 2019.

Updated: April 20, 2022.