Group Gyft Privacy Policy

Group Gyft

Privacy Policy

Updated April 10, 2018

1. Our Commitment to Privacy.

Group Gyft, Inc. is committed to respecting and protecting your privacy. Group Gyft provides this Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) to ensure you understand what information we collect and what Group Gyft does with the information we collect. The Privacy Policy discloses the information we gather on https://www.groupgyft.com (the “Site”), as well as ways in which we process and, share such information and how you can correct or change such information. Except where otherwise expressly indicated herein or on the Site, this Privacy Policy applies only to information collected on the Site and does not apply to information collected outside of the Site.

This Privacy Policy addresses our privacy practices relating to the general use of our Site by anyone who visits, browses or otherwise uses the Site (collectively, “You”). Before submitting information to the Site, please read this Privacy Policy. By visiting the Site, submitting information, or using any of our services, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Privacy Policy and consent to the use of such data. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Site.

2. Information Collected by Group Gyft .

Group Gyft provides a platform, associated tools and services, as well as storage and recall capabilities for individuals, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and businesses to create and host private crowdfunding campaigns. Unlike public facing crowdfunding sites that appeal to the public at large to fund a campaign, Group Gyft users host their fund aggregation effort in private campaigns that are not searchable or available for general public review. A campaign Host will determine the invitees for a particular campaign and a private, unique campaign link sent by email from the Site will provide the individualized access points for the campaign.

The Group Gyft Site is intended to provide an exceptional, reduced-friction experience without requiring you to submit any more Personally Identifiable Information ("PII") than is necessary to use the Site effectively. We do not require you to register or submit PII in order to visit the Site. Some activities on the Site can be performed without providing PII. When we ask for PII to, for instance, set up an account or to host a private crowdfunding campaign, we will not require anyone to disclose more PII than we believe is reasonably. We collect the following categories of information from you:

1. Personally Identifiable Information Collected from Individuals

We may receive and store any information you enter on the Site or provide to us in any other way through or via the Site that would allow us to identify you personally or contact you. The PII you provide to us only will be used by Group Gyft in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Examples of PII we may collect from you:

§ If you set up a Group Gyft account, we collect your name, email address, cell phone number, birthday and, if you choose, social information (from the social networking site you connected with), your gender, any photos that you upload to the Site, your mailing address;

§ PII you provide about yourself when you send us an email or contact us.

§ PII you provide about yourself on your account page, a campaign page or anywhere else on the Site. For example, if you Facebook to share information about yourself on the Site, we collect that information.

§ If you contribute to a campaign and do not yet have a Group Gyft account, we will require you to provide your name and email address. This information will be retained in association with the particular campaign to which you have contributed and will also serve as reference tool to aggregate campaigns you have reviewed. If you subsequently create an account on Group Gyft, the prior campaign contributions will be aggregated onto your user dashboard.

We may obtain address information about you from third-party sources for fraud prevention or for legal compliance. We may also collect Personal Information from you as a result of your email communications with us or your campaigns which we may retain along with our responses.

You can choose not to provide us with certain PII, but then you may not be able to take advantage of all of the services and products offered on the Site.

2. Passive Gathering of Information Electronically

Cookies

During the course of any visit to the Site, the pages you see, along with something called "cookies," are downloaded to your computer. Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer's hard drive. These cookies do not contain or collect any PII, but they do enable us to provide features such as personalization. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you usually can change your browser to limit or prevent cookies. Cookies in themselves do not personally identify the individual user, but rather the computer that is being used to access the Site. You may have the opportunity to set your computer to accept all cookies, to notify you when a cookie is issued, or to not receive cookies at any time. Different browsers may address cookies differently. If you set your browser to not accept cookies, it may result in certain personalized services not being provided to you when you use that computer.

Web Beacons

A web beacon is a transparent image file. Web beacons enable Group Gyft to track website usage information, such as the number of times a given web page has been viewed. Web beacons are invisible to you and (unlike cookies) are not placed on your computer. They may be used in association with cookies to understand how visitors interact with the pages and content on the pages of the Site.

Web beacons also may be used to track whether you have opened an HTML email. When the email is opened, a part of the code that makes up the HTML page calls a web server to load the web beacon that then generates a record showing that the email has been viewed. Web Beacons may also recognize when the email was opened, how many times it was forwarded and which URL's (links within the email) were clicked.

Group Gyft does not use web beacons to collect or otherwise record any type of PII provided by or about any User.

Pixel Tags

In addition, we may use “Pixel Tags”(also referred to as clear Gifs, Web beacons, or Web bugs). Pixel Tags are tiny graphic images with a unique identifier, similar in function to Cookies, that are used to track online movements of Web users. In contrast to Cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, Pixel Tags are embedded invisibly in Web pages. Pixel Tags also allow us to send e-mail messages in a format users can read, and they tell us whether e-mails have been opened to ensure that we are sending only messages that are of interest to our users. We may use this information to reduce or eliminate messages sent to a user. We do not tie the information gathered by Pixel Tags to our users’ Personal Data.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to help analyze how users use the Site. Google Analytics uses Cookies to collect information such as how often users visit the Site, what pages they visit, and what other sites they used prior to coming to the Site. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve our Site and Services. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit the Site, rather than your name or other personally identifying information. We do not combine the information generated through the use of Google Analytics with your Personal Data. Although Google Analytics plants a persistent Cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit the Site, the Cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to the Site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy.

E-mail Communications to You and Your Invitees

When you send an email via the Group Gyft Site function, we will retain your email address and may retain the contents of the email you send.

Non Personally Identifiable Information

From time to time, we may also ask you to provide us with non-PII that is data that is not intended to allow us to identify you personally. Your non-PII may be aggregated and used for our internal purposes or for creating reports for third-party advertisers and partners, or otherwise shared with third parties for any lawful purpose, without your permission. No third-party is intended to be able to know who you are as a result of the use of your non-PII.

We also may automatically collect Site usage information, such as the numbers and frequency of users to the Site, pages visited and similar data. This data is used in the aggregate, that is, as a statistical measure, and not in a manner that is intended to identify you personally. Aggregate information generally is collected through the use of cookies and web beacons as discussed above. This aggregate information helps Group Gyft determine general usage patterns and modify the Site in order to improve your experience. This type of aggregate information may be shared with third parties at any time.

3. How We Use Information

When you provide us with your PII, we may use such information for a number of purposes, including:

§ To facilitate communication between Group Gyft and you including, without limitation, responding to your questions or comments, sending emails concerning our Services including upcoming events and announcements, or to contact you for feedback regarding us, advertisers or business partners;

§ To administer your account, process transactions, provide products or services to you and for Group Gyft marketing and promotional activities;

§ To provide you with important functionality changes to the Site, and new Group Gyft services and special offers from Group Gyft;

§ To customize, analyze, adjust and improve the Site to meet our advertisers' or business partners' needs and expectations;

§ To enforce our agreements with you, prevent fraud and other prohibited or illegal activities, for other legally permissible purposes and generally to ensure that we comply with applicable laws.

If you do not want us to collect personally identifiable information about you, you can simply decide not to submit it to us.

4. Accessing or Changing Your PII

Group Gyft allows you to change or correct inaccuracies in your profile by logging into your account and making changes to your PII through the User Profile page.

5. Disclosure of Information to Third Parties

Group Gyft may give, share, sell or trade your PII to or with any third parties under the following circumstances:

Fulfillment of Services

We may retain other companies and individuals to perform certain functions on our behalf. Examples include, but are not limited to, companies and individuals who: (i) administer the Group Gyft accounts; (ii) conduct surveys or promotional activities; (iii) deliver products; or (iv) provide customer support, web hosting, internet service, and data analysis. Such third parties may be provided with access to PII needed to perform their functions but may not use such information for any other purpose.

Compliance with Law and Fraud Protection

We may disclose any information, including, without limitation, PII, that we deem necessary, in our sole discretion and without your prior permission, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request. We may also exchange information, including, without limitation, PII, with other companies and organizations for credit fraud protection, risk reduction and related activities or to protect the rights, property of safety of Group Gyft, its agents, employees or affiliates or others. Group Gyft reserves the right to disclose PII for a user who we believe is in violation of our Privacy Policy or other terms of service as posted on the Site, and to do so without a subpoena, warrant, court order or other governmental request.

Sale or Transfer of Information

In the event of a sale, merger, liquidation, dissolution or sale or transfer of substantially all of the assets of Group Gyft or the Site, PII and/or other information collected about you from the Site may be sold, assigned or transferred to the party acquiring all or substantially all of the equity and/or assets of Group Gyft or the Site in order to permit the party to continue the operation of Group Gyft and/or the Site or any successor version of the Site. By using the Site and providing PII to Group Gyft, you consent to the sale and transfer of your information as described in this paragraph.

Personal Financial Information

Group Gyft has integrated Stripe, a leading national transaction processing company to manage its credit card, debit card, and bank account services. Stripe is embedded directly into the Group Gyft Site. Users of Group Gyft (either Hosts or Contributors) will be required to provide certain Personal Financial Information to Stripe, including name, partial or full social security number, and bank account or debit card information. This information is used by Stripe to set up a personal host account to receive contributions from Group Gyft campaigns. Stripe also uses the information to verify the identiy of a User and prevent fraudulent accounts.

Hosts

In order for a Group Gyft user to host a campaign, he/she must first establish a new Stripe account or log into an existing Stripe account. The information is delivered directly to Strip via encrypted technologies and is never accessed by Group Gyft or stored on Group Gyft’s servers . Group Gyft uses an abbreviated implementation of Stripe’s protocols, which minimizes the required information. Nevertheless, in order to establish a new Stripe account, a Host will need to provide:

§ Social Security Number (“SSN”). Stripe will typically require only the last four numbers of a Host’s SSN. In cases where further authentication is required or distributions reach a certain threshhold, Stripe may require your full SSN.

§ Debit Card or Bank Account information. Private crowdfunding campaigns hosted on Group Gyft’s site result in net contributions being electronically deposited into the Host’s account. To facilitate this process, the Host will need to link either a debit card or a bank account to the Host’s verified Stripe account.

All information associated with your interaction with Stripe will be handled in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy and Stripe’s Terms & Conditions. When you use Group Gyft’s Services you agree to Stripe’s Terms & Conditions.

Contributors

Contributors to a hosted campaign will not need to establish an explicit account with Group Gyft, although contributor activity will be correlated against the email account used for the contribution consideration. When contributing to a hosted campaign without being logged into a user account, the contributor’s name and email address will be available from the Host’s invitation. Credit card, debit card, or bank account information sufficient for Stripe to securely validate and execute the contribution. Similar to the financial information collected from Hosts, the personal financial information provided by Contributors goes directly to Stripe on encrypted forms owned by Stripe and is not accessed or stored by Group Gyft.

Information You Publicly Post

Profiles created on Group Gyft are intended to be private, but your personal information that you include with your account will be viewable by potential contributors to any campaign you host. As such, your personal information (name, email address, phone number) may be published on a limited access campaign page (a unique link is required to access each campaign). Anyone with access to the campaign will see certain personal information about the campaign’s Host. Therefore, any PII you provide to host a campaign should be provided without any expectation of privacy or confidentiality. Copies may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other users have copied or stored your Publicly Available Content even if you remove the Publicly Available Content. You may request removal of your personal information or to close your account by contacting us using the information below. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why. Remember, as with the case with any website, once your information has been published, even to a limited access site, there is a possibility that it will become more widely viewable / accessible.

Information you Provide to Facebook and Other Social Networking Sites

The Site allows users to log in with a Facebook account and may also provides unique campaign links that can be shared on Facebook. We do this currently through a third-party service. That third-party service may store some of the information as part of their provision of services to us. If you do not use Facebook or another social networking site (SNS) to log in then that third-party does not receive any data. If you are already logged into the Services but not logged into Facebook or another SNS that we support, when you click on “Connect with Facebook,” or a similar connection on another SNS, you will be prompted to enter your SNS credentials or to “Sign Up” for the SNS. By proceeding, you are allowing the Site to access your information and you are agreeing to the Facebook or other SNS’s Terms of Use in your use of the Services. Conversely, if you are not currently registered as a user of the Site, and you click on “Sign in” using Facebook or another SNS that we support, you will first be asked to enter your Facebook or SNS credentials and then be given the option to register for the Site. In this case, we may receive information from Facebook or another SNS to make it easier for you to create an Account on the Site and show our relevant content from your Facebook or SNS friends. Once you register on the Site and connect with Facebook or another SNS you will be able to automatically post recent activity back to Facebook or the other SNS. Any information that we collect from your Facebook or other SNS account may depend on the privacy settings you have with that SNS, so please consult the SNS’s privacy and data practices. Further, you can edit privacy settings for the reviews that appear on Facebook, or disconnect your Services activity stream by visiting the Facebook Applications Settings page.

Important Disclosures, Practices and Contact Information

3rd-Party Links

The Site may contain links to third-party websites. Please be aware that Group Gyft cannot control and is not responsible for the information collection practices of such websites, which may differ from those of Group Gyft. We encourage you to review and understand the privacy policies of these web sites before providing any information to them.

Data Security

We maintain a variety of safeguards designed to protect your PII from unauthorized access and disclosure. For example, we use industry accepted tools and techniques to protect against unauthorized access to our systems.

You should be aware, however, that Group Gyft has no control over the security of other websites on the Internet that you might visit even when a link may appear to those websites from our Site. If you share your computer or use a computer that is accessed by the general public, remember to sign off and close your browser window when you have finished your session. This will help to ensure that others cannot access your PII.

We want you to feel confident using the Site. However, no system can be completely secure. Therefore, although we take commercially reasonable steps to secure your information, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your PII, searches or other communications always will remain secure. In the event of a breach of the confidentiality or security of your PII, we will notify you if reasonably possible and as reasonably necessary so that you can take appropriate protective steps. We may notify you under such circumstances using the email address(es) we have on record for you. You should also take care with how you handle and disclose your PII. Please refer to the Federal Trade Commission's Web site at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data.shtm for information about how to protect yourself against identity theft.

6. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices. When we post changes to this Privacy Policy, we will revise the updated date at the top of this Privacy Policy. If we make any material changes to our Privacy Policy, we will notify you by sending an email to the email address(s) you provided to us, and by prominently posting notice of the changes on the Site. We will give you an opportunity to opt-out of any materially changed Privacy Policy or alternatively, delete the information you have provided to us. We recommend that you check the Site from time to time to inform yourself of any changes in this Privacy Policy or any of our other policies.

7. Contacting Us

If you have any questions about Group Gyft generally, this Privacy Policy or the Site, please feel free to contact us either by sending an email to [email protected] or through the Contact Us info in the site.

8. Users From Outside the United States

The Site is hosted in the United States and is governed by United States law. It is currently intended for use only by Hosts or Contributors who are legal residents the United States. We may block or reverse or delete any attempted activity from unintended users. If you are visiting the Site from outside the United States and use the Site in violation of this policy, be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. You will be subject to the data protection and other laws of the United States that will not be the same as those in your country. By using the Site, you consent to your information being transferred to our facilities, our partner hosting facilities, and to the facilities of those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Privacy Policy.

9. No Rights of Third Parties

This Privacy Policy is not intended to and does not create rights enforceable by third parties.