Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 11/10/2020

Mission of our Lady of Mercy, Inc. a/k/a Mercy Home for Boys & Girls (“Mercy Home”) takes your privacy seriously. Please carefully read this Privacy Policy and familiarize yourself with our privacy practices regarding your personal information and how we will use it. This Privacy Policy applies to the Mercy Home site (including the mobile site) (the “Site” or “Website”).

This Privacy Policy describes: what information we collect; how information you provide may be used by Mercy Home and third parties working on our behalf; your choices regarding the collection, use, and sharing of such information; and, the security measures that we have implemented to protect the information. Mercy Home will take reasonable steps to protect user privacy consistent with the guidelines set forth in this Privacy Policy and applicable laws.

This Privacy Policy forms part of our Terms and Conditions of Use (“Terms”). To read our Terms, please CLICK HERE. If you don’t agree to our Privacy Policy, please do not use the Site.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to the use of personal information by third parties whose website may be linked to our Site or who otherwise independently collect information from you.

Acceptance of this Privacy Policy

By accessing the Site, you agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy, including the transfer of information pertaining to you from the country where you reside to the United States and our use tracking technologies as described in this Privacy Policy. Mercy Home reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this Privacy Policy at any time for any reason.

Each time you use the Site, the current version of the Privacy Policy will apply. Accordingly, your continued use of the Site following a change in the Privacy Policy represents your consent to the new Privacy Policy to the fullest extent permitted by law. We suggest that you regularly review this Privacy Policy and our Terms for changes and to ensure that you understand and accept our privacy practices and your obligations in accessing and using the Site.

What information do we collect?

We collect information from you when you place an order, subscribe to our newsletter, respond to a survey or fill out a form, such as our online mentorship forms. Any dat we request that is required will be specified as required, and otherwise the data we request is voluntary or optional.

When donating or registering on our Site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your: name, e-mail address, mailing address, phone number or credit card information. You may, however, visit our site without registering and entering personal information.

We sometimes collect information from you for a specific event, program or purpose. In that case, the information which you provide will be used only for the specific purpose identified and will only be shared with parties to complete your request.

In order to participate in our mentorship and tutoring programs, we require you to consent to a criminal background check. We will ask you for your social security number and date of birth, among other information, to complete the background check.

We may also collect any other personal information that you choose to share with us, that is given to us from peer-to-peer fundraisers, or that is provided to use from third parties in connection with donations, such as from trusts and estates.

What do we use your information for?

Any of the information we collect from you may be used in the following ways:

• To improve our Website (we continually strive to improve our Website offerings based on the information and feedback we receive from you);
• To improve customer service (your information helps us to more effectively respond to your customer service requests and support needs);
• To process transactions;
• We occasionally share customer information with partner organizations. This information includes donor’s names and addresses with partner non-profits. To opt-out, simply email us at info@mercyhome.org;
• To send periodic emails;
• The email address you provide for payment processing, may be used to send you information and updates pertaining to your payment or request, in addition to receiving occasional company news, updates, promotions, related product or service information, etc. If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, we include unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email or reply to any email from us with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject line;
• To administer a contest, promotion, survey or other Site feature;
• In connection with legal proceedings, such as to comply with any court order, legal process, or respond to any governmental or regulatory request;
• To protect Mercy Home’s rights or property or the safety of Mercy Home, our members, or others;
• To transfer information in the event of an organizational restructuring;
• For system administration and internal reporting purposes; and/or,
• To monitor and evaluate our Sites and identify where we should make changes or expand services.

How do we protect your information?

We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you submit a request, place an order or access your personal information. These security measures include: password protected directories and databases to safeguard your information, TLS (Transport Layer Security) technology to ensure that your information is fully encrypted and sent across the Internet securely, and Scanning to actively protect our servers from hackers and other vulnerabilities. Despite these measures, no transmission or electronic storage of information is guaranteed to be secure.

If you participate in our tutoring or mentoring program, we require your social security number, which we encrypt in our database. Only staff with administrative credentials can access your social security number in the database. For transactions, we offer the use of a secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via TLS (Transport Layer Security) technology and then encrypted into our payment gateway providers database. This information is only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems, and is required to keep the information confidential. After a transaction, your private information (credit cards, financials, etc.) will not be stored on our servers.

Do we use cookies or other tracking technologies?

Yes. Cookies are small files that a Site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the Sites or service providers systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. This information may include log file information such as Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, browser language, pages viewed, and the date and time of a visit.

We use cookies to compile aggregate data about Site traffic and Site interaction so that we can offer better Site experiences and tools in the future. We may contract with third-party service providers to assist us in better understanding our Site visitors. These service providers are not permitted to use the information collected on our behalf except to help us conduct and improve our business.

If you prefer, you can choose to have your browser warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or reject certain cookies, or you can choose to turn off all cookies via your browser settings. Like most websites, if you turn your cookies off, some of our services may not function properly. However, you can still place orders over the telephone or by contacting customer service.

The types of cookies we use are:

• Session Cookies. We use session cookies to operate our Site and for security purposes.
• Persistent Cookies. We use persistent cookies to remember your preferences and various settings.

On the Site we may use “Strictly Necessary Cookies,” “Performance Cookies,” “Functional Cookies,” “Targeting Cookies,” and “Social Media Cookies.”

These cookies collect information related to your browsing sessions that are used to tailor your online experience, as well as for advertising, analytics, and improving the Site. The cookie preferences you select relate to the following types of cookies:

• Strictly Necessary Cookies: are necessary for the Site to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the Site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personal information.
• Performance Cookies: allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our Site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the Site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our Site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
• Functional Cookies: enable the Site to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our web pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
• Targeting Cookies: may be set through our Site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant advertisements on other websites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
• Social Media Cookies: are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the Site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other websites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

Cookies are often used in conjunction with other Internet technologies, such as web beacons, to understand behavior on the Internet. For example, MERCY HOME uses cookies in conjunction with web beacons, which are small sections of code that we may place in our Site to understand the number of unique users that have visited a specific web page.

In addition to the foregoing, we use Google Analytics Advertising which will track certain personal information of yours. If you would like to opt out of the collection of such information you may do so by CLICKING HERE. Further, Google has a browser plugin (for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera) that prevents your data from being collected and used by Google Analytics. You can download the plugin by CLICKING HERE.

Do we disclose any information to outside parties?

On occasion, Mercy Home may share or rent names of donors to select for- and non-profit organizations. You may choose to restrict information about you from being sent by using the contact information at the bottom of this page.

Do Not Sell My Data

When a request is made for people to make donations to Mercy Home in lieu of flowers for a deceased person, we will work with the funeral home or family after we learn of the request. In these cases, we share information regarding donations made in memory of the deceased, although donors may choose to restrict their personal information from being sent to the family of the deceased.

With respect to peer-to-peer and other fundraising requests made on behalf of Mercy Home, the fundraiser will normally have access to the donor’s information, although donors may choose to restrict their personal information from public display on the fundraiser’s donor roll or, if the donor desires, even from fundraiser.

We may transfer your personally identifiable information to trusted third parties who assist us in operating our Website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our Site policies, or protect ours or others’ rights, property, or safety. In particular, if abuse or neglect is suspected, Mercy Home is required to file a report to the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services without notification to the person sending the message.

Non-personally identifiable visitor information, such as aggregate information, may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

When communicating with Mercy Home, if abuse or neglect is suspected, Mercy Home is required to file a report to the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services without notification to the person sending the message.

Your Privacy Rights and Choices

Because we value your privacy, we offer you the ability to choose to the provision of information about you to third parties for their solicitation or marketing purposes.

California Privacy Rights

California’s “Shine The Light” law permits California residents to annually request and obtain information free of charge about what personal information is disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year. We do not distribute your personal information to outside parties for their direct marketing without your consent, except as provided for in this Privacy Policy.

For more information, please email us at info@mercyhome.org, with “California Shine the Light Privacy Request” in the subject line, and your full name, email address, postal address and specific services you have used in the body of your email.

You may also have certain data privacy rights that may be subject to limitations and/or restrictions. These rights include the right to: (i) ask for a copy of your personal information to be provided to you; (ii) request the deletion of your personal information; and (iii) opt out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. If you are a California resident and would like to make any of the requests above, please submit your request by sending an email to info@mercyhome.org.

Children’s Privacy

We do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age. Our Website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.

European and Other Non-US Donors and Visitors

Mercy Home operates only in the United States, under United States law. Mercy Home will protect the personal information of non-U.S. donors in the same way as it does U.S. donors. In order to use the personal information of current, former and prospective donors for the purposes described above, such personal information will be transferred internationally, including from the European Economic Area to Mercy Home in the United States. Although the European Union has deemed that the United States does not provide “adequate” protection for personal information, Mercy Home will protect personal information as set out in this privacy policy regardless of the location of this information.

Should any European donor wish to have access to, correct, modify, delete or dispute any personal information that Mercy Home holds about them, please contact us using the information below.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post those changes on this page, and update the ”Last Modified” date below. Privacy Policy changes will apply only to information collected after the date of the change. Your continued use of the Sites after changes have been posted will constitute your acceptance of this Privacy Policy and any changes

This policy is effective as of 02/06/2020.

Contacting Us

If there are any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or any of the personal information that we may have, you may contact us using the information below.
www.mercyhome.org

1140 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60607
United States
info@mercyhome.org

Last Modified: 02/06/2020