United Methodist Church Global Privacy Policy

UNITED METHODIST COMMUNICATIONS PRIVACY POLICY 

Last Updated: August 26, 2024

SCOPE OF THIS POLICY

United Methodist Communications (“we” or “us”) respects your privacy. This privacy policy applies to your access to and use of our website, ResourceUMC.org, and our other websites, micro-sites, social media platforms, and other online and digital properties, content, products, services, software, and applications (the “Sites”). This policy describes what personal information we collect from you, how we use and share it, and your rights and choices regarding your information, including whether or not to share it with us.  By accessing our Sites or ordering or subscribing to our products or services, you agree to this privacy policy.  It also applies to information we collect on our Sites, as well as in email, text, and other electronic messages between you and our Sites, and through mobile and desktop applications you download from our Sites.  It does not apply to information collected by us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by a third party or collected by any third party that may link to or be accessible through our Sites.  If you do not agree to be bound by this policy, you may choose not to access or use our Sites. Additional specific policies or agreements may apply to certain products and services.  If such policies or agreements conflict with this policy, the terms of those policies or agreements will prevail.

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES AND SOCIAL MEDIA FEATURES AND PLUG-INS

Our Sites may include links to other websites or allow you to use certain features and plug-ins that integrate third-party social media sites and other third-party features and tools. You have the choice of whether to access the links or activate the features. We cannot ensure the privacy policies of sites that we do not own or control. This privacy policy does not apply to any third-party linked sites, and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the contents of such external sites. We encourage you to consult the privacy policies of such sites before sharing any personal information through them or activating the features.

PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

On most occasions, we process your data based on your consent or because the processing is necessary for us to fulfill our contractual obligations to you. You do not have to provide consent when we request it. However, you may be unable to use some of our services if you do not allow us to process your personal data. You can always browse our Sites without logging in or providing personal information. Below are the types of information we may collect about you.

PERSONAL INFORMATION. Personal information is information that identifies or is capable of identifying you as an individual. We collect personal information from you when you voluntarily provide it to us, such as by creating a user account, signing up for email updates, registering for events, entering contests, subscribing to newsletters, ordering products or services, or responding to surveys, offers, promotions, and other communications. We also may collect personal information about you from your use of our products and services or through our partners and other publicly and commercially available sources. Personal information we collect from you may include:

• Your contact information, such as your name, company name, address, telephone number, and email address;
• Your age, date and place of birth, family status, gender, nationality, language preferences, and demographic information;
• Your church name and role with the church;
• Job information such as your company name, business title, and professional associations;
• Log-in information such as your username, personal account number, and password, and log-in information for social media accounts if you log into our Sites through such accounts;
• Your location, such as if you agree to allow us to access your location to provide you with information relevant to your area;
• Information regarding your personal preferences;
• Other information you choose to provide, such as photographs, articles, comments, questions, requests, and order and subscription information;
• Information necessary to fulfill special requests such as health conditions;
• Content you make available through external sites such as social media accounts and
• Financial information necessary to process your orders and subscriptions, such as your credit card information.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All other categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

When You Use Our Websites

We use various technologies to collect information from your computer or device and about your activities on our websites. These are detailed below:

1. Information automatically collected, such as your IP address, your browser type and language, access times, the content of any undeleted cookies that your browser previously accepted from us, referring or exit website address, internet service provider, date/time stamp, operating system, locale and language preferences, and system configuration information.
2. Cookies. When you visit our websites, we may assign one or more cookies to your computer or device to facilitate access to our site and personalize your online experience. These cookies may relate to tools such as Google Analytics and similar technologies. Through cookies, we may also automatically collect information about your online activity on our sites, such as the web pages you visit, the links you click, and the searches you conduct on our site. Please see our Cookie Policy for more details.
3. Other technologies. We may use standard internet technology, such as web beacons, session replay scripts, and other similar technologies, to track your use of our websites. We also may include web beacons in promotional email messages or newsletters. Web beacons are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on your computer’s hard drive, pixel tags are embedded invisibly on web pages. We may use these in connection with our websites to, among other things, track the activities of users of our services, improve ads, personalize and manage content, and gather usage information about our websites. Information that may be collected through the use of these technologies includes the Internet Protocol address automatically assigned to your computer, your browser type, the date and time of your visit, the pages you visit and the amount of time spent on each, your device’s operating system, your mobile device identifier, your geographical area, referring URLs, and other information on your interaction with our sites or apps.

Cookies, by themselves, do not allow us to identify you unless you choose to provide this information to us by, for example, creating a user profile. Once you choose to furnish the site or app with personal information, this information may be linked to the data stored in the cookie. Please see our Cookies Policy to learn how we use cookies, how our partners may use cookies on our Sites, your choices regarding cookies, and further information about cookies. You can modify your cookie settings or turn off all or certain types of cookies by adjusting your browser settings. Please note, however, that if you delete or turn off cookies, you may not have access to some of the features that make your experience on our Sites smoother, you may not be able to store your preferences, and some of our services may not function properly. We may use third-party software embedded in the script of the websites to monitor your interaction for our compliance verification purposes, which may mean that the third-party software provider also collects this information. By using our websites, you consent to this collection and disclosure of information.

AGGREGATE AND ANONYMOUS INFORMATION. Sometimes, we use aggregate or anonymous information. Anonymous information is data where all information has been removed that enabled you to be identified. Aggregate information is anonymous data collected about a group of users or other categories. Your personal information is not included in aggregate or anonymous data. We use this type of information, for example, to help us understand trends and your needs and preferences and to improve our services. This policy does not restrict our use of aggregate and anonymous information.

EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS.  We may use your email for promotional purposes (e.g., for new product offerings, special offers by us, or other third parties).  If you send an email to us, we may collect your email address and the full content of your email, including attached files, and other information you provide. You may indicate your preference to opt out of receiving promotional communications by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in the promotional email you receive, using the My Portal feature at https://www.resourceumc.org/en/agencies/communications/communications-marketing/myportal, or contacting us directly at using the information provided below under “Contact Us.” You acknowledge that it may take up to 10 days for us to process an opt-out request. Please note, however, that you cannot opt out of receiving transactional emails related to your account with us.

HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

We use your personal information we collect for a variety of purposes. The legal basis for our processing of personal information will depend on the context in which we collect it.

General Uses 

• Deliver the services that you have requested
• Manage and communicate with you regarding your account and purchases;
• perform customer support service requests;
• perform research and analysis about your use of or interest in our services, our content, or products, as well as services or content offered by others
• communicate with you by email, postal mail, telephone, our websites, our applications, and/or mobile devices about products, services, or resources that may be of interest to you either from us or other third parties
• enforce our terms and conditions
• manage our business and perform functions as otherwise described to you at the time of collection
• for legal compliance purposes
• To improve the content of our Sites, such as, for example, using cookies to find out which parts of our Sites or our products are visited most often;
• To customize the content and/or layout of our Sites for each individual visitor;
• To notify you about updates to our Sites;
• To contact you for marketing purposes, such as emailing you about products or events that we think may be of interest to you or sending you offers for discounts or free services;
• To personalize your experience and allow us to deliver the types of content and offerings in which you are most interested;
• To administer a contest, promotion, survey, or other Site feature;
• To ask for ratings and reviews of services or products;
• To respond to correspondence, we receive from you and
• To serve other purposes for which we provide specific notice at the time of collection and as otherwise authorized or required by law.

How Long We Retain Your Personal Information

We will retain your personal information for as long as is needed to offer you services or comply with our legal obligations. For personal information that we process on behalf of a business partner, we will retain such personal information in accordance with the terms of our agreement with them. 

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION 

We do not collect your information to provide it to third-party services for processing. The phone numbers we collect and the consent we receive will not be shared with 3rd party providers. We will not trade or sell unless required by law or as disclosed to you when the information is collected. We only share your personal information in accordance with applicable law. We may share your personal information with others in the following instances:

• Authorized service providers: These services may include fulfilling orders, processing credit card payments, delivering materials, providing customer service and marketing assistance, performing business and sales analysis, supporting Websites’ functionality, and supporting contests, promotions, surveys, and other features offered through our websites. These service providers may have access to personal information needed to perform their functions but are not permitted to share or use such information for any other purposes.
• Other situations: We may disclose information where required by law, in response to a court order, or to prevent or detect crime at the request of governmental authorities conducting an investigation;
• Protect our rights: We may disclose personal information where we believe it necessary to respond to claims asserted against us, to comply with legal process  (e.g., subpoenas or warrants), enforce or administer our agreements and terms, for fraud prevention, risk assessment, investigation and/or to protect the rights property or safety of our company by verifying or  enforcing compliance with the policies governing our Sites and applicable laws or to protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our Sites; and
• Aggregated and Non-personal Information: To a successor entity in connection with a corporate merger, consolidation, sale of assets, or other corporate change. Should such a sale occur, we will use reasonable efforts to direct the transferee to use your information in a manner that is consistent with our privacy policy.

We may share information that does not identify you individually or anonymously or aggregate information internally and with third parties for any purpose.

CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION SOLD OR SHARED

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), a statement of California Privacy Rights, supplements our Privacy Policy and applies solely to residents of the State of California.  As a California resident, you have additional privacy rights related to your personal information under California law, including CCPA, as described below.  Personal information under the CCPA is any information that can identify you or your household, either directly or indirectly, such as your name, address, telephone number, and email address (“Personal Information”).  The CCPA defines a “sale” as disclosing or making available to third-party personal information in exchange for monetary or other valuable consideration, and it defines “share” in pertinent part as disclosing personal information to a third party for cross-context behavioral advertising.

PERSONAL INFORMATION REQUESTS

As a California resident, you have the right to request certain information regarding our use of your Personal Information, including the following:

• The different categories of Personal Information we have collected about you during the last 12 months and the categories of sources from which that information was collected;
• The business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling your Personal Information;
• The categories of third parties with whom we shared your Personal Information;
• Whether we have disclosed or sold your Personal Information to a third party for a business or commercial purpose during the last 12 months and the categories of the Personal Information disclosed or sold; and
• The specific pieces of Personal Information we have collected about you.

To submit a request for Personal Information, you must submit a Verifiable Consumer Request following the procedures described in the Verifiable Consumer Request Procedures section below. You may submit a Personal Information request up to twice during a 12-month period.

SELLING OR SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
As a California resident, you have the right to request that we not sell your Personal Information.  Please note that we do not, and will not, sell your Personal Information to third parties. 

RIGHT TO REQUEST DELETION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

As a California resident, you have a limited right to request that we and all of our service providers delete your Personal Information.  You must do so by submitting a Verifiable Consumer Request to delete your Personal Information following the procedures described in the Verifiable Consumer Request Procedures section below.  Upon receipt and confirmation of the Verifiable Consumer Request, we will delete your Personal Information from our systems and direct our service providers to do the same at no cost to you.  There are exceptions to this right.  We may retain your Personal Information for any of the following reasons:

• To provide goods or services to you as a consumer;
• To detect and resolve issues related to security or functionality;
• To comply with legal obligations;
• To conduct public interest research;
• In the exercise of free speech or the free speech of others; and
• For use in internal work processes and purposes that you would reasonably expect based on your relationship with us.

If we determine that we will not delete your Personal Information when you request us to do so, we will inform you and tell you why we are not deleting it.

NON-DISCRIMINATION

We will not discriminate against you for the exercise of your rights under the CCPA.  We will not deny you goods or services, charge a different rate or price to you, or supply a different level or quality of goods to you.  We may, however, offer different prices, levels of service, or quality to those who share their Personal Information based on the value of the Personal Information provided as permitted by law.  To the extent certain of our services require your Personal Information, and you choose not to provide the necessary Personal Information, you may not be able to use those services.

ADVERTISING USES AND PREFERENCES

Where permitted by law, we may work with other companies, such as Google, to share with your advertisements that we believe may be useful or relevant to you, sometimes called interest-based ads. These ads are displayed to you based on information gathered from your interaction with our sites and services. In providing interest-based ads, these services regularly use cookies and other technologies to learn about what ads you see, what ads you click, and other actions you take on our sites and other sites. This allows the ad-serving companies to provide you with more useful and relevant ads. For example, if they know what ads you have been previously shown, they can be careful not to repeatedly show you those same ads. Also, some third parties may provide us with information about you (such as the sites where you have been shown ads or demographic information) from offline and online sources that may be used to provide you with more relevant and useful advertising. We do not provide any personal information to third-party sites that display interest-based ads promoting us.

You can choose whether to receive interest-based ads from us using the My Portal feature at https://www.resourceumc.org/en/agencies/communications/communications-marketing/myportal or by contacting us using the information located under Contact Us below. If you choose not to receive interest-based ads, you will still see ads, but they will not be personalized.

In addition, you can opt out of receiving interest-based ads from third parties who are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) or who follow the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising by visiting the opt-out pages on the NAI website and the DAA website, and by visiting an opt-out page directly from any of the interest-based ads displayed in your browser. For DoubleClick’s cookies, you may visit the DoubleClick opt-out page or the NAI opt-out page.

HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION?

We take seriously our obligation to safeguard the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal information we collect from you, and we have established do so. We will maintain procedures that are designed for that purpose. We implement a variety of security measures when you enter, submit, or access your information to maintain the safety of your personal information. Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems and are required to keep the information confidential. You should be aware that such security measures cannot prevent all loss, misuse, or alteration of personal information, and we are not responsible for any damages or liabilities relating to any such incidents to the fullest extent permitted by law. Where required under law, we will notify you of any such loss, misuse, or alteration of personal information that may affect you so that you can take the appropriate actions to protect your rights.

HOW LONG DO WE RETAIN YOUR INFORMATION?

We retain your information only as long as necessary to provide our services to you, enhance your user experience, and otherwise as necessary for our operations or as permitted or required by applicable laws.  We may archive your information (store it in inactive files) for a certain period prior to its final deletion as part of our ordinary business continuity procedures.

LEGAL BASIS FOR USE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION (GDPR)

The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, governs privacy practices involving individuals in the European Union and the European Economic Area and certain other transactions related to those areas. The personal information that we have collected: Suppose the GDPR applies to the personal information that we have collected. In that case, our legal basis for collecting and using your personal information will depend on the personal information concerned and the context in which it is collected, including legitimate business purposes, as necessary to provide products and services to you or respond to your inquiries and requests, with your consent, to comply with applicable laws, or when there is a legitimate and overriding interest that necessitates the use.

Suppose you are a resident of the European Union (E.U.) or United Kingdom (U.K.). In that case, European Union (E.U.) or United Kingdom (U.K.) resident, GDPR applies to our use of your personal information. The lawful basis for processing your personal information will depend on the personal data concerned and the specific context in which we collect data. Under the GDPR, you have a number of rights. For example, you can request a copy of the personal information we process about you to delete or rectify your personal information or to transfer your personal information elsewhere. You also have the right to make a complaint to your local supervisory authority and, in the first instance, to our Data Privacy Department.

You should be aware that your personal information may be transferred to, stored, and processed within the United States of America (U.S.A.) and other jurisdictions outside the U.S.A., the E.U., or the U.K.

We are fully committed to compliance with the GDPR regarding international data transfers. We take data privacy seriously and apply the necessary safeguards to ensure the protection of your data. Your privacy and data security are of utmost importance to us, and we are dedicated to upholding the highest standards in this regard.

 INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Our Sites are based in the United States of America and are subject to the laws of the United States.  If you are a user outside of the United States, please know that any information you provide on our Sites may be transferred to the United States, which does not offer an equivalent level of protection to that required in certain other countries.  Although the laws of the United States do not provide legal protection equivalent to the GDPR, we safeguard your personal information by treating it in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Some local privacy laws may require us to obtain your consent before we transfer your information from your originating country to other countries. When you agree to this policy, you are, to the extent required and permitted under your local law, granting your consent to the transfer of your personal information to such other countries for the purposes described in this policy. These countries may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the information. We take steps to ensure that it is adequately protected in compliance with applicable laws, including ensuring appropriate security measures are in place and requiring third parties to protect your personal information in accordance with this policy or obtaining your consent where required. 

THIRD-PARTY VENDORS

We will not share your personal information with third-party agents, contractors, service providers, and suppliers who assist in providing support and services to our entities. When we do so, we require those third parties to protect your personal information in accordance with this policy and applicable laws. Data, including mobile phone numbers, will not be sold or shared with third parties for promotional or marketing purposes.

YOUR RIGHTS OVER YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

If you are located in the European Union or the European Economic Area (“EEA”), under certain circumstances, you have the legal right to:

• Be informed whether and how we are processing your personal information;
• Receive a copy of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions;
• Receive certain information about your personal information;
• Correct any incomplete or incorrect personal information we hold about you;
• Request to restrict processing, change your communications preferences, or opt out of direct marketing; and
• Request that we delete your personal information, which we will do unless we have a compelling and lawful reason to retain it.

Your rights may be subject to various limitations under the GDPR.  If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please visit the My Portal feature at https://www.resourceumc.org/en/agencies/communications/communications-marketing/myportal or contact us using the information under the “Contact Us” section below.

HOW TO ACCESS AND CONTROL YOUR INFORMATION

You may change your privacy settings at any time by using the My Portal feature at https://www.resourceumc.org/en/agencies/communications/communications-marketing/myportal or contacting us using the Contact Us information provided below and indicating your request to:

• Modify, update, and delete your user account;
• Opt-in to subscribe to newsletters, mailings, and other communications and alerts;
• Opt-in to receive offers and promotions; and
• Opt-in to our sharing your personal information with others so they can send you offers and promotions. Text-Message and Data Rates may apply. You can STOP messaging by sending STOP and get more help by sending HELP.

Opt-Out

We will only share personal data with your permission if it is necessary for us to provide services to you.

You can opt out of non-essential use of your data at any time by selecting the “Opt-Out” link or in the footer of the communication or on our sites and following the instructions or contacting us. You may also choose to enable, in your internet browser, where available, a universal signal that automatically sends an opt-out signal from your browser to participating websites, like ours, which will honor your preference.

If you opt out of receiving communications, you may continue to receive emails and notifications relating to business-related communications.

You may contact us to request a copy of the information we have collected about you, request to correct or update any information we have about you or request deletion of your account or personal information.

Following a request for deletion, we will delete your information unless required to retain it by applicable laws. We may also retain certain of your information if necessary for safety or security, fraud prevention, quality assurance, or other legitimate business interests, and only in accordance with applicable laws.

You may withdraw any consent you have granted to our collection and use of your personal information at any time, subject to our right to continue to use your personal information as permitted or required under applicable laws. Such withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of our collection or use of your personal information prior to withdrawal.

In addition, you can opt out of receiving interest-based ads from third parties who are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) or who follow the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising by visiting the opt-out pages on the NAI website and the DAA website, and by visiting an opt-out page directly from any of the interest-based ads displayed in your browser. For DoubleClick’s cookies, you may visit the DoubleClick opt-out page or the NAI opt-out page.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

Most of our Sites are not intended for or designed to attract children under the age of 13, and we will not knowingly solicit or collect personal information from children we actually know are under 13 or the relevant minimum age under applicable law. If we learn that a child under 13 has given us personal information, we will take steps to delete that information. If you believe a child under the age of 13 has given us personal information, please contact us so we may delete the information. Unless stated otherwise, if you are a minor in the jurisdiction in which you are accessing our Sites, you may only use them with the involvement of a parent or guardian.

To the extent any of our Sites intend to collect personal information from children, any such Sites will include additional information regarding the applicable policies and practices for that Site regarding children’s privacy.

MODIFICATION OF OUR PRIVACY POLICY

To accommodate new services and features on our Sites and to ensure up-to-date compliance with privacy laws, we may modify our privacy policy from time to time. When we modify our privacy policy, we will notify you by posting on our Sites. Any changes will become effective as of the date of posting with respect to the information we then collect in the future; however, we will treat all personal information we collect in accordance with the privacy policy in effect at the time the information is collected. We urge you to review this privacy policy often so you are always fully informed.

HOW TO CONTACT US

You can ask us to delete, rectify, or port your data by submitting a request or questions, comments, and complaints about our privacy policy and practices at the following address:

United Methodist Communications
Attn: Privacy
810 12th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203
dataprivacy@umc.org

We will handle your request as soon as possible; however, we may still need to retain certain information, for example information required for legal purposes.

YOUR LOCAL DATA PROTECTION AUTHORITY

Under certain local laws, you may have the right to submit a complaint regarding our collection and use of your personal information to your local data protection authority. Please consult this link for further information:

https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en

SHINE THE LIGHT LAW

California's “Shine the Light” law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83) permits users of our site who are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.  To make such a request, please contact us using the information in the “How to contact us” section below.

WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We collect personal information from you when you voluntarily provide it to us, such as by creating a user account, signing up for email updates, registering for events, entering contests, subscribing to newsletters, ordering products or services, or responding to surveys, offers, promotions, and other communications.  We also may collect personal information about you from your use of our products and services or through our partners and other publicly and commercially available sources.  We have collected Personal Information in the following categories marked by an “X” in the last 12 months:

X Identifiers such as real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, social security number, driver’s license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers;

X Financial or health information (examples: physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, financial information, medical information, health insurance information);

___ Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law;

X Commercial information, including records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies;

___ Biometric information;

X Internet or other electronic network activity information, including, without limitation, browsing history, search history, and information regarding a consumer’s interaction with an Internet Web site, application, or advertisement;

___ Geolocation data (information that can be used to track an electronic device’s location);

___ Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information;

___ Professional or employment-related information;

___ Education information, defined as information that is not publicly available, personally identifiable information as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g, 34 C.F.R. Part 99).

___ Inferences are drawn from any of the information identified in this subdivision to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumer’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes.

We collect your Personal Information from both you and through our partners and other publicly and commercially available sources, as well as through the use of cookies.  You can read more about our use of cookies in our Privacy Policy and our Cookies Policy. 

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use your Personal Information for the following business purposes if marked by an “X”:

___ Auditing related to a current interaction with the consumer and concurrent transactions, including, but not limited to, counting ad impressions to unique visitors, verifying positioning and quality of ad impressions, and auditing compliance with this specification and other standards.

___ Detecting security incidents, protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, and prosecuting those responsible for that activity. 

___ Debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.

X Short-term, transient use, provided that the personal information is not disclosed to another third party and is not used to build a profile about a consumer or otherwise alter an individual consumer’s experience outside the current interaction, including, but not limited to, the contextual customization of ads shown as part of the same interaction.

X Performing services on behalf of the business or service provider, including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, providing advertising or marketing services, providing analytic services, or providing similar services on behalf of the business or service provider.

___ Undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration.

___ Undertaking activities to verify or maintain the quality or safety of a service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by the business and to improve, upgrade, or enhance the service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by the business.

For all categories of Personal Information collected, we disclose such information to our service providers and other third parties to help us accomplish the business purposes described above and as further outlined in our Privacy Policy

VERIFIABLE CONSUMER REQUEST PROCEDURES

In order to submit a Verifiable Consumer Request, please submit your name, customer or account email address, and a description of your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it, at the following via email or regular mail:

United Methodist Communications
Attn: Privacy
810 12th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203
dataprivacy@umc.org

If you maintain an online account with us, we may verify your identity for a request through the normal account authentication process, meaning you will need to sign on with your username and password.

You may assign a designated agent to make a request on your behalf.  If you wish to do so, you will need to appoint the designated agent in writing, and we may require a copy of that writing before allowing any request submitted by your designated agent.  The designated agent would follow the same procedure outlined above to make a request on your behalf.

If we are unable to confirm your identity or authority to make the request, we may contact you for additional information or deny your request.  We will inform you if we cannot verify your identity or authority.  We will only use the Personal Information provided in a Verifiable Consumer Request to verify your identity or authority to make the request.

We will respond to the request within 45 days of its receipt.  If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing.  The information may be delivered through your account, or, if you do not maintain an account with us, by mail or electronically at your option, and if provided electronically, the information will be in a portable and, to the extent technically feasible, readily useable format that allows you to transmit the information to another entity without hindrance. 

We are not required to respond to requests to provide Personal Information to you more than twice in any 12-month period.  Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the receipt of the request.  The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable.

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded.  If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

In response to your request, we are not permitted to disclose or provide you with your Social Security Number, Driver’s License Number, or other government-issued identification number, financial account number, any health insurance or medical identification number, an account password, or security questions and answers.

DO NOT TRACK

We currently do not respond to any Do Not Track signals or similar signals. 

ADDITIONAL RIGHTS

The rights set forth here are in addition to the rights contained in our Privacy Policy.  In the event, that the rights here conflict with those contained in our Privacy Policy, the portion that provides you with the most protection with regard to your Personal Information will prevail.

HOW TO CONTACT US

You can adjust your privacy settings using the My Portal feature at https://www.resourceumc.org/en/agencies/communications/communications-marketing/myportal

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at:

United Methodist Communications
Attn: Privacy
810 12th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203
dataprivacy@umc.org

COOKIES POLICY

We use cookies and similar technologies on our Sites. 

Our Cookies Policy explains what cookies are, how we use cookies, how third parties we may partner with may use cookies on our Sites, your choices regarding cookies, and further information about cookies.

WHAT ARE COOKIES

Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we may transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and tell us how and when pages in our sites are visited and by how many people. Cookies are small text files placed on the computers and mobile devices of people who visit those sites.  A cookie file is stored in your browser, allowing us or a third party to recognize you and make your next visit easier and the Site more useful. Cookies do not collect personal information; however, we may combine the general information collected through cookies with other personal information in connection with our collection of Individual Site Usage Information (as described above). Suppose you do not wish to have your Individual Site Usage Information collected. In that case, most browsers can turn off the cookie feature, which will prevent your browser from accepting new cookies and (depending on the sophistication of your browser software) allow you to decide on the acceptance of each new cookie in various ways. Also, multiple browsers may offer their management tools for removing HTML5 LSOs. Please be aware that turning off those tools may reduce your ability to access portions of our sites. You may also have additional rights as a user of the sites, as provided in the “Additional Rights” section below.  

It allows us or a third party to recognize you and make your next visit easier and the Site more useful.

HOW WE USE COOKIES 

We use cookies for the following purposes:

• Identify you when you visit us and keep track of where you go so, we can provide you with a personalized version of our sites and apps,
• Enhance the functionality of Sites by storing your personal preferences,
• Provide you with product recommendations,
• Help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart,
• Help us, and trusted third-party service providers on our behalf, to compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future,
• Deliver advertisements and other content to you based on your preferences, interests, and behaviors,
• Improve our products and services and site performance, and
• Prevent fraudulent activity and improve security.

Below are the major cookies we use:

THIRD-PARTY COOKIES

In addition to our cookies, we may also use third-party hired-party cookies and similar technologies to report usage statistics of our Sites, deliver advertisements on and through our Sites, and so on.  One example is the Facebook Custom Audience tool, through which we may display interest-based ads using your email address.  You can view the Facebook terms of service for the tool at https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/customaudience.  We also use third-party features and content on our site.  Those third parties may place cookies on our site.  We do not control the use of these cookies, so please check such third-party sites for more information about their cookies.  Below are the major third-party services we use:

●Google Analytics

GOOGLE ADVERTISING

We may use Google advertising on our Sites.  Google, a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our Sites based on users’ previous visits to our Sites and other sites on the Internet.  You may opt out of the use of these cookies or set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated and by visiting Google’s advertising policy at https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads?hl=en-US.  Alternatively, you can out opt-out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt-out page at https://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1 or by using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-On at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

HOW TO MANAGE COOKIES

You can modify your cookie settings to modify or turn off all or certain types of cookies by adjusting your browser settings.  In addition, you can use your browser settings to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, to delete cookies, or to turn off all cookies.  Please note, however, that if you delete or turn off cookies, you may not have access to some of the features that make your experience on our Sites smoother, you may not be able to store your preferences, and some of our services may not function properly.

You can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.  Alternatively, you can out opt-out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt-out page at https://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1 or by using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-On at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

You can opt out of and control third-party online advertising by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt-out page at https://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1.