Privacy Policy

Our fundamental privacy principles are transparency, inclusivity, and fairness. In keeping with these principles, Earthjustice (“Earthjustice,” “we,” “our” or “us”) wants you to understand what kinds of personal information we collect about you, why we collect it and how we use or disclose it. We also want to make sure you know your rights regarding our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. In this policy, the term “personal information” refers to information that identifies you as an individual or relates to you as an identifiable individual.

We’ve tried to write this policy in a way that’s easy to understand, but some of it is technical. If you have any questions or concerns about this policy, please contact us.

This policy applies solely to personal information collected on or through earthjustice.org (the “Site”), individual microsites through third parties that refer to this policy (each a “Microsite”), or surveys. For clarity, this Privacy Policy does not apply to the Earthjustice Online Store located at https://stores.kotisdesign.com/earthjusticeshop. The store is independently operated by Kotis Design, LLC, and Kotis is the data controller for the store. For more information, please see the Kotis Design Privacy Policy.

The Kinds of Information We Collect About You

Information You Give Us Voluntarily

Earthjustice collects, retains and uses personal information you provide to us or give us permission to obtain. You voluntarily provide or allow us to obtain information when you:

• Donate to Earthjustice. When you make a donation to or purchase from Earthjustice, we request, collect and retain certain information from you (collectively “Transactional Information”). Transactional Information includes your name, email address, billing address, credit card information, phone number, donation and/or purchase amount, and other personally identifiable information you might choose to share with us in this context.
• Use of Earthjustice Site or Microsites. Depending on the features of the Site or Microsites you choose to use, we request, collect and retain certain information (collectively “Service Information”). Service Information includes your name, email address, mailing address, phone number and other personally identifiable information you choose to share with us when using our Site or Microsites.
• Use of Our Advocacy Services. Earthjustice’s advocacy service allows you to contact policy and/or decision makers about issues that concern you. If you use our advocacy service, we request, collect, and retain certain information (collectively “Advocacy Information”). Advocacy Information includes your name, email address, mailing address, phone number and other personally identifiable information you choose to share with us in this context; we also collect and retain: (1) information about the actions in which you participate and (2) the content of the messages you wrote and/or sent. To receive your message, policy or decision makers may require you to provide additional information such as a salutation or place of residence.
• Answer Survey Questions. We occasionally offer surveys to current and potential supporters that ask questions about your experience with Earthjustice and other nonprofits, media consumption habits, and demographics such as age, race/ethnicity, and income. If you answer the survey questions, we collect and retain the information you choose to share with us.

Information We Collect Automatically

Similar to most websites, certain kinds of information are automatically or passively collected, retained and used when you visit our Site or a Microsites:

• Log Data. When you visit or use any website, including our Site or Microsites, your browser or device creates certain information, which is logged (collectively “Log Data”). Log Data may include your Internet Protocol (IP) address, your browser and system type, version and settings, data about your device, which website you came from, search terms used to reach our Site or Microsites, the date and time you used the Site or Microsites.
• Cookies and Similar Technologies. We use cookies and similar technologies to collect, store and retrieve certain information on your device (collectively “Cookie Information”). This includes, for example, searches within our Site or Microsites and other event data such as pages and content viewed or clicked upon and the date and time of the individual events. For further information about cookies and similar technologies and how and why we use them, including how to opt-out or disable cookies on your computer or mobile device, please see the Earthjustice Cookie Policy.

How We Use the Information We Collect

Earthjustice employs commercially reasonable precautions to help protect and safeguard our Site users from unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure, or destruction of Personal Information. We use the personal information collected on or through the Site or a Microsites for the following purposes:

Transactional Information

We use Transactional Information to complete your requested transaction, verify your identity and to prevent fraud. We also use your phone number and/or email address to contact you if there is a problem with the transaction, and we use your email address to confirm your donation and/or purchase. This information is necessary to fulfill your order or donation transaction.

If you donate or make a purchase using a credit card, your credit card information is processed by our contracted merchant service providers. Through a third-party platform we use, we can access the last four digits of your credit card, the date and time of the transaction, and the amount.

All online donation transactions are handled by Payment Card Industry (PCI)-compliant vendors. PCI refers to the technical and operational standards that businesses must follow to ensure that credit card data provided by cardholders is protected.

Service Information

We use Service Information to provide you with the functionality of the features on the Site or Microsites that you are using. This includes, for example, registering you for an event you request to participate in, including you in our list of electronic newsletters or text messages you subscribe to, sending you action alerts you have requested, and analyzing your responses to surveys you have completed.

Advocacy Information

We use Advocacy Information to deliver and bring your messages to the attention of the policy and/or decision makers you choose to contact about the issues that concern you. We also keep copies of action alerts you send to policy and/or decision makers, which we may quote and publish on our Site and which are identified by the author’s initials and/or city/state. This helps advance our advocacy objectives and efforts.

Survey Information

We use survey information to inform our paid media efforts, evolve our communication strategy, communicate with you in more effective ways, and to measure and share, in aggregate, our efforts to expand and diversify our supporter base. The information helps us evaluate gaps in our supporter base to properly reflect the full diversity of clients and communities with whom we partner, making us more effective in our work and promoting a more inclusive and diverse environmental movement.

Cookie Information

We use Cookie Information to the extent necessary to operate the Site or Microsite and offer the functionality of its features to you. We also use Cookie Information to remember your preferences and settings (e.g., to determine if you previously used our advocacy service and auto-populate certain information fields to make it easier for you to join future actions). In addition, Cookie Information is used to measure how you interact with our Site or Microsite and collect analytic data, to test and improve our Site or Microsite, to provide users with a more relevant and meaningful experience, and to reach out to you through personalized advertisements on third-party websites, based on your previous visits to our Site or Microsite. For further information about how we use Cookie Information, please see the Earthjustice Cookie Policy.

Personal Information in General

Other than described above, we may use your personal information

1. to ensure the security of our Site or Microsite,
2. as necessary to comply with applicable law and regulations (including, where applicable, laws outside your country of residence),
3. to cooperate with public and government authorities (including, where applicable, authorities outside your country of residence),
4. to cooperate with law enforcement, and
5. for other legal reasons (e.g., to exercise or defend legal claims, enforce applicable contractual terms and conditions, or otherwise protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of you or others).

How We Share the Information We Collect

We may share the personal information collected on or through the Site or a Microsite as follows:

• With our service providers, to facilitate services they provide to us. These can include providers of services such as website hosting, data analysis, credit card and payment processing, advocacy platforms sending your advocacy messages directly to, or connect you by phone with, policy and/or decision makers’ offices, order fulfillment, security consulting, fraud prevention, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service or related benefits, email delivery, auditing, and other services. Our service providers process your personal information on our behalf based on our instructions and in compliance with this policy.
• With event sponsors or organizers, to register you for events you choose to participate in.
• With third parties to permit them to send you marketing communications, to the extent permitted by applicable law and, where required, based on your consent. We share email address lists with third parties to generate custom audiences of known supporters and others who may be interested in supporting us. These custom audiences are used to deliver targeted content, including advertisements, on digital platforms such as social media, search results pages, other websites, and mobile applications. We also exchange our mail and/or email address lists with like-minded organizations — many of which we represent through our environmental legal and advocacy work. As we are a nonprofit, it is important for us to reach others who may be interested in our work and expand our wonderful community of supporters like you. This is usually done through a third party that consolidates various organizations’ mail and/or email lists for use by us and sister nonprofits.
• With public and government authorities or courts, to the extent necessary to comply with applicable law and regulations, to cooperate with the authorities (including law enforcement) or for other legal reasons (e.g., to exercise or defend legal claims, enforce applicable contractual terms and conditions, or otherwise protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you or others).
• In connection with a sale or business transaction, in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our organization or assets. Your information and data, whether personal information or not, may also be disclosed or distributed to another party with which Earthjustice enters into a business transaction, such as, Earthjustice Action, an affiliated 501(c)(4).
• Text messaging originator opt-in data will not be shared with any third party, except: (1) with vendors, consultants and other service providers who need access to such information to carry out work on our behalf (and who will not use such information for their own purposes); or (2) if we believe disclosure is required by any applicable law, rule, or regulation or to comply with law enforcement or legal process.

How Long We Keep Your Information

We keep your personal information for as long as necessary to accomplish the uses described in this Policy and as consistent with applicable law.

The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:

• The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you and provide our services to you (for example, for as long as you have an account with us or keep using our services);
• Whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records of your transactions for a certain period of time before we can delete them); and
• Whether retention is advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard to applicable statutes of limitations, litigation or regulatory investigations).

When we are no longer using your personal information and there is no legal requirement that we keep it, we will either delete or depersonalize it so you cannot be identified.

Children’s On-Line Privacy

Our Site or Microsites are not directed to children under 13 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you are a parent and believe your child is receiving Earthjustice communications and you don’t want them to, or if you believe we are collecting your child’s personal information, please contact us.

Links To Other Sites

Our Site or Microsites may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for other websites’ content, cookies policies or privacy policies. Please be aware when you leave our Site or Microsites. We suggest you read the privacy policies of these other websites, which may collect your personally identifiable information.