Your Rights and Privacy
Ensuring respect and trust for our donors and our community
Our Commitment to Donors
The University of Vermont Foundation adheres to The Donor Bill of Rights, created by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), and the Giving Institute: Leading Consultants to Non-Profits.
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We are also committed to respecting the privacy of alumni, students, and friends of the University of Vermont (UVM). Our privacy statement describes how we handle and use the personal information we collect about our alumni and our past, present, and future supporters.
Details
Philanthropy is based on voluntary action for the common good. It is a tradition of giving and sharing that is primary to the quality of life. To ensure that philanthropy merits the respect and trust of the general public, and that donors and prospective donors can have full confidence in the nonprofit organizations and causes they are asked to support, we declare that all donors have these rights:
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To be informed of the organization's mission, of the way the organization intends to use donated resources, and of its capacity to use donations effectively for their intended purposes.
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To be informed of the identity of those serving on the organization's governing board, and to expect the board to exercise prudent judgment in its stewardship responsibilities.
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To have access to the organization's most recent financial statements.
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To be assured their gifts will be used for the purposes for which they were given.
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To receive appropriate acknowledgement and recognition.
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To be assured that information about their donation is handled with respect and with confidentiality to the extent provided by law.
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To expect that all relationships with individuals representing organizations of interest to the donor will be professional in nature.
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To be informed whether those seeking donations are volunteers, employees of the organization or hired solicitors.
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To have the opportunity for their names to be deleted from mailing lists that an organization may intend to share.
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To feel free to ask questions when making a donation and to receive prompt, truthful and forthright answers.
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While specific information may vary for specific individuals, we may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal information about you, including:
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Basic biographic/contact information – names, home and business addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, social media contact information, and communication preferences
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Demographic information – including gender, birth and death dates, photographs, and ethnicity (if provided)
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Student "directory information" obtained from UVM records – degrees, majors, UVM affiliations and clubs, activities, and sports participation
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Employment information – company names, job titles, and industry information
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Family information – spouse/partner's name, children's names and birth dates, and other familial and non-familial relationships
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UVM, UVM Foundation, and UVM Alumni Association activity participation information – event attendance, volunteer interests, organization affiliations, committee participation, awards and honors
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Donor and prospective donor information – giving information regarding any donation made to the university, including wealth assessment information and indicators of interest in giving
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Analytical information – aggregated information related to web visitor activity and email marketing actions
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We collect information about you from a variety of sources. A significant portion of the information we maintain is that which you have provided to us, either by updating your profile online, registering for an event, communicating with us, or making a donation. For UVM students and alumni, your personal data is shared with the UVM Foundation's alumni database from UVM's student record system on a regular schedule from the time you enroll until the time you graduate.
We may also augment the information we collect about you from targeted internet searches and may use third party sources, including but not limited to Accudata (Alumni Finder), iwave (PRO), and social media sites (such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram).
We use your personal information to support UVM, its mission, and the community of UVM alumni, donors, and friends. Specifically, we may use your personal information to:
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Keep you updated with information about UVM and UVM alumni activities
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Conduct surveys related to alumni satisfaction, post-graduation success, interests, and donor preferences
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Provide alumni services and benefits, access to Vermont Quarterly, and Alumni Association membership benefits and discounts
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Provide access to an online account with the UVM Connect online community
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Fundraise for UVM needs, initiatives, and programs
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Invite you to events
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Send you information about volunteer opportunities
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Conduct philanthropic preference and giving capacity research in order to improve our understanding of our alumni and supporters, to inform our fundraising strategy, and to target our communications more effectively
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Perform internal record keeping, including the management of any feedback or complaints
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Complete administrative tasks associated with processing donations, managing event registrations, issuing tax receipts, and conducting donor stewardship activities
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Create and analyze aggregated and anonymized information about our students, alumni, donors and other supporters for statistical research purposes in support of our educational mission
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We may contact you by telephone, email, postal mail, or social media, depending on the contact details we hold, the consent you have provided, and the communications preferences expressed by you. If you wish to make changes to how we communicate with you, you can update your communication preferences online at alumni.uvm.edu or by emailing gift.records@uvm.edu.
If you have concerns about any of these data uses, or how we communicate with you, please contact us at foundation@uvm.edu. We will always respect a request by you to stop processing your personal data, subject to our legal obligations or other requirements.-
To perform the functions listed above, it may be necessary to share your personal information with volunteers, students, faculty members, and staff who are involved in supporting UVM and its mission. All individuals performing functions for us are informed about appropriate handling of your personal information and sign confidentiality agreements.
We may also share your personal data with third parties performing services under contract with us, including but not limited to, iModules, Graduway, Accudata (Alumni Finder), and iwave (PRO). We will review these contracts for suitable and compliant data protections.
On occasion, we may be required by applicable law, law enforcement or judicial authorities to provide your information. In these cases, we will provide this information to the extent we have determined that the disclosure of any such information is appropriate.
At no time, do we sell information about our alumni, donors, or friends.We use an array of administrative, technical and physical security measures to protect your personal data, including role-based access requirements and other safeguards. Please see the UVM Information Security Policy for additional information.
We consider our relationship with alumni, donors and other stakeholders to be lifelong. We maintain your information for as long as we know it to be accurate.
You have the right in certain circumstances to (1) access your personal information; (2) correct or erase information; (3) restrict processing; and (4) object to communications, direct marketing, or profiling. To the extent applicable, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation provides further information about your rights. You also have the right to lodge complaints with your national or regional data protection authority.
If you are inclined to exercise these rights, we request an opportunity to discuss with you any concerns you may have. To protect the personal information we hold, we may also request further information to verify your identity when exercising these rights. Upon a request to erase information, we will maintain a core set of personal data to ensure we do not contact you inadvertently in the future, as well as any information necessary for archival purposes. We may also need to retain some financial information for legal purposes, including US IRS compliance. In the event of an actual or threatened legal claim, we may retain your information for purposes of establishing, defending against or exercising our rights with respect to such claim.
If you provide information directly to the UVM Foundation from the European Economic Area (EEA), you consent to the transfer of your personal information outside of the EEA to the United States. You understand that the current laws and regulations of the United States may not provide the same level of protection as the data and privacy laws and regulations of the EEA.
The legal basis for collecting and using the personal information described above will depend on the information collected and the context in which it is collected. Generally, the personal information you provide is processed pursuant to the legitimate interests set out in this Privacy Statement, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the related data subject. In some cases we may process your personal information on a different legal basis, such as when you have provided us with express consent to do so or in order to carry out a contract with you.
You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide any personal data to us (other than personal data provided to UVM in connection with your status as a UVM student which is shared with the UVM Foundation alumni database). At any time you may withdraw any consent you have given to process your personal information. Please contact us at foundation@uvm.edu if you wish to withdraw consent.We may change this privacy statement from time to time. If we make any significant changes in the way we treat your personal information, we will make this clear by updating our website or by contacting you directly.
The controller for your alumni- and donor-related personal information is the University of Vermont Foundation. We can be contacted at foundation@uvm.edu.
The privacy policy was last updated on December 27, 2018.