Privacy Policy
Last Updated: April [4], 2024
1. Our Commitment to Your Privacy
Climate United Fund ("Climate United", "we" or "us") recognizes the importance of data privacy in today's digital economy. We believe that privacy is a matter of trust, and we are committed to managing personal information lawfully, fairly, and transparently. We want our website visitors and transaction partners (collectively, "you" or "your") to understand the ways we collect and use personal information about you.
This Privacy Policy describes:
Ways we collect your personal information
Ways we use your personal information
Ways we share your personal information
Ways we retain and safeguard your personal information
Your rights and choices about how we collect, use and share your personal information
2. Policy Scope
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and otherwise process personal information in connection with our business operations in Bethesda, Maryland and the website weareclimateunited.org and its subdomains (collectively and hereafter, the "Site"), which are all hosted in the United States. This Privacy Policy is not, however, a contract and does not create any legal rights or obligations.
When we use the term “personal information” in this Privacy Policy, we mean information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular individual. It does not include aggregated or deidentified information that is maintained in a form that is not reasonably capable of being associated with or linked to an individual.
3. Ways We Collect Your Personal Data
3.1. In General
From the first moment you interact with us, we are collecting personal information about you. Sometimes we collect personal information automatically when you interact with our Site and sometimes we collect the personal information directly from you. At times, we may collect personal information about you from other sources and third parties.
Personal Information You Provide We collect the following categories of personal information you provide in connection with our Site:
Intake Form Information
, including organization name and website, contact person name, email address and phone number, organization type, sector, market segment, mission or investment strategy, organization funding readiness, geographic focus, and any other information shared via the Climate United Intake Form.
Survey Information
, including, from time to time, personal information we collect from you via an online survey. Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary. Information requested may include personal and demographic information. Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring and improving the Site and/or Climate United services.
Inquiry Information
, such as the content of your email, voicemail, and phone calls with us.
We may need additional information to fulfill your request or respond to your inquiry. We may provide additional privacy disclosures where the scope of the inquiry/request and/or personal information we require fall outside the scope of this Privacy Policy. In that case, the additional privacy disclosures will govern how we may process the information you provide at that time.
Personal Information Automatically Collected We collect the following categories of personal information automatically when you visit our Site:
Log File Data
, including your internet protocol (IP) address, internet service provider (ISP), mobile carrier, operating system, browser type, browser id, date/time of visit, and pages visited.
Analytics Data
, including the electronic path you take to our Site, through our Site and when exiting our Site, as well as your usage and activity on our Site, such as the links and object you view, click or otherwise interact with.
Location Data
, including your general geographic location based on your IP address or, where permitted, more precise location when accessing our Site through a mobile device.
For information about our and our third-party partners’ use of cookies and related technologies to collect information automatically, and any choices you may have in relation to its collection, please visit the Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies section below.
Personal Information from Other Sources and Third Parties Although we often collect the personal information described above directly from you, we also collect this information through service providers and other third parties that collect it on our behalf, as noted below.
Social Media: If you choose to interact with us on social media, we may collect personal information about you from your social media account that you make public or otherwise make visible to us. We use personal information collected in connection with your social media account to communicate with you, better understand your interests and preferences, and better understand our transaction partner base in the aggregate.
Service Providers: Our service providers, such as payment processors and marketing providers, collect personal information and often share some or all of this information with us. For example, we receive personal information from payment processors to confirm that your investment or payment was completed.
Publicly Available Information: We may collect personal information from publicly available sources, such as government records or public review websites, to supplement the personal information identified above.
3.2. Cookies and Related Technologies
We and our third-party providers may use (i) cookies or small data files that are stored on your computer and (ii) other, similar technologies, such as web beacons, pixels, embedded scripts, location-identifying technologies and logging technologies (collectively, “cookies”) to automatically collect personal information.
For example, our Site uses cookies provided by Google Analytics to understand Site users' needs and to optimize the Site's service and experience. Google Analytics tracks usage information on the Site, including top webpages, what links users click, time spent on the Site, visitor demographics, and sources of traffic to the Site. You can obtain more information on the use of Google Analytics by visiting Google’s privacy policy here. You can also view Google’s currently available opt-out options here.
If you would prefer not to accept cookies, most browsers will allow you to: (i) change your browser settings to notify you when you receive a cookie, which lets you choose whether to accept it, (ii) disable existing cookies, or (iii) set your browser to automatically reject cookies. Please note that doing so may negatively impact your experience using our Site, as some features and offerings may not work properly or at all. Depending on your device and operating system, you may not be able to delete or block all cookies. In addition, if you want to reject cookies across all your browsers and devices, you will need to do so on each browser on each device you actively use. You may also set your email options to prevent the automatic downloading of images that may contain technologies that would allow us to know whether you have accessed our email and performed certain functions with it.
Please note certain of our third-party providers may directly collect personal information about your online activities over time and across different websites when you use our website for purposes of providing online behavioral or interest-based advertising services to third parties. We support the self-regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising (“Principles”) published by the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”). These Principles allow you to exercise choice regarding the collection of information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites for online interest-based advertising purposes. More information about these Principles can be found at www.aboutads.info. If you want to opt out of receiving online interest-based advertisements on your internet browser from advertisers and third parties that participate in the DAA program and perform advertising-related services for us and our advertising partners, please follow the instructions at www.aboutads.info/choices, or www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ to place an opt-out cookie on your device indicating that you do not want to receive interest-based advertisements. Opt-out cookies only work on the internet browser and device they are downloaded onto. If you want to opt out of interest-based advertisements across all your browsers and devices, you will need to opt out on each browser on each device you actively use. If you delete cookies on your device generally, you will need to opt out again. If you want to opt out of receiving online interest-based advertisements on mobile apps, please follow the instructions at www.aboutads.info/appchoices.
Please note that when you opt out of receiving interest-based advertisements, this does not mean you will no longer see advertisements from us on our website or third-party websites. It means that the online ads that you do see from DAA program participants should not be based on your interests. We are not responsible for the effectiveness of, or compliance with, any third-parties’ opt-out options or programs or the accuracy of their statements regarding their programs. In addition, third parties may still use cookies to collect information about your use of our Site, including for analytics and fraud prevention as well as any other purpose permitted under the DAA’s Principles.
4. Ways We Use Your Personal Information
We use the personal information we collect through our Site to:
Provide our Site and services to you, including administering our investment program;
Administer and improve our Site and services, including to test different configurations of our Site, and diagnose errors and problems with our Site;
Provide you with news about our Site and services, and deliver marketing communications and advertisements based on your interests and interactions with us;
Incorporate ideas from your responses into our business operations;
Send you email updates;
Send you invitations to events and conferences;
Answer questions you submit to us;
Communicate with you regarding our Site, services and events;
Aggregate information we receive from you and third parties to help understand your needs, customize our Site, services and other offerings to you, and provide you better service;
Conduct research and analytics designed to understand our transaction partner base and improve our Site, services and transaction partner experience;
Maintain our contact lists, including for transaction partners;
Facilitate our day-to-day business operations, such as maintaining accounts and processing transactions;
Fulfill any other purpose for which you provide Personal Information;
Prevent, investigate or provide notice of fraud or unlawful or criminal activity; and
Enforce, carry out and comply with our legal and contractual obligations.
If you wish to request that Climate United refrains from using your personal information to send marketing communications to you, please follow any available opt-out instructions in the marketing communications you receive or by submitting your request to Climate United by using the contact information below. Please note we may continue to send you non-marketing communications even after you opt-out.
5. Ways We Share Your Personal Information
5.1. In General
We disclose personal information in the following ways:
Within Calvert Impact Group
: Climate United discloses personal information to Calvert Impact, Inc. and its affiliates for purposes and uses that are consistent with this Privacy Policy. For example, we may disclose your investment information to another Calvert Impact entity for lawful recordkeeping purposes.
Payment Processors and Online Payment Systems
: We share personal information with payment processors, online payment system providers and other billing agents as part of the bank account linking functionality that is part of Calvert's investment platform.
Customer Service and Communication Providers
: We share personal information with third parties who assist us in providing our transaction partner experience, maintaining our customer relation management (CRM) platform and facilitating our communications with you, including third parties that provide email services.
Other Service Providers
: In addition to the third parties identified above, we engage other third parties to perform certain functions on our behalf in connection with the uses of personal information described in the Ways We Use Your Personal Information section above. Depending on the function the third party serves, the service provider may process personal information on our behalf or have access to personal information while performing functions on our behalf. For example, we engage service providers to provide business resilience and disaster recovery, as well as auditing services.
Business Transaction or Reorganization
: We may take part in or be involved with a corporate business transaction, such as a merger, acquisition, joint venture, or financing or sale of company assets. We may disclose personal information to a third party during negotiation of, in connection with or as an asset in such a corporate business transaction. Personal information may also be disclosed in the event of insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership.
Legal Obligations and Rights
in connection with the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims
to comply with laws or to respond to lawful requests and legal process
to protect the rights and property of us, our agents, customers, and others, including to enforce our agreements, policies, and terms of use
to detect, suppress, or prevent fraud
to protect the health and safety of us, our customers, or any person
as otherwise required by applicable law
: We may also disclose personal information to third parties, such as legal advisors and law enforcement:
Consent
: We may disclose personal information about you to certain other third parties with your consent.
Aggregate Information: When Climate United receives demographic information requested during an information request or registration, you have the option not to provide this information. However, we encourage you to do so that we may gain a better understanding of your needs, and so that we may serve you in a more personalized manner. We may also share your information with others in an aggregated or otherwise anonymized form that is not reasonably capable of being linked to you. In certain instances, we may share aggregate information with strategic partners. For example, we may tell a partner that X number of individuals visited a certain area on the Site, or that Y number of men and Z number of women filled out our registration form.
5.2. Opting-Out of Sharing Your Personal Information
You have choices regarding the ways we share your personal data with third parties. If you wish to opt-out, please submit your request to Climate United by using the contact information below.
6. Individuals Under the Age of 13
Our site is not directed to, and we do not intend to, or knowingly, collect or solicit personal information from children under the age of 13 through our Site. If an individual is under the age of 13, they should not use our Site. If we learn that any personal information we collect has been provided by a child under the age of 13, we will promptly delete that personal information.
7. Data Security
We strive to align our data security practices with industry standards for securely handling, transmitting and storing personal information. In furtherance of our goal, we implement administrative, physical and technical measures designed to safeguard and secure the information we collect in connection with the Site.
Since the Internet is not a completely secure environment, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us. Climate United offers no guarantees that information cannot or will not be accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed by a breach of any of our administrative, physical or technical measures.
8. Third-Party Websites
This Site may contain links to and from other third-party sites. Please be aware that Climate United is not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party sites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our Site, and to read the privacy statements of each website that collects your personal data.
9. How to Contact Us
You may contact us directly via post, phone, or email:
Climate United Fund 7550 Wisconsin Avenue, 8th Floor Bethesda, MD 20814 800.248.0337 info@weareclimateunited.org
10. Updates to this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy was reviewed and updated on the “Last Updated” date at the top of Privacy Policy. When we make changes to this Privacy Policy, we will change the date in this section of the Privacy Policy. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by email to your registered email address, by prominent posting on this Site, or through other appropriate communications channels. All changes shall be effective from the date of publication unless otherwise provided.
