West End Ministry Privacy Policy

Last updated April 24, 2008

West End Ministries takes privacy issues very seriously. This privacy policy identifies the ways we collect, use and protect personally identifiable information as well as your options for accessing and correcting that information.

What personally identifiable information does West End Ministries collect?
In various places on our website, we gather email addresses and other basic contact information for the purpose of allowing people to subscribe to our newsletter or to allow us to follow up with an evaluation of specific reports or articles.

We may also gather contact information from individuals who choose to donate to us via our website. This information allows us to process donations and orders, acknowledge them in a timely manner, and keep donors informed about the impact of their donation.

Our website may set “cookies” for the purpose of collecting aggregate statistics about the total number of visitors to our website. We do not store any personally identifiable information in cookies.

Like most website operators, our web servers create log files. These track data on Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to enable us to administer the site, analyze trends, track user movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Server log files do not contain personally identifiable information.

How does West End Ministies use personally identifiable information?
West End Ministies uses personal information to send e-newsletters and survey invitations to individuals who have specifically opted in to receive them.

Individuals are not sent e-newsletters or invitations for surveys unless they opt in to receive them. These individuals may be sent invitations to evaluate the specific publication for which they registered.

West End Ministies partners with service providers to host our website, provide email service, and other functionalities. Third-party service providers are not permitted to use or share any personally identifiable information that we provide to them. West End Ministies does not share any of the personally identifiable information we collect with any other outside parties, unless we have received your specific permission to do so or are required to by law.

How does West End Ministies protect personally identifiable information?
West End Ministies takes every precaution to protect our users’ information. When users submit sensitive information via the website, their information is protected both online and off-line.

When our website asks users to enter sensitive information (such as credit card numbers), that information is encrypted and is protected with the best encryption software in the industry -- Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also do everything in our power to protect user information off-line. All of our users’ information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job are granted access to personally identifiable information. All of our databases are password-protected to ensure that unauthorized users cannot access sensitive data.

What choices do I have in interacting with West End Ministies?
You can opt out of receiving communications from us. You may request access to personally identifiable information we collect about you through our electronic communications and you may request corrections to that information. For any of these requests or for more information about our privacy policies and practices, please contact us at customerservice@westendministries.org or 336-884-1105.