WCCWatch Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy Dated January 4, 2020; Last updated July 12, 2024

The Committee for the Responsible Governance of Washtenaw Community College (CRGWCC) is an independent political committee, formed in the State of Michigan in Washtenaw County. We have created this Privacy Policy (“Policy”) to explain how we collect, use and disclose information that you may provide -deliberately or inadvertently – while visiting our website. “Website” also includes any mobile site, mobile applications or other online services (the “Site”) using a personal computer, mobile device, or any other means. We also wish to demonstrate our firm commitment to Internet privacy. CRGWCC operates in the United States. United States law and the laws of the State of Michigan govern the information we collect.

CRGWCC may modify this Policy from time to time so we encourage you to check this page when revisiting the Site. We will post notice of any changes by revising the date last updated on the Policy. By using or accessing the Site, you accept the Policy and its terms and conditions in effect at that time.

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?

“Personal Information” is information about a particular individual that specifically identifies that individual. Personal information can include name, address, email address, telephone number, or credit or debit card information. Personal Information does not include “aggregate information.” Aggregate information is data we may collect automatically when you and others use the Site. The Policy does not restrict CRGWCC’s collection and use of aggregate information.

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We collect Personal Information that you provide to us when you register, send us an email, sign up to receive email or text messages, sign up to volunteer, fill out a form, make a donation, communicate with us through third-party social feeds, request information, leave a comment or take any other action on the Site. Currently, we do not offer any of the services listed in this paragraph, with the exception of filling out forms and accepting donations.

As required by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and campaign finance laws in the State of Michigan, we must also collect and disclose the name, address, occupation, and employer of all donors during the election cycle. Michigan campaign finance laws require these disclosures. We file these disclosures with the County Clerk of Washtenaw County, MI on a specific annual schedule. Certain activities related to election cycle activity require more frequent disclosures. All disclosures are publicly available upon filing. We currently file all campaign finance reports.

We cannot accept anonymous donations from anyone for any reason. If possible, we will return an anonymous donation to the donor. When that is not possible, we will forward all donations from unidentifiable sources to a charitable organization in Washtenaw County, as required by law.

We cannot accept donations made on behalf of someone other than the actual donor. All donations that equal or exceed $20.01 must be made via check, credit card or money order.

We will never knowingly collect, use or disclose Personal Information from anyone under the age of 13, consistent with the United States Federal Children’s Online Privacy Act of 1998 (COPPA). If you have any reservations, questions or concerns about your child’s access to the Site or how information that your child provides is used by us, please contact us.

We do not intentionally collect the following personally identifying information when you visit the Site. Internet Protocol (IP) address, the browser and operating system you use, the name of the domain and host from which you access the Internet, the address of the website from which you linked to the Site, device identifiers and mobile and network information, or your activities while visiting the Site.

We treat any identifying information as Personal Information if we combine or link it to any of the identifying information above. If not, we consider this information to be aggregate information.

We may also automatically receive and store certain types of information when you visit the Site through the use of cookies, web beacons, or similar programs to collect the information described above. Cookies are small text files stored locally on your computer that help store user preferences.

We use cookies to measure aggregate web statistics, including the number of monthly visitors, number of repeat visitors, most popular webpages and other information. Cookies do not contain any Personal Information and we will never track your Internet usage outside of the Site. In many web browsers, you can choose to delete, disable, turn off, or reject most cookies through the “Internet Options” sub-option of the “Tools” menu of your web browser or otherwise as directed by your web browser’s support feature. Please consult the “Help” section of your web browser for more information.

We may also collect “log data.” Log data provides aggregate information about the number of visits to different pages on the Site. We use log data for troubleshooting purposes and to track which pages people visit in order to improve the Site. We do not link log data we may have collected to any personally identifying information regarding website visitors.

COLLECTION FROM OTHER SOURCES

This Policy also applies to Personal Information that we may obtain from third-party vendors such as search engines or social media site. However, we are not responsible for the content or privacy policies of these third-party vendors. We encourage you to read the privacy policies and review the practices of all website you visit.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may use your Personal Information for various purposes including to:

Report monetary donations to CRGWCC, as required by law;

Connect you to CRGWCC programs, events and activities, and obtain and confirm RSVP’s to events and programs;

Improve, maintain, and operate the Site, send you receipts, confirmations, updates, notices, and messages regarding support and administration;

Provide and deliver news and information we think will interest you, such as information about relevant issues, resources, events, campaigns, candidates, events, promotions, products and services;

Provide information or products that you request and process and complete such transactions;

Respond to your emails, requests, comments, submissions and questions, and provide customer service, request feedback and otherwise communicate with you regarding your use of the Site;

Help connect you with other CRGWCC supporters, and to solicit donations, support and volunteers;

Monitor and analyze trends and site usage and provide features and content that match your interests based on the information you provide and your actions on the Site;

For any other stated purpose for which the information was collected; and

Contact you if required by Federal or State of Michigan election laws.

HOW WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Though we make every effort to preserve your privacy, we may share Personal information as follows:

When we have a good-faith belief that release is appropriate to comply with the law (for example, campaign finance disclosures or a lawful subpoena);

To protect the rights or property or safety of our supporters, employees, volunteers or others;

With vendors, service providers, consultants, employees, contractors, or volunteers who need to know such information to carry out their duties;

With groups, causes, organizations, or candidates we believe have similar views, goals, and principles;

To comply with applicable laws, statutes, or regulations and to enforce this Policy; and

With your consent.

HOW WE PROTECT THE INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE

CRGWCC uses reasonable industry-standard security measures to protect against the loss, misuse, theft, unauthorized access, destruction or alteration of the information under our control. This includes both electronic and physical access control measures. We do not store personally identifying information on our website. Although we make all reasonable good faith efforts to store information collected by the Site in a secure operating environment, we cannot guarantee complete security.

We do not process any monetary transactions on our website. Your request to make a donation is forwarded to the PayPal website. All donation transactions are processed in their entirety on the PayPal website. Once your donation transaction has been completed, your session is returned to WCCWatch.org. PayPal provides us with limited transaction data, which we use to comply with campaign finance laws in the State of Michigan.

ADVERTISING AND ANALYTICS SERVICES

We may communicate with third-party vendors, including Google, and place online advertising, which will be shown on other website on the Internet. In some cases, those third-party vendors may decide which ads to show you based on your prior visits to the Site. At no time will you be personally identified to those third-party vendors, nor will any of the information you share with us be shared with those third-party vendors.

We may also use third-party services such as Google Analytics. This helps us understand traffic patterns and know if there are problems with the Site. We may also use embedded images in emails to track open rates for our mailings, so that we can tell which mailings appeal most to our supporters.

HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE OR OPT OUT

People who subscribe to email lists via the Site will receive periodic updates from us. You may opt out of receiving future information via email by using the unsubscribe procedure specified on the email message. Currently we do not maintain an email list or accept subscriptions for such lists.