The First Whistleblower Privacy Policy

Please take a moment to read our Privacy Policy for a better understanding of the measures we take to protect you and the information you share with us.

We do not share or sell your personal information to any third parties.

The information provided by you will be kept strictly confidential and will only be used for the purposes intended when submitted or as otherwise authorized by you.

Our Commitment To Your Privacy

We recognize the consumer's concerns about their privacy and the information they provide us. We hold the information you share with us in the highest regard. We are committed to responsible information handling practices.

We will not use or disclose your information without your prior consent.

Information Safeguards

We have adopted methods and procedures accepted throughout the industry specifically intended to keep all information secure and protected from intrusion. By utilizing the latest technology and equipment, we strive to insure that all information collected or stored electronically is shielded from corruption and unwanted disclosure

  • We limit access to only those employees who we believe reasonably need to come into contact with that information in order provide services requested by you and to pursue the goals of our organization.
  • We have physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to protect personal information about you.
  • In certain areas we use industry-standard SSL-encryption to protect data transmissions.
Compliance with applicable privacy requirements.

We are dedicated to complying with all local, state, and federal privacy requirements. We regularly review our policies and practices in order to insure that we are in compliance with any new regulations or statutes.

We support organizations that promote practices designed to protect the privacy of consumers that use the internet for business and personal purposes. We strive to meet or exceed the privacy standards established by organizations such as:

What information do we collect

We collect information to:

  • Rapidly and accurately process your donations or information requests
  • Improve your experience at our site

During the donation process, while creating an account, or requesting assistance, you are prompted to supply us with your contact and financial information. This information must be provided in order to complete a these transactions and is used to contact you and fullfill those transactions. We use the latest technical methods to insure the transfer of this information is secure and cannot be received or read by others.

Our goal is to provide all our donors, those requesting information or assistance, and other visitors with the highest level of service possible. Starting with your first visit to our web site, we want you to be completely satisfied with the experience. By collecting information, we are able to offer you new and richer features, and a more customized web site that better reflects your individual preferences.

Computer Tracking and Cookies

Standard connection information (provided by your browser) is collected by us. This information includes the type and version of your browser and operating system. Our web sites are not set up to track, collect or distribute personal information not entered by visitors. Our site logs do generate certain kinds of non-identifying site usage data, such as the number of hits and visits to our sites. This information is used for internal purposes by technical support staff to provide better services to the public, but again, the statistics contain no personal information and cannot be used to gather such information.

Our web sites also recognize the online site where a visitor "clicked-to-visit" in order to get to our web site, but we cannot identify the visitor or the visitor's address. Site information is used to confirm participation in the internet referral program, and may be used to advise participants of the numbers of visitors who come to our site from their sites. No personal information is collected.

A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. A cookie is a way for websites to recognize whether or not you have visited the site before. A cookie is a piece of data given to a browser by a web server and handed back to the browser on subsequent visits. We use cookies at log-in registration and elsewhere when you enter customized information such as your zip code. Recording a cookie at such points makes your online experience easier and more personalized. It also allows us to recognize you as a perferred user and automate your online experience. For additional information about cookies, Click Here.

We use cookies to provide easier site navigation and access to forms. Our cookies do not generate personal data for other parties and do not read personal data from your machine.

We do not recommend disabling cookies, as you may not be able to login or use basic features on our websites.

Limiting the sharing of your information

We do not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with other people or nonaffiliated companies except to provide products or services you've requested, when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances:

  • We provide the information to trusted partners who work on behalf of or with us to provide services you have requested.
  • We respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims;
  • We believe it is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of our terms of service, or as otherwise required by law.
  • We transfer information about you if we are acquired by or merged with another organization. In this event, we will take diligent steps to notify you before information about you is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
Financial Partners

In order to process your donations, it will be necessary for us to provide our financial partners with detailed information about you so that they may process the transaction. While their privacy practices and policies my differ from ours, all of our partners have ensured us that they are committed to your privacy and are expected to handle any information about you with the utmost care towards confidentiality. We will not share your information with anyone without your prior consent.

Marketing

We do not sell, share, or rent your information to anyone for unsolicited marketing of any form.

Links

Please be aware that this site may contain links to other sites that are owned and operated by third parties. These third party sites have their own privacy policies and practices. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other parties.

Giving you CHOICES about how your data will be used
Automatic "Opt-Out"

When you contact us either online, by email, phone, facsimile, or postal service, we automatically assume you have opted-out of any promotional requests. Should you wish to receive or participate in any promotional programs, you are invited to do so, and will always be given the opportunity to "Opt-Out" at a later date.

Refer A Friend Program

If you use our "Refer a Friend" feature, we will use that information per your instructions to send a message to your friend. We will not use the information of your friend for any other purpose.

Promotional Programs

We occasionally offer our visitors the opportunity to be involved in programs such as surveys, contests, or sweepstakes. Requested information may include contact information (such as your name and address), and demographic information (such as your zip code and age). Information collected from surveys will be used to improve the usefulness of our site and services. Contact information will be used to notify contest winners and award prizes. Participation in surveys or contests is completely voluntary. Participation in a contest or sweepstakes is limited to those of legal age. We are not responsible for the privacy and marketing policies of any third party companies involved in such programs. If you no longer wish to receive promotional emails, please follow the unsubscribe instructions located at the bottom of the email. You will continue to receive service emails related to the status of your account or related transactions.

Updating or correcting your personal information

In order to provide our donors and clients with requested services it is essential that you keep your information current and accurate. Without it, we may not be able to process your donation or provide you with the services we offer.

We use the personal information you supply to process and complete your requests, and to keep you advised of other opportunities. Your email address is used to send you a Donation Confirmations or a "Request Confirmation" and to alert you to any changes in the availability of the services you requested.

We offer you the opportunity to:
  • Edit your Account Information, including your contact preferences, at any time. New categories of contact communications may be added from time to time.
  • Opt-In or Opt-Out of receiving future marketing communications from these categories or unsubscribe by following instructions contained in the messages you receive.
  • Deactivate your account by visiting our Account Preferences page.

We reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to our service, such as service announcements and administrative messages that are relevant to your account.

Updates to our Policy

If at some point in the future there is a change to our information practices that affect your personally identifiable information, we will notify you by email of the relevant changes. At the time of that message, you will be able to opt-out of this information usage by updating your Account Preferences or by sending an email as instructed in the notice.

You should also check this posted privacy statement for changes.

Contacting us about privacy-related issues.

We encourag our donors, clients, and visitors to make suggestions that would help us to better protect their information, improve their experience, and enhance our services. If you have a comment, suggestion, or question, feel free to fill-out our Contact Form or send an email directly to your contact.

This policy was last updated on: 12/01/2003