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Privacy Policy

  1. Our Commitment to Privacy
  2. What Information Do We Collect?
  3. How We Use the Information We Collect
  4. Our Approach to Data Security
  5. Your Choice and Options Related to Data Collection and Use
  6. Science Buddies Email Policy
  7. How to Contact Us
  8. Final Note to Parents
  1. Our Commitment to Privacy

    As a not-for-profit institution, our goal is to collect only the information about our users and their use of our services that will help us provide the best online experience possible and implement Science Buddies' mission to build science literacy.

    Science Buddies is committed to providing a safe and secure website for people of all ages. We are dedicated to safeguarding all personal information collected online and to helping our visitors learn how to exercise control over personal information while exploring the Internet.

    To help ensure a rewarding online experience for all visitors, we provide this summary of our information practices. This privacy notice governs the collection and use of information at ScienceBuddies.org.

    As we continue to offer our visitors new and different types of content and services, we may modify our practices from time to time. However, we will treat all personal information we collect in accordance with the privacy notice in effect at the time the information is collected.

  2. What Information Do We Collect?

    You can use many features of the site without registering for an account or providing any other personal information. If you create an account on the Science Buddies site, or communicate with Science Buddies, you may provide to Science Buddies what is generally called "Personal Information" or "Personal Data," such as your full name, email address or other information that can be used to identify you. Information which cannot be used to identify you as an individual is "de-identified" or non-personal information.

    We collect information, including personal information, in a variety of ways which may vary according to your use of the site and your account settings. The categories of personal information we collect may include:

    • Contact and profile information
    • Account and authentication information from third-party integrated services
    • Location information
    • Information about your browser or device
    • Donation and applicant data
    • Non-personal information which may be linked to your Personal Information

    Below, we describe examples of the categories of information we collect from and about you when you use our Service:

    1. Information you provide to us and information we receive about you from others

      Contact and profile information
      When you create an account on Science Buddies, or communicate with us, we may collect personal information including your name, email address, grade level, and school name (for teachers only). In addition, we may ask you for personal information at other times, such as when you contact our technical support team, send us an email, complete a user survey, or otherwise communicate with Science Buddies.

      For select programs, such as our online mentoring program, we ask for more detailed information, which we use to develop program requirements and to ensure the safety of all participants. To apply as a volunteer in one of our mentoring programs individuals must provide additional information so that we may better understand their capabilities and effectively assign them in our program. The types of information collected include: name, address, email address, phone number, academic background, interests, etc. In addition, student volunteers are asked to provide contact information for a parent, including an email address, parent's name, address, and home phone number.

      For purchases made on our site, we will collect information such as address and phone number that is necessary to complete delivery of your order. We do not store any credit card information you supply to complete a purchase.

      Information from third-party sources
      If you decide to register through or otherwise grant access to a third-party social networking or integrated service, such as Facebook or Google, Science Buddies may also collect Personal Information that is already associated with your Integrated Service account. You may also have the option of sharing additional information with Science Buddies through an integrated service, as controlled through your settings on that service. If you choose to provide such information, during registration or otherwise, Science Buddies will treat the information as Personal Information and will use it in the ways described in this Privacy Policy.

      For Science Buddies users of Google Classroom, we will collect user information from Google that allows us to deliver Google Classroom functionality through our website. Such information may include email address, name, class information, assignments, and submissions. You may revoke Science Buddies' access to your account on Google at any time by updating the appropriate settings in your Google account preferences. You should check your privacy settings on Google to understand and change the information sent to us. Please review Google's terms of use and privacy policies carefully before using their services and connecting to our website.

    2. Information about how you access and use the site

      Information about your use of our Service
      We may collect usage information about your use of our Service, such as the pages viewed and the amount of time spent on a project. This enables us to better tailor educational experiences that are most appropriate for you.

      Location Information
      We may collect and use information about your location (such as your country) or infer your approximate location based on your IP address in order to better understand how many users we reach in various parts of US and around the world, but we don't collect the precise geolocation of you or your device.

    3. Usage and device information

      To provide a personalized learning and high-quality experience for our users, we may use various technologies that automatically record certain technical information from your browser or device when you visit our website, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us. This information is typically collected through a variety of tracking technologies, including cookies, web beacons, log files, and similar technology (collectively, "tracking technologies"). These tracking technologies collect information about how you use the site (e.g., the pages you view, the links you click, and other actions you take on the site), information about your browser and online usage patterns (e.g., Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser type, browser language, referring / exit pages and URLs, pages viewed, whether you opened an email, links clicked), and information about the device(s) you use to access the site (e.g., mobile device identifier, mobile carrier, device type, model and manufacturer, and mobile device operating system, brand, and model). We may collect analytics data, or use third-party analytics tools such as Google Analytics, to help us measure traffic and usage trends for the site. You can learn more about Google's practices at Google Privacy & Terms, and view its currently available opt-out options at Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. We may also work with third party partners to employ technologies, including the application of statistical modeling tools.

      Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some features and services (particularly those that require you to sign-in) may not function properly if your cookies are disabled. 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.

      We may allow third parties to place and read their own cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect information on our website. These third parties may collect information about a user's online activities over time and across sites, services, and devices to, for example, help us with traffic measurement, research, analytics, and serve you more relevant advertising on third party sites and services. This information is collected directly and automatically by these third parties, and Science Buddies does not participate in these data transmissions. These third parties may participate in programs that allow you to opt out of targeted advertising. To learn more and opt out, visit the Network Advertising Initiative and Digital Advertising Alliance.

  3. How We Use the Information We Collect

    We may use information in the following ways:

    • For the purposes for which visitors specifically provided the information, including, for example, to respond to an inquiry, offer online forums (bulletin boards), or to enable us to process, validate, and verify online registration or match volunteers in the mentoring programs.
    • To send you email updates about our new or existing products and services, or to otherwise contact you.
    • To enhance existing features or develop new features, products, and services.
    • To communicate with our funders and colleagues about the demographics of who is using our website.

    In the case of our online mentoring programs, we use the information provided to ensure that the participants are in the correct forums. We do not share this information with outside parties. Personal information is used strictly for program administration.

    We use return addresses to answer the email we receive and/or to inquire about the user's desire for additional services. Such addresses are not used for any other purpose and are not shared with outside parties.

    We use non-identifying and aggregate information to better design our program and to share our impact with parties interested in offering financial support to our program. One of the most important uses of such information is to analyze how much traffic our different webpages and services receive. Or, another example, we may tell a potential funder that X number of women volunteered as advisors, or that Y number of men and Z number of women completed science fair projects, but we would not disclose anything that could be used to identify those individuals.

    We may disclose personally identifiable information in response to legal process; for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena. We also may disclose such information in response to a law enforcement agency's request, or where we believe it is necessary 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 use, to verify or enforce compliance with the policies governing our website and applicable laws, or as otherwise required or permitted by law. In addition, we will provide a student's information to school officials when there is any known case of cheating, plagiarism, or fraud, stemming from information provided on our website. We may also transfer personally identifiable information about you if we or one of our business units are acquired by, sold to, or merged with another company.

    If you access third-party services, such as Facebook or Google through our website to login to Science Buddies or to share information about your experience on Science Buddies with others, these third-party services may be able to collect information about you, including information about your activity on our website, and they may notify your connections on the third-party services about your use of our website, in accordance with their own privacy policies.

    We will not use or transfer personally identifiable information in ways that are materially different from the ones described above without also providing parental notification of such practices and obtaining consent for any materially different uses. Finally, we never use or share the personally identifiable information provided to us online in ways unrelated to the ones described above without also providing visitors an opportunity to opt out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses. If you would like Science Buddies to stop collecting and using your child's information, please email scibuddy@sciencebuddies.org.

  4. Our Approach to Data Security

    Data security is important to you, and to us.
    To protect your privacy and security, we take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting you account access or making corrections to your information. For example, we may ask you to provide certain Personal Information to confirm your identity, and we may require that you create and use a password to access certain parts of our Service. You should create and maintain a strong password to help ensure the security of your account.

    We try to ensure that our Service and information sent to us are safe, but no security measures are perfect.
    Science Buddies uses certain physical, managerial, and technical safeguards designed to preserve the integrity and security of your Personal Information and other information we maintain in connection with our Service. We cannot, however, ensure or warrant the security of any or all of the information you transmit to Science Buddies, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission of information, Science Buddies makes commercially reasonable efforts to ensure the security of our systems. When you enter sensitive information, we encrypt the transmission of that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL) or similar technologies. However, please note that this is not a guarantee that such information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards.

  5. Your Choice and Options Related to Data Collection and Use

    At Science Buddies, we use Personal Information as needed for the purposes for which it was collected or where you have consented to our use of your Personal Information. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the Personal Information we store and use is accurate, complete, and up-to-date. If you discover that Personal Information or other data pertaining to you is inaccurate, incomplete, or out-of-date, please update your account information or contact us as outlined below.

    You can choose to not provide us with Personal Information.
    You may always decline to provide your Personal Information to Science Buddies. Registration is not required to access most of our online resources. If you decline to register, however, Science Buddies will not be able to provide to you certain features and functionalities found on our Service. You may later enable or access those features by providing Science Buddies with the necessary Personal Information. You can choose to provide only information which does not reasonably identify you to others. We recommend you select a username which is not related to your actual name, for example.

    You can disconnect us from Integrated Services.
    You may revoke Science Buddies' access to your account on any Integrated Service, such as Google or Facebook, at any time by updating the appropriate settings in the account preferences of the respective Integrated Service. You should check your privacy settings on each Integrated Service to understand and change the information sent to us through each Integrated Service. Please review each Integrated Service's terms of use and privacy policies carefully before using their services and connecting to our Service.

    You can unsubscribe from email communications.
    Science Buddies may, from time to time, send you email regarding our products and services, or products and services we think you may enjoy. Only Science Buddies (or our vendors or service providers operating on our behalf) will send you these emails. You can choose not to receive these emails by clicking the unsubscribe link in any e-mail. Please note that you are not permitted to unsubscribe or opt-out of non-promotional messages regarding your account, such as account verification, changes or updates to features of the Service, or technical or security notices.

    You can contact us directly to access, correct, or delete your information
    Visitors can access all the personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain by emailing scibuddy@sciencebuddies.org. We use this procedure to better safeguard visitor information. Visitors can correct factual errors in personally identifiable information by sending us a request that credibly shows error. Visitors may also request to have their account deleted. To protect visitor privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify visitor identity before granting access or making corrections.

    You can cancel your account directly.
    Visitors who have created an account with Science Buddies can at any time delete their account and all personally identifiable information. Visitors wishing to delete their account may log in at Science Buddies, using the My Account link in the menu, select Profile Settings and go to Cancel My Account at the bottom of the screen.

  6. Science Buddies Email Policy

    ScienceBuddies.org will not share, sell, rent, swap, or authorize any third party to use your email address without your permission. If you feel you have received an email from us in error, please contact scibuddy@sciencebuddies.org.

    Account and Service-Related Email: Science Buddies reserves the right to send you email relating to your account status. This includes confirmations, renewal/expiration notices, other transactional emails, and notifications about major changes to our websites and/or to our Privacy Policy. If you have registered for online discussions or other services, you may receive email specific to your participation in those activities.

    Email Newsletters: Science Buddies occasionally offers email newsletters. If you do not wish to receive a specific newsletter, follow the "unsubscribe" instructions located near the bottom of each newsletter or email scibuddy@sciencebuddies.org to opt out of our mailing list.

  7. How to Contact Us

    If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding our privacy policy and/or practices, please contact us at the following email address or mailing address:

    Email: scibuddy@sciencebuddies.org

    Mailing Address:
    Science Buddies
    Sobrato Center for Nonprofits
    560 Valley Way
    Milpitas, CA 95035

  8. Final Note to Parents

    The Internet offers a world of opportunity for children. Your guidance and involvement are essential to help ensure that children have a safe and rewarding online experience. Your efforts to instill responsible information practices will help steer your children to age-appropriate sites, and will go a long way toward ensuring that your children have enriching online experiences.

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