Privacy Policy

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (referred to as NCC, “we”, “our”, or “us”) is committed to protecting the privacy of our donors, partners, volunteers, and others with whom we interact. NCC values the trust of our donors and supporters and recognizes that maintaining this trust requires that we be accountable and transparent in how we treat the information shared with us.

In our mission to connect people with nature and accelerate conservation we frequently gather and use Personal Information. NCC adheres to and complies with federal and provincial requirements and principles for the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information.

As part of our commitment to you, we want to clarify why we may ask for your Personal Information and how we will use it. This policy outlines the principles and practices we follow in protecting your Personal Information.

This policy applies to NCC and any person providing services on our behalf. A copy of this policy is provided to anyone on request.

Personal Information means information about an identifiable individual. Personal Information can be used to distinguish, identify, or contact a specific individual. This includes an individual’s name, contact information, social status, and family relationships. Exceptions include business-related information, such as business contact information, including business address, name, e-mail address, title, and fax.

NCC collects and maintains Personal Information about individuals with whom we interact to administer and manage our relationship with them. For example, NCC maintains relationships with donors, supporters, land-owners, volunteers, and partners. To maintain these relationships, NCC collects contact information, and when applicable, donation information, land-ownership information, and financial information. Certain information is collected to satisfy the requirements of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). In the course of our work, NCC will only collect, use, or disclose Personal Information that is necessary to fulfill the purpose of collection.

The purposes for which NCC’s may collect your information include Personal Information required to:

• Process a donation.
• Issue an official tax receipt.
• Follow up with donors about a donation.
• Process recurring donations.
• Notify supporters of upcoming events of interest.
• Deliver requested products and services.
• Enroll supporters in programs, campaigns, surveys, or promotions.
• Guarantee an event registration.
• Fulfil liability waivers as required for in-person events.
• Process a magazine or e-marketing subscription.
• Verify identity.
• Verify land information, including ownership, legal title, and easements.
• Conduct transactions related to land ownership and interest.

On our websites we also collect and use anonymized usage data (meaning all identifying information has been removed) for the purpose of tracking preferences and improving our web content. We also collect behavioral information (such as pages viewed) for the purpose of behavioral advertising. See our cookie policy for more information and to update your cookie preferences.

Each of NCC’s purposes listed above may result in the collection and use of the following types of information:

• Contact information such as your name, mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address, or social media account information.
• Donation information such as the date of the gift, amount, appeal (the campaign you contributed to), name of spouse or partner if it was a joint gift, and receipt number. In the case of a tribute gift, we collect the name and contact information of the tribute recipient.
• Prospect research information (with implied or explicit consent) such as wealth screening data, giving preferences, relationships, marital status, gender, and donations made to other charities.
• Financial information such as your payment method, preferences, billing and banking information (credit card number and expiry date or chequing account transit numbers, depending on the payment type you choose).
• Product and service-related information, such as sales of merchandise (which item was purchased, date of purchase, itemized receipts).
• Health and liability information (for in-person events) such as an emergency contact, your date of birth, allergies, medical conditions, etc.
• Land and property related information, such as address, parcel identification number (PIN), legal titles, liens, and other title documents and encumbrances.
• Conservation appraisals of land and other ecological gifts, including fair market value.
• On our websites, we collect behavioral information such as, IP addresses, browsing patterns, language preferences, search terms, web browser type, operating system, etc.
• On our websites, we also collect analytic information including de-identified information such as, mobile device, operating system, country in which you are located, etc.

For more information about the cookies we use, and to update your preferences, please refer to our cookie policy. Each NCC website has a different cookie declaration based on what cookies we have in use.

NCC collects Personal Information in the following ways:

• via the phone;
• in-person;
• via our web site and other charitable giving web sites (e.g. Canadahelps.org);
• via donation reply coupons;
• via personal cheques;
• via purchase order forms;
• via third party suppliers, from whom we obtain confidentiality and protection of privacy commitments;
• via public domain sources such as published directories or other organizations' public documents such as annual reports, which facilitate our prospect research.

We will not, without your consent, use your Personal Information for any purpose other than as described in this privacy policy, except where permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements.

In addition to our routine business processes that use Personal Information to help us maintain our existing relationships, NCC also uses Personal Information for marketing purposes. We conduct market and prospect research, and run marketing campaigns to expand our supporter base. NCC uses this information to personalize our marketing strategies. This includes creating supporter profiles and segmenting our supporter-base. Meaning, we use information about our existing supporters to help us connect with like-minded audiences. These marketing strategies are used across multiple channels, including in-person, mail, e-marketing, SMS, social media, etc.  Some marketing strategies, like targeted advertising, and prospect research combine information collected from both indirect and direct sources.

As outlined in our cookie policy, we may use anonymized usage data (meaning all identifiable information has been removed) for the purpose of data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our communications, products, services, marketing and your experience.

It is important to us that we only collect, use, or disclose your Personal Information where we have your explicit or implied consent to do so. We do not take your consent for granted and your consent is voluntary and can always be revoked, subject to limitations as permitted under the applicable laws.

We seek your consent when the information is collected. For example, by using our web forms and submitting your information to us, you give NCC and our authorized partners your consent to process your Personal Information for the purposes for which you provide it. These web forms and our other data collection points will provide additional consent for supplementary purposes of your choosing. Most commonly, we ask if you would like to receive updates from NCC and collect your consent before contacting you.

Regularly, our supporters are given opportunities to choose how often and in what way they wish to hear from us. At any time, you have the right to withdraw your consent.  To update your preferences, please contact us using the information at the bottom of this policy.

NCC does not address anyone under the age of 14. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 14. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with Personal Information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Information from anyone under the age of 14 without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our databases.

At any time, you have the right to request access to and verify the accuracy of the Personal Information that NCC has collected about you.

NCC will retain your Personal Information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy. We will retain and use your Personal Information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

When NCC conducts prospect research or marketing campaigns with the aim of expanding its supporter base, we will occasionally receive no solicitation requests. These requests and the associated Personal Information that we use for identity verification are retained to ensure that we have a record of your solicitation preferences. This will ensure that NCC respects your preferences.

NCC will also retain usage data for internal analysis purposes. Usage data is anonymized (meaning all identifiable information has been removed) and retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of our website, or we are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

Your information is stored and processed at NCC's operating offices and in any other places where our authorized third-party service providers are located.

It means that this information may be transferred to, processed in, and in some cases, maintained on — servers located outside of your province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from your jurisdiction.

NCC will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your information is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy and no transfer of your Personal Information will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place protecting the security of your Personal Information.

You can request to see and obtain a copy of the Personal Information that we hold about you. If you want to review, verify, or correct any inaccurate, incomplete, or equivocal Personal Information, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information provided at the end of this policy. At the time of request, we will need specific information from you to enable us to verify your identity, search for, and provide you with, the Personal Information that we hold about you. NCC will reply to any request for access or rectification no later than 30 days after the date the request is received.

You have the right to request that we limit the use of or delete your Personal Information. Once we verify your identity, you can correct, update, and delete Personal Information from our database at any time. Please see the contact information provided at the end of this policy for more information about how to submit a request.

Please note, that NCC may need to retain certain information when we have a legal obligation or lawful basis to do so.

When sharing your information, NCC will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your information is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy. With the proper safeguards, we may share your Personal Information in the following situations:

NCC Employees
In the course of their work, our employees may have access to your Personal Information. Their access is limited to what is necessary for the performance of their duties.

Third-Party Service Providers
Third party service providers may be engaged by NCC to perform a variety of functions, such as fulfilling direct mail orders, to process donations, or to provide technical services for our website.

We may share your Personal Information with third party service providers in order to complete the purposes for which it was collected.

Business Transactions
If NCC is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, the Personal Information held by us may be transferred, subject to the formalities prescribed by law. We will provide notice before your Personal Information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Law enforcement
Under certain circumstances, NCC may be required to disclose your Personal Information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

Other legal requirements

NCC may disclose your Personal Information in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

• Comply with a legal obligation.
• Protect and defend the rights or property of NCC.
• Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with our services.
• Protect the personal safety of users of our services or the public.
• Protect against legal liability.

NCC’s senior management has delegated the management of the privacy program to the Privacy Officer. The Privacy Officer is responsible for the internal management and oversight of NCC’s privacy program.

The Privacy Officer approves and implements our privacy policies and procedures, ensuring that they are functioning properly, and reports to NCC’s senior management on the effectiveness of the program.

It is also the responsibility of the Privacy Officer to provide you with the necessary support in the event of a question, complaint or request relating to the protection of Personal Information.

In order to protect your Personal Information, we have put in place policies, practices and procedures relating to the management of the Personal Information we hold.

These internal policies and procedures govern the collection, use, disclosure, retention and destruction of Personal Information, as well as complaint handling, information security and data governance. These policies and practices also provide the framework for the implementation of Privacy Impact Assessments, as well as the prevention of and response to potential privacy incidents. All of these policies and practices have been approved by our Privacy Officer.

The collection of your Personal Information through our application complies with the requirements of this program.

Personal Information gathered by NCC is kept in confidence. Safeguards are in place to ensure that the information is not disclosed or shared more widely than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was gathered. Access is only given to employees who must use Personal Information to perform their job function. Measures are in place to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the information and to prevent its being lost, stolen, or prematurely destroyed.

There are links on NCC’s websites that take you to other websites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party sites or services.

We regularly review our privacy practices. We may change this policy from time to time to ensure new standards and legislative requirements are met. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new privacy policy on this page and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this privacy policy.

You are advised to review this privacy policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this privacy policy are effective when they are posted on this page

If you have a question or concern about any collection, use of disclosure of Personal Information by NCC, or about a request for access to your own Personal Information, please contact NCC’s Privacy Officer and VP Corporate Services:

VP Corporate Services
Nature Conservancy of Canada
email: privacy@natureconservancy.ca
1.877.231.3552
365 Bloor Street E., Ste 1501. Toronto ON, M4W 3L4

NCC will respond to all requests and complaints within 30 days. To contact our supporter services team or for other requests and inquiries, click here.