Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which Protect Democracy United and Protect Democracy Project (“We” or “Us”) collects, uses, and shares information collected from users (“you” or “users”) of the website located at https://ProtectDemocracy.org (the “Website”). Before you use or submit any information in connection with the Website, carefully review this Privacy Policy. By using the Website you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as outlined below.

About Us

Protect Democracy is a cross-ideological non-profit group of sister organizations (Protect Democracy United, Protect Democracy Project) and affiliated initiatives (e.g. VoteShield, National Task Force on Election Crises, Law for Truth, Count Every Hero) dedicated to defeating the authoritarian threat, building more resilient democratic institutions, and protecting our freedom and liberal democracy. Everything that Protect Democracy does is to advance the mission of preventing the U.S. democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government. To advance this mission, this website is designed to share information about Protect Democracy’s work and to provide users with opportunities to get more involved.

Information We Collect

Information You Provide Us

We collect personally identifiable information, such as names, email addresses, and mailing addresses from users when they voluntarily provide that information to us, including, for example, when users sign up to join our mailing list, or when they donate.

Information That Is Passively or Automatically Collected

When you visit the Website, we may automatically receive and record information from your computer or mobile device. This information allows us to understand how people are navigating and using our Website, and how we can improve your experience based on the information we collect. The types of information we may collect include, by way of example only, your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and language, operating system, software and hardware attributes (including device IDs), referring and exit pages and URLs, platform type, the number of clicks, files you download, pages viewed, the amount of time spent on particular pages, the date and time you used the Website, error logs and other similar information.

We may use third-party analytics providers and technologies, such as web server logs and cookies, and tracking pixels, to help us collect the data described above. We use the term “cookie” in the broad sense to include all similar techniques and technologies. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your computer and device when you visit a website that stores certain information about your website usage. We may use cookies to enhance your experience with this Website. We may also use cookies to measure aggregate web statistics, such as collecting the number of users to the Website, the number of repeat users and the most popular webpages, and for other purposes. We use information collected through analytics cookies to improve the features of our Website. We do not use cookies to track user activity on an individual basis. You may choose to set your web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you do so, however, some parts of the Website may not function properly.

How We Use Your Information

We may use the information we collect for the purposes for which you provide it, as well as:

To better understand how you use the Website
To maintain and improve the Website, including:
- To provide the feature and services available through the Website;
- To improve the content and features of the Website;
- To administer and troubleshoot the Website;
To add users to our email or text lists upon their request.
To contact you, including:
- To send you information you request;
- To process and respond to your inquiries;
- To process your donation(s);
- To contact you with information that we believe may be of interest to you using the contact information you provide us.
For internal research and reporting.
To comply with laws and regulations for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of others.

We may also aggregate or de-identify information we collect from you so that it is no longer linked to you or your computer device. We may, in our sole discretion, use such aggregated and de-identified information for any purpose and may share such information with third parties.

When We Disclose Your Information

We may disclose and/or share your information to or with third parties under the following circumstances:

With Third Party Service Providers. We may share user information with these providers to help us operate our business and the Website or to administer activities on Protect Democracy’s behalf, such as collecting donations online. We require that such third parties protect the confidentiality of user information and use it for no other purposes.
With Collaborators. We may share your information with like-minded organizations with whom we collaborate, including projects and organizations within the Protect Democracy group to the extent that sharing your information is consistent with our mission.
Protection of Protect Democracy & Others. We may access, preserve, and disclose your information if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access, preservation, or disclosure is permitted by the Privacy Policy or reasonably necessary or appropriate for any of the following reasons:
- To comply with legal process;
- To enforce this Policy, including investigation of potential violations thereof;
- To respond to your requests for user service; and/or
- To protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Protect Democracy, its agents, affiliates, its users, and the public. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection, and spam/malware prevention, and similar purposes.
Aggregated Data. We may share aggregated and de-identified demographic user information not linked to any personally identifiable information with third parties when doing so will advance our mission.
Organizational Transfers. As we continue to develop our organization, we may acquire, merge or partner with other organizations. In such transactions (including in contemplation of such transactions, e.g., due diligence) user information may be among the transferred assets. If any of Protect Democracy United’s assets are sold or transferred to a third party, information collected through the Website would likely be one of the transferred business assets.
Consent. If we wish to share your information for purposes other than as specified above, we will first obtain your consent.

How We Protect Your Information

We have implemented administrative, technical, and physical security measures to protect against the loss, misuse, and/or alteration of your information. These safeguards vary based on the sensitivity of the information that we collect and store. However, we cannot and do not guarantee that these measures will prevent every unauthorized attempt to access, use, or disclose your information because, despite our efforts, no Internet and/or other electronic transmissions can be completely secure. In addition, please recognize that email is not a secure method of communication, so you should not include sensitive information in any email you send to us. We do not store user credit card information.

Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data

The laws in some jurisdictions require that website operators tell you about the legal grounds they rely on to use or disclose your information. To the extent those laws apply, our legal grounds for processing your information are as follows:

Where use of your information is necessary to perform our obligations to you;
Where use of your information is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of others (for example, to provide security for our Website; to provide the services we provide through our Website; to defend our legal rights; to analyze the use of our Website; to improve our services);
Where we have a reason to process the information in accordance with applicable law;
Where we have your consent to engage in a particular type of processing activity.

Online Analytics

We may use third-party web analytics services (such as those of Google Analytics) to collect and analyze the information discussed above, and to engage in auditing, research or reporting. The information (including your IP address) collected by various analytics technologies described in the “Information that Is Passively or Automatically Collected” section will be disclosed to or collected directly by these service providers, who use the information to evaluate your use of the Website, including by noting the third party website from which you arrive, analyzing usage trends, assisting with fraud prevention, and providing certain features to you. Information about how Google uses information collected from sites that use its services is located here. To prevent Google Analytics from using your information for analytics, you may install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

If you receive an email from us, we may use certain analytics tools, such as clear GIFs, to capture data such as when you open our message or click on any links or banners our email contains. This data allows us to assess the effectiveness of our communications and marketing campaigns to help us grow.

Transfer

Our computer systems are based in the United States, and your information will be processed in the United States, which may not offer the same level of protection as the privacy laws of your jurisdiction.

Third-Party Links and Websites

The Website may contain links to third party websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. The collection, use and disclosure of your information will be subject to the privacy policies of those third party websites, not this Privacy Policy. Therefore, we encourage our users to be aware when they leave our Website and to read the privacy policies of every site they visit that collects their information.

Children’s Privacy

The Website is not intended for children under the age of 13. If we become aware that we have collected information from children under the age of 13, we will take reasonable steps to delete it as soon as practicable.

Notice Concerning Do-Not-Track Signals

Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a privacy preference that users can set in certain web browsers. We do not currently recognize or respond to browser-initiated DNT signals.

Being Removed from Our Lists

If you wish to stop receiving communications from us, please email [email protected] or click the unsubscribe link in the footer of an email from us, or in the case of text messages, please follow the instructions embedded in the text.

Revisions to This Privacy Policy

We will continue to review this Privacy Policy as we update and expand the Website and our services, and we may make changes to the Policy accordingly. The date at the bottom of this page indicates the last time changes were made. You should check this page periodically for updates. If we make material changes to this Policy, we will provide you with notice as required by law. Your continued use of the Website will signify acceptance of the terms of the updated Privacy Policy.

Your Acceptance of These Terms

By using this Website, you signify your acceptance of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use the Website. Your continued use of the Website following the posting of changes to this Privacy Policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us by emailing us at [email protected].

Last Updated: November 4, 2022.