National Rural Health Resource Center Privacy Policy

This National Rural Health Resource Center Privacy Policy explains our practices, defines our users' ("you" or "your") privacy options and describes how your information is collected and used by the National Rural Health Resource Center ("we," "us," "our," or "The Center").  The date of this Privacy Policy is February 8, 2017.

By using The Center’s website or any of our, products, services, features, tools, or resources you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy governs the information gathered by The Center through your use of The Center’s website at www.ruralcenter.org ("Site"), and any information we may access through social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, we will refer to all of these access points as The Center’s system ("System").

We reserve the right to modify this policy from time to time and will mark new versions with a corresponding effective date. We recommend you visit the Site to review any changes in our practices. Your continued use of the Site constitutes your agreement to our then-current Privacy Policy.

Our System may contain links to other websites. These websites may have privacy policies different than our Privacy Policy. The System may also contain certain social media icons or widgets. Although you can view the material we have linked to, you may have to create an individual account or register to use these third-party sites. Any interaction on third-party or social media websites is governed by the terms of use and privacy policy of the particular platform.

What Information is Collected?

We may collect personal information from you on our System or through any other digital or personal communication with you in the System. Information collected by us is voluntarily provided by you and may include information such as your name, email address, phone number, physical address, employer or organizational affiliation, registration information for various activities, photograph, or other information. The System may also collect general information about your technology interface or preferences (such as the type of browser used or the files requested). Additionally, we may collect information regarding the websites you visit and other information, as described in this Privacy Policy.

The information we may collect includes, but may not be limited to:

  • Your contact information to register to receive information from The Center, related updates, promotions and materials from us, such as your first name, last name, phone number, email address, organizational affiliation, event or organization registration information;
  • Information you post on any forum hosted by The Center;
  • Your transaction and payment history relating to the use of our products and services;
  • Information regarding your browser and other technical specifications required to use our Site;
  • Computer data or files, often called "cookies," which may be sent by your web browser and stored on an individual computer to allow our server to "recognize" you through the navigation of the Site and for us to credit your account for various online transactions;
  • Computer data files, often called "web beacons" that are collected from emails or links on third-party sites that allow our server to evaluate the popularity of those links or the information contained in emails or on third-party sites; and
  • Your IP address to measure our website traffic and to help provide a more personalized experience.

Children Under the Age of 13

Our Site and System are not designed for children, and we do not knowingly collect information from any person is under the age of 13.

How is User Information Used and Shared?

We collect information about you in order to provide you with services and products and also collect information that is necessary for the System to work properly or as part of our services. We use personal information about our users for a variety of purposes related to our services, including but not limited to:

  • Presenting information provided by you for the purpose of providing that information to the public;
  • Allowing you to participate in forums and other communication methods provided by The Center through the System;
  • Allowing you to receive information from us regarding The Center’s products or services;
  • Allowing you to participate in The Center’s or other’s programs that require registration;
  • Reporting program or other participation information to federal or state agency partners or project officers;
  • Tracking information about your visits to our Site or use of the System to allow us to provide better service;
  • Using certain online preferences in the aggregate across all users to evaluate the System and develop additional products and services to offer;
  • Sending or initiating direct marketing programs, such as newsletters or information about new products or services we are offering;
  • Contacting you regarding an inquiry on the System that you have initiated;
  • Using content from social media platforms where you discuss our products or use a hashtag related to our products;
  • Providing information about your usage or preferences to our third-party partners, vendors and providers; and
  • Other purposes necessary to carry out our obligations under this Privacy Policy or our Terms of Use.

We may share information, in the aggregate, regarding your online browsing preferences to evaluate our products or allow third parties we work with to better serve our users. We will not share personally identifiable information in these instances, other than described in this Privacy Policy.

We may provide user information to agency partners, third-party service providers, or vendors for purposes of, including without limitation, initiating direct marketing programs on our behalf, data tracking, maintenance or development of our System, development of online products and services or customer service or new product development, or other contracted promotional opportunities provided to our users. We will not share your information with third parties to directly market their products to you. We may share this information with any subsidiaries, licensees, suppliers, distributors, affiliates, assigns, successors, or other related entities and their respective owners. We may also share your personal information in connection with law enforcement requests or in response to investigations, subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims or as otherwise required by law.

Behavioral Advertising.

We may also use third-party vendors, such as Google Analytics, to advertise to our users online. These third-party vendors may display The Center’s advertisements on other websites based on your internet usage. More specifically, these vendors use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytic cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) together to inform, optimize, and serve ads based on your past visits to the Site or another site affiliated with The Center. Any information that these third parties collect via cookies is not linked to any personally identifiable information (name, address, email address, or phone number) we collect or you provide on the website. You can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising by using Google's Ads Settings.

How is User Information Protected?

We maintain administrative, physical and technical safeguards for all user information collected in our System.

How Can Users Limit Information Collected?

By providing information to us or using our System, you are consenting to our use of your data as outlined in this Privacy Policy.

By participating in any online forum, comment area, or similar service hosted or provided by The Center, you are consenting to the public display of the information you post in the forum, comment area, or similar comment service. The Center is not responsible for protecting or taking any other action with respect to information you post in a forum, comment area, or similar service hosted or provided by The Center.

While we work hard to use and disclose our users' personal information only for the purposes identified above, you can choose not to provide personal information or limit the personal information obtained by us as follows:

  • You may have your contact information removed from our marketing lists to inform users of new or relevant products, services, and special offers by clicking on the unsubscribe link in any communication received from us or by emailing us at info@ruralcenter.org;
  • You may limit the collection of "cookies" through your browser settings. However, this may disable our ability to provide you with the most relevant products or information regarding the System.

Your California Privacy Rights

California Civil Code § 1798.83 permits users that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please contact us at info@ruralcenter.org.

Contacting Us

For additional information pertaining to our Privacy Policy, please contact:

National Rural Health Resource Center (218) 727-9390 info@ruralcenter.org