This Privacy Notice explains how we, The BEST Program, collect, use, share and store information about individuals (“you”) and your interactions with our website at bestprogram.org (“Site”). It also explains your choices and rights, such as opting out of receiving newsletters and targeted advertising, with respect to other activities governed by this policy. This Privacy Notice was updated on February 24, 2024.
I. Who we are

If you have questions, please contact us our contact form or email us directly at amber@bestprogram.org.

II. Data Collection and Usage

We collect, store and use your personal information to allow you to use our Site, to communicate with us, and for the other purposes described in more detail below or as we may specify at the time of collection.

We collect and use information about you in several ways. We may receive information directly from you when you send us email, complete a form on our Site (such as a survey or a request for a meeting), sign up to receive email from us, or call us with questions. We do not store it longer than necessary.

There are two types of information we collect – anonymous and personal.  Anonymous information is information that cannot be used to identify you individually. We collect anonymous information automatically. Personal information is information that can be used to identify you individually, such as your name, address, email address, or phone number. Except for your IP address, we collect personal information only when you give it to us. You may be asked to provide personal information anytime you are in contact with us. You are not required to provide any personal information that we request, but if you choose not to do so, in many cases we will not be able to provide you with those related  services or respond to any questions you might have.

The type of information we collect from you depends on how you interact with us. You can use our Site without providing us with any information other than anonymous information we collect automatically.

A. Information you provide directly.  

We obtain information that identifies you personally directly from you. We ask for your contact information (name, street address, email address, and phone numbers) when you request a guide, sign up for electronic newsletters, answer a survey, enter a sweepstakes or other game or contest, participate in other promotional activities, or share your photos with us. We may also ask for information that helps us understand more about your interest in our services, such as demographic information like household information and age group, etc. 

We use the information that you voluntarily provide to reply to your requests, to update and improve the content on our Site or in our electronic newsletters, and to assist with marketing research..

B. Information we collect electronically automatically.

1. Information about your visit. Our Site servers automatically record your visits to our Site. Like all other website servers, ours compiles a log that records the date, time, browser (i.e., Firefox), device type (i.e., iPhone), operating system (i.e. Android) and originating IP address of each Site page request. 

We use cookies that identify your browser or device. They collect and store information when you visit our Site about how you use the Site, and facilitate interest-based advertising. For detailed information about cookies, the types of cookies we use and how we use them please see our Cookie Notice at the bottom of this page.

We have a legitimate interest in collecting this information to monitor usage of our Site, identify issues with our Site, and improving our services.

2. Information About Your Location.   From your IP address, we can tell generally where you are when you are accessing our Site, i.e., which city.

C. With Whom Do We Share Information We Collect?

1. Personal Information. We do not share your personal information outside of our organization. This is subject to change and will be noted in this policy.

We may disclose your personal information as required by law, in conjunction with a government inquiry, or in litigation or dispute resolution.

2. Anonymous Information.   We may disclose statistical information to third parties in aggregate form without revealing any personal details about our users (for example, 45% of our Site visitors live in the Southeast).

III. WHERE YOUR INFORMATION WILL BE HELD

Our Site operates in the U.S. If you are located outside of the U.S., please be aware that all information you provide us will be transferred to and stored and processed in the U.S. Please also be aware that by using our Site and giving us your information, you consent to such U.S. transfer, storage and processing. You also understand that the U.S. privacy laws may be different from the laws of your country.

We store our information on trusted third-party cloud servers of US Based companies. 

IV. YOUR RIGHTS

You have certain rights in relation to your information under U.S. and European law. The availability of these rights and the ways in which you can use them are set out below in more detail.

• You have the right to be informed. This privacy policy informs you of our data collection and privacy practices. You have the right to confirm whether we process your personal data and the purpose of the processing, categories of details concerned, and the recipients of the data.
• You have the right to access. You are entitled to ask us if we are processing your information and, if we are, you can request access to your personal information. This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and certain other information about it to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• You have the right to rectification. You are entitled to request that any incomplete or inaccurate personal information we hold about you is corrected.
• You have the right to erasure. You are entitled to ask us to delete or remove personal information in certain circumstances. There are also certain exceptions where we may refuse a request for erasure, for example, where the personal data is required for compliance with law or in connection with claims.
• You have the right to restrict processing. You are entitled to ask us to suspend the processing of certain of your personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
• You have the right to object to processing. Where we are processing your personal information based on a legitimate interests (or those of a third party) you may challenge this. However we may be entitled to continue processing your information based on our legitimate interests or where this is relevant to legal claims. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
• You have the right to data portability. You may request the transfer of certain of your personal information to another party.
• You have the right to complain to a supervisory authority. 
• You have the right to withdraw consent. Where we are processing your personal information based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent. 
• Automated decisions. We do not currently make any automated decisions. However, if we did, you may contest any automated decision made about you where this has a legal or similar significant effect and ask for it to be reconsidered.

Some of these rights will only apply in certain circumstances. If you would like to exercise, or discuss, any of these rights, please contact us via amber@bestprogram.org. 

IV. Links to Outside Web Sites

This Site may contain links to third party sites not controlled by The BEST Program. We recommend that you check the privacy statement of other sites you visit before providing any personal information. Any offers made in advertising on our Site are the sole responsibility of the companies making the offers.

IV. Security of Information

Please note that although we take reasonable steps to protect your information, no website or computer system or wireless connection is completely secure.

V. Privacy Inquiries

If you have concerns or questions regarding our consumer privacy practices, please forward them to amber@bestprogram.org.

VI. Changes to Privacy Notice

We retain the right to change this Privacy Notice at any time to reflect changes in the law, our data collection and use practices, the features of our services, or advances in technology. Please check this page periodically for changes. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes will mean you accept those changes.

VIII. California Do-Not-Track Disclosure Requirements

We do not recognize or respond to browser-initiated Do-Not-Track signals, because the Internet industry is still working on uniform Do-Not-Track standards.

IX. Your California Privacy Rights

California law permits users who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed their personal information for direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year, as well as the type of personal information disclosed to those parties. If you are a California resident and would like to request this information, please submit your request in an email to amber@bestprogram.org.

X. Children

We do not knowingly collect information from children or other persons who are under 13 years old. If you are under 13 years old, you must not submit any personal information to us. If you believe we might have any personal information from or about a person less than 13 years old, please contact amber@bestprogram.org.

Cookie Notice

The BEST Program uses cookies on its website (the “Service”). By using the Service, you consent to the use of cookies. To make the Service work properly, we sometimes place small data files called cookies on your device. This list is accurate as June 1, 2021.  Because we are always updating our site and changing business partners, please check back regularly for updates.

For each cookie that is set on your device when you visit our website, its purpose, information collected when you visit our website and third party sites, how to opt out, and a link to a website where you can withdraw consent to being tracked by third parties. Session cookies are automatically deleted at the end of your browsing session. Persistent cookies remain on your device for the duration of each specific cookie, until its expiration date or until you delete it, whichever comes first. Unless otherwise stated, the cookies listed below are persistent. First party cookies are in boldface.

Each cookie serves one of four different purposes: essential, service enhancement, analytics, or advertising / targeting. The cookies on our site will not be used for any purpose other than as stated below.

Essential cookies

These cookies are essential, or strictly necessary, for the operation of the Services, because they enable you to freely move through the Site. If you do not permit the use of these cookies, your visit to the Site may be impaired.

Service Enhancement cookies

These cookies enable us to provide the functions and contents of the Site tailored to your specific needs, as these cookies store your preferences. In addition, these cookies can be used to enable videos on our Site and enable sharing with social networks.

1. Google Optimize is the software our site uses to display appropriate information to our users based on non-PII data. Information that may be collected by Google Optimize includes:
   • Anonymous (Ad Views, Analytics, Browser Information, Cookie Data , Date/Time, Demographic Data, Hardware/Software Type, Internet Service Provider, Interaction Data , Page Views )
   • Pseudonymous (IP Address (EU PII), Search History, Location Based Data, Device ID (EU PII))

Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect data on how the Site is used, for example which pages of the Site were most frequently visited. These cookies provide us with analytical data on the performance of the Site and clues as to how to improve it.

1. Google Universal Analytics. We use Google Analytics which is a web analytics service from Google, Inc. Google Analytics sets a cookie on your device for the purpose of recognizing you on an anonymous basis. We use the data received from Google Analytics for business planning, operations, and marketing activities aimed at understanding better how to improve the contents of our Site and the associated user experience. While the cookie is persistent, the data expires in two years. Information that may be collected includes:
   • Anonymous (Ad Views, Analytics, Browser Information, Cookie Data , Date/Time, Demographic Data, Hardware/Software Type, Internet Service Provider, Interaction Data , Page Views , Serving Domains)
   • Pseudonymous (IP Address (EU PII), Search History, Location Based Data, Device ID (EU PII))
   • PII (Name , Address, Phone Number, Email Address, Login, EU- IP Address, EU- Unique Device ID)

Advertising Cookies

These cookies collect information about your visit to our Site for the purpose of retargeting (showing you The BEST Program ads on other websites) and behavioral advertising (showing you ads on other websites based on your browsing history). These cookies help The BEST Program understand which online advertising is working to bring visitors to our web site before or after they have seen a digital The BEST Program advertisement.

How to control cookies

You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish. 

You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some services and functionalities may not work. Note that when you opt out of being tracked and/or targeted by some companies, they set a cookie in your browser to indicate that you have opted out.