By using SVdP’s Web site, you consent to the practices described in this statement.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of San Mateo County (SVdP) places a high priority on protecting your privacy. This privacy policy was created in order to demonstrate SVdP’s commitment to the privacy of our website users, donors and volunteers.

By using SVdP’s Web site, you consent to the practices described in this statement.

When you visit www.svdpsm.org, you may provide us with personal information (such as name, address, e-mail address, telephone numbers and/or credit/debit card information) that you knowingly choose to disclose, which is collected on an individual basis for various purposes. These purposes include registering to receive e-mail newsletters or other materials, requesting further information from us about our programs and services, donating to us, making requests, submitting a form on our website, or simply asking a question. We receive and store any information you enter on our website or give us in any other way. We ask for personal information so that we can fulfill your request and return your message. This information is retained and used in accordance with existing laws, rules, regulations, and other policies. SVdP does not collect personal information from you unless you provide it to us. If you choose not to provide any of that information, we may not be able to fulfill your however, you are free to browse the other sections of the website.

This website may contain links to other Web sites. Please note that when you click on one of these links, you are entering another site. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of these linked websites as their privacy policy may differ from ours.

When you supply information about yourself for a specific purpose, SVdP uses the information for only that purpose (such as to provide the service or information you have requested). For example, you may be asked to give us individual information to receive information, to make a donation, to volunteer, or to apply for a job. SVdP does not share this information with outside parties. SVdP does not sell, rent, give-away or share its e-mail addresses or other information to anyone outside the organization.

You may choose to opt out at any time, which will cease all communications from us. SVdP may also use your information to track visitor of our website. This lets us see which of our features are the most popular so we can better serve our users’ needs. It also lets us provide aggregate data about our traffic (not identifying you personally, but showing how many visitors used which features, for example).

Personally identifiable information is stored on SVdP’s server and is not publicly accessible. Further, personally identifiable information is only accessed by SVdP personnel on a “need to know” basis. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect.

Anonymous information is collected for every visitor to this site. This includes pages viewed, date and time, and browser type. IP numbers are not stored, but are temporarily used to determine domain type and in some cases, geographic region. We do not make any association between this information and a visitor’s identity.

SVdP’s online donations pages are processed through CommitChange.

CommitChange encrypts your credit card data to protect and secure it while the transaction is processed. CommitChange complies with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard protecting your payment data after the transaction has been processed. These standards provide the most comprehensive single framework to address all the security, data integrity and privacy concerns associated with processing electronic payment data. CommitChange's technology and processes are reviewed quarterly to ensure PCI compliance standards, along with an annual on-site audit by a PCI accredited 3rd party. That makes CommitChange a Level 1 vendor, the highest, most secure level for PCI compliance.

How CommitChange Makes Payments Secure-

PCI level 1 certification ensures that the following state-of-the-art tools are used:

  • SSL certificates and database encryption
  • Dedicated firewall equipment that is continuously upgraded and monitored
  • File tampering monitoring
  • Intrusion detection systems
  • Logging and alerting systems that immediately call human operators when encountering suspicious activities
  • A dynamic, rule-based fraud prevention agent developed by CommitChange to specifically address potential fraud in the nonprofit marketplace
  • Additionally, CommitChange's redundant hardware, power, Internet connections, and dual data centers create the fail safes to keep our systems up, running, and secure.

SVdP may amend this privacy policy from time to time; please review it periodically. Any changes will be reflected on this website. Your continued use of our website after the date that such notices are posted will be deemed to be your agreement to the changed terms. If you have comments or questions regarding privacy, please contact us.

SVdP may disclose personal information when required by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on SVdP.