Privacy Policy

Canine Companions Privacy Policy

Last updated on: March 22, 2024

Your privacy is important to us.  The Canine Companions for Independence (referred to herein as “Canine Companions,”  “we,” or “our”) Privacy Policy applies to Canine Companions’ practices regarding the collection, use and disclosure of personal information that we collect offline and online, including via our website located at https://canine.org (the “Website”) or by phone, email, social media, marketing communications, in-person at our training centers or physical locations, or interact with us through other methods.

This Privacy Policy is subject to our Terms of Use located at https://canine.org/terms-of-use/.  We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, as specified in the “Changes to This Privacy Policy” section below

Your Consent

You should read this entire Privacy Policy before submitting information to us or using our Website.  Whenever you submit information via our Website or otherwise to us, whether online or offline, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Personal Information

When we use the term “Personal Information” in this Privacy Policy, we mean information about you that you voluntarily provide to us, such as your first/middle initial or name, last name, e-mail address, street address, mailing address if different, town or city, state, zip code, telephone number, date of birth, credit card information, and any other information that would allow someone to identify you or contact you including information collected through cookies and other technology.

Personal Information also includes information collected and maintained through your use of our Website, including your IP address, device ID, browser type, domain names, access times and dates, number of clicks, pages viewed, one or more cookies (as described below) that may uniquely identify your browser, and referring website addresses.  Personal Information also includes your personal preferences, survey responses and your relationship with us.

We also collect and maintain aggregate anonymous information about usage of and visitors to our website.

How We Collect Personal Information

We collect personal information about you in the following ways: 1) from you when you voluntarily submit information directly to us e.g., in person, over the phone, via email, or on our website; 2) using automated technology, including when you visit our Website or interact with us via email or other method; and 3) using third party sources, including our service providers, analytics providers, through social media and/or other websites or services we interact with. Automated technology collects information from your computer or mobile device and includes cookies, web beacons, local shared objects, or other similar technology.  More information is given below in the “Cookies” section.

All personal information may be used for the purposes stated in this Privacy Policy.

For additional information about the Personal Information we collect from you, see chart in Annex 1.

How We Use Personal Information

We use your personal information for a variety of business and legal purposes, as described in the chart in Annex 1 below.

How We Disclose Your Personal Information 

Service Providers and Contractors

We disclose Personal Information you provide to consultants, service providers, and contractors that we use to support our business and operations who have agreed to keep the information confidential and use it only to provide the applicable service(s), such as vendors, that help us communicate with you, vendors that host our website and data, marketing and targeted advertising vendors, security and fraud detection vendors and vendors that manage donor databases.

Third Parties

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. Information collected about your through cookies running on our website may also be disclosed to advertising and marketing companies. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect others rights, property, or safety.

Legal Obligations

We may disclose Personal Information to outside parties (including, without limitation, governmental agencies) if required to do so by law, regulation or court order; to respond to governmental and/or law enforcement requests; to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interfering with our (or others’) rights or property; to support any actual or threatened claim, defense or declaration in a case or before any jurisdictional and/or administrative authority, arbitration or mediation panel; or in connection with disciplinary actions/investigations.

For additional information about how we disclose your Personal Information, see chart in Annex 1.

Cookies

As you use our Website some information can be “passively” collected using various technologies (including mobile devices), such as cookies, web beacons and navigational and location data collection (clickstream, log files, server logs).  Your Internet browser automatically transmits some of this information, such as the URL of the website you just visited and the Internet Protocol (IP) address.  Such technologies help us to keep track of your interactions with our Website e.g., the pages you view and links you click.

To find more information about cookies and for instructions on how to disable them please visit www.allaboutcookies.org or visit the help section of your browser.

Third Party Advertising And Analytics Disclaimer

We and/or third parties, including service providers on our behalf, may use cookies, web beacons and other similar technology, to collect information from you such as your activities on the Website for the purposes described in this Policy including analytics, monitoring performance, and improvement of our Site (traffic, errors, page load time, popular pages, etc.)

You may opt out of behavioral marketing as follows:

Digital Advertising Alliance: https://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN; or the National Advertising Initiative https://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1; or by using your mobile device settings

Meta.  To understand more about Facebook advertising and manage your preferences, please visit this link at Facebook.  Login to Facebook and go to Settings > Ads > Ad Settings (web) or Ad Preferences > Ad Settings (app) for more information.

Google Ads. Please visit the privacy page at Google.

X (formerly Twitter).  To understand more about Twitter’s Personalized Ads and marketing and exercise your privacy options, please visit this link at Twitter.  You can learn more about Twitter’s privacy practices and policies by visiting their Privacy Policy page at Twitter Privacy.

Microsoft.  To learn more about how Microsoft uses your data across its products and manage your privacy preferences, please visit Microsoft Privacy.  Information on Microsoft Advertising and opt-out choices is available at Microsoft Resources.

Instagram.  To learn more about Instagram Ads and to exercise your choices, please visit Instagram Ads.  This Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we are not responsible for, third-party cookies, web beacons, or other tracking technologies, which are covered by such third parties’ privacy policies.  For more information, we encourage you to check the privacy policies of these third parties to learn about their privacy practices.

LinkedIn.  To learn more about how LinkedIn uses your data and to exercise your privacy options, please visit LinkedIn’s Privacy Policy.

TikTok.  To learn more about how TikTok uses your data and manage your privacy preferences, please visit the TikTok Privacy Policy.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

We are in compliance with the requirements of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).  We do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age.  Our website and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.

Security

We take appropriate steps to protect personal Information from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction, whether in transmission or storage.  Please keep in mind, however, that there is no such thing as perfect security, and no Internet transmission is ever completely secure or error-free.

External Links

We may make available third party applications through our Website and social media applications for your use e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, Qgiv, Inc. and AdvanceOnline Solutions.  Links to such applications, any other websites included in this Website or links on our social media accounts operate with privacy policies beyond our control.  Unless otherwise indicated, once you have left our Website or our social media account, all use of information you provide is governed by the privacy policy of the other website’s or social media account’s operators.  We are not responsible for any transactions that occur between you and a third-party website or social media account.

This Policy does not apply to, and we are not responsible for, third-party cookies, web beacons, or other tracking technologies on third party websites or which are covered by such third parties’ privacy policies.  For more information, we encourage you to check the privacy policies of these third parties to learn about their privacy practices.

Contact Preferences; Opt-In and Opt-Out

We would like to keep in touch with you in ways that you find to be beneficial.  If you don’t want us to use your contact information to communicate with you, please tell us so when you provide your contact information.  You can also let us know your preference later by contacting us as specified in the “Contact Us” section below.  Keep in mind that these particular preferences do not mean that we might not contact you for other reasons, such as those related to a legally required notice and so on.

Retention of Personal Information

We will retain your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy.  We will also retain your personal information if reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations (including law enforcement requests), meet regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, maintain security, and prevent fraud and abuse.

Do Not Track Notice

Because there are not yet common, industry accepted “do not track” standards and systems, our website does not respond to Do Not Track signals.  In addition, we may allow third parties to collect personal Information from your activity on our website, as described in the “Information Collection and Use” section above.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be revised from time to time for any reason.  If this Privacy Policy changes, the revised policy will include a new effective date and we will notify you of such changes by posting the revised policy on this page.  Be sure to check the Privacy Policy whenever you submit personal Information or use our website.

Contact Us

If you have questions or concerns related to this Privacy Policy or our information practices, would like to update or correct information you have provided or would like to opt-out of promotional communications from us, please contact us as follows:

Contact Us
Toll free: 1-800-572-BARK (2275)

National Headquarters:
1-866-CCI-DOGS (224-3647)
P.O. Box 446
Santa Rosa, CA 95402-0446

Annex 1

NOTICE OF COLLECTION, USE AND DISCLOSURE

Sources of InformationCategory and Types of Information we collect How we use itThird parties with whom we may share this information
You, when you visit our Site (including your online activities on our Site), when you sign up for an account with us, engage with us on social media, communicate with us via phone, email, in person, or other contact method or otherwise interact with us.

You, when you volunteer or participate in a fundraising or community event.		Identifiers - name, address, phone, and email. To respond to your requests;

To address your interests and concerns;

To deliver marketing, service updates, and promotional offers based on your communication preferences (unless you have requested that we not send such communications);

To improve our Website;

As otherwise specified in this Privacy Policy and/or at the point of Personal Information collection. 		Service providers and contractors that we use to support our business and operations (e.g. vendors hosting or operating our Site, data-storage vendors, entities that deliver communications on our behalf, and fraud detection service providers);

Third parties (including, without limitation, governmental agencies) if required to do so by law, regulation or court order; to respond to governmental and/or law enforcement requests;

An acquirer or successor-in-interest in the event of a reorganization, merger, sale, change of control, consolidation, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any part of Canine Companions or its affiliates including any negotiation thereof.
You, when you donate money or make purchases from our online store.Identifiers - Name, address, phone number.

Financial information - credit card or debit numbers, and email. 		To process your purchases and donations;

To deliver marketing, service updates, and promotional offers based on your communication preferences (unless you have requested that we not send such communications);

To prevent, detect, mitigate, and investigate fraud, security breaches, potentially prohibited or illegal activities; and

As otherwise specified in this Privacy Policy and/or at the point of Personal Information collection.

Service providers and contractors that we use to support our business and operations (e.g. vendors hosting or operating our Site, data-storage vendors, entities that deliver communications on our behalf, and fraud detection service providers);

Third parties (including, without limitation, governmental agencies) if required to do so by law, regulation or court order; to respond to governmental and/or law enforcement requests;

An acquirer or successor-in-interest in the event of a reorganization, merger, sale, change of control, consolidation, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any part of Canine Companions or its affiliates including any negotiation thereof.
You, when you apply for a Canine Companions service dog.Identifiers - Name, address, phone, email.

Sensitive Information - eligibility information, including medical records, disability information, and other confidential medical information.		To determine eligibility for a Canine Companions service dog;

To deliver marketing, service updates, and promotional offers based on your communication preferences (unless you have requested that we not send such communications);

To prevent, detect, mitigate, and investigate fraud, security breaches, potentially prohibited or illegal activities; and

As otherwise specified in this Privacy Policy and/or at the point of Personal Information collection. 		The professional staff of the agency involved in evaluating the applicant and/or providing services to the applicant, and the secure vendor environment where we store this information.
Your computer or mobile device, through your online activities and interactions with us, including, without limitation, your online activity on our Site and your use of our services. Internet/Network Activity – IP address, your device information, domain name, browser type and operating system, webpages viewed before and after visiting our Site, time spent on webpages, links clicks, pages viewed within Site, transactions entered into, site-navigation patterns.To provide, maintain administer and expand our Site and services;

To analyze and track usage of our Site, communications, and social media accounts;

To determine the popularity of our Site, services and social media accounts;

To better understand how you use our Site and services;

To enhance, modify, or improve our business, Site, and services;

For records, other marketing, research, legal, and other business purposes;

To comply with our policies, procedures, and legal obligations, including complying with law enforcement or governmental authority requests, investigating fraudulent activity, resolving disputes, and enforcing our legal agreements and policies.		Service providers and contractors that we use to support our business and operations (e.g. vendors hosting or operating our Site, data-storage vendors, entities that deliver communications on our behalf, and fraud detection service providers);

Third parties (including, without limitation, governmental agencies) if required to do so by law, regulation or court order; to respond to governmental and/or law enforcement requests;

An acquirer or successor-in-interest in the event of a reorganization, merger, sale, change of control, consolidation, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any part of Canine Companions or its affiliates including any negotiation thereof.