Privacy Policy

As a person transacting business with or receiving services from  Root Capital, Inc. (“Root Capital”, “we”, “our”, or “us”), visitor of rootcapital.org and its subdomains (collectively, our “Website”), or subscriber to our newsletters and updates (together, a “User”), we understand that you are entrusting this organization with certain personal information. This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) is intended to help you understand our privacy practices. This Privacy Policy explains how Root Capital collects, uses, and discloses information that identifies or can be used to identify a natural person (“Personal Information”).

By accessing and using the Website, you agree and consent to the collection, use, processing and disclosure of your Personal Information as outlined in this Privacy Policy.

The Personal Information We Collect

This notice applies to all Personal Information you submit to Root Capital both on and offline.

Information You Provide to Us

Examples of Personal Information that we collect directly from you may include:

• Contact Information, such as your prefix and full name, email address, mailing and billing address, phone number, and any other unique personal identifier you choose to provide to us.
• Giving Information, including types and amounts of donations, payment method, payment card information, and checking or other financial account information. We utilize secure transaction methods when collecting credit card information over the internet. For more information about payment information, please see the “Payment Information” section below.
• Biographical Information, such as educational, professional, and volunteer information.
• Demographic Information such as gender, age, and ethnic or cultural background.
• Event and Publication Information, including information on events you have attended, publications you have received or requested, and related communications.
• Other Information You Choose to Provide, such as when you complete a form, apply for a loan or advisory service delivery, interact with the Website, or otherwise engage with us, including by email, phone, mail, or in person.

Information We Collect Automatically When You Use the Website

When you access or use the Website, the types of information we automatically collect about you may include:

• Log Information: When you visit the Website, our servers automatically record certain log file information, such as your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, operating system, browser type and language, referring URLs, access times, pages viewed, links clicked, and other information about your activities on the Website.
• Information Collected by Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies: We and our service providers use various tracking technologies, including cookies, to collect information about you when you interact with our Website. For more information about cookies, and how to disable them, please see the “Cookies” section below.

Information We Collect from Other Sources

We may also obtain personal information about you from other sources. For example, we may collect information from third parties, including service providers and publicly available sources. We may also update Personal Information if we learn that the information is out of date and updated information is available.

By submitting your Personal Information you agree to the terms of the Privacy Policy, and you expressly consent to the processing of your Personal Information according to the Privacy Policy.  All data collected by Root Capital is processed in the United States.

How We Use Personal Information

We use the Personal Information we collect about you to facilitate the completion of your request, to provide our services, and to provide information to you about Root Capital. Please be aware that, to the extent required to provide our services, we may share your personal information with volunteers, or those organizations contracted to assist in providing Root Capital’s services, as applicable.

We use your Personal Information in the following ways:

• We may use our email lists for sending out our newsletter and other Root Capital outbound communications, such as policy changes, fundraising, or other related news.
• Process donations, registrations, applications, or requests for information and create a profile of our Users;
• Communicate with you about talks, workshops, and other events, products, or services, and to provide news and information we think will be of interest to you;
• Provide, maintain, plan, and improve our Website, programs, services, participant network, and events;
• Help you engage with other individuals with similar interests to help mobilize people, organizations, and networks for public good;
• Send you technical notices, updates, security alerts, and support or administrative messages;
• Respond to your comments, questions, and requests, or to provide customer service;
• Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities in connection with our Website;
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraudulent transactions and other illegal activities and protect the rights and property of Root Capital and others;
• Maintain appropriate records for internal administrative purposes; and
• Carry out any other purpose described to you at the time the information was collected.

We may also anonymize and aggregate the information that we collect. Anonymized and aggregated information can no longer reasonably be linked to the identity of a person and is no longer Personal Information. For example, we may aggregate demographic information for reporting to our donors.

Please note that any feedback or comments provided by you on the Website may be generally accessible by any visitor to the Website. Therefore, please take care when posting feedback or comments to the Website.

How We Share Personal Information

We may share Personal Information, as follows, or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy:

• With our partners and with participants in one of our programs. If you participate in one of our programs, we may also use your name and image in promotional materials;
• With vendors, consultants, and other service providers who need access to such information to carry out work or perform services on our behalf;
• In response to requests from local, state, provincial, or federal law enforcement officials, or any judicial, administrative, or similar proceeding or order, such as a subpoena, if we believe disclosure is in accordance with applicable law;
• To protect the rights, property, and safety of Root Capital and others;
• To investigate suspected violations of our terms or policies, fraud, harassment, physical threats, or other violations of any law, rule, regulation, or the rights of third parties, or to investigate any suspected conduct which we deem improper;
• In the event that Root Capital transfers all or substantially all of its assets to another entity;
• With your consent or at your direction;
• To comply with transparency or other public reporting obligations; and
• As otherwise permitted or required by law.

Payment Information

When individuals access the Website or call us by phone in order to make a donation to Root Capital, they must provide payment information (such as credit card number and expiration date). This information is used for one-time and recurring billing purposes according to the type of donation being made and the terms pertaining thereto. Root Capital has partnered with Stripe to securely process your online credit card payment via Donate.ly. These transactions are subject to Donate.ly’s Terms of Use. For credit card donations received over the phone, Root Capital uses Square, Inc. for secure payment processing.

If we have trouble processing a donation, Personal Information is used to contact the user. Payment information is stored in encrypted format and is used only to send to our credit card processor for the purposes of collecting donations. We never make this information visible to anyone other than our credit card processor and never communicate it over a non-encrypted connection. The full credit card number is never seen by anyone inside our company, once entered and submitted, except by the credit card processor for the purposes of authorizing, clearing and reversing charges to your credit card.

Cookies

When you visit the Root Capital Website or use the Services, or both, we and our third-party service providers acting on our behalf automatically collect certain data using tracking technologies like cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies.

A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier that is sent to your browser from a website’s computers and stored on your computer’s hard drive.

These technologies are used to help us better understand user behavior and facilitate and measure the effectiveness of our Root Capital Website and Services.

All modern Internet browsers allow you to control your cookie settings. These settings are usually accessed in the ‘Options’ or ‘Preferences’ section of your browser. On your mobile device, go to Settings, then go to the specific web-browser, and then to the Cookies section. Please note that certain features of the Website will not be available once cookies are disabled. For further information about cookies and how to manage them, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

Third-Party Access and Use

Occasionally, we hire third-party service providers to help provide or improve the services we offer you. Sometimes it is necessary for these providers to have access to the Personal Information we collect about you. In those cases, we take reasonable steps to ensure that these providers do not use or otherwise disclose any Personal Information we collect about you except for the purpose of fulfilling their service obligations to Root Capital. We may share your Personal Information with third-party service providers in connection with the following:

We may hire third-party service providers to help coordinate volunteer events. We may share information with these third-party service providers in order to facilitate coordination of these events.

We share aggregate information about our Users with certain third parties. This information shows user activity as a whole rather than on an individual basis; such aggregate information cannot be used to individually identify you. We use aggregated information we collect about users to continue to improve our service for you.

We engage third-party service providers, including Google, to support our marketing efforts and deliver advertising, which may include interest-based ads. These third parties may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect information about your visits to our websites and other online activities.

To manage or opt out of Google’s use of cookies or device identifiers for advertising purposes, you can visit Google’s Ad Settings or the Google Marketing Platform opt-out page. Additionally, you may choose to opt out of certain interest-based advertising by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page and the Digital Advertising Alliance opt-out page.

Please note that these opt-out tools are provided by independent third parties; we do not control their operation or which companies participate. Opting out of interest-based advertising does not mean you will stop seeing ads altogether but that the ads shown may be less relevant to your interests.

This site uses Google Analytics to analyze site usage and improve functionality. For more information on how Google Analytics collects and processes data, click here.

Links

This site contains links to other sites. Root Capital is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our Website to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects Personal Information. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by Root Capital.

How You Can Access or Correct Your Personal Information

It is important that the Personal Information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your Personal Information changes during your relationship with us. You can update, modify, access, or delete your Personal Information through the   on the Website or by contacting us using the contact information below. To protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections. Please note we may continue to store information about you as required by law or for legitimate business purposes.

Data Subject Rights

Where applicable, depending on your jurisdiction, you may have certain data subject rights in relation to Personal Information we have collected about you; these rights vary by jurisdiction and may include, subject to verification and any applicable exceptions, the right of access, erasure, and data portability, as well as the right to rectification, to restrict processing, to withdraw consent, to object to processing, and to lodge a complaint about the processing of Personal Information with an applicable data protection authority. To exercise these rights, please contact us through the contact form  on the Website or using the contact information below.

International Transfers

We are an international organization and we may, subject to applicable law, transfer your information to our affiliates or selected third parties outside the country where you are located and where information protection standards may differ (e.g., your information may be stored on servers located in other jurisdictions).  We will utilize appropriate safeguards governing the transfer and usage of your Personal Information, such as an adequacy decision, Standard Contractual Clauses, or other applicable adequacy mechanisms. If you would like further detail on the safeguards we have in place, you can contact us directly as set forth in the “Contact Us” section below.

Opt-in Policy for Newsletters & Communications

Subscriptions to Root Capital newsletters are optional and Root Capital allows subscribers or other users to subscribe to newsletters at any time.  In each newsletter we provide instructions regarding how to opt-out from receiving future newsletter mailings. You can also email us at info@rootcapital.org to remove your name from our newsletter subscription data base and ensure that you will cease receiving future newsletters from us.

We may also use our email lists for sending out other Root Capital outbound communications such as policy changes, or membership news.

Data Security and Retention

We have put in place reasonable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures designed to safeguard and secure the Personal Information we maintain.

Payment information (such as credit card number and/or social security number) is protected by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts the aforementioned information when viewed online.

In addition, we limit access to Personal Information to employees who we believe reasonably need to receive such Personal Information to provide our services or in order to do their jobs and take other precautions we deem reasonable to protect the security of individuals’ Personal Information.

However, please be aware that despite the security measures that we have put in place, no such measures can guarantee security or protect against unauthorized activity.

We will retain your Personal Information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, or as long as we are legally required or permitted to do so. When deciding how long to retain your information, we take into account our legal and regulatory obligations, the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your information described above and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means. We may also retain your information to investigate or defend against potential legal claims in accordance with the limitation periods of countries where legal action may be brought.

Children’s Privacy

Our Website is not intended for children under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from any person known by Root Capital to be a child under the age of 13.

Do Not Track Signals

Root Capital does not respond to Do Not Track (“DNT”) signals to the extent received from a web browser. Because there currently is not a universally accepted technological or legal standard for recognizing or honoring DNT signals as reflections of user choice, we do not respond to them at this time.

Additional Notice for California Residents (California Shine the Light)

If you are a California resident, California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits you to request information about our practices related to the disclosure of your Personal Information to certain third parties for their direct marketing purposes. You may be able to opt-out of our sharing of your personal information with unaffiliated third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes in certain circumstances. Please send your request (along with your full name, email address, postal address, and the subject line labeled “Your California Privacy Rights”) to the address listed in the “Contact Us” section below.

Notification of Changes to Policy

If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post those changes to the Privacy Policy section of the Website and other places we deem appropriate. We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy to stay informed about our information practices. Your continued use of the Website constitutes your agreement to the Privacy Policy and any updates.

How To Contact Us

Should you have other questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Root Capital
245 Main Street, 2nd Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
email: info@rootcapital.org

Effective Date: March 31, 2015
Last Updated: August 1, 2025

 

 

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