1. Information You Voluntarily Provide to Us

We collect personal information that you knowingly and voluntarily choose to disclose when you interact with our website, fill out forms, apply for opportunities, or make a charitable contribution. Depending on your interaction, we collect the following specific categories of data:

• Identity & Contact Data: First name, last name, pronouns, email address, phone number, and physical or billing address.

• Academic & Professional Data: Your resume, academic institution, current year of study, expected graduation date, employment history, and weekly hour availability.

• Legal & Eligibility Data: Your U.S. citizenship or permanent residency status, your specific visa type (e.g., F-1, J-1, H-1B), and whether you are seeking academic course credit for your participation.

• Interests & Perspectives Data: Your areas of educational interest (such as policy research, community support, or communications), your written statements on why local level climate action matters, and your analysis of local climate policies.

• Financial Transaction Data: Donation amounts, giving history, and payment methods.
  Note: All credit card numbers and bank account details are securely collected and processed by our third party compliance partner. ROC Education Fund never stores or sees your raw financial credentials.

2. Automated Tracking, Cookies, and Analytics

When you visit our website, certain information about your device, search habits, and visit behavior is collected automatically through our hosting platform, Squarespace.

• Native Analytics & SEO Tracking: We utilize Squarespace’s analytics and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools to help us understand how our site is found and used. These features automatically log search keywords used to reach our site, geographic data (such as country or city location), your browser type, operating system, referring URLs, and your navigation path through our pages. We review this data strictly in the aggregate to improve our site layout and ensure our educational and research resources are accessible.

• How We Use Cookies: Our website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience. Cookies help us remember your preferences, keep our site secure, and understand which sections of our website are the most popular.

• Your Choices: You can choose to reject non-essential cookies using the cookie consent banner when you first arrive on our site, or you can manage, block, and delete cookies directly through your personal web browser's security settings.

3. How We Use Your Information and Data Sharing

We use the information we collect strictly to support our educational, research, and charitable mission.

• Internal Operations: We use your personal data to process charitable donations, send tax receipts, evaluate job, internship and volunteer applications, and send you educational updates via our third party email service providers.

• No Commercial Selling or Renting: We do not sell, rent, trade, or lease your personal information to commercial entities or outside third parties.

• The 501c3 and 501c4 Boundary: To maintain compliance with federal regulations, ROC Education Fund maintains an operational boundary with our sister advocacy organization, Run On Climate. We do not automatically share our donor lists or subscriber data with Run On Climate for lobbying or electoral purposes unless you have subscribed to their communications.

• Service Providers: We share your information only with trusted third party service providers such as cloud storage, form processors, payment processors, and email delivery platforms strictly necessary to deliver our website services. These providers are legally bound to protect your data and cannot use it for their own marketing purposes.

• Security and Legal Disclosures: We protect our database by using technical and procedural measures to restrict unauthorized access. We reserve the right to use or disclose personal information to protect the security or integrity of our website, to protect against a threat to personal safety or destruction of property, to protect against legal liability, or to cooperate with government officials as required by law.

4. Your Rights, Choices, and Opting Out

We believe you should have control over your personal data and how it is used by our organization.

• Email Communications: If you no longer wish to receive educational updates or newsletters from us, you can opt out at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link located at the bottom of any email we send.

• Reviewing and Updating Your Information: You have the right to request access to the personal data we hold about you. If your contact information or details change, you can contact us to request corrections or updates to ensure our records are accurate.

• Managing Your Data: You may request that we update, correct, or remove your contact information from our active communication lists at any time. We will make a good faith effort to accommodate requests to remove records from our database, subject to any legal, tax, or financial record keeping requirements.

5. Children’s Privacy, Policy Updates, and Contact Information

We are committed to protecting user privacy and maintaining transparency about our operational policies.

• Children’s Privacy: Our website and services are not intended for individuals under thirteen years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under thirteen. If we discover that we have inadvertently collected personal data from a child under thirteen, we will take immediate steps to delete that information from our systems.

• External Links: Our website contains links to external platforms. This privacy policy applies solely to data collected directly by ROC Education Fund. We do not control and are not responsible for the privacy practices of external websites. We encourage you to review their policies independently.

• Policy Updates: We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our operational practices or legal requirements. Any modifications will be posted directly on this page with a revised effective date.

Contact Information: If you have questions regarding this policy, wish to update your preferences, or want to request the deletion of your personal data, please contact us at info@runonclimate.org.