MES Fund, Inc. Privacy Policy

Purpose of the Privacy Policy
The MES Fund, Inc. (“we”) places a high priority on protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy was created to demonstrate the MES Fund, Inc.’s firm commitment to the privacy of our donors, scholarship applicants and website users. This policy explains the information practices of the MES Fund, Inc. and its website, www.mesfund.org, including the type of information gathered and tracked, how the information is used and with whom the information is shared. This Privacy Policy covers what information we collect and why, what we do with the information, and what rights you have.

This Privacy Policy, together with our Terms of Use and Conditions, applies to your interactions with www.mesfund.org as well as other interactions with MES Fund, Inc., such as when you donate to the Fund, submit an application for a scholarship or register to receive information and literature. It applies to our mail, emails and text messages for information and any other methods that we use for collecting information. By using our website (“Site”), you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

Website Privacy Notice
Please read this Policy carefully to fully understand how we collect, share, and protect information about you. This Policy is incorporated into and is a part of the Terms of Use and Conditions for this Site. To access the Terms of Use and Conditions, click here

What Information is Collected and How May Information Be Used
We only collect information that we need to operate the MES Fund, Inc., which includes data that will be helpful to improving our services. We may collect and process the following two types of information:

  1. Non-personal information such as details of your visits to our Site and the resources that you access, including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data, including your IP address (the location of the computer on the internet), the date and time you accessed or left the Site, which pages you viewed to administer www.mesfund.org, and statistical metrics used to track website traffic. This helps us determine how many people use our website and which pages are most popular. The data is aggregate and anonymous data and does not give us any personal information. It is used to monitor and improve our website. Some parts of our Site use cookies and other technologies to collect this information about your general internet usage. See section below ‘How We Use Cookies” to learn more.
  2. Personal information that you provide to us by filling in forms on our Site, such as your name and email address, will be used for administration and for other normal business-related purposes of the MES Fund, Inc. This information may also include contact information, scholarship application information, information from the College Board, donation information including credit card information and other pertinent information necessary for the smooth functioning of the operation and services of the MES Fund, Inc.
    We collect personal information about you at the time you make a donation, apply for a scholarship, or receive newsletters and other literature related to the MES Fund, Inc. Your personal data is most often collected directly from you but some may pass from a third party such as in the case of scholarship application materials from the College Board, from AMI Training Centers where scholarship applicants have applied for training, and from AMI-USA in the form of scholarship, teacher training, or membership information.
    The personal information we collect may need to be updated so we may ask that you confirm, and where necessary, update the information that we maintain. We may request additional information if necessary, to process scholarship applications.
    We may collect information from ad networks, internet service providers, data analytics providers, (i.e. Google Analytics), government entities, operating system platforms, social networks and/or data brokers.
    Unless you have requested otherwise, MES Fund, Inc. may use your contact information to send promotional and marketing information to you about the MES Fund, Inc. and its activities. When submitting information on our website, you have the option to opt out of receiving marketing information and if you would rather not receive any information you may utilize the unsubscribe feature or email us at info@mesfund.org.

By submitting a telephone number to the MES Fund, Inc. you agree that a representative of MES Fund, Inc. can contact you at the number you provide, potentially using automated technology (including texts/SMS messaging) or a pre-recorded message. Your consent is not an obligation to receive our services.

Use of Your Information
The information that we collect and store relating to you is primarily used to enable us to provide our services to you in the best possible manner. The MES Fund will process your personal information in order to:

  • Support the application process to receive an MES Fund award;
  • Monitor and report the progress of applications;
  • Solicit and process funding, donations and donor information;
  • Support AMI training centers;
  • Assess how the MES Fund is communicating, processing applications and donor information;
  • Receive and give information and references about past, current and prospective applicants;
  • Support other reasonable purposes relating to the operations of the MES Fund;
  • Provide you with information relating to our services;
  • Fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information;
  • Provide third parties with statistical information about the users of our Site;
  • Monitor and conduct an analysis of our Site traffic and usage patterns;
  • Respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order or governmental regulations and
    Analyze trends

We will not use personal information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you with notice and/or updating this Privacy Policy.

Disclosing Your Information
From time to time the MES Fund, Inc. may be required to share your personal information (including sensitive personal information where appropriate) with third parties, including local and public authorities, who will process the data:

  • When we are legally required to disclose your information, for example, to comply with a court order, or valid subpoena, search warrant or other law enforcement request, or if requested by a government or local authority department which has the lawful authority to obtain the information;
  • To enable the relevant authorities to monitor the MES Fund’s performance;
  • To compile statistical information (normally used on an anonymous basis);
  • To secure funding for the MES Fund;
  • To enable trainers and students/trainees to take part in assessments and to monitor progress and educational needs;
  • To obtain appropriate professional advice and insurance for the MES Fund;
  • Where a reference or other information is requested by another educational establishment or employer to whom they have applied;
  • Where otherwise required by law;
  • When we are contractually obligated to disclose it; and
  • Otherwise where reasonably necessary for the operation of the MES Fund.
  • Where we disclose personal information for a purpose set forth herein, we enter a contract with the third party that describes the purpose and requires the third-party recipient to both keep that personal information confidential and not use it for any purpose except performing the contract.

We do not sell your personal information, including email addresses, to third parties.

Third Party Websites
The www.mesfund.org includes links to external websites. These links do not fall under the
www.mesfund.org domain, and the MES Fund, Inc. is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of external websites.

By accessing third party websites through our Site, you are consenting to the terms and privacy policies of those websites. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies whatsoever as we have no control over them. Your use of any linked website is solely at your own risk.

Safeguarding Personal Information
To secure your information, we have put in place commercially suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect on our Site. We make every effort to prevent loss, misuse or alteration of data. We may use a named third party purely for the purposes of processing data on our behalf. Access to your information is limited only to those individuals within the MES Fund, Inc. administration with a legitimate business need to review such information.

Nonetheless, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure and therefore we cannot guarantee the security of data sent to us electronically on our Site, and transmission of such data is therefore entirely at your own risk.

Retention of Data
MES Fund, Inc. will keep personal data for as long as is necessary to retain for a legitimate and lawful reason. When the required information is no longer needed, MES Fund, Inc. will always dispose of it securely, using specialist companies if necessary. While MES Fund, Inc. is committed to protecting your privacy, please be aware that no transaction over the internet can be completely secure.

How We Use Cookies
Our website uses “cookie” messages to automatically help provide better services. A “cookie” is a piece of text which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, this cookie file is stored on the hard drive of your computer. They remind us who you are and your preferences for our website based on what you have done and told us before. The “cookie” is placed in your computer and is read when you come back to our website. Cookies let us take you to the information and features you are particularly interested in. They also let us track your usage of www.mesfund.org, so we know which parts of our sites are most popular.

All computers have the ability to decline cookies. You can reject cookies or cancel them by instructing your web browser accordingly. This can be done by activating the setting on your browser which enables you to decline the cookies. Please note that should you choose to decline cookies, you may be unable to
access particular parts of our Site.

We do not track our users across time or across websites. We do not use flash cookies, web beacons or other tracking technologies.

Users Only of Legal Age of Majority
Our Site is designed and intended for those who have reached the age of majority (18 years of age). By using our Site, you affirm that you are at least 18 years of age or older. We are not liable for any damages that may result from a user’s misrepresentation of age.

No one under age 13 is authorized to submit or post any information, including personally identifying information, on our Site. Under no circumstances may anyone under age 13 use our Site. Parents or legal guardians of children under 13 cannot agree to these Terms on their behalf.

Modifications
We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time; please review it periodically. We maintain the option to modify this Privacy Policy at any time by electronic notice posted on our Site. Your continued use of our Site after the date that such notices are posted will be deemed to be your agreement to the changed terms. If you do not agree with the changes, then you should stop using the Site, and you should notify us that you do not want your information used in accordance with the changes.

For Questions or Concerns
If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact the MES Fund, Inc. by email at info@mesfund.org.

Board Approval/Effective Date: February 2, 2021