Privacy Policy

This web site is operated by Benevity, Inc. and its subsidiaries Benevity International, Inc. and Versaic, Inc. (together, “Benevity”), companies that, together with their affiliates and third party aggregating charity foundations (“us”, “we”), provide employee and consumer giving applications, donation processing software and related applications (the “Benevity Platform”) along with additional products. Protecting the privacy and confidentiality of your personal information is a fundamental principle in the relationship that we have with users, corporate clients and corporate sponsors of the Benevity Platform.

This Privacy Policy describes the privacy and information practices respecting Personal Information (as that is defined below) of this web site and other web sites and applications that link to this Privacy Policy that utilize the Benevity Platform, including on-demand web applications like our corporate grant-making and workplace giving, volunteering and pro-social activity measurement solutions (that are created by or for our clients to present such functionality to users), or any of our other products (collectively, the “Benevity Sites”). These various applications and services in connection with the Benevity Platform or any of our other products are collectively referred to as the “Services.” This Policy applies to users of our workplace programs and our other Services as well as causes and their employees, members of the public accessing our clients’ public-facing Benevity Platform grants application and donation portals and other visitors to our Sites such as prospective clients and their employees and subscribers to our web-based informational materials.

“Personal Information” means information about an identifiable individual who can be directly or indirectly identified, which does not include information of an aggregate or anonymous nature where a specific individual or individuals cannot be identified.

We provide access and use of the Benevity Sites and Services to you on condition that you accept the terms of this Privacy Policy and any other relevant site documents, and by accessing or using the relevant Benevity Site, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree with and accept this Privacy Policy, you should not access or use any Benevity Site, nor utilize the Services.

We use “cookies” to enable you to sign into our Services and to help personalize your online experience. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your hard drive. Cookies can either be permanent (i.e., they remain on your computer until you delete them) or temporary (i.e., they last only until you close your browser). Cookies do not collect Personal Information. They do collect information that includes the date and time of your visit, your registration information, session identification number and your navigational history and preferences.

Cookies offer many conveniences. They allow us to identify registered users when they return to the relevant Benevity Site so that they can retrieve previous information and interact with the site more efficiently. Cookies also facilitate the use of analytics tools to monitor your navigational history.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to sign in or use other interactive features of your Benevity Site and Services that depend on cookies. Our Benevity Sites and Services use Google Analytics, a service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers. We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage.

By using this website or the Services, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in Google's Privacy Policy (http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/) and for the purposes set out above. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout).

In addition to cookies, we may use other technologies, including single-pixel gifs (also known as web beacons) on Benevity Sites and in e-mail messages or newsletters. These tiny electronic images assist us in determining how many users have visited certain pages or opened messages or newsletters. We do not currently use these images or beacons to collect Personal Information, and we will tell you by way of amendment of this policy if we do.

By using a Benevity Site, or the Services, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. The terms of this Privacy Policy apply to all Personal Information collected by us on any Benevity Site. We have created this policy pursuant to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada) and other applicable law. Your home jurisdiction may have privacy laws that are more or less protective than Canadian legislation. (See information for European Economic Area and California residents below.)

Note: Benevity Sites may be accessed via or contain links to other web sites or applications, such as your employer’s intranet, a cause’s web site, informational links that are embedded within content, and the like. We are not responsible for the information practices or the content of such other Web sites or providers and encourage you to review the privacy statements of such other Web sites or application providers to understand their information practices.

Consent to Collection of Personal Information

Other than the information that is provided by our corporate clients to initiate workplace programs, we only collect Personal Information about you after you have provided us with your consent to collect that specific information by registering as a user of the relevant Benevity Site or when you voluntarily provide Personal Information to us (such as for the purposes of a tax receipt to be issued via the Benevity Platform). By voluntarily providing this information to us, you consent to the collection and use of your Personal Information as set out in this Privacy Policy.

The Personal Information provided by our corporate clients to initiate workplace programs is to establish the employee’s eligibility and log-in credentials, to implement payroll giving, if applicable, and provide reporting to our clients based on office location and business units.

Use of Your Personal Information

Where applicable based upon your usage of a particular Benevity Site, we may collect and use your Personal Information to:

create and manage your user account;
process and report upon your donation, volunteering, charitable gift card, prosocial activities or other transactions;
provide client service and related assistance to you or the corporate client of the Benevity Site;
perform research and analysis aimed at improving the Services, the Benevity Platform and the philanthropic landscape;
display or provide content that is created by you or customized to your interests and preferences;
to operate interactive areas of the relevant Benevity Site;
if you are a contributor to any of the third-party donor advised foundations that form part of the Benevity Platform, to facilitate your donation transactions and to prepare tax information slips or other acknowledgments;
to interact with our client that has licensed the Site for its employees and other users;
if you are a contributor to a news or information forum feature or a user-generated or team fundraising or volunteering event within one of the Benevity Sites, to identify your uploaded content as your content;
to communicate with you about your donation and volunteering transactions, your use of the Services, and new products and services; and
to carry out other purposes which are disclosed to you and to which you consent or are permitted or required by applicable law.

We may send you transaction-related communications such as welcome letters, reminders, donation confirmations, thank-you letters, impact statements and the like. If you are an administrator of a program, we may also send you surveys or marketing communications to inform you of new products or services or other information or offers that may be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive surveys or marketing communications, you may opt-out by following the “unsubscribe” instructions included within each email communication. Please note that if you choose not to receive marketing or survey communications, you will continue to receive transactional and account communications (e.g., confirmation emails, account balance statements, etc.). For Canadian citizens, in accordance with Canada’s anti-spam legislation, if you wish to receive communications from us, you have the right to opt-in at the time of signing up for Services.

We use Personal Information to provide the Services to you, enhance the operation of the relevant Benevity Site, improve our marketing and promotional efforts, improve our product and service offerings, and to tailor your experience with causes and other third parties. For example, if you send our client services group an email, we may use your comments and feedback to tell others about our Services and may post your comment in our marketing materials or on a Benevity Site. If your comments contain Personal Information such as your name, we will obtain consent from you to post your name along with your comment prior to posting your comment for public view.

We utilize third-party service providers to manage credit card processing. Neither Benevity, its affiliates, nor the foundations receive or hold your credit card information. These service providers are not permitted to store, retain or use such information except for the purpose of credit card processing of donations, charitable gift cards or other purchases authorized by you through a Benevity Site. Details of their respective privacy and information practices are accessible through their respective merchant platforms that may be accessed via or integrated with a Benevity Site.

Our Platform is designed to facilitate efficient employer and corporate matching programs and is not intended for the processing of “sensitive information” as defined in various jurisdictions including personal health, financial or confidential Personal Information. The categories of Personal Information that we may collect include: (a) limited identifiers including, but not limited to, name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, Internet Protocol (IP) address, email address; and (b) some internet activity information, including but not limited to search (for a cause) history, donation and volunteering activity, information regarding your interaction with our Sites, application, or advertisement. The purposes for the collection, use and disclosure of this information are described above.

We may share your Personal Information in a business transfer. As with any other business, we could merge with, or be acquired by another company. If this occurs, the successor company would acquire the information we maintain, including Personal Information, subject of course to this Privacy Policy.

We may share your Personal Information with the cause that you have made a donation or grant to, volunteered with or engaged in other prosocial activities, with your prior written consent, unless required by applicable law.

We do not sell your Personal Information to any third party but only transfer Personal Information to subprocessors as necessary to provide our service. Benevity remains responsible to you for any of your Personal Information that is shared with third party subprocessors. (However, if your privacy settings are configured on a particular donation to direct us to release your Personal Information to the charitable or non-profit organization to which you are donating, you acknowledge that although Benevity takes reasonable steps to obtain assurance from such organizations to not, unless required by law, disclose your Personal Information without your consent, Benevity is not responsible for that organization’s use of such information.)

We may share your information for our protection and the protection of others. We reserve the right to disclose your Personal Information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on a Benevity Site; enforce or apply this Privacy Policy, the terms of use or other agreements; or protect the rights, property or safety of a Benevity Site, its users, corporate host or others.

Correcting and Updating Your Personal Information

Users participating in relevant workplace programs may update or change their registration information by editing their user or organization record on the relevant Benevity Site. To update a user profile, please login to the relevant Benevity Site with your username and password and click on your name in the header or “User Profile” in the footer. Once in the user profile, edit by clicking on “Tax Receipt Information” to update any of your Personal Information. To discontinue your account, please contact your employer in the case of a Spark! Site, the corporate host of any other Benevity Site, or email help@benevity.org. Any user may request to access or correct their Personal Information by contacting us at privacy@benevity.com. We will respond to requests to access, change, or delete such information within 30 days and may be under an obligation to share such request with the corporate host of the Benevity Site.

Retention and Destruction/Anonymization of Personal Information

We retain Personal Information we collect from you in accordance with applicable law and where we have an ongoing legitimate business need to do so (for example, to provide you with a service you or your employer have requested or to comply with applicable legal, tax or accounting requirements). Canadian law allows us, for legal or business purposes, to retain Personal Information for as long as is reasonable (typically seven years from the deactivation of a user account). Upon expiry of an appropriate retention period, bearing in mind reasonable legal and business requirements, Personal Information will either be destroyed in a secure manner or made anonymous.

Personal Information Preferences

In addition to you controlling the marketing and survey information that may be sent to you as described previously in this Policy, we offer users who provide contact or other Personal Information a means to choose how we use the information you provide. You may manage your receipt of non-transactional communications and whether we share your contact information and donation data with the causes to which you donate your time or money by selecting or unselecting the appropriate box in your user profile or the donation forms that are part of the relevant Benevity Site. Additionally, you may send a request specifying your communications preferences to help@benevity.org.

Rights of European Economic Area (“EEA”) and California Residents

In addition, if you are a resident of the EEA or California, you have the following data protection rights, as applicable under relevant data protection laws:

a) If you wish to access, correct, update or request deletion, in the form of anonymization, of your Personal Information, you can do so at any time by contacting us using the contact details provided below;

b) You can also object to processing of your Personal Information, ask us to restrict processing of your Personal Information or request portability of your Personal Information. Again, you can exercise these rights by contacting us using the contact details below;

c) Where in the case of a workplace program, we derive the custody or control of the Personal Information through our corporate client, the client will be the controller and all requests for access to Personal Information should be forwarded through such controller to us;

d) Similarly, if we have collected and process your Personal Information with your consent, then you can withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your Personal Information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent;

e) You have the right to complain to the relevant regulator about our collection and use of your Personal Information. For more information, please contact your relevant regulator.

We respond to all requests we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws. Our legal basis for collecting and using the Personal Information provided by our clients to initiate workplace programs is a legitimate interests basis. Any information provided by any user in any other context is on a consent basis, or to perform a contract with you.

For California residents, pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), the above applies to the Personal Information collected during the 12 month period prior to the date of the request.

For clarity, Benevity does not sell Personal Information.

International Data Transfers

Personal Information collected by us may be stored and processed in Canada, the United States or any other country in which we or our agents maintain facilities, and by providing us with your Personal Information and using any of the Benevity Sites or Services, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country. As a result, this Personal Information may be subject to access requests from the corporate employer, governments, courts, or law enforcement officials in those jurisdictions according to laws in those jurisdictions. Subject to applicable laws in such other jurisdictions, we will ensure that appropriate protections are in place regarding all Personal Information.

For EAA data subjects, note that Canada has been deemed to have adequate safeguards for the protection of personal information by the European Commission. Data is accessible in the United States by our affiliates and data is stored in United States with our data hosting service provider with whom we have Standard Contractual Clause in place.

Miscellaneous

Benevity uses a self-assessment approach to assure compliance with this Privacy Policy and periodically verifies that the policy is accurate, comprehensive for the information intended to be covered, prominently displayed and accessible.

Contacting Us

Whether you’re a new or loyal user of our Services, a cause, or another user of a Benevity Site, we’d like to stay connected and want to hear from you! We are constantly striving to improve the Services and Make Goodness Better. Let us know if you have any ideas, suggestions or issues.

Benevity, Inc. 700, 611 Meredith Road NE Calgary, AB T2E 2W5

Email: privacy@benevity.com

Last Revision: April 8, 2021