DONOR PRIVACY POLICY
The mission of San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum is to inspire children to learn about our world through exploration, imagination, and experimentation. It is our vision to be a model children’s museum providing authentic hands-on learning experience that develop the whole child, lifelong learners, and global citizens. San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum is an independent, nonprofit organization and is committed to protecting all donors’ privacy. We rely on generous donations from individuals, businesses, foundations, and government entities to continue providing interactive, educational experiences to children and their families. Our relationship with our contributors is the deepest expression of our mutual commitment to nurturing a loving relationship in young children. We value our donors’ trust and we recognize that maintaining this trust requires us to be transparent and accountable to our supporters and the public at all times. San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum respects the privacy of its donors and has put in place a Donor Privacy Policy to honor these rights. This policy helps ensure that all personal information is properly collected, used only for the purposes for which it is collected, and it irretrievably disposed of in a secure and timely manner when no longer needed.
DONOR INFORMATION
We collect Donor information for internal use only, and just to the extent required for our purposes. We obtain relevant personal information about donors lawfully and fairly. Access to donor file materials containing personal information is restricted to Museum employees and authorized service providers. The Museum will not share specific donation amounts with anyone, unless a donor gives us their consent. Donor gift amounts and identities, however, can be required as part of government regulation and as part of the Museum’s annual accounting practices. San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum collects and maintains the following types of donor information when it is provided to us: Contact information such as name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address Giving information Information on events attended, publications received and special requests for program information Information provided by the donor in the form of comments and suggestions This confidential information is kept on file for IRS purposes. It is also used to analyze overall giving patterns in order to make more accurate budget projections, as well as to understand donors’ interests in our mission, and to update them on the organization’s plans and activities. The Museum will keep donors’ personal information only as long as it is necessary to satisfy the purposes for which it was obtained, or as legally required. Unless requested by the donor to remain anonymous, we occasionally release a list of our Donors to publicly recognize and thank them for their generosity. In such cases, other organizations and third parties will have access to our Donor names and in some cases donation range amounts.
LIST SHARING
San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum does not sell, rent, trade, or share its donor list with any other organization or individual. The Museum does not send out mailings on behalf of other organizations.
DISCONTINUING CONTACT UPON REQUEST
It is the policy of San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum to communicate with donors according to their expressed preferences whenever possible. The Museum will discontinue or change the method used to contact any person upon that person’s oral or written request directed to the organization, its professional fundraiser, or other agent. The Museum shall maintain a record of all requests by persons who indicate to the Museum, its professional fundraiser, or other agents, that they do not wish to be contacted by or on behalf of San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum. This policy does not prohibit contact by an individual or group soliciting on behalf of San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum when independent and outside of the Museum’s control, even if the person being contacted has requested to be placed on the “do not contact list.” Upon a person’s (or a person’s authorized representative’s) request that San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum discontinue further contact, the person’s name and address will be promptly modified in the Museum’s donor database to ensure that no further contact is made with the person. The Museum will also take steps to ensure that no further contact is made with the individual and that the person’s name is appropriately marked in databases or records under SDCDM’s control. Permanent Record: San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum will maintain an electronic record of all requests for discontinuance of contacts, effective with the adoption of this policy by SDCDM’s Board of Trustees. Oral requests will be noted in writing by the staff of the Museum and then permanently recorded in the electronic donor database. The records of persons who have made such a request will be maintained by the Museum to the extent necessary for legal or liability purposes.
DONOR BILL OF RIGHTS
San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum subscribes to the Donor Bill of Rights, which was created by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), and the Giving Institute: Leading Consultants to Non-Profits.
The Donor Bill of Rights
Philanthropy is based on voluntary action for the common good. It is a tradition of giving and sharing that is primary to the quality of life. To ensure that philanthropy merits the respect and trust of the general public, and that donors and prospective donors can have full confidence in the nonprofits organizations they are asked to support, we declare that all donors have these rights:
- To be informed of the organization’s mission, of the way the organization intends to use donated resources, and of its capacity to use donations effectively for their intended purposes.
- To be informed of the identity of those serving on the organization’s governing board, and to expect the board to exercise prudent judgment in its stewardship responsibilities.
- To have access to the organization’s most recent financial statements.
- To be assured their gifts will be used for the purposes for which they were given.
- To receive appropriate acknowledgement and recognition.
- To be assured that information about their donation is handled with respect and with confidentiality to the extent provided by law.
- To expect that all relationships with individuals representing organizations of interest to the donor will be professional in nature.
- To be informed whether those seeking donations are volunteers, employees of the organization, or hired solicitors.
- To have the opportunity for their names to be deleted from mailing lists that an organization may intend to share.
- To feel free to ask questions when making a donation and to receive prompt, truthful, and forthright answers.
