Background

It is the policy of The Servants of the Word (“S/W”) to deal with your personal information responsibly and in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).  The purpose of this data privacy policy (the “Policy”) is to set out the basis upon which S/W does that.

S/W is a non-profit corporation established in the State of Minnesota, its registered office being 332 Minnesota Str W 110 1st Natl Bk St Paul, MN 55101 (address for service, 13770 Island Lake Road, Chelsea MI 48118).

S/W has affiliated organizations as follows:

  • The Servants of the Word Trust, being a charity registered in the United Kingdom, registered charity number 328247 with its principal office at 31, Lynton Road, London W3 9HL.
  • S/W have affiliated organizations with whom it shares information on a regular basis in the following places:
    • in Mexico: Los Siervos de la Palabra Buenos Aires No. 200, Col. Alta Vista Monterrey
    • in Costa Rica: Los Siervos de la Palabra De la Bomba de Sabanilla 100 sur, 300 este, casa esquinera a mano izq. – Urbanización Carmiol. Montes de Oca.- San José, Costa Rica
    • in the Philippines: The Servants of the Word, 21 Ipil St., Brgy. Duyan-duyan, Project 3, Quezon City 1102, Philippines

Any reference to S/W in this Policy is a reference to S/W and each of its affiliated organizations.

S/W’s mission is:

  • supporting the wider network of communities called “The Sword of the Spirit” that they are a part of
  • Reaching out to young people (primarily high school and university-age) to expose them to the Christian message and invite them to become followers of Christ.
  • Building and supporting Christian communities across the world
  • Living and modelling celibate life in the modern world and helping young men discern whether such a life might also be their calling

In order to achieve this mission, S/W provides the following services to which this Policy relates including youth outreach, university evangelism, building and supporting Christian communities, teaching, development of worship materials and- in order to make much of that mission financially viable, working with businesses and organizations with secular aims.

S/W is a data controller with respect to the personal data which it holds meaning that it determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.

The personal data we collect

We collect personal data that you provide or leave behind when using the services, including, but not limited to, the use of our website.  Such data might include:

  • Basic identifying information, such as your name, your preferred form of address, the company you work for, and your job title or position.
  • Contact information, such as your postal and email addresses, and phone and fax number(s).
  • Data that you leave behind while navigating through our services, such as cookies.
  • Information related to donations that you make, such as amount and date of donations, and how they were made (check, cash, online), but NOT credit card information. In case you set up standing orders we also require your bank account details.

Provision of personal data is never mandatory but our ability to collect and process it or not, may affect the level of services which we can provide to you.

Data protection officer and their contact details

We have appointed a data protection officer who may be contacted on all matters related to the processing of personal data and the exercise of rights relating to such data. If you would like to contact our data protection officer, please use the contact details presented below:

E-mail: privacy@servantsoftheword.org

Address: 13770 Island Lake Road, Chelsea MI 48118.

How we collect personal data

1. Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your device by your web browser in order to store information used to identify you or remember the history of your actions on the website. Please note that S/W places cookies on your device as part of your use of the services.

We use cookies to customize the content of our services to your preferences and optimize the services. In particular, cookies enable us to:  (i) identify your device and display the service in the correct manner, customized to your individual needs; (ii) create statistics that help us understand how you use the services, so that we can improve their structure and content; and (iii) provide other personalized marketing communications. Storage of cookies does not change configuration of your device or software installed on it.

Storage of, or access to, cookies requires your consent. You can give your consent, using relevant settings of the software installed on your telecommunications terminal equipment or found in the service configuration. You can determine conditions to store or access cookies by means of software settings or service configuration. However, we recommend that you keep standard settings for cookies, as disabling the option of accepting cookies may hinder or even prevent you from using certain services. If you do not wish us to store or access cookies you may opt out of storing cookies in your browser at any time.

2. Other Collection Methods

In addition to cookies we collect personal data using the following methods:

  • We collect personal data as necessary in the course of providing our services to you.
  • We collect information from monitoring the use of our websites.
  • We collect information obtained from monitoring email communications we send and receive.
  • We collect information obtained from surveys that people fill out.
  • We receive personal information provided to us directly, for example when you speak on the telephone with us or directly with any personnel from our organization.
  • We collect publicly available information.

 

How we use your personal data

We use the personal data that we collect in a number of ways, including to:

  • Provide you with application services and to customize such services to your preferences;
  • Ensure the security of the services (including detection of various bots and abuses);
  • Carry out statistical measurements and improve the services, so that they meet your expectations;
  • Market our services;
  • Fulfil our legal and regulatory obligations;
  • Provide and improve our website including auditing and monitoring its use; and
  • Provide information requested by you.

 

The grounds on which we process personal data

We process personal data on one or more of the following grounds:

  • Legitimate provision of services (including the customization of such services to your preferences).
  • On the basis of consent from the relevant individual.
  • To comply with legal and regulatory obligations.

 

Sharing of personal data

S/W is based in Michigan and has affiliated organizations in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Costa Rica and the Philippines. Personal data that is given to S/W may be transferred to one or more of the other branches of S/W.  Personal data may be transferred from a location within the European Economic Area (the “EEA”) to outside the EEA, or from outside the EEA to a location within the EEA.  The level of information protection in countries outside the EEA may be less than that offered within the EEA. We will implement appropriate measures to ensure that your personal information nevertheless remains protected and secure in accordance with applicable data protection laws. EU standard contractual clauses are in place between all S/W entities that share and process personal data.

We may also share your personal data with third parties in accordance with contractual arrangements in place with them, including but not limited to IT service providers and printing agencies. (e.g. printing companies that distribute our newsletters)

Your data may also be prepared for bodies or authorities entitled to obtain them under applicable law, including but not limited to law enforcement agencies, regulatory authorities, courts and government agencies.  In some instances these authorities may be located in countries outside the EEA which offer a different level of information protection to that offered in the EEA.  Relevant information regarding the bases for transfer to a country located outside of the EEA is included in individual services.

 

How long will your personal data be processed?

We retain and process personal data of different types, or relating to different categories of people, for different periods, taking into account its business purpose. For example, some categories of personal data relating to certain categories of persons may only be processed for the period of service provision, but in some cases, processing may continue after the service provision is complete.

The periods for which we retain information may be based on the requirements of applicable data protection laws and the purpose for which the information is collected and used.  We take into account legal and regulatory provisions which require information to be retained for a minimum period.  In such cases, the data will only be retained for such period as is necessary.

 

What rights do you have in relation to processing of your personal data?

The GDPR and other applicable data protection laws provide certain rights for data subjects. Broadly speaking you have, or may have, the right to (as more fully provided in applicable data protection laws):

  • Request details of the information we hold about you and how we process it;
  • Have your personal information rectified if it is inaccurate or deleted;
  • Restrict our processing of your personal information;
  • Withdraw a previously provided consent to processing of your personal information;
  • Stop unauthorized transfers of your personal information to a third party;
  • Have your personal information transferred to another person; and
  • Complain about our processing of your personal information to a local supervisory authority.

It is important to be aware that these rights may not be absolute.  For example, if you withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal information, we may be able to continue to process your personal information to the extent required or otherwise permitted by law, in particular in connection with exercising and defending our legal rights or meeting our legal and regulatory obligations.  If your data is processed with your consent or as part of a provided service (the data are necessary for service provision), you also have the right to receive your personal data from the data controller in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.

In order to exercise the above-mentioned rights, please contact the data controller or the data protection officer (see contact details above).

The Servants of the Word Data Privacy Policy was updated on April 16th, 2019.

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