Pawsitive Perspectives Assistance Dogs, Inc. (“PawPADs”) places a high priority on protecting your privacy. This Privacy & Data Protection Policy demonstrates PawPADs’ firm commitment to safeguarding the personal information of our website users, donors, applicants, volunteers, and other individuals who interact with our organization.

This policy explains what types of information may be collected, how that information is used, how it is protected, and the choices available to you.

This policy applies to information collected through PawPADs’ website, PawPADs.org, and through related online interactions. It does not apply to information collected offline or through third-party websites not controlled by PawPADs.

1. Children’s Online Privacy Protection

Protecting the privacy of children is especially important to us. PawPADs does not knowingly collect or maintain information from individuals under the age of 13, and no part of our website is structured to attract anyone under 13.

We do not request personal information from children. If children send email to us, their online contact information is not used to re-contact them and is not maintained in retrievable form.

2. What Is Personally Identifiable Information?

The United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines Personally Identifiable Information (PII) as information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as name, address, phone number, email address, or other information linked or linkable to a specific individual.

3. Information We Collect

PawPADs collects limited personal information only when you voluntarily provide it.

Depending on your interaction with PawPADs, this may include:

Website Users & Inquiries

• Name

• Email address

• Phone number

• Information submitted through forms or inquiries

Donors

• Contact information (name, organization/company, address, phone number, email)

• Donation information (amounts donated, dates, and methods)

• Requests, comments, or correspondence

Program Applicants, Volunteers, and Participants

• Information submitted through applications, forms, or communications necessary to respond to requests, assess PawPADs’ ability to meet needs, or administer programs

You may always refuse to supply personal information; however, doing so may prevent you from engaging in certain activities such as applying for a service dog, making a donation, or submitting forms.

4. How We Use Information

Information provided to PawPADs may be used to:

• Respond to inquiries or requests

• Assess PawPADs’ ability to meet program needs

• Process and acknowledge donations

• Issue tax acknowledgements or year-end statements

• Send newsletters and email updates about PawPADs’ work (including charitable solicitations)

• Improve website functionality and outreach

• PawPADs does not list individuals’ names in any publications.

5. Sharing of Personal Information

PawPADs has a simple and straightforward policy:

We do not trade, sell, rent, or share personal information with outside parties without your advance permission.

There are rare instances when information may be disclosed, including:

• When required by law or judicial process

• When PawPADs reasonably believes disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of PawPADs staff, clients, volunteers, or others

6. Online Donations and Third-Party Services

PawPADs uses third-party service providers to process online donations, host our website, conduct email campaigns, and distribute online publications. These providers may include (but are not limited to):

Razoo, MightyCause, PayPal Giving, Constant Contact, Network Solutions, and similar services.

PawPADs does not receive, gather, or retain credit card information from online donation transactions.

You should review the privacy and security policies of these third-party services. While our partners use industry-recognized safeguards such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, PawPADs cannot absolutely guarantee the security of information shared with third parties and is not liable for information you choose to provide to them.

Third-party service providers are not permitted to use or share any personally identifiable information provided by PawPADs for purposes other than performing services on our behalf.

7. Cookies, Analytics, and Technical Data

PawPADs’ website may use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to support functionality, analyze usage, and improve outreach.

These technologies do not collect personally identifiable information on their own. Information collected through cookies is described in detail in our Cookie Policy, which is available on our website.

Some technical, analytics, and marketing data may be collected through cookies as described in the Cookie Policy; this data is used to improve website functionality and outreach and is not used to evaluate eligibility for services or programs.

8. Social Networking Services

PawPADs maintains accounts on social networking services including, but not limited to, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok.

Your use of social networking services is governed by the terms and privacy policies of those platforms. PawPADs does not control the privacy settings of user accounts on these services and does not guarantee the accuracy, relevance, or completeness of information shared through them.

PawPADs’ use of social media does not constitute endorsement of third-party content, products, or services.

9. How We Protect Information

PawPADs employs reasonable technical, administrative, and physical safeguards to protect personal information both online and offline.

Online Safeguards

• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption

• Firewalls and security procedures

• Anti-virus and firewall protection

• Periodic staff training on internet and email security

Offline Safeguards

• Restricted access to information

• Access limited to employees or volunteers with a specific business need

• Password-protected databases

•  Ongoing staff and volunteer education on confidentiality

Despite these measures, PawPADs cannot guarantee absolute protection due to criminal activity, security breaches, or vulnerabilities inherent to the internet and related systems. PawPADs makes no warranties regarding the effectiveness of security measures and assumes no liability for breaches beyond its reasonable control.

10. Links to Other Websites

PawPADs’ website may contain links to third-party websites, including other nonprofits, media organizations, or service providers.

PawPADs is not responsible for the privacy practices, policies, or content of external websites and does not endorse products or services linked to from its site.

11. Updating, Correcting, or Removing Information

You may request to:

• Correct personal information

• Update contact preferences

• Be removed from mailing lists

• Requests can be made by contacting PawPADs using the information below.

12. Contact Information

Pawsitive Perspectives Assistance Dogs (PawPADs)
9877 234th Street East
Lakeville, MN 55044

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (612) 643-5671