Privacy Policy
America’s Great Stories® Privacy Policy
Updated July 26, 2021
America’s Great Stories® is committed to maintaining your trust and confidence. This online privacy policy is intended to protect and secure the personally identifiable information (any information by which you can be identified) that you provide to America’s Great Stories® online at AmericasGreatStories.org. We do not collect and keep any personal information online from you unless you volunteer it. We also do not knowingly collect and keep personal information online from children under the age of 13.
This online privacy policy is intended to explain our privacy practices and inform you of the way your information is collected and used, the circumstances under which we disclose personal information to third parties, and to make you aware of our security practices.
Who We Are
Our website address is https://americasgreatstories.org. We are the website associated with the ministry America’s Great Stories®, which is owned and operated by America’s Great Stories, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization.
What Information is Collected?
AmericasGreatStories.org doesn’t require anyone to share any personal information about themselves in order to enjoy our website. We do not collect any personal information from you online unless it is voluntarily provided, for instance, requesting information through our contact forms or purchasing an item. The personal information we ask for may be first and last name, an email address, a physical address, payment information, and other information necessary to fulfill your requests through our website.
Children
While America’s Great Stories® is a ministry that exists primarily for the benefit of children and teens, AmericasGreatStories.org is a general-audience website that is not designed nor intended to collect personal information from children under the age of 13. We will not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13.
How the Information is Used
America’s Great Stories® uses your information to understand your needs and to provide you with better services. We use the personal information we collect through contact forms in order to complete a request for information, respond to an email, or answer a question. Occasionally, we might also email you to provide information on upcoming events and website updates.
What Information is Disclosed?
America’s Great Stories® does not disclose to third parties personally identifiable information that you provide except that we may transfer, disclose, or share such information with third-party service providers who may be engaged by us specifically to handle and deliver certain online activities (e.g. sending emails and newsletters or processing donations and other financial transactions). Such third parties have access to only the personal information needed to perform their functions, and such personal information may not be used by them for other purposes. Additionally, in the unlikely event that all or substantially all of the assets relating to America’s Great Stories, Inc., are transferred or sold to another entity, personally identifiable information submitted to us may be transferred to the acquiring entity. Finally, we may also disclose personally identifiable information to third parties in order to comply with law or requests by law enforcement agencies or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our website, users of our website, and others.
Email Messages
America’s Great Stories® may provide the opportunity to contact us by email through AmericasGreatStories.org. We may ask for a first and last name, but we request no additional personally identifiable information except first and last name and an email address, which we use solely for the purpose of responding to messages and/or requests. By giving us your email address, you have given us permission to contact you by email in response.
All information collected for email messages is used only to send a requested email message, to respond to questions and/or requests contained in your email message, and to send follow-up responses and inquiries related to your request. Unless you voluntarily sign up to receive other informational and promotional content from America’s Great Stories® by email, we will not use your information for other purposes. America’s Great Stories® may indefinitely retain copies of all communications sent to us via AmericasGreatStories.org for informational and archival purposes. You can request that we erase any personal data we hold about you, but this does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Newsletters
America’s Great Stories® may provide you the opportunity to sign up to receive periodic newsletters and other informational and promotional content sent by email to notify you of new content posted on AmericasGreatStories.org and other news and updates about America’s Great Stories®. Signing up for this email is completely voluntary. We may ask for a first and last name as well as an email address. This information will be retained in order to comply with your request to send you periodic updates, from which you can unsubscribe at any time and thereby have your information removed from our email newsletter list.
Donations and Transactions
America’s Great Stories® uses Stripe, Inc., to collect online donations and purchase payments on AmericasGreatStories.org which are conducted through Stripe.com. When you make a donation to America’s Great Stories® or purchase an item (such as a book), you will be redirected to Stripe.com to provide the necessary information to process your transaction, including a first and last name, email address, credit card number, and billing and shipping addresses. This information is used to process your payment and, with the exception of the full credit card number, is also retained by Stripe.com for administrative and archival use by America’s Great Stories®. You can view Stripe’s privacy policy here.
When you make a donation, your information, with the exception of any financial information, may also be added to databases controlled solely by America’s Great Stories® for administrative and archival purposes. By donating to America’s Great Stories®, you have given us permission to contact you by email with information related to your donation as well as other informational and promotional content.
Cookies and Log Data
A cookie is a piece of data stored on a user’s hard drive by a website containing information about the user. Cookies enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our website, even though a cookie is stored on a user’s hard drive. AmericasGreatStories.org is run on the WordPress content management system and thus only makes use of standard cookies that are used by the WordPress content management system to handle login and commenting functionality. Since AmericasGreatStories.org does not currently make use of these WordPress functionalities for our users, it is very unlikely that cookies will be stored during a user’s interaction with our website. If a user chooses to make a donation or purchase on our website, Stripe.com will be used to process the transaction. It is possible that Stripe.com will use cookies; you can view Stripe’s cookie policy here.
Analytics
We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the website, track users’ movement throughout the website, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information. We track anonymous analytics information through Google Analytics using ExactMetrics. You can view Google’s privacy policy here and read about how Google uses information obtained from websites that use Google’s services here.
Links to External Websites
AmericasGreatStories.org contains links to third-party websites and other materials located on websites maintained by other organizations or individuals. Once you access a link to another website, please be aware that America’s Great Stories® is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.
Embedded Content from External Websites
Pages on AmericasGreatStories.org may include embedded content (e.g. YouTube videos, images, etc.) from websites external to AmericasGreatStories.org. Embedded content appearing on AmericasGreatStories.org which is from other websites behaves in the same way as if the user had visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website. America’s Great Stories® is not responsible for the privacy practices and procedures arising from the use of embedded content from external websites.
Security
America’s Great Stories® has taken steps to ensure that personally identifiable information collected in the future is secure. We use commercially reasonable efforts to store, maintain, and secure personal information to protect it from loss, misuse, alteration, or destruction by any unauthorized party.
Because the Internet is a public and open facility, no security measures can guarantee complete confidentiality under all circumstances. To help preserve your confidentiality, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any personal information you do not want disclosed through forms or by other means on AmericasGreatStories.org. This Privacy Policy does not create any contractual or legal rights on your behalf.
Contacting Us
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or the privacy practices of America’s Great Stories®, please contact us by using the form here at www.americasgreatstories.org/wp-index.php/contact or by emailing info@americasgreatstories.org. Note that by using the contact form on AmericasGreatStories.org, you are subject to the provisions relating to and found in this Privacy Policy.
Updates
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we change the policy in a material way, a notice will be posted on our website along with the updated Privacy Policy.