Privacy Policy

These terms and conditions (“terms and conditions”) and the privacy policy (“privacy policy”) shall govern the use by you of this website (“origins.virunga.org”) and together shall constitute an agreement between you and the Virunga Origins. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions and privacy policy, you must not use this site.

What information do we collect?

We collect information from you when you request to join our newsletter, make a donation or place an order. However, no personal data is stored by Virunga Origins or on Virunga.org. Instead, Virunga.org is facilitated by third-party service providers based in the USA in order to send out newsletter updates and to process donations and payments.

When registering on our site, donating or ordering from us (or our related sites visitvirunga.org, virorig.wpengine.com) , you will be asked to provide certain information related to the purpose of your visit; your name, e-mail address, mailing address, phone number and if applicable, your credit card information. This enables us to send you information requested, to receive your donation, or to complete your order and to contact you regarding the same. You may, however, visit our site anonymously.

We are aware of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), an EU law on data protection and privacy, and its application to individuals within the European Union and the transmission of their personal data outside the EU. We are aware that under GDPR, you are required to be provided with real alternatives when it comes to sharing any personal data with us, and that you should have complete choice when choosing what to share with us, as well as the right to unsubscribe or remove your data at any time.

What do we use your information for?

Any of the information we collect from you may be used in one of the following ways:

  • To personalize your experience(Your information helps us to better respond to your individual needs)
  • To improve our website(We continually strive to improve our website offerings based on the information and feedback we receive from you)
  • To improve customer service(Your information helps us to more effectively respond to your customer service requests and support needs)
  • To process transactions(Your information, whether public or private, will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company for any reason whatsoever, without your consent, other than for the express purpose of delivering the purchased product or service requested.)
  • To send periodic emails(The email address you provide for order processing will only be used to send you information regarding Virunga National Park and Virunga Origins if requested, and updates pertaining to your donation or order.)
  • You can unsubscribe from communications at any time by clicking the link in the email sent from us
How do we protect your information?

Our third party service providers implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you place an order or enter, submit, or access your personal information.

We offer the use of a secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our payment gateway providers database only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems. Both we and our payment gateway providers are required to keep all confidential personal data supplied confidential.

After a transaction, your private information (credit cards, social security numbers, financials, etc.) will not be stored on our servers.

Do we use cookies?

Yes. We use cookies to help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart and understand and save your preferences for future visits. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the sites or service providers systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information.

Do we disclose any information to outside parties?

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

California Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

Because we value your privacy we have taken the necessary precautions to be in compliance with the California Online Privacy Protection Act. We therefore will not distribute your personal information to outside parties without your consent.

We also aim to be compliant with EU data protection laws, notably GDPR.

Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

We are in compliance with the requirements of COPPA (Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act), we do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age. Our website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.

Online Privacy Policy Only

This online privacy policy applies only to information collected through our website and not to information collected offline.

Terms and Conditions

Please also visit our Terms and Conditions section establishing the use, disclaimers, and limitations of liability governing the use of our website at https://origins.virunga.org/terms-conditions

Your Consent

By using our site, you consent to our website’s privacy policy.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page, and/or update the Privacy Policy modification date below.

This policy was last modified on May 29, 2016.

Contacting Us

If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy, please email us at happy@origins.virunga.org