Privacy Policy
The American Heart Association (AHA) wants you to know how we use and protect the important information you provide to us. This information summarizes our policy, procedures, and practices.
We collect information as a way to further our mission of building healthier lives free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. The information you provide allows us to help you on a more personal level. We can better respond to your requests, understand your needs, and provide you the information and resources you need. We can also compare your information with the information of others we connect with to identify important trends. Harnessing this information has the potential to lead to breakthroughs in research, product and program development, and more effective services. And these breakthroughs can help lead to healthier lives for all Americans.
Unless you tell us otherwise, when you provide your information online we assume you are agreeing to allow us to use and disclose it as allowed by law and AHA policies to deliver the programs you are involved with and in furtherance of our mission.
- We will comply with all U.S. laws and the laws of countries in which AHA has a business presence.
- When we ask for certain types of sensitive information—such as health information—we will tell you how we intend to use and disclose that information.
- Additional information about how we collect, protect, and use information in our research, fundraising, outreach, consumer education, and other “offline” programs may be found at our Privacy Policy and Standards.
We will use—and require our data management vendors to use—reasonable and appropriate security practices to safeguard your information.
If you change your mind about allowing us to use your information or have questions about our privacy practices, please use the contact options on our Contact Us page to let us know.
Information we Collect
“Personal Information” means information that we can use to identify or contact you. It can also include health and other information you submit when you use our interactive tools and services. We may collect Personal Information in the following ways:
- When you visit or use our online donation and sales systems, whether web-based or mobile, we may collect your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number(s), account numbers, limited location information (for example, to help a mobile app determine the best means of connecting to the database or for shipping something you purchased), user name, and password (so you can log in) and personal health information (such as within our health improvement apps).
- We may collect payment card or similar information when you provide it to us as part of a purchase.
- We may capture the IP address and ID of the device you use to connect to the online service, the type of operating system and browser you use, and information about the site you came from, the parts of our online service you access, the type of mobile device you use, and the site you visit next (see also the Cookies, Tags and Remarketing Pixels information at right).
- We or our service providers may also use cookies, web beacons, or other technologies to collect and store other information about your visit to, or use of, our online services. We may later associate the usage and other information we collect online with personal information about you.
- When you register for or use certain interactive tools and services, many of our mobile Apps, or tools inside many of our Apps.
- When you sign-up for newsletters or other communications from us.
- When you participate in an online survey.
- When you provide personal information in a community area or other public forum.
Children's Privacy
The American Heart Association (AHA) provides additional privacy protection information for those AHA Sites that are directed at children under the age of 13 or where we knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13. Information practices concerning children are found on each website or online service where personal information is collected from children under 13, or used or shared in ways not otherwise covered by the rest of this Online Privacy Statement.
We will not knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without prior verifiable parental consent. With parental consent, we may collect information from children under the age of 13 such as: name, address, email address, account information, and content they create themselves. That information allows us to fulfill requested transactions, facilitate their participation in online activities and other programs, keep records, undertake certain marketing activities, or to otherwise customize or enhance the website experience for children.
Children under the age of 13 may be able to make certain content such as content they create themselves visible to others or the public. This might include, for example, a webpage or parts of webpages operated by children that have been designed for group or public viewing, or photos of themselves involved in our programs or other activities.
Regardless of what is displayed or submitted, parents can revoke their consent and ask that information about their children be hidden or, in some cases, deleted, by contacting our offices by phone at the number at the bottom of this page or via email. To comply with such a request, we must verify the identity of the requesting parent. When a parent revokes consent, we will stop knowingly collecting, using, or disclosing information from that child. To respect the privacy of parents, information that is collected and used for the sole purpose of obtaining verifiable parental consent or providing notice is not maintained in retrievable form by the site if parental consent is not obtained after a reasonable time.
Information from Other Sources
We, or our service providers, and other companies we work with may deploy and use cookies, web beacons, local shared objects, and other tracking technologies for various purposes, such as fraud prevention and monitoring of our advertising and marketing campaign performance. Some of these tracking tools may detect characteristics or settings of the specific device you use to access our online services.
We may also collect information about you from additional online and offline sources including from social media activities, other nonprofits, and commercially available third-party sources. We may combine this information with the personal and other information we have collected about you.
How we use Information we Collect
We use the information discussed above in a number of ways, such as:
- Processing donations and purchase transactions.
- Verifying your identity (such as when you access your account information).
- Preventing fraud and enhancing the security of your account or our online services.
- Responding to your requests and communicating with you.
- Managing your preferences.
- Performing analytics concerning your use of our online services, including your responses to our emails and the pages and advertisements you view.
- Providing you tailored content and marketing messages.
- Operating, evaluating, and improving our programs (including developing new products and services; improving existing products and services; performing data analytics; and performing accounting, auditing, and other internal functions).
- Complying with and enforcing applicable legal requirements, relevant industry standards, contractual obligations, and our policies.
- Helping you understand your personal health information.
- For any other purposes that we may specifically disclose at the time you provide or we collect your information.
We may also use data that we collect on an aggregate or anonymous basis (meaning it does not identify any individuals) for various purposes, where permissible under applicable laws and regulations, to help deliver products, services, and content that are better tailored to the users of our online services and for other purposes.
What we Disclose to Others
We may share the information we collect from and about you within our organization and with certain third parties. For example, we may share your information with:
- Credit card processing companies, to process your payments and donations.
- Our other websites in an effort to bring you improved service across our large range of products and services, when permissible under relevant laws and regulations.
- Other organizations we work with to provide services, research, products, or programs.
- Other similar charities.
- Other third parties to comply with legal requirements such as the demands of applicable subpoenas and court orders; to verify or enforce our terms of use, our other rights, or other applicable policies; to address fraud, security, or technical issues; to respond to an emergency; or otherwise to protect the rights, property, or security of our customers or third parties.
Links to Third-Party Websites
AHA may provide links to websites that are owned or operated by others (“third-party websites”). When you use a link online to visit a third-party website, you will be subject to that website’s privacy and security practices, which may differ from ours. You should familiarize yourself with the privacy policy, terms of use, and security practices of the linked third-party website before providing any information on that website.
Updating your Information and Contacting us with Questions
Keeping your account information up-to-date is very important. You may review or update certain account information by logging in and accessing the account profile section of each online service for which you have registered. If you cannot change the incorrect information online, or you prefer to request changes offline, please use the Contact Us options on our site. Of course, we cannot track down “de-identified” information to change it or undo any prior use of data we used with your actual or implied consent.
Changes to This Online Privacy Statement
We may change this Online Privacy Statement from time to time. When we do, we will let you know by appropriate means such as by posting the revised policy on this page with a new “Last Updated” date. In some cases, you may be asked to agree again to our Privacy Policy or other terms, even if you have already agreed to accept them, because there were changes. Any changes to this Online Privacy Statement will become effective when posted unless indicated otherwise.
Other Privacy Policies and Practices
This Online Privacy Statement describes our practices related to online activity. We have other policies, procedures, and statements that apply to other activities and programs. If you have a question about privacy protections related to “offline” programs, please contact the program staff or use the contact options on our Contact Us page.
This online privacy statement is an explanation of what we do with your information. As for why we do these things:
Last updated November 16, 2015
