POLICY STATEMENT
Creating Alternatives recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy of the personal information
obtained from its supporters, donors, volunteers and other stakeholders.

Creating Alternatives is committed to collecting, using and/or disclosing personal information
responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the fulfillment of its charitable purposes and the
services it provides.

This policy is designed to assist you in understanding how Creating Alternatives collects, uses and
safeguards your personal information and to assist you in making informed decisions about providing
personal information to Creating Alternatives or using its website.

TYPES OF INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND HOW IT IS USED
“Personal information” refers to any information about an identifiable individual, whether it concerns
your e-mail address, telephone number, residential address or credit card information.
Creating Alternatives gathers personal information about you only when voluntarily submitted by you or
otherwise only with your consent. By visiting and using the Creating Alternatives website you agree to
the Privacy Policy.

The collection of personal information is limited to that which is necessary for the purposes identified by
Creating Alternatives.

If you donate to Creating Alternatives, personal information will be collected from you in order to
process that donation and provide you with a charitable receipt.

Creating Alternatives utilizes tools and resources to help it understand its donors and potential donors,
gathering information from publicly available resources to assess the capacity of donors and potential
donors to support Creating Alternatives. Creating Alternatives uses donor names, addresses and prior
giving history to undertake analysis projects for fundraising development and to ensure only effective
and relevant communications are sent to donors or potential donors.

Creating Alternatives also collects and uses personal information to generate statistics and aggregate
reports for internal use and research.
If you make an online request for information, personal information will be collected from you in order
to reply to your request.

With your permission, we will also use personal information collected from you to send you information

about Creating Alternatives fundraising campaigns or major grant initiatives, or updates about public
education and advocacy efforts.

If you apply to volunteer with Creating Alternatives, we collect personal information required to
determine your eligibility, to match your skills with Creating Alternatives’ volunteer needs, to do
scheduling and to ensure your safety when working as a volunteer.

For petitions and surveys you have signed or completed in support of Creating Alternatives’ advocacy
efforts, we treat your name, city of residence, province/territory of residence, and comments (if any) as
public information—for example, we may provide compilations of petitions, with your comments, to
political leaders, elected representatives and other public officials and decision-makers We will not use
or disclose your personal information for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except
with your consent or as permitted or required by law.

We may also make your petition comments, along with your first name, city and province/territory
available to the public online once you have opted to allow that disclosure. However, no identifying
information is collected or shared without your consent.
When you visit Creating Alternatives’ website, we also collect aggregate data to better understand how
the website is used and to improve the performance of the website for our users. Please also refer to
the section below about “Cookies”.

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Creating Alternatives does not trade, rent or sell your personal information.
Creating Alternatives does not disclose your credit card information provided by you except to the
appropriate banking institutions or payment processing provider in order to process a credit or debit
authorization for payment, or to resolve a dispute.

Third-party service providers may be engaged by Creating Alternatives to perform a variety of functions,
including mailing our brochures, processing your donation, fulfilling your order or providing technical
services for our website. These third-party providers have access to personal information if needed to
perform the functions for which they are retained. However, we direct that those companies may only
use such personal information for the purpose of performing their roles and may not use it for any other
purpose. In these cases, when information is shared, Creating Alternatives will demand reasonable
assurance from the third-party service providers that they will protect your personal information in
conformity with Creating Alternatives’ privacy practices.

With your permission, we share parts of your information but never contact details such as email, street
address or phone number with political leaders, decision-makers and the general public when you sign
petitions or complete surveys.

Creating Alternatives may in certain circumstances be required to disclose personal information without
your consent, if required by law, for example, to satisfy a government request, subpoena or court order.

ACCURACY AND ACCESS

Creating Alternatives makes reasonable efforts to keep personal information accurate, complete and as
up to date as is necessary for the purposes that it is being collected and used for. If, at any time, you
would like to access your personal information held by Creating Alternatives or you need to update or
correct your personal information you may let us know by phone, email or in writing, using the contact
information below.

LIMITING USE, DISCLOSURE AND RETENTION
Creating Alternatives shall not use and/or disclose your personal information for purposes other than
those for which it was collected unless it has first obtained your consent or as permitted or required by
law.

Creating Alternatives retains personal information only as long as is necessary for the fulfillment of
those purposes for which it was collected or as required by law.

PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Creating Alternatives endeavours to protect your personal information from loss or theft, as well as
unauthorized access, use or disclosure, regardless of the format in which such personal information is
stored. Creating Alternatives has implemented technical measures (such as passwords and encryption)
physical measures (such as locked filing cabinets), organizational measures (such as limiting access to
only those “who need to know”), and appropriate to the sensitivity level of the information in its efforts
to protect the personal information under its control.

With respect to the handling of credit card information, Creating Alternatives uses Blackbaud eTapestry
to process donations. Blackbaud adheres to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS)
and uses the facilities of a Payment Application Data Security Standards (PA DSS) payment processor to
store your payment card details in a secure environment.

Creating Alternatives uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to help ensure the safety and security
of online donations. SSL technology enables encryption (scrambling) of sensitive information, including
passwords and credit card numbers, during your online transactions.

While Creating Alternatives strives to use acceptably commercial means to protect your personal
information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

COOKIES
“Cookies” are pieces of information that a web site transfers to an individual’s hard drive for record
keeping purposes. Cookies function as your identification card. Creating Alternatives uses temporary
cookies to customize your experience on our website. These only remain in effect while your browser is
open. No personal information is gathered or shared without your consent.
You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie. This gives you the chance to decide
whether to accept it. To learn more about cookies and how to change your settings, please use the Help
function in your browser.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES

Creating Alternatives offers links to sites that are not operated by Creating Alternatives. Those links are
provided solely for convenience and Creating Alternatives does not endorse in any manner whatsoever,
or accept any responsibility for, the content of such websites, the use of such websites, or any products
or services advertised on or sold through any such websites. Creating Alternatives is not responsible for
the privacy practices of those other sites. It is important to familiarize yourself with such third parties’
privacy policies before providing them with your personal information.

OPENNESS
Creating Alternatives may update its Privacy Policy from time to time. The most up-to date Privacy
Policy is made available on the Creating Alternatives website and shall be deemed to be the Privacy
Policy then in effect. Additional information about our privacy practices can be obtained from Creating
Alternatives’ Privacy Officer as described below.

HOW TO CONTACT CREATING ALTERNATIVES
If you have any questions about Creating Alternatives’ Privacy Policy or its privacy practices, or if you
wish to request that we do not send you materials, please contact Creating Alternatives’ Privacy Officer
at:
4300 Steeles Ave W, Unit 18, Vaughan, ON, L4L 4C2
Telephone: 905-264-9007
Email: [email protected]