The Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association (WFAA) respects the privacy of every individual with whom we do business and those who visit our websites. In this statement, we disclose our information practices, what personal data WFAA collects from you through our interactions with you, and how we use that data. This includes what type of information is gathered and tracked, how the information is used, and with whom the information is shared.
Personal Data We Collect
WFAA collects data to operate effectively and provide you the best experiences with our websites and programs. You provide some of this data directly when you submit a form with personal information (e.g. when you send us an address update or make an online gift). We get some of it by recording how you interact with our websites and emails, for example, using technologies like cookies. We also obtain data from third parties.
These third-party sources vary over time, but have included:
- Data brokers from which we purchase demographic data to supplement our alumni and donor records;
- Partners with which we offer co-branded services or engage in joint marketing activities; and
- Publicly available sources such as open government databases or other data in the public domain.
WFAA does not and will not sell, rent, trade or market the personal data of constituents (alumni, donors, friends, students, etc.) to third parties. We do share our data with campus partners, business associates, Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA) chapters and select individuals and entities for alumni relations and development purposes.
How We Use Personal Data
We use the data we collect to operate our business, to communicate with constituents, to improve our products and personalize your experiences. In carrying out these purposes, we combine data we collect to give you a more seamless, consistent and personalized experience. We also use data to help show more relevant ads delivered by third parties such as Google and Facebook.
Some additional detail about how we use personal data:
- Operating our business
- As stewards of alumni and donor records for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, WFAA plays an important role in the university’s data ecosystem. WFAA is responsible for the storage and maintenance of alumni and donor contact information and performs this work on behalf of the university and its many schools, colleges and units. We work to keep alumni connected to the university and these connection points emerge in a variety of ways for different constituents including: local WAA chapters, newsletters from schools and colleges, donor gifts, alumni travel and volunteer opportunities.
- Communicating with constituents
- We use data we collect to communicate with you on behalf of WFAA, the University of Wisconsin Foundation (UWF), the Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA), and the University of Wisconsin. For example, we may contact you by phone, mail, email or other means to inform you of campus news, invite you to events you may be interested in, ask you to make a gift to the university, or share a variety of other information. If at any point you would like to change channels through which we communicate with you or the topics you hear about, please contact us at recordsupdates@supportuw.org. We are happy to adjust accordingly.
- Improving our products
- We use data to improve the products and services we offer to our constituents. For example, we analyze data to understand topics alumni are interested in and build alumni events related to those topics. We also use tools like Google Analytics to capture data about our website visitors. Web analytics programs capture and store information like the type of browser you are using, the type of computer operating system you are using, the IP address of your computer, and the domain name of the website from which you linked to our site. This information is used to ensure our website meets the needs of the majority of our users, as well as to diagnose problems with our website. This information also helps us produce statistics on how frequently our various pages are visited.
- Personalizing your experience
- While we serve a large number of alumni and donors, technology allows us the opportunity to personalize your experience based on what we know about you. For example, if you were a graduate of the College of Engineering, a season ticket-holder for Women’s Basketball, and have indicated an interest in career networking, we may communicate with you about these topics. We believe that delivering content customized for you, based on your interests, provides a better experience than content generalized for an audience as broad and diverse as the University of Wisconsin community. You may see this customized content in the mail, on our websites, in email we send you, in social media or in advertising.
- Advertising
- WFAA uses data we collect through our interactions with you and through third party sources to select and deliver some of the ads you see from us. The ads that you see may be selected based on data we process about you, such as your educational history, your interests, your location, your transactions, or the content you view on our websites. We may share data we collect with third parties, such as Facebook and Google, so that they can select and deliver some of the ads you see in their products, or other sites and apps serviced by these partners. Advertisers may choose to place web beacons or cookies on their sites in order to allow them to collect information such as activities, purchases and visits. You may find more information about these companies’ practices, including the choices they offer, by clicking on the company names above. As mentioned above, this data helps us deliver a more personalized experience for you and helps us be more effective with our advertising. Our goal is for you to see ads that may be of interest to you and those that will help you maintain your connection to UW-Madison.
Reasons We Share Your Personal Data
We share your personal data with your consent or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any product you have requested or authorized. WFAA does not and will not sell, rent, trade or market the personal data of constituents to third parties. We do share our data with campus partners, business associates, Wisconsin Alumni Association chapters, and select individuals and entities for alumni relations and development purposes.
We also share data when required by law, to respond to a legal process, to protect our constituents, to protect lives, or to maintain the security of our systems.
How to Access & Control Your Personal Data
You can make choices about WFAA’s collection and use of your data. How you can access or control your personal data will depend on the type of data.
You can always choose whether you wish to receive communications we send on behalf of WFAA, UWF, WAA and the university via email, SMS messages, telephone calls and postal mail. To do so, please contact us at recordsupdates@supportuw.org. You can also opt out from receiving interest-based advertising from us on Facebook and Google by adjusting your settings on their respective platforms.
In addition to ways WFAA can help you access and control your data, you may want to consider employing some browser-based options:
- Cookie Controls
- Relevant browser-based cookie controls are described in the Cookies section of this privacy statement.
- Browser Controls for “Do Not Track”
- Some browsers have incorporated “Do Not Track” (DNT) features that can send a signal to the websites you visit indicating you do not wish to be tracked. Because there is not yet a common understanding of how to interpret the DNT signal, not all services not currently respond to browser DNT signals. We will continue to monitor developments in this area for a common understanding of how to treat DNT signals and will adopt these technologies accordingly. In the meantime, you can use the range of other tools to control data collection and use
- Ad-blocking plugins
- There are many ad-blocking plugins available for consumer user. For more information, please see this article on Tom’s Guide.
Cookies & Similar Technologies
WFAA uses cookies (small text files stored on your device) and similar technologies to help collect data and to enable full functionality of our websites and online services. Cookies allow us, among other things, to store your preferences and settings, enable you to sign-in, combat fraud, analyze how our websites and online services are performing, and provide interest-based advertising. When you log into one of our websites, we use your username and sessions for similar purposes. Our websites may also include web beacons and cookies from third-party service providers.
You have a variety of tools to control cookies, web beacons and similar technologies, including browser controls to block and delete cookies and controls from some third-party service providers to opt out of data collection through web beacons and similar technologies. Your browser and other choices may affect your experience with our websites and services or limit functionality.
Data Security
WFAA has implemented commercially reasonable and appropriate technical and organizational measures to help us keep your personal data secure, accurate, current, and complete. When forms on our website asks you to submit personally identifiable information, that information is encrypted and authenticated using TLS 1.2 when it is sent from your browser to our server. TLS 1.2 is a strong protocol and industry standard method of securing online communications. Many browser will notify you that the website is using encryption by placing a lock symbol in your browser window or address bar. To learn more about TLS encryption, please visit this article from Click SSL.
Any information that you submit to our website is stored on secure servers that are not publicly accessible. When this data is downloaded for processing and business purposes, we take additional precautions to protect your data in our access-restricted offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific task are granted access to personally identifiable information.
If you have any concerns about the security of our website, please contact us at web@supportuw.org.
As part of our continuing service to you, we may send you email communications. These communications are considered supplemental to any “transactional” emails we may send you regarding event registration, gifts, membership or concerns about your account with WFAA. You have the right to choose to “opt-out” of these supplemental emails. Users who do not wish to continue to receive these types of emails should email WFAA at recordsupdates@supportuw.org.
Email messages sent from WFAA may contain confidential information and/or material. It is not intended for transmission to, or receipt by, any unauthorized persons. If you have received an email message in error, please (1) do not read it, (2) reply to the sender indicating that you received the message in error so that we can correct our records, and (3) erase or destroy the message. If you have received an email transmission in error, any information or advice contained in it should not be relied upon, copied, forwarded or further disseminated by electronic, print, or any other method of communication.
External Websites
This website contains links to other sites. Please be aware that WFAA is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those sites. This Notice applies solely to information collected by this website.
Children
This website and underlying pages are not directed towards children and do not knowingly solicit or collect information from children. Furthermore, we do not intentionally target interest-based advertising to children. If parents want to supervise their children’s online activities, they may consider using one of the commercially available parental control tools. These tools can also prevent children from disclosing personal information without parental consent.
Notification of Changes
WFAA reserves the right to alter this statement at any time by posting a new one at this location. This privacy statement was last updated in May 2018.
Contact Us
Please contact us with any concerns or questions via email at uwf@supportuw.org or through the U.S. mail at:
Legal Affairs
University of Wisconsin Foundation
1848 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53726-4090
Statement of Scope
This statement applies only to the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association, and divisions thereof, including the University of Wisconsin Foundation (UWF) and the Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA). This statement does not apply to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). For more information about UW-Madison’s privacy policies, visit the Office of the Registrar’s website at registrar.wisc.edu.