Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

By visiting our website, you are accepting the practices described in our Terms of Use. If you do not agree to our Terms of Use, please do not use our website.

The policies below are applicable to www.fsg.org and any other websites operated by FSG. The practices described in this Terms of Use apply only to information gathered online at our website. They do not apply to information that you may submit to us offline or to websites maintained by other companies or organizations to which we may link.

Information We Collect

Personal Information

You can browse FSG.org without submitting your personal information to us. However, there are a number of circumstances in which you may need to provide us with your personal information.

Here are the most common ways in which we collect your personal information:

• When you sign up to receive e-mail newsletters from us;
• When you download publications and articles from us;
• When you register for and participate in our programs, activities, initiatives, and events;
• When you request information or assistance;
• In conjunction with your employment inquiries or applications;
• When you participate with social media accounts involving FSG properties;
• When you participate in communities and other interactive services;
• In conjunction with any verification of your account information;
• In conjunction with investigations into any activity that may violate the law or the website’s terms and conditions;
• When you communicate with us through the website;
• In conjunction with any other place on the website where you knowingly volunteer personal information.

Non-Personal Information

When you interact with the website, our servers may keep an activity log that does not identify you individually (“Non-Personal Information”). We may collect the following categories of Non-Personal Information:

• We may collect certain demographic data such as age, gender, and five-digit zip code as part of collecting personal information;
• We collect and store certain device information about your computer, mobile device, or other device that you use to access the website. This information may include IP address, geolocation information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language, and other transactional information;
• We automatically log certain usage information about your use of the website, including a history of the pages you view. We use this information to provide you with a more customized experience on the website;
• We collect and store additional “traffic data” such as time of access, date of access, software crash reports, access times, and referring website addresses; and
• We collect and store your search terms and search results.

We also collect and store certain other Non-Personal Information regarding our users’ use of the website so that third parties may provide us with reports and analysis regarding usage and browsing patterns of the website.

We may combine Personal Information and Non-Personal Information gathered from the website and information that we have received, gathered, acquired, or stored from other sources, both information collected offline by FSG and information received from third parties—including information that currently exists in our files—into a single customer record. We also use and/or combine information that we collect offline to edit, enhance, and/or check the accuracy of your customer record.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we learn from you to help us personalize and continually improve your experience on the website. We use your Personal and Non-Personal Information in the following ways:

• For editorial purposes;
• Responding to your inquiries;
• Communicating with you about your transactions with us and sending you information about features on our website or about FSG;
• Communicating with you about changes to our policies;
• Personalizing content and experiences on our website, including providing you with recommendations based on your preferences;
• Sending you newsletters, mailings, and information about programs, initiatives, activities, and events by e-mail or another medium;
• Processing your employment application;
• Event or program registration;
• Optimizing or improving our programs, services, and operations;
• Research and development;
• Verifying your account and account activities;
• Detecting, investigating, and preventing activities that may violate our policies or be illegal;
• Performing statistical, demographic, and marketing analyses of users of the website and their usage patterns; and
• Managing our organization.

We Are Committed to Protecting Your Personal Information

We do not sell or rent personal information to others, unless we are required to do so to conform to an applicable law or to protect the safety of FSG, our affiliates, the users of our website, or the public. We use your information only for the limited purposes of sending you updates and useful information about our services, programs, resources for the field, enhancing the site operation, for statistical purposes, and for overall systems administration.

Cookies

Like many websites, we use “cookies,” which are small text files that are stored on your computer or equipment when you visit certain online pages that record your preferences. We use cookies to track use of our Websites and online services. We may also use cookies to monitor traffic, improve the Websites, and make it easier and/or relevant for your use. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies.

Like some websites, we may also use web beacons or flash cookies. A web beacon or flash cookie (also known as an “action tag” “tracer tag,” or “single-pixel GIF”) is an invisible graphic on a web page or e-mail newsletter that is programmed to collect non-personally identifiable information about your use of a given website or newsletter, e.g., whether you opened the e-mail. Like cookies, web beacons allow FSG and its technology providers to summarize overall usage patterns for our analysis and provide personalized services to you. We do not share or provide personally identifiable information we may collect through such web beacons, such as names or e-mail addresses, without your permission.

Childrens’ Personal Information

While our website may be viewed by children, our site is not specifically dedicated to children and we do not actively solicit information from children. Children under the age of 13 are required to obtain permission from a parent or guardian prior to providing any personal information.

General Data Protection Regulation

The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) is a European Regulation concerning the use and processing of personal information. We are committed to processing your information in compliance with the GDPR upon its effectiveness on May 25, 2018.

The Website is published in the United States and is subject to laws of the United States. If you are located in a country outside the United States and voluntarily submit personal information to us, you thereby consent to the general use of such information as provided in this Privacy Policy and to the transfer of that information to, and/or storage of that information in, the United States.

Questions and comments should be directed to Alicia Dunn, Director of Communications, at alicia.dunn@fsg.org, or at the address or number listed below.

FSG Communications Department
179 Lincoln Street, 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02111
866.351.8484

To unsubscribe from e-mail updates from FSG or to delete your contact record, email Mary Gaughan at info@fsg.org.

Changes to Terms of Use

FSG reserves the right to amend the Terms of Use at any time, without any reason, without notice to you. Any changes will be published here, and you should check this website to access our most current Terms of Use. We will publish a “last updated” date at the bottom of this page.

Last updated: April 15, 2021