Privacy policy.

Last Updated: January 9, 2023

We recognize that your privacy is very important. This privacy policy covers the policies of Green The Bid (“GTB”) on the collection, use, and disclosure of your information, including any personally identifiable information or other data collected that could directly or indirectly identify you (“Personal Data”) when you access the Green The Bid ℠ website at www.greenthebid.earth  (the “Site”), or anytime you use our other Green The Bid products or services (the Site and other GTB products, programs and services, altogether, the “Services”).

Each time you use our Services, you consent to the collection, use and storage of the collected information as described in this Privacy Policy. Please read it carefully and contact us at hello@greenthebid.earth if you have any questions.

  1. What information do we collect?

Green the Bid Pledge.  If you wish to become a member of GTB, we will ask you to fill in a pledge form which will ask for the following information:

  • Your name

  • Your company name, your role and title

  • Your work email address

  • Your company’s role in the production industry (for example, brand/client, agency, production company, etc.).

Donor Payment Information. Our third-party payment processing service provider, Paypal, will collect bank account, credit or debit card, or other information from you, which may include personal information,  to enable them to process your donation (“Donor Payment Information”). Please note that we do not collect the Donor Payment Information. Paypal will share with us your name and email address which we will use to send you a donation receipt.  You should review Paypal’s data privacy policy for more information about its data collection practices. 

Inquiries.  If you are curious to learn more about GTB we will ask you to fill in an inquiry form which will ask for the following information:

  • Your name

  • Your companyname

  • Your work email address

  • Your company’s role in the production industry (for example, brand/client, agency, production company, etc.)

Contact.  If you wish to contact GTB through utilizing our online contact form, you will be asked to provide the following:

  • Your name

  • Your email address

  • Subject and message

Automatically Collected Online Usage Activity

As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically when you visit our website. When you use our Services, we may collect certain information automatically from you, which   may include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, clickstream data, landing page, and referring URL. To collect this information, a cookie may be set on your computer or device when you visit our Services. Cookies contain a small amount of information that allows our web servers to recognize you. We store information that we may collect through cookies, log files, and/or clear gifs to record your preferences. We may also automatically collect information about your use of features of our Services, about the functionality of our Services, frequency of visits, duration of visits, points of visit and other information related to your interactions with the Services. We may track your use from our Site to our social media channels. In some countries, including countries in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), United Kingdom and Switzerland, the information referenced above in this paragraph may be considered personal information under applicable data protection laws.  You can set your browser to remove or reject cookies; however some Services may not work properly without cookies.

Mobile Device Data.  When you access our Services through a mobile device, we also collect certain mobile device information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device you use, your mobile operating system, and the type of mobile Internet browsers you use.

Services and Customer Support. We collect information such as your name and email address to the extent necessary for us to provide the Services that you have requested and/or to provide customer support.

2. How do we use cookies?

Cookies are small text files which are transferred to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website or app. We use them to remember your preferences, improve your user experience, and help us understand how people are using our Services, so we can make them better.  Cookies can be session cookies, which expire once you close your web browser. Cookies can also be persistent cookies, which stay on your device or a set period of time or until you delete them.  GTB uses the following types of cookies:

  • Strictly Necessary Cookies: These cookies are necessary to allow us to operate our Services as you have requested.

  • Performance/Analytics Cookies: We use cookies and other similar technologies to analyze how our Services are accessed, is used, or is performing. We use this information to maintain, operate, and continually improve our Services. We may also obtain information from the membership email communications we send to you, including whether you opened or forwarded the email or clicked on any of its content. This information tells us about our membership email's effectiveness and helps us ensure that we're delivering information that you find interesting.

  • Functional Cookies: These cookies help us remember your preferences and settings to enhance your user experience.

Using our Services without cookies is also possible. In your browser, you can deactivate the saving of cookies, limit them to particular websites, or set the browser to notify you when a cookie is sent. You can also delete cookies from your PC hard drive at any time (file: "cookies"). Please note that in this case you will have to expect a limited page presentation and limited user guidance. Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/

3. How do we use the collected information? 

We use the information we collect for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, as covered in any agreement that incorporates this Privacy Policy, or as disclosed to you in connection with our Services. For example, we will use your information to:

  • Provide and deliver products, programs or services, including emails about quarterly meetings, new GTB resources and occasional donation drives;

  • Operate and improve our operations, systems, products, programs and services;

  • Respond to your comments and questions, provide customer service;

  • Provide service and support, such as sending donation receipts, technical notices, updates, security alerts, and administrative messages and providing customer support and troubleshooting;

  • Enforce our terms and conditions or protect our business, partners, or members; or

  • Protect against, investigate, and deter fraudulent, unauthorized, or illegal activity

Legal Basis For Processing. When we process your Personal Data we will only do so where at least one of the following applies:

  • Provide our service to you: Most of the time, the reason we process your Personal Data is to perform the contract that you have with us. If you provide us with your email to sign up to become a member, we will use the email address to contact you and/or deliver our Services to you.

  • Legitimate interests: We may use your Personal Data where we have legitimate interests to do so. For instance, we will process Personal Data for administrative, fraud detection and other legal purposes.

  • Consent: From time to time, we may ask for your consent to use your Personal Data for certain specific reasons. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at the address provided at the end of this Privacy Policy.

  • Legal Compliance: When it is necessary for us to use your Personal Data to comply with legal obligations.

4. Is Information Collected by or Disclosed to Third Parties by using the Services?

We do not share, sell or rent to third parties your information except as described in this Privacy Policy.  Examples of instances in which we share your information are provided below:

a. Third party service providers. We, like many businesses, sometimes engage other companies to perform certain business-related functions on our behalf so that we can focus on our core business. Examples of these services include, but are not limited to, hosting service provider, video conferencing service provider, website evaluation and data analysis, spreadsheet-database service provider, payment processing service provider, marketing and email distribution services.  We authorize them to use this Personal Data only in connection data security and privacy standards.

b. Business transfers. We may sell, assign, buy, transfer or otherwise acquire or dispose of certain of our businesses or corporate assets. In the event of such or similar event, Personal Data we collected from you may be part of the transferred assets. We may also share Personal Data with our auditors, attorneys or other advisors in connection with the forgoing corporate transactions. You acknowledge and agree that any successor to or acquirer of us will continue to have the right to use your Personal Data and other information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy.

c. Website analytics.   We use analytics tools provided by Squarespace to track all user interactions with content on the site for the purposes of monitoring the performance.  For more details of Squarespace’s privacy and security processes and its efforts to comply with international privacy laws and regulations, please visit https://www.squarespace.com/privacy.

d. Legal requirements.  We may disclose your Personal Data if required to do so by law (including, without limitation responding to a subpoena or request from law enforcement, court or government agency or other public authorities) or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary (i) to comply with a legal obligation, (ii) to protect or defend our rights, interests or property or that of other customers or users, (iii) to act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of the Services or the public, or (iv) to protect against legal liability or potential fraud, as determined in our sole discretion.

e. Your consent.  If we intend to use any of your Personal Data collected in any manner that is not specified herein, we will inform you of such anticipated use prior to or at the time at which such Personal Data is collected or we will obtain your consent subsequent to such collection but prior to such use. In short, we will honor the choices you make regarding your Personal Data and will inform you about any other intended uses of such information.

5. Linking to or from Third Party Social Media Platforms.

Users may follow GTB on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms as made available from time to time. Users should click on the hyperlinks for each site to review the applicable privacy policies for more detail about information collected from these sites.

6. How Does GTB Comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act?

Our Services are directed toward a general audience and are not directed at nor intended for use by children.  We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13 without parental consent. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with information without their consent, he or she should contact us at hello@greenthebid.earth. We will delete such information from our files within a reasonable time.

7. GDPR+ Data Protection Rights.

If you are located in countries that are within the European Economic Area (the “EEA”), Switzerland or UK, GDPR and its Swiss and UK GDPR counterparts give you rights with respect to your personal data, subject to any exemptions provided by the law, including the following rights:

  • Request access to your Personal Data;

  • Request correction or deletion of your Personal Data;

  • Object to our use and processing of your Personal Data;

  • Request that we limit our use and processing of your Personal Data; and

  • Request portability of your Personal Data.

Provided that you are enrolled, you can access, correct, or delete your personal data by contacting us at hello@greenthebid.earth.  We will consider all such requests and provide our responses as soon as we can.  Please note, however, that personal information may be exempt from such requests in certain circumstances, which may include circumstances where we need to keep processing your personal information for our legitimate interests or to comply with a legal obligations. Users located in EEA, United Kingdom or Switzerland also have the right to make a complaint to a government supervisory authority.

8. Cross-Border Data Transfers

Sharing of information laid out in Section 4 sometimes involves cross-border data transfers, for instance to the United States of America and other jurisdictions. GTB may also subcontract processing to, or share your Personal Data with, third parties located in countries other than your home country.  Your Personal Data, therefore, may be subject to privacy laws that are different from those in your country of residence.

Our Services are hosted on Squarespace. Like GTB, helping to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of customer data is of the utmost importance to Squarespace, as is maintaining customer trust and confidence. For more details of Squarespace’s privacy and security processes and its efforts to comply with international privacy laws and regulations, please visit https://www.squarespace.com/privacy.  By using our Services, you consent to your personal information being transferred to our servers as set out in this policy.

Where our Services allow for users located in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), UK or Switzerland, and when we transfer their Personal Data to countries outside of the EEA, UK or Switzerland as processors, we transfer the Personal Data in accordance with applicable privacy laws and, in particular, those appropriate contractual, technical, and organizational measures as described in  the Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the EU Commission, as amended from time to time.  Standard Contractual Clauses are commitments between companies transferring personal data, binding them to protect the privacy and security of your data.

9. California Privacy Rights

Shine the Light Law.  Pursuant to Section 1798.83 of the California Civil Code, residents of California have the right to obtain certain information about the types of personal information that companies with whom they have an established business relationship (and that are not otherwise exempt) have shared with third parties for direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year, including the names and addresses of those third parties, and examples of the types of services or products marketed by those third parties. We do not share your personal information with third parties for direct marketing purposes.

California Privacy Rights Act.  As a nonprofit, we are not subject to California Privacy Rights Act (the “CPRA”) as CPRA is applicable to for-profit businesses only. Regardless, we do not sell or share personal information. We will closely monitor the development of the CPRA and other privacy laws that may apply to our activities and will implement reasonable administrative, technical and physical security measures for compliance.

10. How long does GTB retain information collected? 

We follow generally accepted standards to store and protect the Personal Data we collect, both during transmission and once received and stored, including utilization of encryption where appropriate.  We retain Personal Data only for as long as necessary to provide the Services you have requested and thereafter for a variety of legitimate legal or business purposes. These might include retention periods (i) mandated by law, contract or similar obligations applicable to our business operations; (ii) for preserving, resolving, defending or enforcing our legal/contractual rights; or (iii) needed to maintain adequate and accurate business and financial records.  If you have any questions about the security or retention of your Personal Data, you can contact us at hello@greenthebid.earth.

11. What is GTB’s Security Policy?

We have implemented reasonable administrative, technical and physical security measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, destruction or alteration. For example, we limit access to this information to authorized employees and contractors who need to know that information in order to operate, develop or improve our Services. However, although we endeavor to provide reasonable security for information we process and maintain, no security system can ever be 100% secure.

12. How Does GTB Respond to “Do Not Track” Signals?

“Do Not Track” is a feature enabled on some browsers that sends a signal to request that a web application disable its tracking or cross-site user tracking. At present, GTB does not respond to or alter its practices when a Do Not Track signal is received.

13. How Will I Be Notified of Changes to Your Privacy Policy? 

If GTB makes material changes to its Privacy Policy, it will notify you by: (i) changing the Last Updated Date at the top of the Privacy Policy, (ii) sending an email to its users, and/or (iii) adding a statement to the Site.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions regarding privacy while using our Services, or have questions about our practices, please contact us via email at hello@greenthebid.earth.