privacy policy
section 1: collection & use of user information
The Evanston Community Foundation is committed to protecting your privacy online. We do not disclose any personal information about our donors to anyone except are required by law, and we do not sell or rent personal information to others.
When you make a donation or purchase something from the Evanston Community Foundation website (Hereafter referred to as “our website”), as part of the buying and selling process, we collect the personal information you give us such as your name, address and email address.
All donation and purchase transactions automatically result in an email receipt sent from Evanston Community Foundation to the email address you specify during your checkout. In the case of donor contributions made online, donor information will be used to generate a donor acknowledgment letter and to update our confidential donor records. Any user who has donated to the Evanston Community Foundation may be sent other emails or mailings about our organization, and you will always have an opportunity to opt out.
When you browse our website, we also automatically receive your computer’s internet protocol (IP) address in order to provide us with information that helps us learn about your browser and operating system.
section 2: consent
When you provide us with personal information to complete a transaction, verify your credit card, or place an order, we imply that you consent to our collecting it and using it for that specific reason only.
If we ask for your personal information for a secondary reason (e.g., marketing), we will either ask you directly for your expressed consent, or provide you with an opportunity to say no.
If after you opt-in, you change your mind, you may withdraw your consent for us to contact you, for the continued collection, use or disclosure of your information, at anytime, by contacting us at or mailing us at:
Evanston Community Foundation
1560 Sherman Avenue Suite 535
Evanston, Illinois 60201
section 3: disclosure
We may disclose your personal information if we are required by law to do so or if you violate our Terms of Service.
section 4: ecommerce & payment processing
Credit card donations and purchases you make online via our ecommerce platform are processed with either Braintree Payments or Stripe. Any payment data submitted through our website is stored within Braintree’s and Stripe's secure databases. ECF does not have access to your credit card details.
All direct payment gateways adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of credit card information by our store and its service providers.
For more insight, you may also want to read Braintree Payment’s Terms of Service or Privacy Statement.
section 5: security
To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry best practices to make sure it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.
If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored as an encrypted “payment token” within Braintree Payments’ and Stripe's secure servers. Although no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional generally accepted industry standards.
section 6: third-party services
In general, the third-party providers used by us will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to allow them to perform the services they provide to us.
However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies in respect to the information we are required to provide to them for your purchase-related transactions.
For these providers, we recommend that you read their privacy policies so you can understand the manner in which your personal information will be handled by these providers.
In particular, remember that certain providers may be located in or have facilities that are located a different jurisdiction than either you or us. So if you elect to proceed with a transaction that involves the services of a third-party service provider, then your information may become subject to the laws of the jurisdiction(s) in which that service provider or its facilities are located.
As an example, if you are located in Canada and your transaction is processed by a payment gateway located in the United States, then your personal information used in completing that transaction may be subject to disclosure under United States legislation, including the Patriot Act.
section 7: cookies
Cookies are small text files containing a string of characters that can be placed on your computer or mobile device that uniquely identify your browser or device.
Cookies allow a website or services to know if your computer or device has visited that website or service before. Cookies can then be used to help understand how the site or service is being used, help you navigate between pages efficiently, help remember your preferences, and generally improve your browsing experience.
For ecommerce, the use of cookies is critical in order to retain and identify the browsing session of the user. Session cookies are the only method by which our website can request and submit user-specific data stored in our website’s databases during a browsing session.
section 8: age of consent
By using this site, you represent that you are at least the age of majority in your state or province of residence, or that you are the age of majority in your state or province of residence and you have given us your consent to allow any of your minor dependents to use this site.
section 9: changes to this privacy policy
We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.
questions and contact information
If you would like to: access, correct, amend or delete any personal information we have about you, register a complaint, or simply want more information contact us at or by mail at:
Evanston Community Foundation
1560 Sherman Avenue Suite 535
Evanston, Illinois 60201