GMF Data Privacy Statement

GMF respects the privacy of every individual who visits our website or sends us e-mail. Therefore, we comply with applicable data privacy legislation in regards to processing personal data. This Privacy Statement describes how GMF uses and protects personally identifiable information.  This Privacy Statement, together with our Website Terms of Use, constitute the entire agreement between you and GMF relating to the publicly accessible portions of our website.  By your use of our website, you consent to be governed by this Privacy Statement.

We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this Privacy Statement, at any time.  Any such modification that materially affects your rights to your personal and financial information will not take effect until 30 days after notice of such change is posted on this website, during which time you may notify us that you do not accept such change.  Your continued use of this website following the 30-day period will be conclusively deemed acceptance of the changes to this Privacy Statement.  Further, you agree that such notice posted on this website constitutes reasonable and sufficient notice.  At all times, you are bound by the then-current version of the Privacy Statement and all applicable laws.  We highly recommend that you review this Privacy Statement and the Website Terms of Use from time to time to ensure that you are familiar with the most recent version. The examples contained in this Privacy Statement are illustrations; they are not intended to be exclusive.

Personal data

You may have the opportunity, via our website or other means, to provide us with personal information about you and your interests. This information may include, but is not limited to, your name, mailing address, e-mail address, policy interests, and regional interests.

If you choose to share any personal data with us via our website or via e-mail, we may store it and use that information to assist you with any questions you may have. We use industry standard practices to review data quality and confirm that the information we have for you is up-to-date.

We may also store data that you voluntarily provide during GMF events in order to keep you informed of other events of a similar nature.

You will receive general information from us only if you choose to do so. Once your consent is indicated, you will have the possibility to contact us in case you no longer want us to use your personal information for those purposes.

Unless you specifically consent to the sharing of your personal data, your information will solely be used for internal purposes.

Donations 

If you choose to make a donation to GMF, we request certain personally identifiable information from you. We encrypt this information using Secure Sockets Layer technology (SSL) and digital certificates from GeoTrust. 

We use this information for billing purposes. If we have trouble processing the donation, we will use this information to contact you.

Transfer of the personal data to other GMF offices

Your personal data may be transferred for the above stated purposes to other GMF offices, whether located within the European Union or elsewhere, including the United-States, if you have specifically provided your consent.

Sharing of the personal data with other organizations

For network communities, such as the Marshall Memorial Fellowship (MMF), GMF will share your information with other members of these communities (including any successors of GMF or other community members).

This information will not be shared outside of these communities. To avoid people receiving multiple invitations to the same co-sponsored event, GMF reserves the right to share your first name, last name, and employer with partner organizations for the purpose of de-duplicating the final invitation list. Except as described in this Privacy Statement, we will not share your phone number, e-mail address, or any other contact information.

GMF will not sell, rent, loan, trade, or lease any personal information collected at our site.

Security

GMF uses secure data networks that are protected by firewall and password protection systems that are consistent with industry standards. GMF’s security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary. Only authorized individuals have access to the information provided by GMF contacts. GMF’s database is located in the United States.

Opt-Out or Change Your Contact Information

The GMF website provides users the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from GMF through a special online form. You may choose to receive only specific communications or none at all. You may also update your contact information previously provided to us through another online form. In order to avoid a situation where repeated, unwanted contacts could occur, we will not remove you from the database. We will only contact you according to the preferences you specify.

“Cookies”

You may visit our website anonymously. Except as described in this Privacy Statement, we do not collect identification data of our visitors.

We do, however, use cookies (small computer files that stay on your computer and let us know when and how often you visit our site) to keep and track general information about website usage. Cookies do not identify the individual user, just the computer used.

Cookies and other similar technology can make it easier for you to use the website during future visits. Cookies only record which areas of the site have been visited by the computer in question, and for how long. This information allows GMF to understand how our website is being used, which helps with planning future website growth.

Allowing us to create a cookie does not give us access to the rest of your computer and we will not use cookies to track your online activity once you leave our site. Cookies are read only by the server that placed them, and are unable to execute any code or virus.

If you don’t like cookies…

You can have your browser reject the cookies. Most Internet browsers will allow you to erase cookies from your computer hard drive, block all cookies, or receive a warning before a cookie is stored. Please refer to your browser instructions to learn more about these functions.

Log Files

Like most standard Web site servers, GMF uses log files. GMF collects and stores only the following information about you: the name of the domain from which you access the Internet (for example, aol.com, if you are connecting from an America Online account, or princeton.edu if you are connecting from Princeton University’s domain), the date and time you access the site, and the Internet address of the website from which you linked to the GMF site. GMF uses this information to measure the number of visitors to the different sections of the site, and to make the site more useful to visitors. Upon request, GMF is required by law to disclose this and other information records to you.

Links

Throughout our web pages, we provide links to other servers and websites which may contain information of interest to our readers. We take no responsibility (and shall have no liability) for, and exercise no control over, the organizations, views, or accuracy of the information contained on other servers and/or sites. Creating a text link from your website to our site does not require permission. If you have a link you’d like us to consider adding to our website, please send an email to press@gmfus.org with the subject “Link request.”

Legal Disclaimer

Though we take industry standard measures and other efforts to preserve user privacy, GMF may need to disclose personal information (including personally identifiable information) when required by law wherein we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process, and/or in connection with a verified request relating to criminal investigation or alleged illegal activity.

Access to information and data rectification

You have at any time the right of access, modification, correction and removal of your data collected in our database. You can request this by contacting GMF by e-mail or in writing at the address mentioned below. Complete removal may not be immediate, however, and in some instances, archival copies may be impossible to delete. 

Contact us

The controller of your personal data, under applicable data privacy legislation and in regard to the processing of personal information, is:

The German Marshall Fund of the United States
1744 R Street NW 
Washington, DC 20009 
United States 
Tel: 202-745-3950 
Fax: 202-265-1662 
Email: dba@gmfus.org

If you have questions about our privacy practices, you may contact us at the above address or by e-mailing dba@gmfus.org.