Playing At Learning Privacy Policy

Last Review and Update:  November 4, 2023

Playing At Learning takes privacy seriously. As a nonprofit, we are compelled to understand who we are serving, how our programs are performing, and make improvements so that we can achieve our goals of making our programs accessible to youth across our service region. Thus, we need to collect certain personal data from you to ensure we are meeting our goals and responsibilities as a youth-serving nonprofit organization.

This Playing At Learning Privacy Policy describes how  Playing At Learning  (“PAL” “our,” “we,” “us,”) collects and processes personal data that users (“user,” “your,” or “you”) provide to us. This Privacy Policy also applies to personal data which we obtain by any other means, as described below.


Treatment of Data for Minor Youth

It is our policy to gain consent from parents/legal guardians when collecting personal data on anyone under the age of 18. Youth under the age of 13 are not permitted to create accounts or provide personal data on any of our Sites.

If we learn that we have personal data obtained directly from a child under 13 we will delete that data as soon as possible. If you believe we have collected data on a minor under age 13, notify us as specified below and we will delete that data as soon as possible.


1.  Agreement to the Policy

By accessing, using, or creating an account on any of our Sites, or by completing the FIRST Consent and Release form, you agree to be bound by all the terms and conditions. If you do not agree to the Playing At Learning Privacy Policy, please do not access or use any of our Sites. In the event you believe data was collected without your consent please see below for instructions on how to contact us.

2. What personal data do we collect:

We collect the following personal data categories:

Name, mailing address, email address, phone number, date of birth, gender, race, ethnicity,  FIRST program history, secondary or emergency contacts, images (photos and video) and your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address. Additionally for youth participants, we also collect data on free or reduced lunch eligibility, grade in school, school name.

3. How do we collect the data:

We collect data when you provide it to us directly or indirectly through a third party such as Jotform, InnovAlda (Lumieos app developers) or by registering a team or contacting FIRST. You may provide certain data to us when you: (a) register for in person or virtual participation in any program or event; (b) subscribe to our newsletter; (c) send e-mail messages; (d) submit forms including Jotform; (e) transmit information by telephone or letter;  (f) access certain forms or request information on our Sites;  (g) attend an event or activity; (h) apply for a grant;  (i) complete a FIRST Consent and Release form; (j) complete a survey or evaluation;  (k) make a donation to Playing At Learning; (l) apply to volunteer in any program or event.

When you engage in certain activities, we may ask you to provide data by filling out and submitting an online form. Depending upon the activity, some of the data may be mandatory and some may be voluntary. If you do not provide the mandatory data with respect to a particular activity, you may not be able to engage in that activity.

4. How do we use the data:

By entering personal data, you agree to allow us to use the data for the following purposes:

a. To improve our programs:  We use data to evaluate and improve our programs, products, and services and understand whom we are serving, assess program impact, report aggregated/de-identified data, monitor growth, improve the delivery of programs, improve our service-offerings, customize and improve our Sites’ content, layout, and services, diagnose problems with servers and software, and administer our Sites, often with the assistance of our vendors. We use third parties including Service Providers to help implement programs and efforts, and may share personal data with those third parties only for the purposes outlined in this Policy.

b. To improve the quality of our Sites: We may use your personal data, including the information gathered as a result of site navigation and electronic protocols and cookies, to help create and personalize website content, improve website quality, track marketing campaign responsiveness, evaluate page response rates, and facilitate your use of our Sites.

c. To register you to participate in Playing At Learning programs:  We need to collect personal data in order to help you manage your team or choose the right event and volunteer role.

d. To manage events: We use personal data for event registration, badging, volunteer management and general event management.

e. To communicate with you: We use personal data to communicate with you about information and related opportunities related to Playing At Learning programs, activities and services.

f. To conduct marketing and promotional activities:  We take photographs, record audio and video, and use live broadcasts at our events. We use this media as part of a record of our Programs and to publicly promote FIRST and Playing At Learning. If you participate in a Program or event, you agree to grant FIRST, Playing At Learning, Playing At Learning’s event managers to use your likeness. We may also contact you related to program recruitment, retention, and other marketing outreach.

g. To process transactions: We use personal data to engage in interactions with you including to communicate with you about your registration status, payment of event registration, event information and to process orders, mail program related materials and items, and to collect registration fees or donations.

h To provide support: We use personal data to provide you with support or other services that you have requested. We may use your data to respond directly to your requests for information including registering for newsletters, registering for trainings, professional development or webinars and any other specific requests you make directly of Playing At Learning. We may pass your data along to the appropriate Event Manager or Volunteer Coordinator to respond to your request.

i. To solicit donations: We may use your personal data, including name, email, and mailing address to solicit donations to support our mission.

j. For insurance purposes: In certain cases, Playing At Learning is required to collect and share information including name, address, phone number, guardian/ parent name, date of birth, and details about the nature of the injurious event and care provided if you are injured while participating in one of our Programs. We may be required to share this information with insurance companies responsible for covering our events, the organization hosting the event, or the facility in which the event is hosted.

5. How long do we retain data:

Playing At Learning will retain your data for as long as needed to fulfill the purposes and uses described in this Policy. When we no longer need your data, and there is no need to keep it to comply with our legal obligations or protect our legal rights, we will either delete it from our systems or depersonalize it so we can’t identify you.

If you wish to understand how to request your personal data be deleted, please see below for more information.

6. With whom do we share data:  

Playing At Learning does not rent or sell data to others.

We share personal data with vendors, services providers, event managers, volunteer coordinators and other third parties (collectively, “Service Providers”) who are acting on our behalf to help operate our Sites, handle communications, implement, manage, promote or evaluate our programs and events, or complete transactions you request.

Except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, Playing At Learning will keep your personal data private and will not share it with other third parties, unless such disclosure is necessary to: (a) comply with the law or legal process served on us; (b) provide you the products, services and/or information that you may have requested; (c) protect our rights or property; (d) enforce our rights; (e) protect the interests of users of the Site or any other person; (f) operate or conduct maintenance and repair of our equipment; (g) detect, prevent and/or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, as authorized by law; and/or (h) otherwise comply with applicable laws.

7. How do we protect information:

Playing At Learning uses technical and organizational measures to protect data including, but not limited to: conducting third-party security audits, firewalls, maintaining security patches on external systems and ensuring that all web connections are over HTTPS.

Access to personal data is available through your user identification and password selected by you. This password is encrypted. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone and no one will ever ask for your password. In addition, your personal data resides on a secure server to which only select Playing At Learning personnel and Service Providers have secure access.

8. Cookies:

When you use any of our Sites, we may store cookies on your computer in order to facilitate and customize the experience. A cookie is a small data text file, which a website stores on your computer’s hard drive (if your Web browser permits) that can later be retrieved to identify you to us.

Our cookies: (a) make your use of our Sites easier; (b) make our Sites run more smoothly; (c) track authenticated users visiting our Sites; and (d) help us to maintain secure Sites.

You may decline our cookies, but some parts of our Sites may not work properly as a result. You can at any time use your browser setting to delete our cookies from your system. We may use a third party to display information on our Sites. As part of the third-party service, they may place a separate cookie on your computer.

9. Privacy Policies of Third-Party Sites:

We maintain links to other websites on our Sites. This Privacy Policy only applies to Playing At Learning.  Other sites accessible through our Site have their own privacy policies and data collection use and disclosure practices.  Please consult each site’s privacy policy.

Specifically,  Playing At Learning is the Program Delivery Organization for many of the FIRST programs.  In our role as a FIRST Program Delivery Organization, we also follow the FIRST Privacy Policy as well and we would recommend that you familiarize yourself and agree with that policy as you will be bound by that agreement when you participate, register, inquire or volunteer for a FIRST program.

10. How you can rectify incorrect information:

You have the ability to access and edit the personal data you provide to us. Data may be changed by logging into your user’s account, or by requesting a change in writing.  Requests in writing should be sent to us per the address below.

Please include your name, address, e-mail address, and/or phone number when you contact us regarding an update or correction to data. We reserve the right to confirm your identity before updating or correcting personal data. We encourage you to promptly update your personal data if it ever changes by logging-in to your accounts.

11. How you can object to certain uses of your data:

If you do not wish to receive our newsletter, you may “opt-out” of receiving these communications by exercising your right to “opt out” by using the unsubscribe feature in the email or sending us an e-mail to newsletter@playingatlearning.org

If you do not wish to receive email from us, you may “opt-out” of receiving these communications by exercising your right to “opt out” by sending us an e-mail generically to programs@playingatlearning.org or to the program coordinator or program manager for the specific program.

12.  How you can exercise your right to be forgotten:

You may request that your personal data be deleted, by submitting a written request. You will need to provide information to confirm your identity at the time of your request.  We reserve the right to confirm your identity before taking any action to delete your personal data.  We will assess each request to be forgotten on a case-by-case basis to determine the extent to which data can be deleted.  We will comply with all legal requests to be forgotten except where  we have an obligation to retain your data.

14. Data may be transferred to other countries:

Playing At Learning is a United States based organization with headquarters in San Jose, California, United States of America. We store data in the cloud and do not necessarily know which country your exact data will reside.  It is presumed that the date resides securely in the United States but this is not guaranteed.

Additionally,  we may need to share your personal data with FIRST Program Delivery Organizations in other countries in order to carry out activities such as your team participating in an event organized by that FIRST Program Delivery Organization. By submitting your personal data, you consent to such transfers and to the processing of this information in any country.

15.  Special Notification for California Residents:

Playing At Learning does not work with any third parties for direct marketing purposes.

Users who reside in California and have provided their personal data to us may request information about our disclosures of certain categories of personal identifiable information to third parties for direct marketing purposes.

Such requests must be submitted to us at programs@playingatlearning.org . Within thirty days of receiving such a request, we will provide a list of the categories of personal identifiable information disclosed to third parties for use in direct marketing purposes during the immediately preceding calendar year, along with the names and addresses of these third parties. This request may be made no more than once per calendar year.

16.  Donor Privacy Policy:

This section applies to all donor-related information received from any donor.

We collect and store donor information including name, address, email address, phone number, and donation amounts. Unless authorized by the donor, mandated by law or necessary for the processing and analyzing of donations, we do not share donor information with any other entity. If the donor notified us that the donor’s employer will match the donation and the donor requests that we reach out to obtain the matching gift, we may disclose the donor’s contact information (name, postal address, email address and telephone number) and donation information (donation amount and supported projects) to the employer. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of donors’ employers. For more information regarding the handling of information by an employer, please refer to the employer’s privacy policies.

17. Changes to this Privacy Policy:

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. Such changes, modifications, additions, or deletions shall be effective immediately upon notice thereof, which may be given by means including, but not limited to, posting the revised Privacy Policy at any of our Sites. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review the Site you are using and this Policy periodically, and to be aware of any modifications. Your continued use of a Site after any such modifications will constitute your; (a) acknowledgment of any modified Policy; and (b) agreement to abide and be bound by any modified Policy.

18.  How to contact us:

Questions 

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of any of our Sites, or your dealings with any of our Sites or with our Service Providers contact us via email at programs@playingatlearning.org  or by phone or regular mail (see below).

Complaints or Data Breach Notification 

To file a complaint or report a data breach, please contact us by regular mail.

Contact Us by Phone

You may call us at   (844) 752-9576.  Please leave a brief call back message on the General Voicemail box  (ext 0).

Contact Us by Mail 

Playing At Learning
Attn: data privacy
2215 Oakland Road, Suite B
San Jose, CA United States,  95131