Impact Toolbox (“we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of our community members, program and course participants, donors and partners. This policy outlines how we collect, use, and safeguard your personal information in compliance with British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

1. Information We Collect

We collect information to deliver our capacity-building programs and improve our digital resources.

A. Information You Provide Voluntarily

• Program Registration: When you apply for a fellowship or workshop, we collect your name, contact details, and project description.

• Newsletters: We collect your email address when you subscribe to our updates.

• Donations: If you donate, we collect financial information necessary to process the transaction and issue tax receipts (via secure third-party processors like Stripe or PayPal).

B. Program Submissions and Intellectual Property (IP)

• Submitted Assignments and Comments: Only program staff and coaches have access to your submissions. Your assignments can be deleted from our platform after they have been graded at your request.

• IP Protection: Your ideas and submissions will not be shared with anyone in any circumstances, except that you grant us the permission to do so with a signed agreement

• Course Reviews: Your course reviews are publicly displayed on our website and may be used for marketing purposes. By accepting our privacy policy, learners grant Impact Toolbox permission to edit and use reviews, in full or in part, as it sees fit.  

C. Information Collected Automatically 

When you visit our website, certain data is collected automatically:

• Comments: If you leave a comment, we collect the data shown in the comments form, your IP address, and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you use it.

• Cookies:

  • Login: If you have an account and log in, we set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies.

  • Preferences: We use cookies to save your screen display choices.

  • Analytics: We use tools (like Google Analytics) to understand website traffic. These cookies collect anonymous data about your browsing behaviour.

• Embedded Content: Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g., videos from YouTube). Embedded content behaves exactly as if you visited the other website, which may collect data about you. Some essential cookies are required for embedded content to function properly. You have the right to limit all cookie functions to these essential cookies. 

• Media and Location Data (EXIF): If you upload images, avoid including embedded location data (EXIF GPS) as visitors can download and extract it.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your data to:

1. Process your applications and donations.

2. Communicate with you about program updates or opportunities.

3. Issue tax receipts in compliance with CRA regulations.

4. Improve our website functionality and user experience.

3. AI and Data Processing

As an innovation-focused organization, Impact Toolbox utilizes Generative AI tools to improve efficiency.

• Your Privacy First: We strictly categorize data. We do not input your personally identifiable information (PII)—such as names, addresses, or health data—into public AI tools (like ChatGPT) without redaction or explicit consent.

• Data Training: We adhere to a policy of opting out of having our confidential data used to train third-party AI models wherever possible.

4. Who We Share Your Data With

We do not sell your data. We share data only with trusted third-party service providers who assist our operations, such as:

• Payment Processors: (e.g., Stripe, PayPal) for donations.

• Email Services: (e.g., Mailchimp) for newsletters.

• Cloud Storage: For secure document management.

These providers are contractually obligated to protect your information and comply with Canadian privacy laws. We may also disclose information if required by law.

5. How Long We Retain Your Data

• User Accounts: For users that register on our website, we store the personal information they provide in their user profile indefinitely until deleted by the user.

• Program Assignments: Automatically deleted from our platform after grading.

• Comments: Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely to recognize follow-up comments automatically.

• Financial Records: Donation records are kept for two (2) years as required by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

• General Inquiries: Retained only as long as necessary to resolve your inquiry.

6. Your Rights Over Your Data

Under British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR for international users), you have the right to:

• Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you in an exported file.

• Request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete data we hold about you.

• Request that we erase any personal data we hold about you (“Right to be Forgotten”), excluding data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

• Request that we limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.

• Withdraw consent for marketing communications or data processing at any time.

• You have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority if you believe your rights have been violated.

Opting Out of Targeted Ads: You can opt out of the collection and use of information for targeted ads through tools like the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page or by adjusting your browser settings.

7. Security

We maintain physical, technical, and procedural safeguards that meet or exceed established industry and sector standards to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse. This includes using SSL encryption on our website and limiting access to sensitive data to authorized staff only.

8. Changes to this Policy

This Policy may be amended from time to time. Any such changes will be posted on this page and will take effect immediately upon posting.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this policy or wish to exercise your data rights, please contact: hello@impacttoolbox.org.