Plant Powered Metro New York Privacy Policy

Effective Date: April 15, 2025

Introduction

Plant Powered Metro New York (“PPMNY,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and disclose information when you visit our website, www.plantpoweredmetrony.org, and www.ppmny.org (the “Site”). 

Scope

This privacy Policy applies to all digital properties, events, and programs operated by PPMNY, including our websites, mobile applications, and third-party services used to manage our interactions with community members.

Information We Collect

We may collect information in the following ways:

  • Directly from You: When you voluntarily provide it through event registration, donations, surveys, or online interactions. This includes:
    • Name, postal address, email, and phone number.
    • Payment details for donations or purchases (processed securely by third-party vendors).
    • Information you provide through reviews, blogs, or chat submissions.
    • Health-related information when registering for programs like Jumpstart (see Health Information section below).
  • Automatically Through Digital Interactions: When you browse our digital properties, we may collect:
    • Device type, browser, and IP address.
    • Browsing behavior, referring URLs, and interactions with our content.
    • Mobile identifiers such as IDFA (Apple) and AAID (Google).
    • Location data (if permission is granted).
  • From Third Parties: We may receive personal information from partner organizations (e.g., for event collaborations) or from individuals designating others as recipients of programs or scholarships.

Health Information Handling

PPMNY collects certain health-related information when you voluntarily register for programs such as Jumpstart. PPMNY is not a HIPAA-covered entity and is not subject to HIPAA regulations because it is not a healthcare provider, insurer, or clearinghouse. However, we recognize the sensitivity of health-related data and take strong security and privacy measures to protect it. We ensure:

  • Explicit consent is obtained before collecting health-related information.
  • Secure storage and restricted access to health-related data.
  • No sharing of health data with third parties without explicit consent.
  • A structured process for data deletion upon request, ensuring compliance with applicable privacy laws such as CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

If you have any concerns regarding the handling of your health-related data, please contact privacy@ppmny.org.

Your Privacy Choices

We provide the following options for managing your personal information:

  • Data Deletion Requests:
    • You may request deletion of your personal information from our active databases by submitting a request to privacy@ppmny.org.
    • Some data (e.g., transaction records) may be retained for compliance purposes.
    • Backup copies may persist for a limited period in encrypted storage before automatic deletion.
  • Opting Out of Communications:
    • Email and SMS communications will include an unsubscribe option.
    • Users can manage preferences via their Neon CRM profile.
    • To opt out of digital advertising tracking, adjust browser settings or visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page.

How We Use Your Information

  • To Provide and Improve Our Services: We may use your information to provide you with the services you request, such as enrolling you in a program, responding to your inquiries, and processing donations. We may also use your information to improve our services and the Site.
  • To Communicate with You: We may use your information to communicate with you about our events, programs, and other information that may be of interest to you via text, email, and/or social media.
  • To Protect Our Rights and Interests: We may use your information to protect our rights and interests, such as to prevent fraud and abuse.

We will use information about you to strive to meet your expectations, give you a positive experience with Plant Powered Metro New York, and improve our work to better serve you and others in the future. Some examples of this may include:

  • Identifying you or a device on our digital properties to personalize or customize experiences
  • Fulfilling requests for events, services, or information
  • Processing refunds, returns, and exchanges
  • Tracking and confirming orders
  • Managing and providing benefits of a future membership program
  • Conducting research and analytics
  • Enhancing existing or creating new events, services, digital properties, and technologies

We will also use information related to you in efforts to protect you, our program participants, volunteers, contractors, Plant Powered Metro New York, and other stakeholders. Examples may include detecting and responding to security incidents; protecting against and responding to malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; and prosecuting those responsible for that activity. We also may use such information to comply with and enforce applicable legal requirements, relevant industry standards, and our policies.

We may use location information collected by a digital property to, for example, help you choose recipes, or provide you with helpful messaging on our website and related website applications. We also may use this information to provide you with personalized content, information, or notices (including, but not limited to, notices that may be required by law based on your location).

Finally, we will seek to tell you about events and other opportunities that we think you will find useful through marketing, advertising, and other communications. That means we will use information about you to predict what you may find useful (or just fun and interesting). We or other advertisers may use those predictions to choose marketing messages to send you on our or others’ digital properties and monitor the response to that message.

How We Share Your Information

PPMNY does not sell personal information.  We may share your information with third parties to perform services on our behalf such as:

  • Fulfilling orders and delivering packages
  • Providing mentor support as part of our Jumpstart program
  • Maintaining a future membership program
  • Sending marketing communications and providing advertising opportunities
  • Measurement and reporting of advertising frequency, attribution, and performance
  • Personalizing user experience on our digital properties
  • Fulfilling subscription services
  • Conducting research and analysis
  • Processing credit card payments
  • Detecting fraud and other illegal activity

We also may share personal information in connection with co-branded product or service offerings (including sharing personal information with PPMNY’s partner organizations for co-hosted events, programs, or initiatives). 

Sometimes we may be required to share personal information for legal reasons, for example, if we are required to do so by a regulation, court order, subpoena, or other legal process. We may also share information when we believe it is necessary to comply with the law, respond to a government request, or when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect Plant Powered Metro New York, our board members, donors, or others.

We may share personal information in the event of a merger, acquisition, joint venture, reorganization, divestiture, dissolution, liquidation, or similar event.

Social media features

Our digital properties may include ways to interact and share using social media, through features such as a “thumbs up” button, “share this” button, or interactive mini-programs that run on our website (“widgets”). These features may collect information such as your IP address or the page you are visiting on our website and may set cookies to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features can be hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our website. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the social media company providing the feature.

How we protect information about you

We use a variety of cybersecurity measures designed, under a risk-based approach, to ensure the confidentiality of information about you from bad actors. However, as outlined in the applicable terms of use for each digital property, we cannot and do not guarantee the security of the information we collect.  Examples of digital property include, but are not limited to websites and domain names, online accounts, digital assets (i.e. photos, videos, documents, data), software, and applications.

You can also do your part to help protect the information you provide us. Create a strong password. Use that password only on our digital properties, not on other sites or for other accounts. Do not share your password with anyone, especially anyone claiming to work with us. We will never contact you and ask for your password.

Handling Cardholder Data Securely

Plant Powered Metro New York is committed to ensuring the security of all cardholder data collected, processed and stored as part of our operations. To safeguard sensitive payment information, we adhere to the standards set by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

Secure Payment Processing

  • Encryption: To prevent unauthorized access, all payment card data transmitted via our digital properties is encrypted using secure transmission protocols, such as TLS (Transport Layer Security).
  • Restricted Access: Access to cardholder data is strictly limited to authorized personnel who require it to perform their job responsibilities.
  • Third-Party Processors: We use PCI DSS-compliant payment processors to handle all payment transactions. We do not store full credit card numbers or sensitive authentication data on our servers.

Data Minimization and Retention

  • Cardholder data is collected and retained only to the extent necessary to fulfill payment transactions and comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
  • Data is securely disposed of when it is no longer needed for business or compliance purposes.

Fraud Detection and Monitoring

  • We use fraud detection systems to monitor and prevent unauthorized transactions.
  • Any suspected fraudulent activities are reported and investigated promptly to protect our users and their financial information.

User Responsibility

  • Users should ensure their devices are secure and avoid sharing sensitive payment information over insecure channels such as email or text messages.

Updates and Audits

We regularly review and update our security protocols to align with the latest PCI DSS requirements. Independent audits may be conducted to verify compliance and identify areas for improvement.

Protecting Children’s Privacy

PPMNY is committed to protecting the privacy of children and complying with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and other applicable regulations. We do not knowingly collect, use, or disclose personal information from children under the age of 13 without verified parental consent.For events involving minors (e.g., Boys & Girls Club collaborations), we require written agreements ensuring parental or guardian consent for any data collection, photography, or participation. Additionally:

  • Photos or videos of minors will not be published or shared publicly without verified written consent from a parent or legal guardian.
  • We do not allow minors to create accounts, submit personal data, or interact with our digital properties without parental approval.
  • Any inadvertently collected personal information from a child will be promptly deleted upon discovery.
  • If you believe that we have collected data from a minor without proper consent, please contact privacy@ppmny.org immediately for removal and review of compliance.

Privacy Policy Updates

PPMNY may update this Privacy Policy periodically. When changes are significant, we will:

  • Post a notice on our website.
  • Notify users via email (if applicable).
  • Maintain an archive of previous policy versions for transparency.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

Email: privacy@ppmny.org

Mailing Address:
Plant Powered Metro New York
PO Box 20771
New York, NY 10025