Sponsorship Marketing Council Canada’s Online Privacy and Legal Statement
The Sponsorship Marketing Council Canada (“SMCC”) is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information of its members, subject matter experts and all users of its services. This Privacy Policy has been prepared to affirm SMCC’s commitment to maintaining high standards of confidentiality, to provide information on SMCC’s practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information and to comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and other applicable statutes.
1. Defining personal information
Personal information is any information about an “identifiable individual” that can be used to distinguish, identify or contact a specific individual. Business contact information such as information on your business card and certain publicly available information, such as names, addresses and telephone numbers as published in telephone directories are not considered personal information under federal legislation (PIPEDA). Information about corporations is not considered personal information.
Where an individual provides his or her home address to SMCC as their business contact information, the SMCC considers it to be business contact information, and is therefore not subject to protection as personal information.
2. Collection of personal information
If you request information, products or services from SMCC, we will collect name and contact details including address(es), mailing preference, telephone and fax numbers, email address, and language preference.
We collect no personal information about you unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not use techniques that collect personal information about anyone without their knowledge. We only collect personal information about individuals when they specifically and knowingly provide it to us, for example when they apply for membership, register for a program or complete a registration form. You may also provide us with your credit card information in order to pay for items purchased. We collect this information only to set up your account, process the order, and provide you with the services you are purchasing. We do not store credit card information for later use.
SMCC collects and retains information about your transaction history when you use SMCC services and various programs.
SMCC also provides individuals with an opportunity to specify certain preferences in service delivery; if an individual chooses to provide such information, SMCC will collect and maintain language preference in order to send individuals the information they need in the language they prefer, as well as other special needs requested for a specific event (i.e., meal preference).
3. SMCC Website
A visitor to the SMCC website is not required to reveal any individually identifiable information, nor is such information collected passively by electronic means. Personal information is only collected when an individual voluntarily submits his or her information such as in an online membership application form, meeting registration form or an online survey. The personal information collected in this manner is subject in full to the Privacy Policy contained in this document.
If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the website, read pages, or download information, we will neither gather nor store any personal information about you. Our web server collects statistical data about visitor information used only in aggregate. This tracking system does not record personal information about individuals or link this information to any personal data collected.
4. Use of information
SMCC commits to you that individual information will be used to establish and maintain responsible relationships with you, to provide you with products, services and support, and to respond to member needs. Your personal information will be used to provide you with the specific transaction that you applied for or services requested in the application you submitted.
One of the SMCC’s primary objectives is disseminating information to its members. The achievement of the SMCC’s objectives involves, among other things, providing you with information about products and services that SMCC believes are of interest you.
5. Consent by individuals
The information you provide to SMCC — such as your name, address, etc. — allows SMCC to inform you about events and activities and to notify you of issues, events or special offers which may be of interest to you. By becoming a member or by requesting information or registering for events or courses offered by SMCC, you are giving SMCC permission to contact you by way of the information you provide. Members may choose not to be contacted by SMCC — please contact SMCC Member Services 647-748-3615.
6. Disclosure of personal information
SMCC may share aggregate information about its members and customers — not individual data — with sponsors, potential sponsors and other parties to help them better understand SMCC members and their interests.
Such aggregate information is used to give SMCC demographic data about its members in order to improve the organization and the programs and services we provide.
7. Security of information
SMCC endeavours to maintain appropriate safeguards and adequate physical, procedural and technical security with respect to our offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification of personal information. Safeguards include securing physical documents and technological measures by way of secure access and encryption. SMCC employees are authorized to access personal information based only on their need to deal with the information for the reason(s) for which it was obtained. Safeguards are in place to ensure that the information is not disclosed or shared more widely than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was gathered. We also take measures to ensure the integrity of this information is maintained and to prevent its being lost or destroyed.
To ensure the integrity and privacy of the personal and credit card information you pass to us via the Internet when you make an online transaction, SMCC has obtained a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Server Certificate, the industry standard with the strongest level of 128-bit encryption. All information collected within a secure page is encrypted while being transmitted to SMCC’s secure server. The server is protected by a firewall that is regularly updated when new patches and fixes are released.
8. Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or about SMCC’s information handling practices, please email info@sponsorshipmarketing.ca.