The CNIB Foundation is committed to protecting the privacy of our donors, supporters and other stakeholders. We value the trust of those we deal with and recognize that maintaining this trust requires us to be transparent and accountable in how we treat the personal information you choose to share with us via our website located at www.cnib.ca (our “Website”).

This privacy policy does not apply to personal information collected through CNIB’s offline activities.

What personal information does CNIB collect?

You are able to visit most areas of our Website without providing any personal information. However, we do collect personal information when you:

  • Make a donation online
  • Purchase a product online
  • Subscribe to a mailing list or newsletter
  • Register for an event
  • Register to access certain portions of our Website
  • Contact us with an enquiry, comment or suggestion

Personal information collected by CNIB may include:

  • Name
  • Contact information, such as your home address, telephone number and email address
  • Credit card information
  • Communication preferences
  • Demographic information such as age and gender
  • Event-specific information such as name and phone number of an emergency contact individual, dietary restrictions and accommodation preferences

How does CNIB use your personal information?

Donations: When you make a donation online, we collect your name, address, and credit card information for the purpose of processing your donation and issuing you a tax receipt. As a form of appreciation, and to remind others of the ongoing need for support, CNIB may publicly recognize your name unless you tell us that you prefer not to be recognized in any way. Recognition may include your name featured on special walls, at CNIB events and on our Website. We may publish your name in association with the range of the dollar amount of your donation.

You may also make a donation online in honour or in memory of someone you know, or sponsor a participant in one of our events. We collect personal information about the recipient of your donation, or the family of the recipient in the case of a donation in memory, such as their name, address and contact information. We collect this information in order to notify the recipient of your donation. We do not use or disclose the recipient’s personal information for any other purpose unless (s)he gives us permission to do so. When you make a donation, you will have the option to decide whether you would like to be identified as the sender of the donation. We do not publish the amount of any donation made in honour or in memory. However, if you sponsor a participant in one of our events, you will have the option to decide whether you would like the amount of your donation to be publicly available.

Online Registration: You do not need to register in order to browse our Website. However, you may be required to register in order to access certain portions of the Website, such as to register for a CNIB event or to purchase products online. When you register, you may be asked for personal information such as your name, email address, mailing address and phone number. We collect this information to identify who you are, to fulfil your request for products or service offerings, and to contact you about your account. With your permission, we may also send you information about other products or services that may be of interest to you. You may opt out of receiving such communications at any time by contacting us as set out in the “Contact us” section below. If you register for an event online, you may also be asked for event-specific information such as emergency contact information, special dietary requirements and accommodation preferences. We collect this information to facilitate your participation in the event and to provide you with the services you requested. We will use the emergency contact information only as required in the event of an emergency.

When you register online, you may choose to provide us with information about your personal interests. If you decide to provide this optional information, we use it in order to send you information geared to your interests. You may change your personal preference at any time by updating your profile.

Mailing lists and newsletters: If you sign up for one of our newsletters, we use your email and/or home address, as applicable, to send you the newsletter and other information you have requested.

Customer service: When you email us with an enquiry, comment or suggestion, you may be asked for information that identifies you, such as your name, address and telephone number to help us promptly answer your question. We may retain this information to assist you in the future. We also may use your feedback, suggestions and comments to monitor and/or improve our Website.

Website information: Generally, you can visit our Website without telling us who you are or providing us with any personal information. The site does use cookies and click -through tracking software. The site also logs information such as device details (e.g. mobile, tablet), IP address (a number that is automatically assigned to your computer or device when you browse the Internet and from which the general geographical location of the device can be derived), and other related information such as page requests, browser types (e.g. Explorer, Chrome, Safari or Firefox), operating systems and average time spent on our Website. This information is used to analyze and understand site usage, and to monitor our Website in order to provide better service for users.

During the course of any visit to our Website, the pages you see, along with a short text file called a ‘cookie,’ are downloaded to your computer. Many websites do this because cookies enable website publishers to do useful things like find out whether the computer has visited the website before. This is done on a repeat visit by viewing the cookie left there on the last visit. Cookies, by themselves, do not tell us your email address or other personal information unless you choose to provide this information to us.

The “help” portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. While we recommend that you enable cookies on your browser in order to enjoy all of the features of our Website, the decision remains yours.

When does CNIB disclose your personal information?

We will not disclose, rent, sell or otherwise transfer your personal information without your consent, except as otherwise set out in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise required or permitted by law.

In certain limited circumstances, it may be necessary to share your personal information with a third-party service provider engaged to provide services on behalf of CNIB. All of our service providers are required to maintain the confidentiality and security of your personal information and to use it only in compliance with applicable privacy laws, and are prohibited from using or disclosing your personal information for any purpose other than providing the services on our behalf or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.

Legal

We (and our service providers) may provide your personal information in response to a search warrant or other legally valid inquiry or order, or to an investigative body in the case of a breach of an agreement or contravention of law, or as otherwise required or permitted by law. We may also disclose personal information to assist us in collecting a debt owed by you, or otherwise where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

How does CNIB safeguard your personal information?

At CNIB, we take the protection of your personal information seriously. We make every reasonable effort to prevent unauthorized use, sharing, loss or theft of information. We regularly audit our security procedures and assess their ongoing effectiveness and appropriateness.

Employees who have access to your information are made aware of the importance of keeping it confidential. Depending on the nature of the information, it may be stored in a local office you deal with, in various computer systems, or in the record storage facilities of CNIB or service providers.

We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards in an effort to protect against unauthorized use, modification and disclosure of personal information in our custody and control.

Where we use service providers who might have access to information, we select them carefully and require them to have privacy and security standards that meet CNIB’s strict requirements. We use contracts and other measures with our service providers to maintain the confidentiality and security of your information and to prevent it from being used for any other purpose.

CNIB, service providers and other parties with whom we share information under this privacy policy, may perform activities in the United States. As a result, your information may be securely used, stored or accessed in the United States and be subject to laws in the United States. For example, information may be shared in response to valid demands or requests from government authorities, courts and law enforcement officials in the United States.

The length of time we keep your information will vary depending on the service and the type of information. We keep your information for as long as it may be reasonably needed for service, legal or business purposes. For these reasons, we keep your information beyond the end of your relationship with us. When your information is no longer required, we securely destroy it or delete personally identifiable information.

To provide you with an increased level of security online, access to your personal information on certain portions of the Website may be protected with a user name and password that you choose. We strongly recommend that you do not disclose your password to anyone. We will never ask for your password in any unsolicited communication.

Access to your personal information

You have the right to access personal information about you. If you would like to access and/or correct any inaccuracies in the personal information we have about you in our records, please contact CNIB as described in the “Contact us” section below. To protect your privacy, we will take reasonable steps to help verify your identity before granting access or making corrections to your personal information.

Children

This Website is not intended for minors. CNIB therefore has no intention of collecting personal information from any child under the age of majority. If you discover that your child has provided us with personal information, we ask that you please contact us at info@cnib.ca to have this information deleted from our records.

Linking to outside websites

Links to third-party websites from our Website are provided for the convenience of the user. CNIB has no control over, and therefore has no responsibility or liability for, the manner in which the organizations that operate such linked websites may collect, use, disclose or otherwise treat your personal information. The inclusion of any link does not imply our endorsement of any other organization, its websites, or its products and/or services. These linked websites have separate and independent privacy policies, which we recommend you read carefully.

Changes to this privacy statement

This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes to our personal information practices. The revised Privacy Policy will be posted on this Website. We will treat your personal information in accordance with the privacy policy in place at the time of collection of such information, or as you otherwise consent.

Contact us

If you have questions or comments regarding CNIB’s Website Privacy Policy, to access or correct inaccuracies in the personal information we have about you or to withdraw your name from an email or other contact list, please contact us:

The CNIB Foundation
1929 Bayview Avenue
Toronto, ON M4G 3E8
Tel: 416-486-2500
Email the CNIB

Further information on privacy and your rights in regard to your personal information may also be found on the website of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.