If you are in the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom Switzerland or Brazil, this General Privacy Policy does not apply to you. Please view our EU/Brazil Privacy Notice available here.
Revised February 25, 2024
Your information privacy is extremely important to us. We have prepared this General Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) to explain how we collect, use, protect, and disclose information and data when you visit the Golden Lotus Living, Inc. (“GLLI”,“Golden Lotus Community”, “GLC”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) websites, including those at goldenlotusliving.org (the “Sites), and use any GLLI mobile app or other services offered by GLLI (collectively, the “Services”). This Privacy Policy also explains your choices for managing your information preferences, including opting out of certain uses of your Personal Information (defined below). This Privacy Policy applies to all users of the Sites and Services except those who are in the EU, EEA, United Kingdom, Brazil or Switzerland. The Sites and Services are provided by GLLI.
“You” as used in this Privacy Policy includes your child if your child has contact with GLLI such as by registering for and participating in online youth programs offered by GLLI.
BY USING THE SITES OR SERVICES, YOU ARE CONSENTING TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY. PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.
1. Managing Your Information Preferences
You can review, correct, update, delete, or change your Personal Information through your Portal account or by e-mailing us at info@goldenlotusliving.org. You can also opt out of receiving certain e-mails and other communications from us through your Portal account, by using the “unsubscribe” link in the e-mails, or by e-mailing us at info@goldenlotusliving.org. You are able to opt out of receiving our eNewsletter and most e-mails from us; however, you cannot opt out of receiving all e-mails from us, such as e-mails about the status of your account or orders. If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, please e-mail us at info@goldenlotusliving.org.
2. Information We Collect
Personal Information
We collect information that personally identifies you, such as your name, address, phone number, mobile phone number, e-mail address, payment information, and other personally identifiable information that you choose to provide us with or that you choose to include in your account (“Personal Information”). You may be asked to provide us with Personal Information when you make a purchase or donation, register with us for activities including youth programs, join an online meditation or service, volunteer with us, use any of our Sites or Services, and at other times. In addition, we may collect Personal Information through your participation in online activities or your use of our Services. For example, if you or your child participates in a study program online or through our app, we will collect information about your attendance, progress and interaction with our materials, and communications with instructors and other participants. We may also make video and audio recordings of programs and meetings that are offered online.
Correspondence and Communications
If you correspond with GLLI via e-mail, the postal service, our chat function, responses to surveys, or other forms of communication, we may retain such correspondence and the information contained therein and use it to respond to your inquiry and/or share GLLI news or other GLLI-related information with you, and to improve our Site and Services, and for the other purposes as explained in this Privacy Policy. If you do not wish to receive such notifications, you may express your preference to not be contacted by sending a letter, calling or e-mailing GLLI offices at the contact information below informing us of your preference.
Please note that we may use third parties to provide the chat function on our website and help us take surveys. These third parties record and help us respond to the communications you enter into the chat windows, and record information you provide in response to surveys.
We may also use a third-party e-mail provider to send e-mails including to our e-mail distribution and subscription lists. This e-mail provider may use cookies and tracking technology in our e-mails to understand how you interact with our e-mails. Please see the Online Tracking section of this Privacy Policy for more information.
Spiritual Activities and Interactions, Donations, and Payments
In the course of participating in online or in-person programs, or making an online donation or purchase, you may provide other personal or familial health, financial, marital, and other information about matters of a confidential nature, for purposes of seeking spiritual interaction and requesting prayers, or making an online donation or purchase. GLLI volunteers and their support staff may have access to such information in order to provide these services and support to you. These parties, however, have agreed to maintain the confidentiality of any information of a confidential nature that is provided.
Volunteering with GLLI
When you volunteer with GLLI, you may provide an application and other information about your background, your history of volunteering, your interests, and other information relevant to becoming or serving as a volunteer for GLLI.
Usage Data and Site Activity Information
We, and third parties with which we work, collect information about your device and your use of our Sites or Services through cookies, web beacons, javascript and other tracking technologies. The information we and our third-party partners may collect includes recordings or records of your activity within our Sites and Services such as mouse movements and clicks; information you enter into forms; communications you enter into our chat windows; your domain name; your browser type and operating system; web pages you view; links you click; searches you perform; your IP address, Device Identifiers, and other persistent identifiers including identifiers we may assign to you; the length of time you visit our Sites and/or use our Services; the referring URL or the webpage that led you to our Sites; and approximate (at the level of a city) geolocation information (“Usage Data”). We, and third parties with which we work, may collect similar Usage Data if you join an online meditation, participate in a program offered online (such as an online youth program), or participate in a service via Zoom or a similar conferencing service. We, and third parties with which we work, use this information to provide services such as our chat feature; for analytics purposes; to monitor and improve the Sites and Services; and to enhance your online experience, so that GLLI may contact you about services that might be of interest to you (including through advertising to you on other websites) and so that GLLI may provide you with an easier and more personalized experience and level of service. We, and third parties with which we work, may be able to track your activity across our different Sites and Services.
Cookies
We use cookies (a small text file placed on your computer to identify your computer and web browser) and may use anonymous identifiers (a random string of characters that is used for the same purposes as a cookie). We use necessary, functional, analytics and targeting cookies as described in our Cookies Settings. We use cookies to collect Usage Data as described above, and third parties may use cookies as described in the Online Tracking section of this Privacy Policy. Most web browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. You may use our Cookies Settings to control certain cookies from us. You can also set your web browser to refuse cookies, and you may delete them after they have been placed on your hard drive or device. However, certain features of the Site or Services may not work if you delete or disable cookies.
We use Google Analytics on the Site and Services to analyze how users use the Site and Services and provide advertisements to you. Google may use the information collected for additional purposes which may include advertising. For more information about how to opt out of having your information used by Google Analytics, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.
In addition, we use third parties to enhance the functionality of our Sites and Services, and these third parties set cookies. As examples, we may use Stripe and PayPal or other payment processors to allow users to make purchases or donations using Stripe’s and PayPal’s or other payment processor’s services, or we may use the services of video or social media companies (such as Vimeo, YouTube, or similar companies) to help display video or social media content on our Sites and Services. Cookies set by these third parties allow the provision of enhanced functionality, and so certain functionality might not be available if you choose to reject all cookies. As further explained in the Online Tracking section of this Privacy Policy, these third parties may also use cookies to track your activities on our Sites and Services and on other sites.
3. How We Use Information and When We May Share and Disclose Information Generally
We use the information, including Personal Information, alone or in combination with other information that we may collect about you, including information from third parties, for the following purposes that are necessary for the performance of the contract between you and GLLI to provide you with the services you requested or that we consider to be in our legitimate interests:
We share Personal Information with our employees and volunteer staff in order to provide you with services and to accomplish our operational and religious purposes.
Additionally, please note that if you volunteer with GLLI, we may share your contact information with other volunteers so that they may contact you in connection with your volunteer role and for organizational and administrative purposes.
We use third parties to collect and analyze certain Usage Data and Site Activity Information. We may use third parties to provide the chat function on our website and to help us take surveys. These third parties record and help us respond to the communications you enter into the chat windows and record the information you enter into a survey. We may also use third parties to provide video content and online audio and video conferencing and communications. Those third parties may place cookies or capture information as described in the Online Tracking section of this Privacy Policy.
We will not disclose Personal Information to third parties, including for their direct marketing or commercial purposes, without your consent, except as explained in this Privacy Policy.
4. Personal Information You Make Available to Others
By using the Sites or the Services, you may make certain of your Personal Information available to others. For example, if you provide information for public comment sections of our Sites or post information to the “Share your story” feature, or post a comment, photo, or other content on to our Sites, other users will see the information that you post or choose to make available.
5. Service Providers
We share Personal Information with our authorized service providers that perform certain services on our behalf (“Service Providers”). For example, we may contract with Service Providers to process payments or donations from you; host and maintain our Sites, Services and databases; provide data storage and management; or manage certain volunteer activities. We may also use Service Providers to provide interactive learning websites. We provide our Service Providers with only the information necessary for them to perform these services on our behalf. Each Service Provider must agree to use reasonable security procedures and practices, appropriate to the nature of the information involved, in order to protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Service Providers are prohibited from using Personal Information other than as specified by us.
6. Online Tracking
We use third parties to enhance the functionality of our Sites and Services, including sending our e-mails, providing chat functionality, and helping to display video or social media content on our Site. The third parties we use may set cookies and use other tracking technology collect certain information when you visit the Sites and use the Services, or interact with our e-mails. These third parties may collect your IP Address; mobile device identifiers and advertising identifiers or other identifiers they may assign to you; information from cookies they set during your visits to the Sites and other websites; and other information including clicks and mouse movements, information you enter into forms, information you enter into our chat window, content and videos you view, your domain name, your browser type and operating system, specific web pages you view, links you click, searches you perform, the length of time you visit our Sites and/or use our Services, the referring URL, the webpage that led you to our Sites, and geolocation information. These third parties may track your activity over time and across different websites, and may use the information they collect to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of interest to you. Our systems do not recognize browser “Do Not Track” signals, but several of the third parties who utilize these cookies on our Sites enable you to opt out of targeted advertising practices. To learn more about these advertising practices or to opt out of this type of advertising, you can visit optout.aboutads.info and optout.networkadvertising.org.
7. Notice to California Residents/Your California Privacy Rights
We do not share your Personal Information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.
8. Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement
We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with the law. We may disclose Personal Information and any other information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties if, in our discretion, we believe it is necessary or appropriate in order to respond to legal requests (including court orders and subpoenas), to protect the safety, property, or rights of GLLI or of any third party, to prevent or stop any illegal, unethical, or legally actionable activity, or to comply with the law.
9. Be Careful When You Share Information with Others
Please be aware that whenever you share information on any public area of the Sites or Services (such as through the “Share Your Story” feature, by publicly participating in a meditation session, or by posting a comment on our website (goldenlotusliving.org) , that information may be accessed by others and the public. That information may be further passed along or further made public by others. This means that anyone with access to such information can potentially use it for any purpose, including sending unsolicited communications.
10. Security
We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect the confidentiality and security of information transmitted to us. Although no data transmission over the Internet or other network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, we strive to protect your personal data on or through the Sites or Services so that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed. However, we cannot and do not guarantee the security of any information you transmit on or through the Sites or Services, and accept no liability for any unintentional disclosure or misuse.
11. Links
Our Sites and Services may contain links to other websites or allow others to send you such links. A link to a third party’s website does not mean that we endorse it or that we are affiliated with it. We do not exercise control over third-party websites. You access such third-party websites or content at your own risk. You should always read the privacy policy of a third-party website before providing any information to the website.
12. Children’s Privacy
The Sites and Services are intended for users who are 13 years old or older. We do not knowingly or intentionally collect Personal Information from children under the age of 13. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received Personal Information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete such information from our records. California users under the age of 18 may request the removal of their content or information publicly posted on the Sites or Services by e-mailing us at info@goldenlotusliving.org. Please note that complete and comprehensive removal of the content may not be possible.
13. Processing in the United States
GLLI is located in the United States. Please be aware that when you provide your Personal Information, visit our Sites, use our Services, participate in our online programs, or communicate with us, you are transferring your Personal Information to the United States. Thus, your Personal Information and communications may be transferred to and maintained on servers or databases located outside your state, province, or country. If you are located outside of the United States, we process and store all information in the United States. The laws in the United States may not be as protective of your privacy as those in your location. By using the Site or Services, you are agreeing to the collection, use, transfer, and disclosure of your Personal Information and communications being governed by the applicable laws in the United States.
14. Privacy Policy Changes
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we decide to change this Privacy Policy, we will inform you by posting the revised Privacy Policy on the Sites . Those changes will go into effect on the “Revised” date shown in the revised Privacy Policy. By continuing to use the Sites or Services, you are consenting to the revised Privacy Policy.
PLEASE PRINT A COPY OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY FOR YOUR RECORDS AND PLEASE CHECK THE SITES FREQUENTLY FOR ANY CHANGES.
