Privacy policy

Effective Date:  November 2019

This privacy notice discloses the privacy practices (the “Privacy Policy”) for Small Business Majority Foundation, Inc. (“Us” or “We”) and our website; https://venturize.org (“the Site.”) This privacy notice applies solely to information (“Your Information” or “Information”) collected by the Site related to a request by you to use our services communicated on the Site (the “Services”), except where stated otherwise. It will notify you of the following:

  • What information we collect;
  • With whom it is shared;
  • How it can be corrected;
  • How it is secured;
  • How policy changes will be communicated; and
  • How to address concerns over misuse of personal data.

Information collection

We only have access to/collect Information that you voluntarily give us through our application, email or other direct contact from you, or from you through information provided to us by a third-party referral partner (“Referral Partner.”). We will use Your Information to respond to your request to use the Services, to respond to your inquiries about the Services, and to offer you other products, programs, or services that we believe may be of interest to you (“Other Services”). We may use Your Information to complete transactions you request (“Transactions”), to verify the existence and condition of your accounts (“Accounts”), or to assist with one or more Transactions. At your option, you may also provide demographic information (such as gender or age) about yourself, but it is not required.

The Services are generally provided via third-party providers (the “Providers.”) Any Information you provide may be shared confidentially with one or more Providers. Upon reviewing your Information and/or contacting you, a Provider may decide to refer you to another Provider in our network, and share your Information with them. 

You may also be asked to provide additional Information that will be provided to the Providers in connection with your potential use of one or more Services, including certain personal information, financial information and any other inputs provided in your application to be matched with a lender, business assistance provider or other Provider. 

Information sharing

We will not share Your Information with any third party outside of our organization, other than as necessary to fulfill your request as described above, e.g., to facilitate a loan or connection to business assistance, or as part of a referral from one Partner to another. We may also use Your Information to improve the Site, or provide personalized content for you.

Unless you specifically ask us not to, we may contact you via email in the future to tell you about special offers, new products or services. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we may contact you to inform you of changes to the Privacy Policy.

Additionally, we may share Your Information as follows: 

  • With any third party that referred you to our Services;
  • As part of aggregated information that we may compile and may share with anyone. This is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person or business;
  • To respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal processes, or as otherwise required by law;
  • To respond to claims that any posting or other content violates the rights of third parties;
  • In an emergency, to protect the health and safety of our Sites' users or the general public; 

Your access to and control over your information 

You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time by contacting us at info@venturize.org. In addition, you can do the following at any time by contacting us at info@venturize.org:

  • See what data we have about you, if any.
  • Change/correct any data we have about you.
  • Have us delete any data we have about you.
  • Express any concern you have about our use of your data

Security 

We take reasonable measures, including firewall barriers, SSL encryption techniques, and authentication procedures, to help protect personal information from loss, theft, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. You acknowledge, however, that no system is perfectly secure. You use the Site and the Services, and provide us with Your Information, at your own risk.

Cookies 

We use "cookies" on this site. A cookie is a piece of data stored on a site visitor's hard drive to help us improve your access to our site and identify repeat visitors to our site. For instance, when we use a cookie to identify you, you would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. Cookies can also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance their experience on our site. Use of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information on our site.

Some of our business partners may also use cookies on our site. However, we have no access to or control over these cookies.

Links

The Site contains links to other websites. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other websites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site to read the privacy statements of all other sites, particularly those that collect personally identifiable information. 

Surveys

From time-to-time the Site requests information via surveys (“Survey Information.”). Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary and you may choose whether to participate and therefore provide any Survey Information. Survey Information requested may include contact information (such as name and address), and demographic information (such as zip code, age level). Survey Information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site, and will not be disclosed. The Survey Information may also be aggregated and shared in aggregate form with anyone. This is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person or business.

Notification of changes

We reserve the right to update the Privacy Policy, and to notify you in the event of an update. If you have any questions about the Privacy Policy, please email us at info@venturize.org.

California residents

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the "Shine The Light" law, permits our customers who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, information about the personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year.  If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request to info@venturize.org. In your request, please attest to the fact that you are a California resident and provide a current California address for our response. Please be aware that not all information sharing is covered by the California Privacy Rights requirements and only information on covered sharing will be included in our response.