Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting Toastmasters International’s (“Toastmasters,” “we,” “us”) official website and shopping at our online store. We are committed to respecting and protecting the privacy rights of our members and users. This Policy describes the types of information that Toastmasters may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit toastmasters.org, all associated sites, including Toastmasters Shop and Toastmasters Pathways (the "Site”), whether as a guest or a member of Toastmasters, and our practices for collecting, using, protecting and disclosing that information. By visiting the Site, you are accepting the practices described in this Policy.

In simplified form (greater detail is below), our Policy can be summarized as follows:

We may collect some information about you, as described in this Policy, but you can control how much you share about yourself.
We do not knowingly collect information from children under 18 years of age.
We will not sell your personal information but may share such information with third parties in order to streamline functions on our behalf and to protect our users. If we share your information with a third-party service provider, they will be vetted to ensure they protect your information.
We may collect, use and share aggregate, anonymous information about our users.
In certain legal situations, we may be compelled to disclose your personal information.
You have the ability to make choices about how your personal information is used — including the ability to opt-out of marketing communications.
If you are outside the United States, you understand and agree that we store your information in the United States.

This Policy does not apply to information collected by:

Us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by Company or any third party[(including our affiliates and subsidiaries)]; or
Any third party [(including our affiliates and subsidiaries)], including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or through the Site.

Please read this Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use the Site. By accessing or using the Site, you agree to this Privacy Policy. This Policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). Your continued use of the Site after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Policy periodically for updates.

Children Under the Age of 18

Our Site is not intended for children under 18 years of age. No one under the age of 18 may provide any information to or on the Site. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 18. If you are under 18, do not use or provide any information on this Site or through any of its features, register on the Site, make any purchases through the Site, use any of the interactive or public comment features of this Site or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or username you may use. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 18 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 18, please contact us through our “Contact Us” page.

What Information Do We Collect About You?

We collect several types of information from and about users of our Site.

We collect information by which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, email address, telephone number, member identifier or certain financial information ("personal information");
We collect information that is about you but individually does not identify you, such as survey information, search queries or transaction details.
We also collect information about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Site, and usage details.

How Do We Collect Information About You?

We collect this information:

Directly from you when you provide it to us.
Automatically as you navigate through the site. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies and other tracking technologies.
From third parties, for example, our business partners.

Information You Provide to Us

The information we collect on or through our Site may include:

Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Site. This includes information provided to donate to the Ralph C. Smedley Memorial Fund®, information provided at the time of registering to use our Site, subscribing to a service, posting material, or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when you enter a contest or promotion sponsored by us, and when you report a problem with our Site.
Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.
Your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research purposes.
Details of transactions you carry out through our Site and of the fulfillment of your orders. You may be required to provide financial information before placing an order to us. (Credit card information collected by us is always immediately disposed of after the order is placed.) Financial information may be shared with third party platforms, for instance PayPal, when you place an order.
Your search queries on the Site.

You also may provide information to be published or displayed (hereinafter, "posted") on public areas of the Site, or transmitted to other users of the Site (collectively, "User Contributions"). Your User Contributions are posted on and transmitted to others at your own risk.

Do We Use Automatic Data Collection Technologies Like Cookies?

As you navigate through and interact with our Site, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

Details of your visits to our Site, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Site.
Information about your computer and internet connection, operating system, and browser type.

The information we collect automatically does not include personal information. It helps us to improve our Site.

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. While we may automatically use some cookies that are strictly necessary to provide the services you request or enable communications, we request your consent for all of our other cookie uses.
Web Beacons. Pages of our Site and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or [opened an email] and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Site are served by third-parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our website. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information, or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with advertisements or targeted content.

We do not control these third parties' tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly. For information about how you can opt out of receiving advertising from many providers, see “Do I Have Choices About Sharing My Information?”

How Do We Use Your Collected Information?

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:

To present our Site and its contents to you.
To provide you with information, products, or services as part of your membership.
To offer and fulfill our legitimate business purposes.
To fulfill any of the purposes for which you provide the information.
To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.
To notify you about changes to our Site or any products or services we offer or provide though it.
To allow you to participate in interactive features on our Site.
To present our website and its contents to you.
To store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Site according to your individual interests.
In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
For any other purpose with your consent.

Does Toastmasters Share the Information We Receive?

Toastmasters does not sell its users information. We may share your information for any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information and for the following purposes:

Toastmasters International:

This includes the organization’s World Headquarters, which manages toastmasters.org, as well as Toastmasters Districts, Divisions, Areas and individual Toastmasters clubs. In keeping with our regular offline business practices, Toastmasters International will provide information about Toastmasters members to these internal associates for communication purposes only.

Third-Party Service Providers:

We may share information with third-party service providers to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include fulfilling orders, streamlining large emails, hosting online events, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing website data, providing website design assistance, conducting surveys, and processing credit card payments. Third parties may have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes. All third-parties have been carefully vetted, and when necessary may have signed data protection agreements.

Protection of Toastmasters.org and Others:

We may release account and other personal information when appropriate to comply with the law; enforce or apply our Conditions of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property, or safety of Toastmasters International, our members, or others. This may include exchanging information with civil authorities, other companies and organizations in order to protect Toastmasters International and its members from illegal activities. However, this does not include selling, renting, sharing, or otherwise disclosing personally identifiable information from customers for commercial purposes in violation of the commitments set forth in this Policy.

Corporate Matters:

We may disclose account and other personal information to a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Toastmasters' assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by Toastmasters about our users is among the assets transferred.

Aggregated Information:

We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.

With Your Consent:

We may disclose your information with your consent. For example, in connection with a promotion or contest.

Do I Have Choices About Sharing My Information?

We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:

Cookies. While we may automatically use some cookies that are strictly necessary to provide the services you request or enable communications, we request your consent for all of our other cookie uses. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
Advertising. You can opt out of receiving marketing and advertising communications by changing your settings through your “My Profile” page or by contacting us through our “Contact Us” page. Even if you opt out of receiving marketing messages, we will still send you transactional messages such as order confirmations and receipts and communications necessary to further our legitimate business interests.

We do not control third parties' collection or use of your information. However, these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way. You can opt out of receiving targeted ads from members of the Network Advertising Initiative ("NAI") on the NAI's website.

What Individual Rights Do I Have Regarding My Information?

Toastmasters recognizes several core privacy rights. We provide our users with:

the right to know whether we process your personal information and the types of personal information we have about you;
the right to object to the processing of certain personal information;
the right to access, correct, or delete certain personal information;
the right to transfer your personal information;
the right to withdraw your consent for certain types of processing; and
the right to set your marketing and advertising preferences and opt-out of certain communications.

Ways to Access, Correct, or Delete Your Information

You have access to a broad range of information about your account and your interactions with Toastmasters through your “My Profile” page. Examples of information you can access through your “My Profile” page include your order history and personal information (including name, email, password, and your club membership history).

You can review and change your personal information by visiting your “My Profile” page. You may also contact the Club Quality and Member Support team through your “My Profile” page or through the “Contact Us” page to correct your information, delete certain information, or delete your user account.

In certain cases, we will not be able to delete your information except by also deleting your user account. If we delete your user account, you will no longer have access to your historical activity, even if you decide to create a new user account in the future.

We may not accommodate a request to delete information or change information if we believe that honoring the request would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

How to Object or Opt-Out

You may also choose not to provide data and opt out of services and communications along the way. However, if you object to processing or choose not to provide data, certain services, may be unavailable to you as a result.

You can opt out of receiving marketing and advertising communications by changing your settings through your “My Profile” page or by contacting us through our “Contact Us” page. Even if you opt out of receiving marketing messages, we will still send you transactional messages such as order confirmations and receipts and communications necessary to further our legitimate business interests.

How to Transfer Your Information

You can make a request to access a file of your information or transfer your information by contacting us through our “Contact Us” page.

Other Considerations

In certain cases, we may need more information from you before we can process a request. In such cases, we will contact you by email or, if we do not have an email address on file for you, by the same method you used to make your request.

If we do not honor a privacy request for legal or other reasons, we will communicate with you to explain (i) why we did not honor your request, (ii) your right to appeal, and (iii) your right to file a complaint (if available where you live). To appeal a decision regarding a rights request, please contact us through our “Contact Us” page.

Residents of certain U.S. states may have additional personal information rights and choices. Please see “What Are Your State Privacy Rights” for more information.

What Are Your State Privacy Rights

State consumer privacy laws may provide their residents with additional rights regarding our use of their personal information.

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia provide (now or in the future) their state residents with rights to:

Confirm whether we process their personal information.
Access and delete certain personal information.
Correct inaccuracies in their personal information, taking into account the information's nature processing purpose (excluding Iowa and Utah).
Data portability.
Opt-out of personal data processing for:
- targeted advertising (excluding Iowa);
- sales; or
- profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects (excluding Iowa and Utah).
Either limit (opt-out of) or require consent to process sensitive personal data.

The exact scope of these rights may vary by state. To exercise any of these rights, please visit your “My Profile” page or contact us through the “Contact Us” page. To appeal a decision regarding a consumer rights request, please contact us through our “Contact Us” page.

How Secure is My Information?

Toastmasters is committed to protecting the security of your personal information and maintains physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that meet industry standards to guard your personal information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. For example, we store the personal information you provide on computer systems with limited access, which are located in controlled facilities. We protect your account information by placing it on the secure portion of our website, using firewalls and other security technology to protect our network and systems from external attacks, and requiring you to enter a unique username and password to access your account information online.

When we transmit highly confidential information (such as a credit card number or password) over the Internet, we protect it through the use of encryption. Toastmasters International uses industry-standard (SSL) technology to prevent unauthorized parties from viewing potentially sensitive information, such as your name and address, as well as critically sensitive information like your credit card number that you provide or access during a secure session (look for a padlock or key and chain icon on your browser).

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. Certain parts of our website require a password, and you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. Passwords registered with our website are encrypted to ensure protection against unauthorized access to your personal information. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of our website. The information you share in public areas may be viewed by any user of our website. It is important for you to guard against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer. Be sure to sign off when finished using a shared computer.

How Long Does Toastmasters Retain My Personal Information?

We keep your personal information to enable your continued use of the services, for as long as it is required in order to fulfill the relevant purposes described in this Policy, as may be required by law (including for tax and accounting purposes), or as otherwise communicated to you. How long we retain specific personal information varies depending on the purpose for its use, and we will delete your personal information in accordance with applicable law.

Will my Personal Information be Transferred to other Jurisdictions?

Toastmasters and toastmasters.org are located and operated in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, in certain cases, your personal information will be transferred from your location to the United States. Courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in the United States may be entitled to access the personal information.

The United States has been recognized as providing an adequate level of data protection according to European Economic Area (EEA) standards.

When we transfer your personal information to the United States from non-EEA territories, we do so in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection law. If you do not agree to this international transfer of data, you should not use toastmasters.org and the Services or otherwise send us your personal information. By providing your personal information to us through toastmasters.org or the Services, you consent to the cross-border transfer, storage, and processing of your personal information.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

It is our policy to post any changes we make to our Privacy Policy on this page. If we make material changes to how we treat our users' personal information, we will notify you by email to the email address specified in your account or through a notice on the Site home page. The date the Privacy Policy was last revised is identified at the end of the Policy. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our Site and this Privacy Policy to check for any changes.

What Else Should You Know?

Toastmasters strongly supports our users’ right to privacy. For this reason, we urge our visitors to read about privacy issues and laws on http://www.privacy.ca.gov/. This information is presented by the State of California Office of Privacy Protection (under the California Department of Consumer Affairs), where Toastmasters is incorporated. We recommend that you read the page entitled: “How to Read a Privacy Policy,” which is useful information for viewing any website, including toastmasters.org.

If you choose to visit our Site, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Policy and our Conditions of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of the law of the state of California. If you have any concern about this Privacy Policy at toastmasters.org, please contact us through our “Contact Us” page or regular mail at address listed below with a thorough description, and we will try to resolve it.

Contact Information

To ask questions or comment about this Privacy Policy and our privacy practices, contact us at:

Toastmasters International
9127 S. Jamaica Street
Suite 400
Englewood, CO 80112.

Last updated: July 29, 2024