PRIVACY POLICY
Effective Date: September 17, 2026
Coachella Valley Alumnae Panhellenic ("CVAP," "we," "our," or "us") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal information entrusted to us by our members, scholarship applicants and recipients, donors, event attendees, volunteers, supporters, and visitors to our website.
CVAP is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing educational opportunities for young women and fostering Panhellenic fellowship and community involvement. Because many of the people we serve live in California, we believe our privacy practices should reflect California's strong commitment to individual privacy. Although nonprofit organizations such as CVAP are generally not subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act ("CPRA"), CVAP has voluntarily adopted many of the CCPA's privacy principles as part of our commitment to the people who support and participate in our mission.
1. Information We Collect
We may collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us, including:
- Name, mailing address, email address, and telephone number;
- Sorority affiliation and other information provided in connection with CVAP membership;
- Membership applications and membership renewal information;
- Event registrations and attendance information;
- Donation and Patron Fund information;
- Scholarship applications and information submitted by scholarship applicants and recipients;
- Volunteer interests and committee participation;
- Communications you send to CVAP; and
- Other information you voluntarily provide through our website, forms, events, or communications.
Our website and service providers may also automatically collect limited technical information, such as IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, and general website usage information.
2. Payment Information
CVAP may use third-party payment processors to process membership dues, event registrations, donations, Patron Fund contributions, and other payments. When payments are processed through a third-party payment provider, payment card or banking information may be collected and processed directly by that provider rather than stored by CVAP. The provider's collection and use of that information is also governed by its own privacy and security practices. CVAP does not intentionally retain complete credit card numbers or security codes unless necessary for a particular transaction and permitted by applicable law and payment-card requirements.
3. Scholarship Information
Because scholarships are central to CVAP's mission, we may collect information from applicants concerning their education, academic achievements, extracurricular activities, community involvement, financial circumstances, college plans, sorority interests or affiliations, and other information relevant to scholarship eligibility and selection.
Scholarship information will be used primarily to administer CVAP's scholarship program, evaluate applicants, communicate with applicants and recipients, maintain appropriate records, and further CVAP's charitable mission. CVAP will not publicly disclose sensitive information contained in a scholarship application without authorization. With a recipient's permission, which permission is included as part of each scholarship application, CVAP may share the recipient's name, photograph, school, college or university, scholarship award, accomplishments, or story in newsletters, on our website, on social media, at events, with news outlets that report on CVAP's scholarship program, or in materials describing the impact of CVAP's scholarship program.
4. How We Use Personal Information
CVAP may use personal information to:
- Process membership applications and renewals;
- Maintain membership records and directories;
- Communicate with members and supporters;
- Process donations and acknowledge charitable contributions;
- Administer the Patron Fund and scholarship program;
- Evaluate scholarship applications and communicate with applicants and recipients;
- Register individuals for events and programs;
- Recruit and coordinate volunteers;
- Send newsletters, announcements, invitations, and information about CVAP activities;
- Improve our website, programs, events, and communications;
- Maintain financial, tax, and organizational records;
- Protect the security and integrity of our website and systems; and
- Comply with legal and regulatory obligations.
We seek to collect and retain only information reasonably appropriate to these purposes.
5. We Do Not Sell Personal Information
CVAP does not sell personal information.
We also do not provide membership, donor, scholarship applicant, or supporter information to third parties for their independent commercial marketing purposes. CVAP provides certain membership information to its members and may provide information to service providers that assist us with activities such as website hosting, membership administration, email communications, event registration, payment processing, accounting, scholarship administration, or other functions performed on CVAP's behalf.
We expect service providers receiving personal information from CVAP to use that information only as reasonably necessary to provide services to CVAP and to maintain appropriate safeguards for that information.
6. Cookies, Analytics, and Website Technologies
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to operate the site, remember preferences, understand how visitors use the site, and improve its functionality. Third-party services incorporated into our website may also collect information according to their own privacy policies.
CVAP does not intentionally use website tracking technologies for the purpose of selling personal information or creating advertising profiles of our members, scholarship applicants, donors, or supporters. Where technically feasible and appropriate to the services used on our website, CVAP will endeavor to respect recognized browser-based privacy preference signals.
7. Your Privacy Choices
Consistent with CVAP's commitment to California privacy principles, you may contact us to request that we:
- Tell you what personal information we maintain about you;
- Correct inaccurate personal information;
- Delete personal information that we no longer need to maintain;
- Stop sending you nonessential promotional or fundraising communications; or
- Answer questions about how your information has been used or disclosed.
These rights are offered as part of CVAP's privacy practices and do not necessarily constitute rights required by the CCPA or any other particular law. Certain information may need to be retained despite a request for deletion—for example, donation and tax records, financial records, scholarship records, records necessary to document organizational activities, or information required by law.
We may take reasonable steps to verify the identity of a person making a privacy request before providing, correcting, or deleting personal information.
CVAP will not discriminate against or disadvantage anyone because that person makes a good-faith privacy request.
8. Photographs and Events
CVAP events may be photographed or recorded. Photographs or recordings may be used in CVAP newsletters, websites, social media, historical archives, fundraising materials, or other communications promoting CVAP and its mission. When reasonably practicable, CVAP will honor requests from individuals who do not wish to have an identifiable photograph used in promotional materials. Separate consent may be requested when CVAP wishes to feature an individual's personal story, testimonial, or scholarship experience.
9. Children's Privacy
CVAP's website and general membership activities are not directed to children under 13, and CVAP does not knowingly seek to collect personal information online directly from children under 13 without appropriate authorization. Because CVAP's scholarship activities may involve high school students who are minors, CVAP may receive information concerning applicants under age 18. We will use such information for scholarship administration and related nonprofit purposes and will take reasonable measures appropriate to the nature of that information.
10. Data Security
CVAP uses reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information we maintain.
No website, electronic communication, or information system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If CVAP becomes aware of a security incident involving personal information, we will investigate the incident and provide notifications when required by applicable law.
11. Retention of Information
CVAP retains personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, CVAP's legitimate nonprofit and historical recordkeeping purposes, and applicable legal, accounting, tax, and reporting requirements.
When information is no longer reasonably needed, CVAP may delete, destroy, or anonymize it.
12. Third-Party Websites and Services
Our website may contain links to third-party websites or use third-party services for functions such as payment processing, event registration, email communications, or social media. CVAP is not responsible for the privacy practices of independent third parties. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of those services before providing personal information.
13. Changes to This Privacy Policy
CVAP may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or programs.
The current version will be posted on our website with its effective or last-updated date. Material changes affecting the way we use personal information may also be communicated through other reasonable means.
14. Contact Us and Privacy Requests
Questions, concerns, or requests concerning this Privacy Policy or personal information maintained by CVAP may be directed to:
Coachella Valley Alumnae Panhellenic (CVAP)
Privacy Request
P.O. Box 11508
Palm Desert CA 92255-1508
Please include enough information for us to understand your request and, when necessary, verify your identity.
CVAP's mission depends upon the trust of our members, scholars, donors, volunteers, and community supporters. We will strive to collect only the information we reasonably need, use it responsibly, safeguard it appropriately, and respect the privacy choices of the people who make our work possible.
