COASTAL K9 GERMAN SHEPHERD RESCUE OF SAN DIEGO

PRIVACY POLICY

 

 

Last Edited: March 4, 2025 

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This Privacy Policy describes how Coastal K9 German Shepherd Rescue (“Coastal K9,” “we,” “us”) processes, uses, and shares the Personal Information as more particularly described below that it receives or collects from visitors to, and users of, the Coastal K9 German Shepherd  Rescue website located at https://www.coastalk9gsr.org (“Website”), as well as clients of Coastal K9’s Boarding to Rescue program.

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Your privacy is our priority. We want to assure you that any personal information you provide to us whether through donations, adoption applications, or newsletter sign-ups will never be sold, shared, or disclosed to any third party for their marketing purposes. Your trust is important to us, and we are committed to protecting your data and ensuring it is used to support our mission of rescuing and rehoming dogs in need.  To prevent unauthorized access, sharing, or misuse of data, we implement the following security measures:

 

Encryption & Secure Data Storage

 

All sensitive data, including phone numbers collected for SMS communications, is encrypted both in transit and at rest using industry-standard encryption protocols (e.g., SSL/TLS). SMS data is stored securely on protected servers with controlled access to prevent unauthorized breaches.

 

Access Controls & User Restrictions

 

Access to SMS-related data is strictly limited to authorized personnel who require it to manage SMS communications. Role-based access control (RBAC) is enforced to restrict data access based on job responsibilities. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is used to ensure only authorized team members can access sensitive information.

 

Regular Audits & Monitoring

 

We conduct regular security audits and compliance reviews to monitor data protection policies and prevent vulnerabilities. Automated logging and monitoring systems detect and flag any unauthorized access or suspicious activity. Our team follows best practices in data security and stays up to date with evolving industry regulations to maintain compliance.

 

No Unauthorized Data Sharing

 

We do not sell, share, or distribute SMS subscriber information to third parties without explicit user consent, except when required by law.

 

Users can opt out of SMS communications at any time by replying STOP to any message they receive from us.

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on our Website and store certain Personal Information. Cookies are small files that a website places on your computer, mobile device, or any other device, containing the details of your browsing history on that website, among many other uses (“Cookies”). 

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Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we do so, we will post our updated  Privacy Policy on the Website where applicable, and for a reasonable period of time, we may post notice of the change so it is visible to visitors and users after the change is posted. By your continued use of the Website, you will be deemed to consent to the terms of the revised  Privacy Policy. 

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When and How Do We Collect Personal Information? 

While using the Website, we may collect your Personal Information. “Personal Information”  means any information about an individual from which that person may be identified.  Personal Information includes obvious things, like your name and email address, as well as less obvious things like your IP address, device ID, and location information. Personal  Information does not, however, include information from which the identity of an individual has been definitively removed (also known as anonymized or aggregated data). 

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We also collect Personal Information directly from you when you provide it to us, such as when you sign up for our newsletter, apply to adopt and/or foster a dog from us, volunteer with us, or use our Boarding to Rescue services. We may also collect Personal Information indirectly through automated technologies, such as Cookies or similar tracking technologies, or from third parties. 

Types of Personal Information We Collect 

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You can generally visit our Website without having to directly submit any Personal  Information about yourself to us. However, to participate in Boarding to Rescue Services,  apply to adopt and/or foster a dog, schedule an appointment to visit our facilities, or apply to volunteer, you will be required to provide us with certain Personal Information such as your name, email address, any other information you may submit to us directly. 

When you visit, use, or interact with our Website, even if you do not subscribe to our newsletter, we, or our authorized third-party service providers may automatically collect information about your use of the Website via your device, some of which information is  Personal Information. Device and Usage Information that we collect consists of:

• Information about the devices and software you use to access the Website – primarily the internet browser or mobile device that you use, the website or source that linked or referred you to the Website, your IP address or device ID (or other persistent identifier that uniquely identifies your computer or mobile device), the operating system of your computer or mobile device, device screen size, and other similar technical information. 

• Usage information about your interactions with the Website, including access dates and times, hardware and software information, device event information, crash data,  and/or Cookie data. This information allows us to understand the screens that you view, how you’ve used the Website (which may include administrative and support communications with us or whether you have clicked on third-party links), and other actions on the Website. We, or our authorized third parties, automatically collect log data when you access and use the Website, even if you have not created an account or logged in. We use this information to administer and improve the Website, analyze trends, track users’ use of the Website, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. 

• We also may collect your broad geographic location (e.g., country or city-level location) based upon your IP address, in order to determine our marketing strategies and to better serve you. 

• We or authorized third parties collect some information, including Device and Usage  Information and Location Information by automated means using cookies, and server logs for analytic purposes. 

• Aggregated Information. With the Device and Usage Information and Location  Information collected by our third-party analytics services, we generate and process aggregated information, such as statistical or demographic data. Aggregated  Information may be derived from Personal Information but is not considered  Personal Information under the law if it does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may track the total number of visitors to our Website or the number of visitors to each page of our Website, and we may aggregate usage data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific feature of the Website and analyze this data for trends and statistics. However, if we combine or connect  Aggregated Information with your Personal Information so that it can directly or  indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as Personal Information, which  will be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy 

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Why We Use Personal Information 

We may use your Personal Information for a number of different reasons, as further explained below. 

• Communicating with you about your use of the Website and our services or providing you with the information you have requested. 

• Generating user analytics to improve our Website, guide our marketing strategy, and enhance our offerings. 

• Responding to your general inquiries.

• Marketing our services. This allows us to provide you with information about new services, like our Boarding to Rescue Program or Splash Pad. We will provide an option to unsubscribe or opt out of further communication on any electronic marketing communication sent to you (or you may opt out by contacting us). Complying with our legal and regulatory obligations. We may use Personal Information to fulfill our legal obligations; for the prevention of fraud and monitoring security; to enforce our legal rights; to comply with any legal or regulatory reporting obligations; and/or to protect the rights of third parties. 

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Disclosure of Information 

We disclose your Personal Information to those of our personnel who need to process  Personal Information in order to provide our services, including Boarding to Rescue services.  In addition, we may disclose your Personal Information to the categories of third parties  indicated below (and for the following reasons): 

• Entities and individuals that help us provide the Website and our services;

• Professional service providers, such as auditors, bankers, lawyers, consultants,  accountants, and insurers; 

• Governments, regulators, law enforcement, and fraud prevention agencies, but only as authorized as explained below. 

Third-Party Service Providers 

The following categories of third parties may collect, process, or receive your Personal Information in order to assist us in providing our Website and products: 

• Entities that host various components of our Website; 

• Email marketing providers; 

• Social Media for marketing purposes; and 

• Service providers may only process your Personal Information for the specified purposes of providing their services to us and in accordance with our instructions unless they aggregate and anonymize your Personal Information such that you may no longer be identified or identifiable at any time or in any manner. 

 

Additionally, when you choose to adopt, volunteer, foster, board, or donate through Coastal K9, you may be redirected to a third-party partner or payment portal to complete your transaction or application. These trusted partners, including, but not limited to Petstablished, Wagtopia, PayPal, Venmo, Donor Perfect, Gingr, and Give Cloud, may collect and process your personal information according to their respective privacy policies. We encourage you to review their policies to understand how your information is handled. Coastal K9 is not responsible for the practices of these third-party platforms. Your trust is important to us, and we work only with reputable partners to support our mission.

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Legal Obligations & Security 

We will disclose your Personal Information: (i) when we have a good faith belief it is required by law, such as pursuant to a subpoena, warrant or other judicial or administrative order (as further explained below); (ii) to protect the safety of any person; (iii) to protect the safety or security of our Website or to prevent spam, abuse, or other malicious activity of actors on our Website; or (iv) to protect our rights or property or the rights or property of those who use our Website and/or services. 

If we are required to disclose Personal Information by law, such as pursuant to a subpoena,  warrant, or other judicial or administrative order, our policy is to respond to requests that are properly issued by law enforcement within the United States or otherwise via a mutual legal assistance mechanism (e.g., treaty).

Note that if we receive information that provides us with a good faith belief that there is an exigent emergency involving the danger of death or serious physical injury to a person, or the detection or prevention of a crime, we may provide information, including Personal  Information, to law enforcement trying to prevent or mitigate the danger (if we have it), to be determined on a case-by-case basis. 

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Tracking Disclosure 

Some web browsers offer a “Do Not Track” signal. A Do Not Track signal is an HTTP header field indicating your preference for tracking your activities on the Website or through cross-site user tracking. We do not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals. For more information on Do Not Track signal settings generally, please visit https://allaboutdnt.com. 

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Deleting or Correcting Your Personal Information and Your Choices 

If you would like us to delete your Personal Information, or if you want to correct Personal  Information you previously provided to us via the Website, please contact us at  info@coastalk9gsr.org and we will comply unless precluded from doing so for record-keeping purposes or by applicable law. 

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Marketing Communications 

You may receive messages from us regarding events, fundraisers, activities at the Ranch and about our dogs, as well as adoption and fostering opportunities, if you are on our emailing list or subscribe to our social media pages. If you are a Boarding to Rescue client, you will receive text messages from us on pick up and drop off days, as well as daily updates about your dog(s) while the dog(s) are boarding with us. For marketing communications, we will allow you to opt out of future communications that we send at any time by clicking the “Opt Out” or “Unsubscribe” link in the email or replying to any email you receive with a message that reads “Opt Out” in the subject line. Note that opting out of one email list may not opt you out of every email list and you should confirm the specific list you are opting out of when making your selection. 

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Links to Other Websites 

Our Website may link to websites or subdomains maintained by outside organizations, like  Amazon, Paypal, Venmo, Petstablisehd, Wagtopia, Donor Perfect, Give Cloud, Meta, Instagram, X, and/or Gingr. Please be aware that these third-party websites and subdomains are governed by their own privacy policies and do not fall within this Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for the content or policies maintained by these websites or subdomains. Please familiarize yourself with the privacy policy or notice of any third-party website or subdomain you visit, as it will govern any information you submit through that website or subdomain. 

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Social Plugins 

We use social plugins on our Website and may include icons that allow you to interact with third-party social networks such as Meta. For example, you may “like” us on Meta. The third-party social plugin may set a Cookie when your browser creates a connection to the servers of such social networks and the plugin may transmit your Personal Information to the social networks. Your use of these social plugins is subject to the privacy policies of the third-party social networks. 

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We also have a presence on some social media platforms. Through our accounts on social medial platforms, we may in some instances collect Personal Information when you interact with our accounts or otherwise communicate with us through those accounts. Any  information that you post on social media is governed by each social media platform’s privacy policy and any Personal Information that we collect via our social media accounts will be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy. 

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Behavioral Remarketing 

Some of our partners use remarketing services to advertise on third-party websites to you after you visit our Website. For instance, we use Google and Meta to send request information to Google and Meta and track conversions. We provide Personal Information to  Google and Meta and Google and Meta may set Cookies on your hard drive. 

You can learn more about interest-based advertising from Meta by clicking here, and to opt-out of Meta’s interest-based ads, click here and follow the instructions provided by Meta.  Meta adheres to the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising established by the Digital Advertising Alliance. You may learn more about interest-based advertising and opt-out from Meta and other participating companies through the Digital Advertising  Alliance in the USA. 

You can learn more about interest-based advertising from Google and its use of Cookies, and you can opt-out by visiting the Google Marketing Platform opt-out page or the Network  Advertising Initiative opt-out page. 

Information about how your visitors can opt out of Google’s use of Cookies or device identifiers by visiting Google’s Ads Settings. Alternatively, you can point your visitors to opt out of a third-party vendor’s use of Cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page or control the use of device identifiers by using their device’s settings. 

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Children’s Privacy 

Our Website does not target anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect  Personal Information from children under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, please do not submit any Personal Information through the Website or our services. We encourage parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s Internet usage and to help enforce our Privacy Policy by instructing their children never to provide Personal Information on our Website and/or through our services without their permission. 

 

We recognize the privacy interests of children, and we encourage parents and guardians to take an active role in their children’s online activities and interests. To the extent that we are required to collect information regarding a minor in order to provide our services, we will only do so with parental consent or collect the information from the parent directly. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 18 has provided Personal Information to us through the Website or our services, please contact us and we will endeavor to delete that information from our databases. 

Protecting Your Personal Information 

We have put in place reasonably appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect the Personal Information that we collect and process about you. The measures that we use are designed to provide a level of security appropriate to the risk of processing your  Personal Information.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so. We also require those parties to whom we transfer your Personal  Information to comply with the same. While we take reasonable steps necessary to provide the most secure Website, you understand and assume the risks associated with your activities on the Internet. 

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International Transfers 

Our Service is targeted to users in the United States. We are located in the United States, and the Personal Information that we collect is stored on servers located in the United States.  This means that your Personal Information will be collected, processed, and stored in the  United States, which may have data protection laws that are different from (and sometimes less protective than) the laws of your country or region. 

By sending us Personal Information, you agree and consent to the processing of your  Personal Information in the United States, which may not offer an equivalent level of protection to that required in other countries (particularly the European Union), and to the processing of that information by us on servers located in the United States, as described in this Privacy Policy. The English text of this Privacy Policy constitutes the sole authentic text.  If there is any discrepancy between the English text and a translation into a foreign language,  the English text shall prevail. 

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SMS Text Policy 

By providing us with your phone number, you are consenting to receive text messages from us about our events, news, campaigns, and other donation opportunities. You may provide your phone number through event registration, donating to us, contacting us by phone, or signing up for our services, including, but not limited to, Boarding to Rescue, and/or Splash Zone services. During your dog(s)’ stay with us during any Boarding to Rescue reservation, you may receive messages from us regarding pick up and drop off times of your dog(s), updates on your dog(s) stay, and other relevant information regarding your reservation. In order to opt out of sms text messages from us, reply with “STOP” or contact us at  info@coastalk9gsr.org. Text “HELP” for assistance.

 

Message and data rates may apply.

 

We do no share mobile information with third parties for marketing purposes.

We have implemented safeguards designed to ensure that the Personal Information we process remains protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy. 

How to Contact Us About Privacy 

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or have additional questions, please contact us at info@coastalk9gsr.org. 

You may also write to Coastal K9 German Shepherd Rescue at P.O. Box 722381, San Diego,  CA 92172.