Privacy Policy
Effective Date: June 3, 2022
SwitHeart Animal Alliance, Inc. and Loretta Swit (collectively, “SAA,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) provide this Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) to describe how we collect, use, and share the information of individuals who visit our website located at www.switheart.org (the “Site”).
By visiting, accessing or otherwise using the Site, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and agree to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy, as amended from time to time. Please also review our Terms of Service, which govern your use of the Site and any content you submit to the Site. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, or our Terms of Use, you must not visit, access, or otherwise use the Site.
Information Collection
When using our Site, you may voluntarily provide information about yourself, including your name, contact information, and any other information you choose to provide. For example, we collect this information when you join our email list, contact us, or interact with us for any other purpose.
We automatically collect information relating to your interactions with us and our Site, including browser type, IP address, pages visited and other activities on the Site, device type, and time and date of visit.
Collecting this information enables us to better understand the visitors who come to our Site, where they come from, and what content on our Site is of interest to them. For example, we use this information for our internal analytics purposes and to improve the quality and relevance of our Site to our visitors.
Some of this information may be collected using cookies and similar tracking technology, as explained further under the heading “Cookies and similar tracking technology” below.
From time to time, we may receive personal information about you from third party sources (including from Shopify), but only where we have checked that these third parties either have your consent or are otherwise legally permitted or required to disclose your personal information to us. The types of information we collect from third parties include information about your orders, and we use the information we receive from these third parties to fulfill your orders, respond to your inquiries, and improve our products and services.
Information Use
We may use your personal information for the following purposes:
- To fulfill your orders;
- To respond to your inquiries, including questions about order status;
- To operate and improve our products and services;
- To operate, personalize, and improve the Site, including for analytics purposes;
- To send updates, promotions, and marketing materials that may be of interest to you by email, with your affirmative consent;
- To comply with any applicable laws and regulations, and to maintain the security of our Site; and
- With your consent, or as otherwise disclosed at the time information is collected.
Information Sharing
We may share the personal information we collect with other parties, including the following:
- With third-party service providers who process information on our behalf, such as payment processors, data hosting services, and email service providers;
- With any joint venture or other partners that we may have for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy;
- As part of a corporate sale, merger, or acquisition, or other transfer of all or part of our assets, including as part of a bankruptcy proceeding;
- With another third party pursuant to a subpoena, court order, governmental inquiry, or other legal process or as otherwise required by law, to protect our rights or the rights of third parties, or to protect the safety or security of any person or entity; and
- With another third party subject to your consent or as otherwise disclosed at the time we collected your personal information or you shared your personal information with us.
We may use or share information that has been anonymized or aggregated such that it can no longer identify you without limitation (including without your consent).
The Site may offer interactive features, such as the ability to leave reviews, that you can use to communicate with other Site visitors or to submit and post your own content. If you disclose information in one of these forums, this information can be viewed, collected, and used by others.
Cookies and Similar Tracking Technology
We may work with third parties that collect data about your use of the Site and other sites or apps over time for non-advertising purposes. SAA uses Google Analytics to improve the performance of the Site and for analytics and marketing purposes. For more information about how Google Analytics collects and uses data when you use our Site, visit google.com/policies/privacy/partners, and to opt out of Google Analytics, visit tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Additionally, your browser may offer tools to limit the use of cookies or to delete cookies; however, if you use these tools, our Site may not function as intended.
Below is a list of cookies found on our Site, who provides the cookie, its type, its purpose, and how long the cookie is set to remain on a user’s computer.
Name | Cookie/Technology | Type | Purpose | Expires/Max-Age |
gat | Google Analytics | Performance | To filter requests from bots | 24 hours |
gid | Google Analytics | Performance | To count and track page views | 24 hours |
ga | Google Analytics | Performance | To count and track page views | 2 years |
Third-Party Links and Tools
The Site may provide links to third-party websites or apps. We do not control the privacy practices of those websites or apps, and they are not covered by this Privacy Policy. You should review the privacy policies of other websites or apps that you use to learn about their data practices.
The Site also includes integrated social media tools or “plug-ins,” such as social networking tools offered by third parties. If you use these tools to share personal information or you otherwise interact with these features on the Site, those companies may collect information about you and may use and share such information in accordance with your account settings, including by sharing such information with the general public.
Your interactions with third-party companies and your use of their features are governed by the privacy policies of the companies that provide those features. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policies of any accounts you create and use.
International Users
This section applies to you if you access or use the Site from jurisdictions outside the United States.
Sometimes, we process personal information with your consent. On other occasions, we may process personal information when necessary to fulfill a contract or where required to do this by law. We may also process personal information when it is in our legitimate interests to do this (e.g., for customer service, for product development, or for safety and security purposes) and when these interests are not overridden by your data protection rights. We may also process your personal information on such other legal basis available under applicable laws in your jurisdiction.
Please be aware that the personal information we collect may be transferred to and maintained on servers or databases located outside your state, province, country, or other jurisdiction (such as the United States), where the privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your location. Personal information may be accessible to law enforcement and national security authorities in those jurisdictions.
Data retention
We retain personal information we collect from you where we have an ongoing legitimate business need to do so (for example, to provide you with a service you have requested or to comply with applicable legal, tax or accounting requirements).
When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.
Depending on the laws that apply in your jurisdiction, you may have a right to the following:
- To request access to the personal information we hold about you;
- To request that we rectify or erase your personal information;
- To object to or request that we restrict or block the processing of your personal information;
- Under certain circumstances, to receive personal information about you that we store and transmit to another without hindrance from us, including requesting that we provide your personal information directly to another, i.e., a right to data portability; and
- Where we previously obtained your consent, to withdraw consent to processing your personal information.
To exercise these rights, contact us using the “Contact Us” section below. Please be aware that we may be unable to afford these rights to you under certain circumstances, such as if we are legally prevented from doing so. Additionally, you have the right to lodge a complaint against us. To do so, contact the data protection authority in your country of residence.
If you are in Australia and you wish to make a complaint directly to us, please contact use the contact details in the “Contact Us” section below and provide us with as much detail about your complaint. We will take any privacy complaint seriously and will aim to resolve any such complaint in a timely and efficient manner. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of our assessment of your complaint, you can also make a formal complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (which is the regulator responsible for privacy in Australia) using the details below:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Telephone: 1300 363 992
Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
California “Shine the Light” Law
California’s “Shine the Light” law permits California residents to prevent disclosure of personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes. If you do not want us to share your personal information with third parties, you can opt out of such sharing by submitting an email to (insert email address here) with the subject line “Request for California Privacy.”
Your Choices
To opt out of our email marketing, you can use the link provided at the bottom of each marketing message. If you opt out of our email marketing, we will no longer send you marketing messages, but we may still send you non-commercial messages related to our transactions and relationship with you, such as order confirmations. Please be aware that it may take a few days for any opt out to take effect, and you may still receive some marketing messages during this time.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
If our information practices change, we will post these changes on this page. We encourage you to visit this page periodically to learn of any updates. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will be effective as of the “Effective Date” at the top of this page, unless otherwise expressly indicated. By continuing to visit, access or otherwise use the Site after the “Effective Date,” you will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to such changes.
Contact Us
If you have questions, comments, or concerns about this Privacy Policy or use of your personal information, please contact us at info@switheart.org.