Privacy information
Inter Pares understands and respects supporters' wish to know how their personal information is used. Below are answers to some questions that we receive about privacy.
- Does Inter Pares sell or trade my information?
- I believe you traded my name without my consent. To whom may I speak about this?
- How secure is my information if I give online?
1. Does Inter Pares sell or trade my information?
Inter Pares never sells its donor information to marketers or other third parties. We will never share your e-mail address with anyone. We do, however, on occasion exchange donors' names and mailing addresses with other like-minded organizations as part of our annual Special Appeal. Inter Pares has always avoided large fundraising and publicity campaigns - we do not carry out costly telemarketing campaigns, television appeals, or direct mail "gimmicks." We have chosen instead to build a solid base of committed supporters over the years through a low-key outreach and public education program. The vast majority of these supporters have learned about us through our annual Special Appeal mailing.
Mail appeals are by far the most cost-effective way to reach new donors in a country as large as Canada, and they allow us to offer a unique, clear, and ethical message. It is not a strategy that necessarily makes Inter Pares a household name, but it is respectful of the type of commitment our donors and overseas colleagues expect from us. It has provided us with a solid financial base upon which to build our anti-poverty and social justice programs.
In our Special Appeal each year, we mail to potential donors – people not already on our list of supporters, who may otherwise never hear of us. We do this by creating a list for a one-time mailing to thousands of Canadians by initiating "exchanges" with other charitable organizations. In this mailing, we ask people to make a choice to support Inter Pares. This mailing enables us to compensate for donor attrition as well as expand our donor base. Each year, our Special Appeal mailing attracts hundreds of people from across the country who accept the invitation to become Inter Pares donors. Many of these new donors will continue to support our programs for many years to come.
While the names of people to whom we send our literature are provided by other organizations, our ability to reciprocate in kind is central to this exchange. We only trade a part of our internal donor list: we never rent or sell our list of donors' names, and we exclude the names of all donors who have requested that we not exchange their name. The charities with whom we exchange lists will see and retain the names only of people who actually respond. If we learn that an organization with whom we have exchanged names has used these names unethically, we do not exchange our list with that organization again.
Inter Pares always asks our supporters if they do not wish to have their names exchanged, and never trades the names of those who have so requested. We understand that people must make choices about which organizations they can support, and many find unsolicited literature frustrating as they cannot answer every appeal. Others have told us, however, that they appreciate learning about work done by other organizations, regardless of whether or not they choose to support them at that moment.
The decision is each supporter's to make. If you prefer not to have your name exchanged, please inform us and we will not include your name from our exchange list. If we do not hear from you, we will include your name on our exchange list, which we will use only to exchange with other reputable charities in order to continue our Special Appeal, with our sincere gratitude.
2. I believe you traded my name without my consent. To whom may I speak about this?
When new supporters join Inter Pares, they are always asked on their donation form if they object to having their name exchanged with other organizations. If we are not notified to the contrary, we add the names of new supporters to our list of names available for exchange. This is referred to as "implied consent." For those supporters who do contact us to this effect, we make a special note in our files to not exchange.
When organizations carry out mailing campaigns, they do so with names exchanged by several different organizations. The "exchanges" are always arranged through a third party, a data-processing company who assembles a mailing list from many smaller lists for this one-time mailing. For purposes of tracking the results of each list, each name is printed with a code that reveals which organization provided the name. If you contact the organization that sent you the literature with the card on which your name is printed, they will be able to confirm whether or not we did provide your name. It may have been provided by another group to whom you make charitable donations.
If we did exchange your name by accident, after you had requested us not to exchange it, please contact us immediately to this effect. We would be happy to rectify the situation and personally offer our apologies.
3. How secure is my information if I give online?
Internet technology has sufficiently advanced so as to ensure privacy of personal information, including financial information, if certain conditions are in place.
Inter Pares’ online secure donation process uses Raisin, a product offered by a third party, 
A.K.A. New Media. Raisin uses 128-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption to protect sensitive information. In addition, the Raisin system is certified PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant with respect to standards established by the major credit card issuers with respect to the security of financial data; this certification is audited by an an authorized security assessment firm annually.
For your part, supporters who make a gift to Inter Pares online require browsers that support 128-bit encryption. While most recent versions of browsers uphold this standard, older versions contain only 40-bit encryption. If you wish to upgrade your version of Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer, visit Mozilla or Microsoft to download the latest version of their browser.
| Reviewed July 29, 2009 |  |
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