1. Scope

The Common Grant Application is a Web-based service that allows grantmakers and grantseekers to view each others' profiles, backgrounds, activities and funding interests; and submit, receive, review, track and manage online grant applications and proposals. Common Grant Application Users can change their personal information at any time, control how other Users see this information, and control how other Users and the Web Site's services communicate with them.

The Common Grant Application ("CGA") is a project of Oceanpeak, Inc. ("Oceanpeak"). For purposes of this Privacy Policy, CGA and Oceanpeak are used interchangeably. This Privacy Policy describes the collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information collected on the Web Site. Read this Privacy Policy carefully before accessing or using the CGA Web Site ("Web Site") located at www.commongrantapplication.org (including any successor sites). Your access to and continued use of this Web Site constitutes Your agreement to the collection, storage, use and disclosure of Your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. If You do not agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy, You may not access or use this Web Site.

2. Collection

This Web Site has three levels of service: Basic, Select and Complete. You can access and use the Basic services of the Web Site without telling us who you are or revealing any personal information about yourself. You will need to tell us who you are and provide some personal information during a registration process in order to access and use the Select and Complete services of the Web Site. Once you give us Your personal information, you are no longer anonymous to us.

We may collect and store the following personal information:

  • User Submitted information such as contact, background, interest, activity, staff, budget and other information about You and/or Your organization;
  • Billing information (including credit card numbers, debit card numbers or other banking information) to pay subscription, application and/or waiver fees;
  • Transactional information based on Your activities on the Web Site (such as applications submitted or received, or Content that You generate or upload);
  • Community discussions, chat room discussions and customer support correspondence You may send to others and to us through the Web Site;
  • Web and computer logging information such as login attempts, IP address, browser type and language, platform and operating system type, page views, traffic statistics and date and time.

Once registered for the Select or Complete service, you can opt-out of providing any personal or other information that is designated as "optional" on the Web, but to do so will limit the usefulness and value of the Web Site's services to yourself and other Users.

If certain requested personal or other information is not provided, grantseeker Users applying to grantmaker Users may find that their grant applications to grantmaker Users may not be accepted as complete, which may delay or prevent any grant application review process by the grantmaker user. Grantseeker Users should communicate directly with their designated grantmaker Users if any grant application is delayed or declined or otherwise results in an outcome that does not satisfy the grantseeker Users expectations.

You may place various access and display restrictions on User Submitted information.

3. Use

In general, the primary purpose in collecting personal information is to provide you with a simple, efficient, useful and customized experience. You agree that we may use Your personal information to:

  • Provide, maintain and administer the Web Site's services;
  • Troubleshoot problems and provide any customer support services you may request;
  • Collect subscription, application or waiver fees;
  • Prevent potentially prohibited or unlawful activities, and enforce our User Agreement and Privacy Policy;
  • Measure, customize and improve the Web Site's services, Content and layout;
  • Provide administrative notices, marketing offers, and promotional offers based on Your communication preferences;
  • Compare and verify some personal information such as non-profit status with third-parties.

4. Our Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose personal information to respond to legal requirements, enforce our User Agreement and Privacy Policy, respond to claims that content violates the rights of others, or protect anyone's rights, property, or safety.

We may share Your personal information with:

  • Other Users, subject to the access and display restrictions that you specify, for the "Permitted Uses" as described in the User Agreement;
  • Service providers under contract with us who help with our business operations; (such as web hosting, user satisfaction, banking and bill collection service providers);
  • Other third-parties to whom you explicitly ask us to send Your personal information; (or about whom you are otherwise explicitly notified and consent to when using the Web Site);
  • Law enforcement or other governmental officials, in response to a subpoena, court order or substantially similar legal procedure;
  • Law enforcement or other governmental officials, when we believe in good faith that the disclosure of information is necessary to prevent imminent physical harm or financial loss or to report suspected unlawful activities;
  • Other third-parties under a confidentiality agreement, as we in our sole discretion believe necessary or appropriate, in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property or copyright infringement, piracy, or other unlawful activity;
  • Other business entities, should we plan to merge with or be acquired by that business entity. (Should such a combination occur, we will require that the new combined entity follow this privacy policy with respect to Your personal information. If Your personal information will be used contrary to this policy, you will receive prior notice.).

We do not share, rent or sell Your personal information with other, third-party companies for their commercial or marketing use, without Your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out.

Your credit card, debit card or banking information is only shared with our banking service provider and the credit card processor or bank that you have chosen in order to complete on-line payment of applicable fees. It is not shared with other Users or third-parties.

CGA allows Users to pay subscription or application fees online using a credit or debit card. The subscription fee is paid automatically in a single transaction on a monthly basis. The application fee is paid on a once per application basis. The per application feature is designed to accept one credit or debit card transaction if you click application "Submit" one time. However, if you click application "Submit" more than once, it is possible Your account will have a duplicate charge. CGA will reverse charges for any duplicate transaction. However, neither CGA nor its third-party banking service providers will be responsible for refunding any processing fees incurred by the incorrect use of this feature.

5. Using Information from CGA

The Web Site enables you to view others Users profiles, backgrounds, activities and funding interests; and submit, receive, review, track and manage grant applications. We encourage you to disclose Your privacy policy and respect the privacy policy of other users.

You agree to use the User Submitted information only for the "Permitted Uses" as described in the User Agreement.

6. Cookies, Clear GIFs and Web Beacons

We use "cookies" (small text files containing a string of alphanumeric characters sent to Your computer to that uniquely identifies Your web browser) on certain pages of the Web Site to provide convenient access to the Web Site, help analyze our web page flow, customize our services and measure the Web Site's effectiveness. A cookie created by one web site service can only be retrieved by that web site service.

A few important things you should know about cookies, clear GIFs and Web beacons are that:

  • You can accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but Web browser settings can usually be modified to decline cookies. The Basic services of the Web Site do not require cookies but the Select and Complete services of the Web Site require cookies. If you decline our cookies, you may not be able to access or use portions of the Web Site.
  • We use "session cookies" and "persistent cookies" to help identify you and maintain Your logged in status. Session cookies are automatically used and expire after a certain amount of time. Persistent cookies are used only at Your request and they expire after a certain amount of time. Session and persistent cookies are automatically deleted from Your computer after you log out. Session and persistent cookies remain after you close Your browser and will allow us to recognize you as an existing user so you will not need to log in before using the service. Session and persistent cookies may be deleted by following Your web browser help instructions or by logging out of the Web Site.
  • We do not store any personal information in cookies and we do not use clear GIFs or Web beacons. You may encounter cookies, clear GIFs or Web beacons from third parties on certain pages of web sites that we do not control. (For example, if you view a third-party web site, there may be a "cookie" placed by that web site.)

7. Communications

We do not share, rent or sell Your email address to third-party companies for their commercial or marketing use. We may on occasion use a User's email address to send CGA marketing updates, promotional offers or newsletters. Users may choose to receive or not receive email of this type by opting-in or opting-out. All marketing updates, promotional offers or newsletters will also include instructions for opting-out of those communications. We may, however, use Your email address without Your further consent to send You certain non-marketing or administrative communications from time to time, including:

  • Product announcements, such as announcements concerning upgrades, modifications and/or enhancements to the Web Site and any other products or services offered by CGA;
  • Service announcements, such as announcements regarding possible interruptions or other conditions that may affect access to and/or use of the Web Site;
  • Subscription-related announcements, such as notification of impending subscription or credit card expirations and opportunities to upgrade subscriptions;
  • Other administrative announcements and updates.

You will not be able to opt-out of receiving these non-marketing or administrative communications.

8. Spam

We and our users do not tolerate spam. To report CGA related spam or spoof emails to CGA, please forward the email to us via our contact us form. You may not use our communication features, services and tools to send spam or otherwise send Content that would violate the User Agreement. If you send an email through the Web Site to an email address that is part of our community (via the Inquire or other tools), we do not permanently store that email or use that email address for any marketing purpose.

9. Account Protection

Your user name and password are the keys to Your account. Use unique numbers, letters, and special characters for Your password and do not disclose Your password to anyone. If you do share Your password or Your personal information with others, remember that you are responsible for all actions taken in the name of Your account. If you lose control of Your password, you may lose substantial control over Your personal information and may be subject to legally binding actions taken on Your behalf. Therefore, if Your password has been compromised for any reason, you should immediately notify CGA and change Your password.

10. Accessing, Reviewing and Changing Your Personal Information

You can access, review and change most of Your personal information at any time by logging into Your account on the Web Site. Generally, we will not manually modify Your personal information because it is very difficult to verify Your identity remotely. You must promptly update Your personal information if it changes or is inaccurate. It is important to note that once an application or supporting information is submitted from a grantseeker User request to a grantmaker User, the personal information contained in that application can no longer be changed in the application. In such circumstances, after a grantseeker User has made a submission to a grantmaker User, the applicant can make a copy of the application, make the desired changes, and then submit a new application to the same or other grantmaker Users. We may, at our sole discretion and without prior notice, terminate Your access to and use of the Web Site and/or block Your future access to and use of the Web Site, if we have determined that you have violated this Privacy Policy, the User Agreement; upon requests by law enforcement or other government agencies; upon extended periods of inactivity; or upon Your request.

If we close Your account, we will remove Your personal information from view as soon as reasonably possible, based on Your account activity and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. We may retain personal information from closed accounts in order to comply with laws and regulations, prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Privacy Policy and User Agreement, and take other actions otherwise permitted by law.

11. Security

We treat the information, data and documents on the Web Site as assets that must be protected and use a variety of administrative, technical and physical measures to protect Your personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. We cannot, however, guarantee the security of Your personal information. Unauthorized access, entry, use, interception, hardware or software failure and other factors may compromise the security of personal information at any time. Therefore, although we use commercially reasonable efforts to protect and ensure the security of our systems, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that Your personal information or private communications will always remain private.

If we learn of a security breach, we may attempt to notify you via email so that you can take appropriate protective steps. We may also post a notice on the Web Site if a security breach occurs. Depending on where you live, you may also have the legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing.

12. Third Parties

Except as otherwise expressly included in this Privacy Policy, this document addresses only the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. The Web Site may contain links to third-party web sites that are not owned or controlled by CGA. If you disclose Your personal information to third-parties, whether to grantmakers, grantseekers or others on the Web Site or other web sites, different policies and rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them. CGA has no control over, and does not assume any liability or responsibility for the content, practices or privacy policies of any third-party web sites or those organizations that receive the personal information that is collected from the Web Site. We encourage you to ask questions before you disclose Your personal information to others.

13. Advertisers

CGA has no relationships with any third-party ad servers or ad networks. CGA does not provide any personal information to any third-party ad servers or ad networks.

14. International Users

This Web Site is hosted in the United States, Your personal information is stored on our servers located in the United States and it is intended for and directed to Users in the United States. If you access or use the Web Site from the European Union, Asia, or any other region with laws or regulations governing personal information collection, use, and disclosure, that differ from United States laws or regulations, please be advised that through Your continued use of the Web Site, which is governed by United States laws and regulations, our User Agreement and our Privacy Policy, you consent to the transfer and storage of Your personal information to our servers located in the United States.

15. Modification

In general, we only use Your personal information in the manner described in the Privacy Policy in effect when we received the personal information you provided.

CGA reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, alter or otherwise revise this Privacy Policy at any time by posting such modified version on the Web Site. You agree to monitor regularly the Privacy Policy as it appears on the Web Site. Your continued use of the Web Site after the posting of any modified versions shall constitute Your agreement to the modified Privacy Policy.

16. Date Last Modified

This Privacy Policy is version 1.1 and was last modified March 1, 2007.

17. Contact

If you have any questions about this User Privacy Policy; Your personal information, Your consent for the use of Your personal information, Your opt-in or opt-out choices, the User Agreement, the practices of the Web Site; or Your dealings with the Web Site, please use our: contact us form (or by mail at 530 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 207, Santa Monica, CA 90401). Thank you.