Privacy Policy

This privacy policy governs www.thurberhouse.org and all of its subpages, including all data entered into forms on www.thurberhouse.org and its subpages, as it relates to the privacy, personal information, and tracking and monitoring of users and user data. This policy outlines the ways in which user data and information is collected, processed, stored, protected, monitored, updated, and accessed as it relates to Thurber House, www.thurberhouse.org, its subpages, and Thurber House online forms.

This policy also gives notice of the ways in which Thurber House collects, processes, stores, protects, monitors, updates, and accesses user data, including personal information, credit and debit card information, images, video, and audio, in conjunction with third party payment processors and gateways, third party form services, social media platforms (such as Facebook, X, and Instagram), our constituent database, granting organizations, other third party entities, and Thurber House-affiliated entities such as employees, volunteers, contractors, agents, trustees, successors, assigns, or other parties/representatives who are authorized to act on behalf of or in conjunction with Thurber House.

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, you can contact us by emailing thurberhouse@thurberhouse.org.

About Thurber House

Thurber House, Inc. is a non-profit literary arts center located at 77 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215. We can be reached by mail, by email at thurberhouse@thurberhouse.org, or by calling 614-464-1032.

Thurber House social media pages:
https://www.facebook.com/thurberhouse
https://twitter.com/ThurberHouse
https://www.instagram.com/thurberhouse

1. How do we collect information from you?

We obtain information about you when you use our website, order tickets or items from our bookstore, register for programs, attend our events and programs, sign up to receive email or mail communications, contact us via our contact form, use our social media pages, submit a change of address through USPS, complete event or program evaluations, make a donation, visit the museum, or otherwise provide your personal information to Thurber House via phone, email, mail, our website, social media, in person, or via third party entities providing services or completing tasks on our behalf.

We also collect information using cookies and analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Squarespace, Facebook, X, and Instagram. This information may include but is not limited to your name, address, email address, IP address, geographical location, device type, likes/reactions, shares, follows, tags, search terms, and which web pages you access and when.

If you make an online credit or debit card purchase from us, your card information is collected by third party payment processors and gateways, which securely process credit and debit card transactions. In some cases, when you make a phone, in person, or email order using a credit or debit card, we may directly collect and hold your credit or debit card information to complete and record your order and for accounting purposes.

If you attend our events or adult programs, we may photograph, videotape, and/or audio record you for Thurber House-related purposes including but not limited to event and program promotion, social media posts, website content, email communications, and grant-seeking.

2. How do we use your information?

We may use your personal information to (this list is representative, but not all-inclusive):

• Receive and reply to an inquiry that you have made

• Send communications and reminders about upcoming events, programs, and announcements

• Process orders and payments that you have made, such as ticket orders, program registrations, bookstore orders, and donations

• Contact you about an order, registration, or payment

• Allow Thurber House teachers to send you information about workshops and classes you are registered for

• Carry out obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and us

• Seek your feedback about our events, programs, and other Thurber House-related matters

• Store your contact information and data about your engagement and communications with Thurber House

• Evaluate your engagement and participation as they relate to Thurber House and our communications strategies

• Promote Thurber House events, programs, and announcements (using images, videos, audio, and/or quotes of/from you obtained under our Photo, Video, Audio Policy and our Feedback Policy detailed below)

• Notify you of various information or changes as they relate to Thurber House and Thurber House programming

• Comply with financial reporting, regulations, and accounting procedures

• Apply for grants and submit final grant reports

• Compile and issue the Thurber House annual report and other newsletters

• Other purposes as they relate directly to Thurber House or organizations and individuals partnering with Thurber House

We may use information about you such as IP address, device type, geographical location, likes/reactions, shares, follows, tags, search terms, etc. to monitor activity on our website and social media pages to better understand how our website and social media pages are being used. This data is tracked by Squarespace, Google Analytics, Facebook, X, and Instagram; for further information, see the Squarespace, Google Analytics, Facebook, X, and Instagram privacy and data policies. We do not match your IP address to any other information that would identify you as a unique individual person. We gather this information to better assess our communications and engagement strategies.

We hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or until such time as you request that we delete your information.

3. Who has access to your information?

Thurber House does not sell, rent, or otherwise share your information to outside organizations or entities for non-Thurber House purposes, including marketing purposes. We strive to ensure the security of all personal information and data to the best of our ability.

We may share your information with Thurber House-affiliated entities such as employees, volunteers, contractors, agents, trustees, successors, assigns, or other parties/representatives who are authorized to act on behalf of or in conjunction with Thurber House.

We may share your information with third party service providers and other associated organizations and entities for the purposes of completing tasks (such as processing payments), providing services to you on our behalf (such as sending a brochure mailing), or to aid in grant-seeking for Thurber House. In doing so, we only disclose the personal information that is necessary to complete the task or deliver the service. We can provide information on which entities have access to your data upon request.

If you make an online credit or debit card purchase from us, your card information is not held by us. It is collected and processed by our third party payment processors and gateways. In some cases, such as when you make a phone, in-person, or mail transaction using a credit or debit card, we may directly hold your credit card information to complete and record your order and for accounting purposes.

4. Security Precautions

When you give us personal information or when we receive personal information via social media or a third party service provider, we take steps to ensure that it is treated securely.

All of our third party online credit and debit card processors collect sensitive information directly from you using secure pages and modules. When you transact online, your data never touches our website and Thurber House does not have access to your full card information. Our online payment processors and gateways securely process credit and debit card transactions and are fully PCI-DSS compliant. In some cases, when you make a phone, in-person, mail, or email order or donation using a credit or debit card, we may directly hold your credit card information to complete and record your order and for accounting purposes. This data is ultimately shredded using a secure shredding service.

Thurber House undergoes regular PCI-DSS compliance checks for credit and debit card security and submits annual documentation for PCI compliance regarding our payment processors.

When you submit information on an unsecured online form or page, via social media, or via email (such as your name, email, address, and phone number), this data is transmitted over the Internet and we cannot guarantee that the data will be 100% secure when it is transmitted. While we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us through our contact form, email list sign up form, ticket order or registration forms, emails, social media, or other unsecured forms, pages, or methods of online communication. You transmit this data at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems.

We securely shred all physical copies of sensitive information on a regular basis.

Please refer to the privacy policies of individual social media platforms (Facebook, X, and Instagram) and third party service providers (such as our payment processors) for more information about their protection of your data.

5. How can you access and update your information?

If you would like to change, remove, or otherwise update the data or communication preferences that we have on file for you, you can contact us by emailing thurberhouse@thurberhouse.org, by calling 614-464-1032, or by mailing us at Thurber House, 77 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43215. You can also use the link included at the bottom of our emails to change your email preferences.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information that we hold about you, you have the right to request that we delete the information that we hold about you, and you have the right to request that we do not contact you. We will make our best effort to comply with all such requests.

We may store your data until it is no longer necessary to provide our services or until you request that your data be deleted—whichever comes first.

6. Cookies

This website uses cookies to collect information such as the number of page visitors, geographic location of visitors, IP addresses, device types, browser types, operating systems, search terms, page popularity, and other statistics that help us better understand the behavior of our website visitors.

This website is built on the Squarespace platform. Squarespace may use cookies that are necessary for the proper functioning of the website (such as putting a product into your shopping cart) and to update their platform to provide an improved user experience. Squarespace also plays a role in tracking and monitoring the behavior of our website visitors and reporting this data to us. You can read the Squarespace privacy policy here.

This website also uses Google Analytics to track and monitor website visitors to better understand behavior, interests, attributes, and engagement. Google Analytics monitors your engagement and usage of our website, but we do not use Google Analytics to save or collect personal information that can be used to identify you as a unique individual person. You can read Google's privacy policy here.

By accepting the Cookie Notification message on our website or continuing to use our website, you consent to the use of such cookies from Squarespace and Google Analytics.

Beyond this website, please refer to the privacy policies of individual social media platforms (Facebook, X, and Instagram) and third party service providers (such as our payment processors) for more information about their use of cookies.

7. Communications and Database

Thurber House maintains several email lists for communication purposes related to events, programs, announcements, and other Thurber House purposes, including but not limited to communications in partnership with Thurber House-approved organizations or individuals.

You can subscribe to our email lists through our email list sign up form at the bottom of this website. When you provide your name and email address, you do so at your own discretion and of your own choosing. Subscribers have the opportunity to unsubscribe and manage their email preferences at any time using the link at the bottom of our emails or by contacting Thurber House.

Thurber House does not sell, rent, or otherwise share your information with outside organizations or entities for non-Thurber House purposes, including marketing purposes. Personal information that is held securely within our constituent database and on our systems is only shared with the entities described in Section 3.

Our emails contain tracking and monitoring functions that collect information including but not limited to whether you open our emails, whether you click a link, which link(s) you click, whether you unsubscribe, whether you mark an email as spam, and so on. This activity is stored securely in our constituent database and is used by Thurber House to evaluate the effectiveness of our communications.

Please refer to Section 5 for information about changing, removing, or otherwise updating the data or communication preferences that we have on file for you, including but not limited to mailing address, phone number, and email address.

8. Social Media Platforms

Communication, engagement, and actions taken through external social media platforms, such as Facebook, Xr, and Instagram, are governed by each social media platform's privacy policy and terms and conditions. Social media platforms may track and monitor your activity. Some of your activity, such as likes/reactions, shares, follows, etc. as they relate to Thurber House, is shared with Thurber House.

You are advised to use caution with your own privacy and personal details when using social media platforms. Please refer to the privacy policies of individual social media platforms (Facebook, X, and Instagram) and third party service providers (such as our payment processors) for more information about their protection of your data and their use of cookies.

9. Photo, Video, and Audio Policy

Thurber House, Inc. and Thurber House-affiliated entities such as employees, volunteers, contractors, agents, trustees, successors, assigns, or other parties/representatives who are authorized to act on behalf of or in conjunction with Thurber House reserve the right to photograph, videotape, and/or audio record guests and speakers at our events and programs and to store, edit, share, and otherwise use photographs, video recordings, and audio recordings of guests and speakers for any purpose related to Thurber House, infinitely throughout the universe, in any and all media now known or hereafter devised. Thurber House, Inc. retains the rights to these photographs, videos, and audio recordings.

10. Feedback Policy

Thurber House, Inc. and Thurber House-affiliated entities such as employees, volunteers, contractors, agents, trustees, successors, assigns, or other parties/representatives who are authorized to act on behalf of or in conjunction with Thurber House reserve the right to seek, collect, store, share, quote, promote, and otherwise use your feedback about events, programming, announcements, and other Thurber House-related matters for any purpose related to Thurber House, infinitely throughout the universe, in any and all media now known or hereafter devised. This includes but is not limited to feedback taken from event and program surveys, emails, mail, or spoken aloud in person or by phone, for purposes that include but are not limited to promotion, grant-seeking, and website and brochure content. Thurber House will not publicize your full name without your explicit consent and will attribute feedback either anonymously, by first name only, or by first name and last name initial.

11. External Website Links

Sometimes, www.thurberhouse.org, its subpages, or Thurber House social media pages contain external links (i.e. to websites or pages not managed by Thurber House). Although we strive to ensure the safety of these external links, you should be cautious when clicking any external links.

Thurber House cannot guarantee or verify the contents or safety of any externally linked website. You click external links at your own risk. Thurber House, Inc. and Thurber House-affiliated entities such as employees, volunteers, contractors, agents, trustees, successors, assigns, or other parties/representatives who are authorized to act on behalf of or in conjunction with Thurber House are not liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links.

12. Third Party Service Providers

Thurber House uses the following third party service providers for the purposes of completing tasks and/or providing services to you on our behalf. Please note that this list is not all-inclusive: Formsite, Google, Stripe, Square, PNC Merchant Services, Clover, Spreedly, Squarespace, Webflow, Typeform, Bloomerang, Flodesk, Zoom, OpenPhone, GiveButter, Award Force, PandaDoc, Slack, Notion, and Splashthat.

13. Update Log

This privacy policy was last updated in February 2024.