Website Privacy Policy

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation Website Privacy Policy

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation has created this security and privacy statement in order to demonstrate and communicate its commitment to the privacy of the users of the Foundation's websites (finrafoundation.org and saveandinvest.org) and to conducting business with the highest ethical standards and appropriate internal controls. The following discloses the Foundation's information gathering and dissemination policies for the Foundation websites:

Collection and Dissemination of Personal Information

The Foundation uses standard web analytics tools to gather site usage information for the purpose of improving user experience on both finrafoundation.org and saveandinvest.org. As part of this web analytics activity, the Foundation may place cookies on users’ computers. The Foundation may also place cookies on users’ computers to enable certain site features. A user can manage his or her browser’s cookie settings to notify the user before the user receives a cookie so that the user may decide whether or not to accept the cookie, and to turn off cookies; however, limiting the use of cookies may also limit some of the functionality on the Foundation’s sites. Additionally, for specific sites or applications, the Foundation may use web analytics to track usage to confirm compliance with the terms of use of those sites or applications.

The Foundation may utilize third-party advertising networks’ electronic images known as web beacons (sometimes called single-pixel gifs, clear gifs or action tags) that allow the Foundation to collect certain information about users' visits to the Foundation’s saveandinvest.org website. Web beacons collect information about site visitors for the purpose of providing you with advertising that better aligns with your interests and to enhance your experience on our sites. These third-party web beacons also allow us to evaluate how our marketing and advertising are performing. They usually work in conjunction with cookies. Web beacons are not used to access personally identifiable information. Information collected may include non-identifiable, non-personal information such as IP address, cookie ID, page views, clicks and date/time of activity. If a user does not want the web beacons on these pages to be linked with the user’s cookies, the user can either turn off cookies or change the cookie setup in the user’s browser; if a user does this, the web beacons will still note the visits to the pages on the Foundation’s sites, but they will not be linked to information that would otherwise be stored in the user’s cookies. Additionally, advertising networks we may use may be members of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), and individuals may opt out of targeted advertising from these NAI member ad networks by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative or the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA).

The Foundation may receive and maintain information such as user name, email address, telephone number and other personal information only when such information is personally submitted by users through an optional request form such as the request for more information form or a Foundation survey form. These forms and the information provided within the forms allow users to make specific inquiries or requests of the Foundation or provide the Foundation with feedback on its website or services. Information gathered via this site may be shared with the Foundation’s affiliates, but is not otherwise shared with third parties, with the exception of the non-identifiable, non-personal information noted above (IP address, cookie ID, page views, clicks and date/time of activity), unless the involved individual requests such sharing or unless disclosure is required by law. The Foundation does not sell personal information to third parties for commercial purposes.

The Foundation reserves the right to disclose user information in special circumstances, where the Foundation believes that the disclosure of such information is necessary to identify or contact someone who may be interfering with or violating the Foundation's rights or property or other users or to protect or enforce the Foundation's rights or obligations. The Foundation may also disclose user information when such disclosure is required by law or regulation.

Third Party Links

The Foundation’s websites may contain links to other sites, some of which are not owned by the Foundation. The Foundation is not responsible for the security or privacy practices of non-Foundation sites, the products or services offered by such sites, or the content appearing at such sites. Likewise, the Foundation does not endorse any of the products or services marketed at non-Foundation sites.

The Foundation prohibits the framing of any materials available through the Foundation’s websites and unauthorized hypertext links to the Foundation's websites. The Foundation reserves the right to disconnect or otherwise disable any unauthorized frames or hypertext links.

Information Security

The Foundation’s websites are protected with a variety of security measures such as change control procedures, passwords, and physical access controls. The Foundation also employs a variety of other mechanisms to protect a user's data from being lost, misused, or altered inappropriately. These controls include data confidentiality policies and regular database backups. Although the Foundation takes these measures to safeguard against unauthorized use of a user's data, the Foundation cannot control Internet transmissions and cannot provide assurances that personal information transmitted to the Foundation will never be compromised.

Policy Changes

The FINRA Foundation reserves the right to modify or update this Privacy Policy or other terms and conditions of use of the Foundation’s websites at any time by updating the relevant link. Any modifications or updates shall be effective upon posting to finrafoundation.org.

Contact Information

This Privacy Policy was last updated in May 2012.