Privacy Policy

LAST UPDATE: 7/20/2022

Backrs, LLC and its affiliates “we”, “our”, and “us”) respect your concerns about privacy and personal data protection and value our relationship with you.  This Privacy Policy (this “Policy”) applies solely to personal information collected through our website and any other online services, applications, and web pages that post, specifically reference, and incorporate this Policy (all of the foregoing, collectively, the “Site”), whether accessed via computer, mobile device or other device (collectively, “Device”).  

This Policy describes the types of personal information we collect through the Site and how that personal information may be used and/or with whom it may be shared.  This Policy also describes how you can reach us to update your personal information, access and control the use of the personal information, or get answers to questions you may have about our privacy practices at this Site.  Please read this Policy carefully, because by accessing and using this Site you are acknowledging that you understand and agree to the terms of this Policy.  

1.  COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

As you interact with us, there may be opportunities for you to provide us with your information. Additionally, we may collect certain information about you as further described below.

You may provide us with information about you through a number of sources: our websites, applications, surveys, social media platforms, sweepstakes entries, and through our customer contact centers.  The information we collect about you differs depending on if you are a protege or a backr.

Proteges

A protege is a young person who joins the Site to receive financial, emotional, personal and other support from one or more backrs.  We collect the following information about proteges: first name, last name, email address, phone number, date of birth, address, race, ethnicity, gender, and customized avatar or bitmoji.

Proteges who are under the age of 13 may not sign up for an Account without a parent or guardian, and such Accounts must be owned and managed by the protege's parent or guardian.  All parents/guardians who sign up for an Account on behalf of a protege must provide their name, address, date of birth, and social security number to our third party background check partner, Checkr.  Any personal information provided to Checkr as part of such background check shall be governed by Checkr’s privacy policy, which is available by clicking here.

The Site allows proteges to receive financial support from us and/or backrs.  In order to receive such financial support,  proteges (or the parent/guardian of a protege, if the protege is under the age of 18) must create an account with an approved third party mobile payment service provider.  Any personal information provided to such payment service provider shall be governed by such payment service provider’s privacy policy.  

Backrs

A backr is a person who joins the Site to support one or more proteges.  All backrs must provide their name, address, date of birth and social security number to our third party background check partner, Checkr.  Any personal information provided to Checkr as part of such background check shall be governed by Checkr’s privacy policy, which is available by clicking here. 

We collect and process information about the proteges you support, the level at which you support them, and how often you support them.  

Information Collected in Teams

In order to provide support to a protege, a backr may request to join a protege's team page (each, a “Team”).  We collect and process any information posted on a Team page by proteges and backrs, including information that may constitute personal information or sensitive information for the purpose of making the Site available to proteges and backrs.  

All Users

In addition to the personal information described above, we may also collect the following categories of information from all users:

  • Name, email address, geographic location (city/state), phone number, job title, race/ethnicity, education history, partner school

  • Information about your connected devices (such as mobile phone, computer, or tablet) and how you interact with our Site (such as IP address, browser type, unique device identifier, cookie data, and associated identifying and usage information, including, without limitation, when you access the Site);

  • Marketing profile information;

  • Photographs and videos you submit;

  • Relationships between proteges and backrs, including messages sent between uses via the Site messaging system;

  • Inferences drawn from other personal information (such as personal preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes); or

  • Any other information you provide to us as part of your participation on the Site, including, without limitation, your interests, passions and hobbies, self-descriptive adjectives, the reason for your interest in participating on the Site, and any other user generated content (e.g., goals, posts, comments to posts, and reactions to posts, all of which can include text, URLs, images, video, and other personally identifiable information you choose to provide).

We obtain the categories of personal information listed above from the following categories of sources:

  • Directly from you as described herein;

  • Directly and indirectly from activity on this Site; and

  • From third-parties that interact with us in connection with the services and products we provide.

The information we collect about you and your Device may be used:

  • To provide services and maintain relationships;

  • To communicate with you about the Site, including to send you push notifications, to the extent enabled during the sign-up process;

  • To improve the quality, safety, and security of our services;

  • To administer your account(s) and process your payments;

  • To operate our websites and applications, including online registration processes;

  • To autofill data fields on our websites or applications to improve your online experience;

  • To develop new services;

  • To provide customer support and service;

  • To provide information and updates regarding our services;

  • For research, evaluation of use, and troubleshooting purposes;

  • For marking and analytics purposes;

  • To customize and improve communication content; or

  • To comply with legal, regulatory, or contractual requirements.

Communications with you in connection with these uses may be via mail, telephone, e-mail, text message, social media, push notifications, or other electronic messages, or via our websites and applications.

You will be informed what personal information is required and what information is optional when asked to submit personal information to us.  By submitting personal information to us at this Site, you hereby consent to our collection, use and disclosure of such personal information.  

We may combine the personal information you submit directly through this Site with other personal information we have collected from you, whether on- or offline.  We may also combine it with information we receive about you from other sources, such as other companies, publicly available information sources (including information from your publicly available social media profiles), and other third parties.

Passive Information Collection and Use

As you navigate around this Site, certain information can be passively collected (that is, gathered without you actively providing the information), using various technologies.  We passively collect and use information in a variety of ways, including:

  • Through your browser and Device:  Certain information is collected by most browsers, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Macintosh), screen resolution, operating system version, and Internet browser type and version.  We collect Device-specific information (such as your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information including phone number). We may associate your device identifiers or phone number with your Account.

  • Cookies:  Cookies are pieces of information stored directly on the computer you are using.  Cookies allow us to collect information such as browser type, time spent on this Site, pages visited, and language preferences.  We and our service providers use the information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, and display information more effectively.  In addition, we use cookies to gather statistical information about Site usage in order to continually improve its design and functionality, understand how individuals use it, and to assist us with resolving questions regarding it.  

You can choose to accept or decline cookies.  Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer.  If you would prefer not to accept cookies, most browsers will allow you to: (i) change your browser settings to notify you when you receive a cookie, which lets you choose whether or not to accept it; (ii) to disable existing cookies; or (iii) to set your browser to automatically reject any cookies.  If you set your browser to reject cookies, part of the Site may not work for you.

  • Pixel tags, web beacons, clear GIFs, or other similar technologies:  These may be used in connection with some Site pages to, among other things, track the actions of Site users and compile statistics about Site usage and response rates.

  • IP Address:  Your IP Address is a number that is automatically assigned to the computer that you are using by your Internet Service Provider.  An IP Address is identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user visits this Site, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited.  Collecting IP Addresses is standard practice on the Internet and is done automatically by many web sites.  We use IP Addresses for purposes such as calculating Site usage levels, helping diagnose server problems, and administering this Site.

  • Do Not Track Requests:  Your selection of the “Do Not Track” option provided by your browser may not have any effect on our collection of cookie information for analytic and internal purposes.  The only way to completely opt out of the collection of any information through cookies or other tracking technology is to actively management the settings on your browser or Device to delete and disable cookies and other tracking/recording tools.  Please note, depending on your type of Device or browser, it may not be possible to delete or disable all tracking mechanisms on your Device.

We permit third-party advertising partners to use the foregoing tracking technologies to collect information about your browsing activities over time and across different websites when you use the Site.  For example, we use advertising services provided by third-party ad partners, such as Google, to market our service to you on other websites and online services.  Through a process called “retargeting,” each service places a cookie on your browser when you visit the Site so that they can identify you and serve you ads on other sites around the web based on your browsing activity.  To avoid use of this information for advertising by these third-party ad partners, you can change your browser settings to reject cookies or to notify you when cookies are set and you could select the Do Not Track option on your browser, though we have no control over and cannot confirm whether these third-party ad partners honor the Do Not Track browser signal.  Additionally, many advertising companies are members of the NAI or DAA and/or provide opt-outs on those industry pages at networkadvertising.org/choices or aboutads.info/choices.

We utilize Google Analytics on the Site. Google Analytics is a website analysis service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google utilizes the data collected to track and examine the use of this Site, to prepare reports on its activities and share them with other Google services. Google may use the data collected to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. For more information on Google’s Privacy Policy go to https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/. Users can opt-out of Google Analytics tracking at https://tools/google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.  Some additional Google Analytics features that we use are:

• Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting – allows us to see the age, gender and interests of website visitors to better understand them and personalize advertising.

• Google Display Network Impression Reporting – for banner ads.

• Remarketing through Google Analytics for Display Advertising – allows personalization of ads on our ad networks.

• User ID Extension for Google Analytics – allows us to connect multiple devices, sessions and engagement data.

We, along with third-party vendors such as Google use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions and other ad service functions as they relate to our website. Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt Out page or by using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add on.

Integrated Accounts and Social Media Information

We may implement applications or "widgets" from third party providers (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) that allow interaction, integration or content sharing with third party services.  These widgets or applications may be visible on a page you visit on our Site or may require log-in through the third party provider’s service.  The third party providing the widget or integration may offer controls for you to manage your interactions.  Any interaction with a third party widget or application typically allows the third party to collect some information about you (whether through cookies, registration information or otherwise).  These third parties may even track you when you do not interact with the widget.  If you have engaged any of these third party service providers, their respective privacy policies will govern their tracking and collection of information.  You should review these third party policies to understand these practices.

How We Use and Disclose Information

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this Policy. The information may be shared or disclosed for a business purpose to the following categories of third parties:

  • To contractors, service providers and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.

  • To third parties to market their products or services to you if you have consented to these disclosures. We contractually require these third parties to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.

  • To our affiliates for related business purposes.

We use and disclose personal information you provide to us as described to you at the point of collection, such as when you (1) register for a user account, (2) submit payment or credit card information, (3) submit your name and e-mail address to receive product updates and marketing information, and (4) send e-mail messages or feedback, or transmit other information by e-mail.  When you elect to engage in such activities, we may ask that you provide us personal information, such as your first and last name, mailing address (including zip code), e-mail address, mobile telephone numbers, and payment information.

We also use and transfer personal information from or about you:

  • to respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests, such as to send you documents you request or e-mail;

  • to send you important information regarding our relationship with you or regarding this Site, changes to our terms, conditions, and policies and/or other administrative information; and

  • for our business purposes, such as marketing new products and services, data analysis, audits, developing new products or services, enhancing our Site, improving our products and services, identifying Site usage trends, and determining the effectiveness of our Site.

  • to our third party service providers who provide services such as website hosting and moderating, mobile application hosting, data analysis, infrastructure provision, credit card processing, IT services, e-mail services, marketing services, auditing services, and other services, in order to enable them to provide services;

  • to verify your information, approve your registration as a user of the Site, authenticate payments, we may disclose certain financial and other information you provide to us to our third party payment processor, as well as to third parties that provide credit reporting services;

  • to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings); and

  • when we otherwise have your consent.  For example, if you sign up for programs offered by our partners, we may share certain information with the partner.  This could include, but is not limited to, enrollment information and the activation status of your device.  Your consent is required to allow these exchanges on your behalf and you can change your mind at any time.

In addition, we use and disclose personal information collected through this Site as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) as permitted by applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence; (b) to comply with any legal process; (c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (d) to enforce our Terms of Use; (e) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates; (f) to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or others; and (g) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain. We may also use and disclose personal information collected through this Site in other ways, with your prior consent.

We also use and disclose information we collect passively as described above, under "Passive Information Collection and Use," and for any other purpose, except where we are required to do otherwise under applicable law (for example, if we are required to treat such information as personal information). In addition, we may use and disclose information that is not in personally identifiable form (such as anonymized, masked or de-identified information) for any purpose. If we combine information that is not in personally identifiable form with information that is (such as combining your name with your geographical location), we will treat the combined information as personal information as long as it is combined.

We do not sell any personal information collected from you to any third parties.

Use of Information for Marketing Purposes

Backrs may send you regular promotional communications about our services, events and promotions. Such promotional materials may use the “Backrs” brand and may be sent to you via different channels, such as: email, phone, SMS text messages, and postal mailings.

In order to provide you with the best personalized experience, sometimes these communications may be tailored to your preferences (for example, as you indicate these to us, as we may have inferred from your Site visits, or based on the links you click in our emails).  When required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent before starting these activities.  In addition, you may withdraw your consent (opt-out) at any time.

In particular, you can opt-out from receiving marketing-related communications by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in each communication.  You can also contact us using the contact details provided below to opt-out from receiving marketing-related communications.

Please note that even if you opt-out from receiving marketing communications, you might still receive administrative communications from us, such as technical updates to our services, notifications about your account activities, and other important notices.

Permissions

During the sign-up process, you will be asked for permission for the Site to access your Device’s camera, microphone, and photo/video camera roll.  You may grant or deny such access in your sole discretion, and the Site will only store media that you expressly choose to upload.

You may also elect to receive push notifications from the site.  When you first launch the Site, you will be asked to allow notifications.  You may accept or reject this request and in all events will be able to continue using the Site.

You may accept or reject the aforementioned permissions at any time using the built-in management tools of your Device.

2.  GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information will be collected, stored, processed and transmitted in accordance with our established policies and applicable federal, state, local and foreign laws, rules and regulations.  

Our principles with respect to the processing of personal information are as follows:  (1) personal information will be processed fairly and lawfully, (2) personal information will be collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes and not further processed for incompatible purposes, (3) personal information we collect will be adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are collected and processed, (4) personal information we collect will be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date to the best of our ability, (5) personal information we collect will be retained as identifiable data for no longer than necessary to serve the purposes for which the personal information was collected, and (6) personal data will be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organizational measures.

If we engage in the processing of personal information for purposes other than those specified in this Policy, we will provide notice of these changes, the purposes for which the personal information will be used, and the recipients of personal information.

3.  THIRD PARTY SITES AND SERVICES

This Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information, or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any site or web property (including, without limitation, any application) that is available through this Site or to which this Site contains a link, whether such third party link is provided by us or is posted to a Team page by another user of this Site.  The availability of, or inclusion of a link to, any such site or property on this Site does not imply endorsement of it by us or by our affiliates.  Whilst reasonable care has been exercised in selecting and providing links to third party sites, you are advised to exercise caution before clicking any external links. We cannot guarantee the ongoing suitability of external links, nor do we continually verify the safety or security of the contents which may be provided to you. You are advised, therefore, that your use of external links is at your own risk and we cannot be responsible for any damages or consequences caused by your use of them.  

Third parties may offer products and services on the Sites and collect information about you by requesting certain information necessary to provide a particular product or service. We may also obtain certain information about its users from third party customer research groups (e.g., demographic information) which we to learn more about its customers. We do not control the policies and practices of third parties in relation to the use and disclosure of any information about users collected by third parties on the Site or in market research programs conducted by such third parties and any use or disclosure of such information by third parties is not governed by this Policy.  

4.  CHOICES AND ACCESS

We give you choices regarding our use and disclosure of your personal information. We provide you with the opportunity to receive information by email, SMS text, from us, or third parties which may be of interest to you, including information relating to new products and services offered by third parties.  If you do not want to receive any information by email, SMS text, you may opt-out of further communications provided by us at any time by: (i) sending us an email at support@backrs.com; or (ii) writing to us at 600 Superior Ave. E., Suite 1800, Cleveland, Ohio 44114, Attention: Director, Community Engagement. Please note that we can only comply with requests relating to email, regular mail or telephone communications provided by us. If you no longer wish to receive further information by email, regular mail or telephone from any third party, you will need to contact such third party directly to opt-out of further communications being provided to you.  We will seek to comply with your request(s) as soon as reasonably practicable.  

If applicable, and you would like to review, correct, update, or delete the personal information that you have provided via this Site, please contact us.  We will try to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable.  

5.  ACCURACY

It is your responsibility to provide us with accurate personal information.  Except as otherwise set forth in this Policy, we shall only use personal information in ways that are compatible with the purposes for which it was collected or subsequently authorized by you.  To the extent necessary for these purposes, we shall take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is accurate, complete, current and relevant to its intended use.

6.  YOUR RIGHTS OVER YOUR INFORMATION

By law, you have a number of important rights. In summary, those include the following:

  • fair processing of your personal information and transparency over how we use your personal information;

  • access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this Policy is already designed to address;

  • require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold; 

  • require the erasure of personal information concerning you, in certain situations;

  • receive the personal information concerning you that you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, and have the right to transmit that information to a third party, in certain situations;

  • object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing;

  • object to decisions being taken by automated means that produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you; and

  • object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please email, call, or write to us with the following: (1) enough information to identify you; (2) proof of your identity and address; and (3) the information to which your request relates.

California Privacy Rights

The California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) grants users of our Site that are California residents certain rights in regards to our collection of personal information. These rights include:

  • The right to request the disclosures of (1) what personal information has been collected; (2) the categories of sources from which the personal information was collected; (3) the business or commercial purpose for collection or selling personal information; (4) the categories of third parties with whom the business shares personal information; and (5) the specific pieces of personal information we have collected;

  • The right to request the deletion of their personal information that has been collected; and

  • The right to opt-out of the sale of their personal information.

Under the CCPA, a data subject may only make a personal information request twice in a 12-month period. We will respond to such personal information request within 45 days of receiving the personal information request.

Additionally, if you are a California resident, you have the right to request information from us regarding the manner in which we share certain categories of your personal information with third parties, for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. California law provides that you have the right to submit a request to us at our designated address and receive the following information:

  • The categories of information we disclosed to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year; and

  • The names and address of third parties that received such information, or if the nature of their business cannot be determined from the name, then examples of the products or services marketed.

You are entitled to receive a copy of this information in a standardized format and the information will not be specific to you individually. You may make such a request by emailing support@backrs.com

Exercising Your Rights

To exercise your rights as described herein, you may submit a verifiable consumer request to us (as described above) by either contacting us via the contact methods provided in the CONTACTING US section below. We will not discriminate in any way against any users of the Site that exercise their rights provided by law.

7.  RETENTION PERIOD

We retain your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or allowed by law or to otherwise fulfill a legal obligation.

8.  SECURITY

We have implemented security measures designed to protect personal information provided by you against unauthorized access and use. We also use commercially reasonable efforts to establish secure connections with your web browser for any transactions conducted online using a credit card or other financial information you may provide to us. Please be aware, however, that no data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure and any information disclosed online can potentially be collected and used by parties other than the intended recipient.  If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us of the problem by contacting us in accordance with the CONTACTING US section below.

9.  USE OF SITE BY MINORS

To use the Site, you must be 18 or older, or have your parent or guardian’s consent.  Children under the age of 13 are not permitted to have their own Accounts on the Site.  Any such Accounts must be owned and managed by the child’s parent or guardian.  In addition, any protege under the age of 18 must add their parent or guardian as a backr on their Team page.

We only collect personal information from children with a parent or legal guardian’s consent as required by applicable law.  We do not keep this personal information for longer than necessary.  Parents or legal guardians may contact us to ask if we have collected their child’s personal information, to review the information (if any) and request that we stop collecting this information and have it deleted.  Such requests are subject to us verifying to our satisfaction that the requested is in fact the child’s parent or legal guardian. To exercise these rights, please contact us using the contact information provided below.

10.  COMPLIANCE WITH LOCAL LAWS

This Policy is meant to guide us with respect to personal information collected from or about you at this Site.  While this Policy applies to personal information generally, the local laws, rules and regulations of jurisdictions that are applicable to us (“Local Laws”) may require standards which are stricter than this Policy and, in such event, we will comply with applicable Local Laws.  Specific privacy policies may be adopted to address the specific privacy requirements of particular jurisdictions. All the information you provide may be transferred or accessed by entities around the world as described in this Policy. Your personal information may be stored and processed in any country where we have facilities or service providers, and by using our Site or by providing consent to us (where required by law), you specifically acknowledge and consent to the transfer of information to countries outside of your country of residence, including to the United States, which may provide for different data protection rules, and a lower standard of required protection, than in your country. Irrespective of which country your personal data is transferred, we would only share your personal data under a ‘need to know’ basis.  In these circumstances we will, as required by applicable law, ensure that your privacy rights are adequately protected by organizational, technical, contractual and/or other lawful means.

11.  UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may change this Policy.  Please review the LAST UPDATE legend at the top of this page to see when this Policy was last revised.  Any changes to this Policy will become effective when we post the revised Policy on this Site.  Your use of this Site following these changes means that you accept the revised Policy.

12.  COMPLIANCE

We will use a self-assessment approach to verify compliance with this Policy and periodically verify that the Policy is accurate, comprehensive for the information intended to be covered, prominently displayed, implemented and accessible. 

If you believe that your personal information has been processed or disclosed in violation of this Policy, we encourage you to raise any concerns using the contact information provided in this Policy.  We will investigate and attempt to resolve any complaints and disputes regarding use and disclosure of personal information. 

13.  YOUR RIGHT TO COMPLAIN

If you have a complaint as to our use of your information, you may file a complaint with us, the California Attorney General, any other governmental agency, and/or a judicial body. 

A complaint may be submitted directly to us:

  • In writing by sending an email to support@backr.com

  • In writing by sending a letter to 600 Superior Ave. E., Suite 1800, Cleveland, Ohio 44114

  • Orally by directly contacting 347-931-6293

14.  CONTACTING US

If you have any questions about this Policy, please contact us directly

Our contact information is as follows:

Backrs, LLC

600 Superior Ave. E., Suite 1800, Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Attention: Backrs Community Engagement 

347-931-6293 (Monday to Friday, 8am – 5pm EST)

support@backrs.com

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