Privacy Policy

The National Society of Genetic Counselors, Inc. (“NSGC” “us,” “our,” or "we") has created this privacy policy in order to demonstrate our commitment to your privacy and protection of personal information that we collect and process. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices. Unless the context indicates otherwise, the terms “you” and “your” refer to both you individually and any entity on whose behalf you are accessing our Website (www.nsgc.org).

This privacy policy applies to information we collect through the following (our “Collection Places”):

On this Website (including its integrated third party platforms);
On other platforms we use to facilitate our management of the services we provide to you (e.g. conference registration sites); and
In email, text, other electronic messages or by telephone or other communications between you and us and (if you are a member) between you and other members through the Website.

This privacy policy covers the following topics:

If you have questions or concerns regarding this policy, we welcome you to contact us at: privacy@nsgc.org.

Acknowledgement of this Privacy Statement

Your use of any of our Collection Places signifies that you have read and understand all of the terms of this privacy policy. This privacy policy is incorporated into and is a part of the Terms and Conditions of Use Agreement of our Website.

Personal Information You Provide Voluntarily

We collect personal information that you provide at our Collection Places that includes, but is not limited to, name, telephone number, email address, employer, professional title, date of birth, home or business and mailing address, gender, details regarding your entity and business, your job title, username and password, company contacts for corporate members, photographs, and education.

The personal information you are asked to provide (including whether its provision is mandatory or not) is needed so that we may facilitate your access, purchase, use and/or participation in our service offerings, such as (collectively “Services”):

Membership;
Conferences & Events;
Educational programs;
Online forums;
Certification/accreditation activities;
Volunteer opportunities;
Products for sale;
Career services;
Publications;
Surveys; and
Any other services and products that are updates or extensions to our Services or relate to other member benefits.

If you choose not to provide us with your personal information, you may not be able to enjoy certain components of our Services.

Additionally, we will also collect personal information when:

You request us to contact you via mail, e-mail, or telephone to provide information, updates, or promotions about our Services.
We enter into agreements for affiliated partnerships (e.g., exhibitors, sponsors, advertisers).
If you choose to purchase a product or service, we and/or our third-party payment processors will collect your payment information, including, but not limited to, your credit or debit card number, card verification value (CVV) number, and expiration date.
In order to enroll in or register for an NSGC program, attend NSGC events, meetings, or conferences, or request NSGC products or services, you will be required to fill out a registration or order form and provide personal information, which we will use to process your registration or order. In certain circumstances, a program, event, meeting, or conference accessed through the Site may be jointly sponsored or co-sponsored with another organization. If the enrollment or registration is handled by such other organization, that organization’s (not [NSGC’s) privacy policy will apply and be controlling. Please note that NSGC is not responsible for the privacy policies of such other organizations or their collection, use, sharing, or other processing of your personal or other information, and NSGC hereby disclaims any liability or responsibility in connection therewith.

We will provide you with the choice and means for limiting the use and disclosure of your personal information before we use or disclose the information for a purpose that is materially different than the purposes described in this privacy policy.

For those Website users located outside the United States, including the European Economic Area, we advise you that your information may at times be accessible by individuals who are located worldwide or other geopolitical regions have not been determined to provide the same level of data protection as in your country, province, territory or geopolitical region. By providing us with your personal information, you are consenting to our use of it in accordance with this privacy policy, including the transfer of your information across international boundaries to jurisdictions anywhere in the world as permitted by local law.

NSGC may also collect information about you from publicly available sources. Information you make publicly available in any public or open forum, such as on a social network, may be considered public information for the purposes of this Privacy Policy, and may be accessed and collected by NSGC. Please be aware that any content or information you share with or provide to third parties using or related to your use of the Services is neither private, nor confidential. NSGC is not responsible for any content or information you post or share with third parties. If you do not wish for certain information to be public, please do not share it.

Personal Information We Collect Automatically

In addition to the Collection Places, we may use any number of tools to collect information about you, your computer access points, and the web browser that you use to connect to our Website. For example, cookies are tiny text files that we place on your computer’s hard drive when you visit our Website. We may use cookies to personalize your interactions with our Websites. You do not have to accept our cookies and you may set your browser to restrict their use and you may delete them after they have been placed on your hard drive. If you do not accept or delete our cookies, some areas of our Website may take more time to work, or may not function properly.

Under the laws of various EU countries, cookies may be served, as long as individuals have provided their consent, having been given clear and comprehensive information, in particular about the purposes for which their personal data will be processed. In at least the above-referenced countries, effective consent may be provided by using browser settings, as long as you take positive action. Before using our Website, you are advised to check your current browser settings to ensure that the settings reflect your consent for us to place cookies on your devices.

We may also collect additional information from your web browser each time you visit our Website. We may collect information about the pages that you visit and the time spent on each web page or area of the Website, the promotions or advertisements that you click on, and other actions that you take while using our Website. This information may include your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, the type of browser, the time that your browser was used to access our Website, and the referring website’s address. We may also use tools such Google Analytics.

Cookies, Web Beacons, Links, And Other Tracking Technologies: NSGC may keep track of how you use and interact with the Services through the use of cookies, web beacons, links, and other tracking technologies. We do this to help analyze the use of and improve the Services. Through these technologies we may automatically collect information about your use of the Services and other online activities, including our email correspondences, third-party services, and client applications, and certain online activities after you leave the Services. Link information is generally only analyzed on an aggregate basis. Some Services may not function properly if you disable cookies. Such data may include analytics information, sites visited before visiting the Services, browser type, operating system, and tracking of your interactions with our content and emails.

Unique Identifiers: When you use or access the Services, we may access, collect, monitor, store on your device, and/or remotely store one or more "Unique Identifiers," such as a universally unique identifier (“UUID”). A Unique Identifier may remain on your device persistently, to help you log in faster and enhance your navigation through the Services. Some features of the Services may not function properly if use or availability of Unique Identifiers is impaired or disabled.

Log File Information: When you use our Services, we may receive log file information such as your IP address, browser type, access times, domain names operating system, the referring web page(s), pages visited, location, your mobile carrier, device information (including device and application IDs), search terms, and cookie information. We receive log file data when you interact with our Services, for example, when you visit our websites, sign into our Services, or interact with our email notifications. NSGC uses log file data to provide, understand, and improve our Services, and to customize the content we show you. NSGC may link this log file to other information NSGC collects about you via the Services.

We may also collect information that cannot be used to identify you. For example, we may aggregate non-personal information about you and other individuals who visit our Website. Aggregated information will not contain any information that can be linked directly back to you.

Our Service Providers (defined below) may also use other standard web-based technologies to analyze your movements while accessing our Websites. The technologies include web “beacons,” “pixel tags,” and “clear gifs.” These technologies help us ascertain the effectiveness of our product and service campaigns and marketing programs, allow us to customize the services offered on or through our Website, and help determine the best use for Website content, and product and service offerings. Some of this information, including the IP address, may be stored on our Internet service provider’s server logs, and may be available for extended periods of time.

Our Use of Your Personal Information

NSGC uses the information that we collect to provide our services and products and to operate our business. We may use your personal information to:

Provide information about our Services and affiliate partnerships;
Secure your membership status;
Fulfill your member benefits;
Analyze and evaluate member and prospective member needs and interests, and improve the member and prospective member experience;
Notify you of NSGC official business, news, activities, programs, events, meetings, conferences, services, products, and benefits;
Facilitate your attendance/participation at our conferences and events (both in person and virtual);
Track your attendance at conferences and trade shows (including exhibitor spaces);
Prepare invoices and process payments;
Respond to any of your questions or requests or other communications you send to us;
Carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contract entered between you and us;
Fulfill any other purpose for which you provide information to us;
Present our Website effectively to you; or
Perform any other legitimate purpose reasonably consistent with your membership or affiliated partnership.

Additional uses of your non-personal and personal information will allow us to tailor our Services specific to your needs, to help organize and manage our relationship with you or your business, to conduct business, to provide you with support, and to perform functions that are described to you at the time of collection.

In general, we will use the personal information we collect from you only for the purposes described in this privacy policy or for purposes that we explain to you at the time we collect your personal information. However, we may also use your personal information for other purposes that are not incompatible with the purposes we have disclosed to you (such as archiving purposes in the public interest, research purposes, or statistical purposes) if and where this is permitted by applicable data protection laws.

Our Disclosure of Your Personal Information to Third Parties

We may share your personal information with the following categories of recipients:

Third party service providers (“Service Providers”) who provide (without limitation) administrative/operational services; data processing; membership services; marketing & communication services; meeting management services; publications; website hosting services; membership database services; credit card processing; conference registration; conference mobile applications; conference/event hotels and venues; or who otherwise process personal information for purposes that are described in this privacy policy or notified to you when we collect your personal information;
Other NSGC members may receive certain items of your personal information as part of a membership directory or through collaboration portals. In addition, if you sign up to attend a member meeting or other NSGC-sponsored event, all other NSGC members who sign up for the event will be notified of your intended attendance at the event and may be given your full name, address, company name, and email address. We are not responsible for other members use or misuse of your personal information; and
Affiliated partners, such as exhibitors, sponsors and advertisers, may receive membership lists or event attendance lists that include your full name, address, company name, and email address. We are similarly not responsible for the use or misuse of your personal information by our affiliated partners.

We may also disclose your personal information as is necessary to: (a) comply with a subpoena or court order; (b) cooperate with law enforcement or other government agencies; (c) establish or exercise our legal rights; (d) protect the property or safety of our company and employees, contractors, vendors, suppliers, and customers; (e) defend against legal claims; (f) help with internal and external investigations; or (g) as otherwise required by law or permitted by law. We may disclose your information in connection with the sale or merger of NSGC or any transaction that involves the sale or assignment of some or all of our assets.

Data Storage

We will not keep your personal information longer than necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. We will securely destroy or erase personal information from our systems when it is no longer required to accomplish the purpose for which it was collected. We also will endeavor to ensure the deletion and destruction of personal information stored and maintained by third parties. We may, however, retain some personal information in order to comply with applicable laws, regulations, rules and court orders.

Children and Data Collection

Our Website content is not directed toward children who are under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we or our Service Providers become aware that a child has provided us with personal information without parental consent, that information will be deleted from our databases. If you have questions about personal information that may have been submitted by a child, please email us at privacy@nsgc.org.

How You May Access and Change the Information that NSGC Collects

The first time that you provide us with registration information through our Website, you may be offered the opportunity to opt in to subscribe to and receive additional information about our products and services. Each commercial e-mail that we send to you will offer you the opportunity to opt-out of continuing to receive such messages. We may take up to 10 business days to process your opt-out requests. In some instances, we may have already shared your information with one of our authorized third parties before you changed your information preferences, and you may briefly continue to receive e-mail even after you have opted out. FTC e-mail compliance guidance allows us to send you transactional and relationship e-mail without offering you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving those types of e-mail.

For those Website users located in the European Union, we are required by law to advise you that your personal information may, at times, be accessible by individuals who are located worldwide including in countries that the European Commission has not determined provide the same level of data protection as in your country. By providing us with your personal information, you are consenting to our use of it in accordance with our privacy policy, including the transfer of your personal information across international boundaries to jurisdictions anywhere in the world as permitted by local law, including, without limitation the United States.

In some cases, the United States may not be deemed to have data privacy laws that afford an equal level of protection for your personal information as those laws legislated at the direction of the European Union, however, please be assured that we will continue to adhere to the principles stated in this privacy policy and in applicable laws in connection with any personal information. We will endeavor to preserve the integrity, confidentiality, and security of personal information and afford such personal information an adequate level of protection.

Rooms/Forums/Message Boards/News Groups

Our Website may make digital forums available to its users. Please remember that any information disclosed in these areas becomes public information, and you should exercise caution and appropriate judgment when deciding to disclose information through these areas of the Website.

Information Sharing

NSGC Personnel: NSGC’s personnel may have access to your information as needed to provide and operate the Services in the normal course of business. This includes information regarding your use and interaction with the Services.

Service Providers: NSGC works with various organizations and individuals to help provide the Services to you ("Service Providers"), such as website and data hosting companies and companies providing analytics information, like Google Analytics. We may share your personal information with our Service Providers for the purpose of providing the Services. The information we share to our Service Providers may include both information you provide to us and information we collect about you, including Personal Data and information from data collection tools like cookies, web beacons, log files, Unique Identifiers, and location data. NSGC takes reasonable steps to ensure that our Service Providers are obligated to reasonably protect your information on NSGC’s behalf. If NSGC becomes aware that a Service Provider is using or disclosing information improperly, we will take commercially reasonable steps to end or correct such improper use or disclosure.

Business Transactions: NSGC may purchase other businesses or their assets, sell our business assets, or be involved in a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets (a “Business Transaction”). Your information, including Personal Data, may be among assets sold or transferred as part of a Business Transaction.

Lawful Requests: We may be required to disclose User information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We generally do not disclose User information unless we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. We may share your information when we believe it is necessary to comply with applicable laws, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Services or using the NSGC name, or to protect the safety of any person. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents, or government agencies. Nothing in this Privacy Policy is intended to limit any legal defenses or objections that you may have to a third party’s, including a government’s, request to disclose your information.

Your Rights and Choices Regarding Your Information

Relevant data protection laws provide you certain rights regarding the protection of your data, including:

the right to access;
the right to rectification;
the right to erasure;
the right to restrict processing;
the right to object to processing;
the right to data portability;
the right to complaint to a supervisory authority; and
the right to withdraw consent.

More information about your rights relating to NSGC and the Services is provided via this Privacy Policy.

Access To The Information NSGC Has Collected About You: NSGC provides certain tools and settings within the Services to help you access, correct, delete, or modify your personal information associated with the Services. NSGC welcomes you to contact us regarding the information we have collected about you, including regarding the nature and accuracy of the data that has been collected about you, to request an update, modification, or deletion of your information, to opt-out of certain Services uses of your information, or to withdraw any consent you may have granted to NSGC.

Please note requests to delete or remove your information do not necessarily ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information posted, and removed information may persist in backup copies indefinitely. Please note that if you choose to delete your information or opt-out of the collection and use of your information, you understand that certain features, including but not limited to access to the Services, may no longer be available to you.

We may store the information we collect about you indefinitely, but information generally will be retained only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which the information was collected, or as otherwise required by law. Following termination or deactivation of an NSGC Account, NSGC may retain your information and content for a commercially reasonable time for backup, archival, and audit purposes.

Opting-Out of Communications from NSGC: Users may opt-out of receiving certain communications from NSGC by following the unsubscribe process described in an email communication, or by contacting us using the contact information provided below. However, please note you may not opt-out of Services-related communications, such as account verification, changes or updates to features of the Services, or technical and security notices.

Do Not Track: NSGC does not currently employ a process for automatically responding to “Do Not Track” (DNT) signals sent by web browsers, mobile devices, or other mechanisms. Per industry standards, third parties may be able to collect information, including Personal Data, about your online activities over time and across different websites or online services when you use Services. You may opt out of online behavioral ads at http://www.aboutads.info/choices/. You also may limit certain tracking by disabling cookies in your web browser.

Security of Your Information

NSGC takes reasonable efforts to secure and protect the privacy, accuracy, and reliability of your information and to protect it from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. NSGC implements security measures as we deem appropriate and consistent with industry standards. We also make reasonable efforts to ensure that our Service Providers have implemented physical, electronic, and procedural security measures to assist with safeguarding your personal information, and to help protect against unauthorized access and disclosure. Notwithstanding our efforts, the Internet has inherent security risks. We cannot promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information, personal searches, and other communications will always remain secure. As no data security protocol is impenetrable, NSGC cannot guarantee the security of our systems or databases, nor can we guarantee that personal information we collect about you will not be breached, intercepted, destroyed, accessed, or otherwise disclosed without authorization. Accordingly, any information you transfer to or from Services is provided at your own risk.

Please do your part to help us keep your information secure. You should take care with regard to how you handle and disclose your personal information or any username or password that you are required to use to access all of our Collection Places. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and NSGC Account, and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or NSGC Account. NSGC specifically reserves the right to terminate your access to the Services and any contract you have with NSGC related to the Services in the event it learns or suspects you have disclosed your NSGC Account or password information to an unauthorized third party.

Additional Provisions Regarding the Services and Your Information

Transfer and Storage of Your Information: Please note information NSGC collects about you may be transferred, processed and/or accessed by us in the United States, or another country where we, or our Service Providers operate. Please be aware Personal Data may be transferred to, and maintained on, computers located outside of your state or country where privacy laws may differ from and may not be as protective as those where you live. If you are located outside the United States and choose to allow us to collect information about you, please be aware that NSGC may transfer your Personal Data to the United States and process and store it there

If you are located in the European Economic Area ("EEA") or other regions with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law, please note that we may transfer information to a country or jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as your jurisdiction, as disclosed in this Privacy Policy. It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of Service Providers, also as disclosed.

Website Hosting: NSGC works with Socious as its web hosting services provider. Socious is located at 1201 S. Alma School Rd. Ste. 11100, Mesa, AZ 85210 and the Websites are stored by Socious at 1201 S. Alma School Rd. Ste. 11100, Mesa, AZ 85210. NSGC shares your data, including Personal Data, with our website hosting Service Provider for the purposes of processing your data pursuant to your use of the Services.

Data Hosting: NSGC works with Socious as its data hosting services provider. Socious is located at 1201 S. Alma School Rd. Ste. 11100, Mesa, AZ 85210 and NSGC’s data are stored by Socious at 1201 S. Alma School Rd. Ste. 11100, Mesa, AZ 85210. NSGC shares your data, including Personal Data, with our website hosting Service Provider for the purposes of processing your data pursuant to your use of the Services.

Safely Using NSGC’s Services: Despite NSGC’s safety and privacy controls, we cannot guarantee the Services are entirely free of illegal, offensive, pornographic, or otherwise inappropriate material, or that you will not encounter inappropriate or illegal conduct from other Users when using the Services. You can help NSGC by notifying us of any unwelcome contact by contacting us using the information below.

Your California Privacy Rights: Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83 (known as the "Shine the Light" law), NSGC members and customers who are residents of California may request certain information about our disclosure of personal information during the prior calendar year to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please write to us at the address below or at privacy@nsgc.org with "Request for California Privacy Information" on the subject line and in the body of your message. We will comply with your request within thirty (30) days or as otherwise required by the statute. Please be aware that not all information sharing is covered by the "Shine the Light" requirements and only information on covered sharing will be included in our response.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version of this Privacy Policy will govern our use of your information and will be located at NSGC Privacy Policy. You may contact us to obtain prior versions. We will notify you of material changes to this policy by posting a notice at the Services or by emailing you at an email address associated with your NSGC Account, if applicable, and provide an “at a glance” overview of any changes.

Contact NSGC:

Data Protection Officer
National Society of Genetic Counselors, Inc.
330 North Wabash Avenue, Suite 2000
Chicago, IL 60611
Telephone: (312) 321-6834
privacy@nsgc.org