PRIVACY POLICY

First Presbyterian Church Waynesville (FPCW) recognizes that an individual’s privacy is very important to them and that they have a right to control their personal information.  FPCW acknowledges that when an individual provides personal information about themselves to another party it is an act of trust.  In response, FPCW takes the process of upholding an individual’s privacy very seriously. The term “personal data” refers to personally identifiable information about you, such as your name, birth date, e-mail address or mailing address, and any other information that identifies you personally.  Unless an individual gives FPCW explicit consent to act otherwise, the following policy will govern how FPCW handles an individual’s personal information and safeguards their privacy.  This privacy policy does not apply to information collected offline or in any other way.  For the purposes of this privacy policy, any referral to the term of “website(s)” will apply to any websites or social media sites under the control and supervision of FPCW currently, or in the future, on the internet.

Your Consent

By using any of the FPCW websites, you consent to our use of your personal data as described in this privacy policy.  

Notification of Changes to this Policy

FPCW continually improves and adds new functionality and features to its websites and improves and adds to its existing services and programs.  Because of these ongoing programmatic changes, changes in the law and the changing nature of technology, FPCW’s data practices will change from time to time. If and when our data practices change, we will post the changes on this website to notify you of the changes. We encourage you to check this page frequently.  

Personal Data Collected through Our Websites

The only personal data FPCW currently collects through our websites is the information you give us when you use our sites. This includes, for example, the information you provide when you send a prayer request, read the monthly newsletter, apply for the newsletter distribution, or send us your comments or requests for information.   FPCW uses the information you provide for the purposes for which it was originally collected, for example, to privately and respectfully respond to a prayer request, or to respond to your e-mail, or to provide the services you have requested. FPCW also uses this information to help us improve the content and functionality of our websites and its links, to better understand the needs and interests of the people and organizations that use our websites, and to improve our programs and services.   FPCW may use this information to contact you in the future to tell you about Church programs and services we believe will be of interest to you, or to ask for your support.  

FPCW may share information from its websites to comply with a legal requirement, for the administration of justice, to protect its vital interests, to protect the security or integrity of our databases or our websites, to take precautions against legal liability, or in the event of a reorganization, dissolution or similar event.  

Anonymous Data Collected through Our Websites

In addition to the information you provide when you use our websites, FPCW and its web managers use technology to collect anonymous usage information. For example, we use technology to track how many visitors access the FPCW websites, the date and time of each visit, the length of each visitor’s stay, and the pages each one views. We also use technology to determine which web browsers our visitors use and the addresses from which they accessed our websites.   This technology does not identify you personally. It simply enables us to compile statistics about our visitors and their use of our sites. FPCW uses this anonymous data to improve the content and functionality of our websites, to better understand the needs and interests of our members and visitors, and to improve our programs and services.  

Cookies

In order to collect the anonymous data described in the preceding paragraph, FPCW may use ‘cookies’.  Cookies are information that a website or social media page transfers to an individual’s PC for record-keeping purposes (e.g., if you read a particular newspaper online, a cookie on your PC allows you to go directly to that paper’s website instead of having to give your user name and password each time).  Cookies can save your preferences when you are at a site. The use of cookies is an industry standard and most major websites use them.  FPCW may use cookies to help us see which areas of our website are more popular, which are not, and how they are being used so that we can improve and update our websites to more accurately meet the needs of our users.

Most web browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. You can reset your browser to either refuse all cookies or to notify you when you are receiving a cookie and allow you to decide whether or not to accept it.  We do not use cookies to obtain any personal information about you before or after you leave the FPCW websites.

Children

FPCW encourages parents and guardians to spend time with their children and youth online.  We do not knowingly collect personal data from children and youth under the age of eighteen.  If you are under eighteen, please do not give us any personal data.  If you have reason to believe that a child or youth has provided personal data on our websites, please contact us and we will endeavor to delete that information.  If you are a child or youth under the age of eighteen and using our websites, please do not give any information about yourself, such as your name, address, birth date, telephone number, school, or email address.

Photographs of children and youth engaged in church-related activities may be posted on our websites.  No identifying information, other than a child or youth’s name will be included with any photograph posted on the website.  A parent or guardian may request that a particular photo, or photos, be removed from our websites at any time by contacting the church office.

Use of Photographs

We routinely use photographs of church members and visitors on our website. We may list names but no other identifying information about the photographs. If you see a photograph on our website and you prefer to not have it appear, please contact the church office to request a deletion.

Use of Other Documents

There may be other FPCW documents (e.g., newsletters, bulletins, or event flyers) that can be accessed via the websites and these documents may contain personal information such as name, phone number and/or email address.  If you see this information on our websites and prefer not to have it appear, please contact the church office to request a deletion.

Links to Other Sites

This privacy policy applies only to the websites currently or in the future under the control and supervision of FPCW. Our websites may contain hyperlinks to other websites that are not operated by FPCW. These hyperlinks are provided for your reference and convenience only and do not imply any endorsement of the activities of these third-party websites or any association with their operators. FPCW does not control these websites and is not responsible for their data practices. We urge you to review the privacy policy posted on any website you visit before using that website or providing any personal data about yourself.