QEF’s Privacy Policy

Introduction:

Quality Engineering Foundation (individually or collectively, “QEF” or “we”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this privacy policy (“Policy”). Maintaining protection of the data entrusted to our care by our constituents is of the utmost importance to QEF.

This Policy describes the types of data we may collect from you or that you may provide and describes our policies and practices for collecting, using, protecting, and disclosing that data.

This Policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy section), so check the Policy periodically for the most current version. If you have any questions about the meaning or interpretation of this Policy, the English-language version of this Policy is the official text.

Our website address is: https://qef.org

Data We Collect About You

We collect several types of personal data that can be used to identify you (“Personal Data”), including your:

Name
Email address
Telephone number
Donation history
Payment cardholder data
Sensitive authentication data
Internet connection
Equipment used to access our Website and usage details

Depending on the type of interaction that you have with QEF, we may also collect your:

Gender
Occupation
Employer
Photographs/images

Under limited circumstances, we may collect highly sensitive personal data, such as government ID numbers and/or health information.

How We Collect Your Data

We collect Personal Data from:

Users of our Website
Members of Quality Engineering Foundation
Donors to The Quality Engineering Foundation
People who attend QEF events
People who participate in QEF’s programs

We collect this data:

Directly when you provide it to us through any interaction offline or in person
From our website qef.org (our “Website”)
When you interact with our advertising and applications on third-party websites and services, if those applications or advertising include links to this Policy
Automatically, as you navigate through the Website (data collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies and other tracking technologies)
When you become a member of QEF
When you use our services
When you participate in our programs or sign up for and/or attend any events that we host
From third parties we contract with to provide services on our behalf, such as event organizers, payment processing services, email marketing services, and software providers; these service providers may change, or new service providers may be added without notice to you
When you interact with us in another way, for example, contacting us with an inquiry
From publicly available resources

Data You Provide to Us

We collect data you provide when you interact with QEF, either through our Website or any interaction offline or in person. That data includes:

Personal data that you provide by making an inquiry or joining as a member of Quality Engineering Foundation; this includes data provided when registering to QEF through memberships@qef.org & qef.org.
Personal data you provide when participating in services available on our Website, including in:
– Member Firms
– Charter Members
– Members
Personal data you provide when you enter a contest or promotion sponsored by us
Personal data you provide when you report a problem with our Website
Records and copies of your correspondence (including email, social media posts, and other electronic messages), if you contact us
Your registration to attend and/or participate in QEF events
Personal data you provide when making a donation
Personal data you provide when submitting applications, for example, for grants, fellowships, or scholarships
Details of transactions made through our Website and details of the fulfillment of your memberships (you may be required to provide financial personal data through our Website/offline)
Your search queries on our Website

Features that are developed in the future may result in the collection of additional new personal data.

You also may provide data to be published or displayed (hereinafter, “posted”) on public areas of the Website or transmitted to other users of the Website or third parties (collectively, “User Content”). Your User Content is posted on the Website and transmitted to others at your own risk. We limit access to certain pages and you may set certain privacy settings for this data from your account profile. However, we cannot control the actions of other Website users with whom you may choose to share your User Content.

Usage Details, IP Addresses, Cookies, and Other Technologies

As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may automatically collect certain data about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

Details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on our Website
Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type

When you are not signed in to a QEF account, the data collected in this way is anonymous. It is aggregated into statistical data to help us improve our Website and to deliver a better and more personalized service by enabling us to:

Estimate our audience size, browser statistics, popularity of content, and usage patterns
Speed up your searches
Recognize you when you return to our Website

We use cookies (or browser cookies) for this automatic data collection. A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting, you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.

When you are signed in to a QEF account, we collect usage data that is tied to your individual account. This data is collected to improve site functionality and to tailor site behaviour and content to you, and we process this personal data in accordance with this Policy.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We use data that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal data:

To present our website and its contents to you
To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us
To offer and fulfil our core foundation purposes, which include:
– Financial processing
– Supporting The Quality Engineering Foundation, including fundraising efforts
– Facilitating convention and special event planning
– Communicating key foundation messages through QEF publications and other materials
– Supporting the programs and membership of QEF
– Complying with any legal obligations
To fulfil any other purpose for which you provide it
To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection
To notify you about changes to our website or any products or services we offer or provide through it
To allow you to participate in interactive features on our website
To store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our website according to your individual interests
In any other way we may describe when you provide the personal data
For any other purpose where we have your consent

Disclosure of Your Personal Data

We may disclose aggregated data about our users, and data that cannot be used to identify any individual, without restriction.

We may disclose personal data that we collect or you provide as described in this Policy:

To the QEF in which you are a member (if applicable), as well as the assigned QEF Chapter
To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our foundation and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal data confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them, including:
– Companies that produce, publish, and/or ship QEF publications and QEF branded goods and other merchandise
– Payment processing vendors
– Software and applications used for administrative functions such as providing online forms/surveys/applications, newsletter services, online learning, webinar/teleconference services, electronic voting
– Cloud-based databases used for administrative functions
– QEF host committees and other event organizers and vendors
– Email distribution services
To third parties to promote QEF or for the third party to market their products or services to you if you have consented to these disclosures. We contractually require these third parties to keep personal data confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
If you do not want us to share your personal data (even when anonymized) with unaffiliated or non-agent third parties for advertising or promotional purposes, you can send an email stating your request to support@qef.org.
To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it
For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the data
With your consent

We may also disclose your personal data:

To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
If disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of QEF, QEF Members, Member Firms, QEF Chapters, or others. This includes exchanging personal data with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Quality Engineering Foundation Donor Privacy Personal Data

QEF will not sell, trade, or share a Quality Engineering Foundation donor’s personal data, including their name, phone number, email, or physical address, with non-QEF entities, nor will it send donors mailings on behalf of other unrelated organizations. This policy applies to all donor data received by QEF, both online and offline, as well as any electronic, written, or oral communication. QEF occasionally uses third-party vendors to manage and process donor data. These vendors are bound by strict confidentiality agreements.

Accessing and Correcting Your Personal Data

You may access and correct your data by:

Emailing support@qef.org to request access to, correct, or delete any personal data that you have provided.

We may choose not to accommodate a request to change or delete data if we believe the change or deletion would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the data to be incorrect.

If you delete your User Content from the Website, copies of your User Content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages, or might have been copied or stored by other Website users. Proper access and use of data provided on our website, including User Content, is governed by our Terms of Use.

Data Security

We have implemented technical and operational measures designed to secure your personal data from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. Additionally:

When developing new or enhancing existing systems and processes, QEF implements appropriate data protection throughout its data processing operations.
All personal data you provide to us is stored on password-protected databases on our secure servers behind firewalls and we use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to ensure that the transmission of sensitive data for payments and contributions is encrypted and appropriately safeguarded.
Employees are trained on the importance of data security and focus specifically on practices for protecting against unauthorized disclosure of personal data.

The safety and security of your personal data also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. Passwords registered with our website are encrypted to ensure protection against unauthorized access to your personal data.

Unfortunately, the transmission of personal data via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data transmitted to our website or over any public network. Any transmission of personal data is at your own risk. Without prejudice to any mandatory legal obligations to which we may be subject, we are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures on our website.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

QEF may change, add, modify or remove portions of this Policy at any time, which shall become effective immediately upon posting on this page. The date the Policy was last revised is identified at the bottom of the policy. It is your responsibility to review this Policy for any changes. By continuing to use our website, maintain your membership in our Foundation, use our services, or participate in our programs, you agree to any changes in the Policy.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about QEF privacy protection policies or practices, please contact us at info@qef.org