Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest (LSS-SW) is committed to maintaining your trust and confidence. The following online privacy statement is intended to protect and secure the personally identifiable information (any information by which you can be identified) you provide to our ministry online.

Awareness

Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest provides this online privacy statement to inform you of the way your information is collected and used as well as to make you aware of our security practices. We also provide you with the opportunity to remove your name from our postal mailing list, if you desire to do so. Just send an email to spetrilli@lss-sw.org to be removed from our list.

Information we collect

There are four different ways in which we collect information from visitors on our Web site:

  1. From online requests for information (i.e. e-mail newsletters, contact forms, etc.)

  2. From online requests for materials from our organization (i.e. requesting a free offer)

  3. From online donations; the information we collect online includes name, address, city, state, ZIP/postal code, telephone number, e-mail address, and in the case of online donations or online shopping, credit card number and expiration date. In order to continuously improve our service to you and tailor our future communications to you, we may also ask you to provide us with information regarding your demographics, comments, professional interests, and contact preferences.

  4. By filling out a contact information card at one of our many outreach events.

How the information is used

Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest uses your information to understand your needs and provide you with better online service. We may use your information to complete a transaction, issue you an income tax receipt for a donation, or to personalize our Web site for you. If you so desire, we may also use this information to update you on ministry projects and activities. Credit card numbers are used only for donation or payment processing and are not retained for any other purposes. We also provide you the opportunity to remove your name from our postal mailing list, if you desire to do so. Please review the corresponding section of this privacy statement below. In addition, we may periodically send you e-mail announcing news and event information. If you choose to supply your postal address in an online form, you may receive mailings from us as well.

No sharing of personal information

Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest never sells, rents, leases or exchanges your personal information with other organizations. Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest assures you that the identity of all who contact us through this Web site will be kept confidential. Use of your personal information will be limited to further the ministry activities of Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest and partner ministries.

Security

Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest is committed to ensuring the security of your personal information. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the proper use of information, we have established and implemented appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Protocol when collecting or transferring sensitive data such as credit card information. Any information you enter is encrypted at your browser, sent over the public Internet in encrypted form, and then de-encrypted at our server.

Cookies

From time to time, we may send a “cookie” to your computer. A cookie is a small piece of data that is sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive. A cookie can’t read data off your hard drive or read cookie files created by other sites. Cookies do not damage your system. We use cookies to recognize you when you return to our sites, or to identify which areas of our network of Web sites you have visited (i.e. e-commerce sites, etc.). We may use this information to better personalize the content you see on our sites. Many Web sites place cookies on your hard drive. You can choose whether to accept cookies by changing the settings of your browser. Your browser can refuse all cookies, or show you when a cookie is being sent. If you choose not to accept these cookies, your experience at our site and other Web sites may be diminished and some features may not work as intended.

Children’s online privacy

We are concerned about the privacy of young children and do not knowingly collect any personal information from a child under 13. We encourage you to become involved with your child’s access to the Internet and to our site in order to ensure that his or her privacy is well protected. To read more about online safety and how to become more involved with your child’s online experience, visit the Federal Trade Commission Web site. You may also benefit from the information and resources available on ProtectKids.com.

Links to outside sites

This Web site links to documents located on Web sites maintained by other organizations or individuals. Once you access a link to another Web site, please be aware that Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites.

Removing your name from our mailing list

We give you the opportunity to remove your name from our postal mailing list so that you do not receive any future communications from our ministry. If you desire to permanently remove your name, please e-mail spetrilli@lss-sw.org to request this change.

If you determine that our information about you is inaccurate or it has changed, you may modify information by sending an e-mail to spetrilli@lss-sw.org.

Contacting us

If you have comments or questions about our online privacy statement, please send an e-mail to spetrilli@lss-sw.org.

For more information about Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, please click here to Contact Us