Privacy Policy

Who we are

Effective Date: August 22, 2025

Southeast Regional Conservation Association (“SERCA,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your personal information when you interact with our website and services, including the “Find a Conservator” tool. Our website address is: https://sercaconservation.org

Information We Collect
We collect the following types of personal information from users who submit data to our database: Full name, Email address, Phone number, Location data, Uploaded files or images

This information is used solely to populate our “Find a Conservator” tool, which helps connect users with conservation professionals in their region.

How We Use Your Information
We use the data you provide to: Maintain and display the “Find a Conservator” database, Communicate with you regarding your submission or account, Respond to inquiries and requests, Improve our services and outreach.

We do not knowingly use third-party tools that collect personal data. However, if any third-party services are integrated into our site and collect data independently, we are not aware of such activity and do not control it

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

Our website may use cookies or similar technologies to enhance user experience and analyze site traffic. Cookies are small data files stored on your device that help us understand how visitors interact with our site.

Types of cookies we may use: Essential cookies for basic site functionality, Performance cookies to understand usage patterns, Preference cookies to remember user settings.

You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of certain features on our site.
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Who we share your data with

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

You have the right to: Request access to the personal data we hold about you, Request correction or deletion of your data, Opt out of communications at any time

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at: president@sercaconservation.org

Where your data is sent

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Updates to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date.

Last updated: August 22, 2025