Because we respect and are committed to protecting your privacy, we have adopted this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect personal information through our web pages, newsletters, discussion forums and lists, opt-in announcement lists, recruiting communications, donations, product orders, volunteer applications, and related interactions. If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact us using the contact information included at the end of this policy statement. We may provide links to third-party websites for your convenience and information. If you access those links, you will leave our website. We do not control those sites or their privacy practices, which may differ from our practices. The personal data you choose to provide to, or that is collected by, these third parties is not covered by our Privacy Policy. Please note that any information you post to a public bulletin board or chat room is accessible to all individuals accessing that location. Mercy Ships is not responsible for any information you choose to submit in these venues or the use of such information. If we change our Privacy Policy, we will post the revised statement here, with an updated revision date.

When you donate, request information, order products, or apply to volunteer with us, we will ask you to provide personal information to complete these transactions. The types of personal information you provide to us on these pages may include contact information such as your name, address, telephone number, and email address; user IDs and passwords; billing and transaction information; credit card information; product preferences; contact preferences; educational and employment background; and position interest data. In addition to the information you provide to us, we may collect information during your visit to one of our websites through our automatic data collection tools (“Data Collection Tools”), which include cookies, web beacons, embedded web links, and other commonly used information-gathering tools. These Data Collection Tools collect certain standard information that your browser sends to our website, such as your browser type and language, access times, and the address of the website where you came from. These Data Collection Tools may also collect information about your Internet Protocol (IP) address, clickstream behavior, and product information. When a visitor requests a page from any of our websites, our web servers automatically recognize the visitor’s domain name and IP address. We may also collect information from credible third-party commercially available sources. This information may include your name, address, email address, and demographic data, which may be used along with the information we collect when you visit one of our websites.

For individuals in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we process personal information only when we have an appropriate legal basis to do so. Depending on the context, this may include your consent, performance of a contract or requested service, compliance with a legal obligation, protection of vital interests, or our legitimate interests in operating, securing, improving, and communicating about our programs, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

We collect information to better understand your needs and interests and to help deliver a consistent and personalized experience on our websites. Where permitted by applicable law and consistent with your communication preferences, we may use your contact information to provide information that we think will be of interest to you. We will give you the opportunity to choose your privacy preferences regarding the communications we send (see below – How do I Select Privacy Preferences).

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, comply with legal, accounting, reporting, and audit obligations, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, enforce agreements, and support legitimate business operations. Retention periods may vary based on the type of information, the context in which it was collected, and applicable legal requirements.

Credit card information is used only for payment processing and fraud prevention. Credit card information and other sensitive personal information required to process a credit decision is not used for any other purpose by us or our financial services provider and will not be kept longer than necessary for completing the transaction, unless you ask us to retain your credit card information for future transactions.

If you provide your mobile phone number and expressly consent to receive text messages, Mercy Ships may contact you via SMS for recruiting-related purposes, including application status updates, interview scheduling and confirmations, reminders and follow-ups, and offer-related communications. Consent to receive SMS messages is not a condition of applying, volunteering, donating, purchasing products, or receiving services from Mercy Ships.

You may opt out of recruiting SMS messages at any time by replying STOP to any text message from Mercy Ships. After you opt out, you may receive one final confirmation message. For assistance, reply HELP or contact Mercy Ships using the contact information provided in this Privacy Policy. Message and data rates may apply, and message frequency may vary.

From time to time, our website may send a “cookie” to your computer. A cookie is a small piece of data that is sent to your Internet browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive. A cookie can’t read data off of your computer hard disk or read cookie files created by other websites. We use cookies to identify which areas of our website you have visited, so the next time you visit us, those pages may be readily accessible. You can choose whether to accept cookies by changing the settings of your Internet browser. You can reset your browser to refuse all cookies, or allow your browser to show you when a cookie is being sent. If you choose not to accept these cookies, your experience at our site and other websites may be diminished, and some features may not work as intended.

Some parts of our website may use web beacons alone or in conjunction with cookies to compile information about your website usage and your interaction with email. A web beacon is an electronic image, called a single-pixel (1×1) or clear GIF. Web beacons can recognize certain types of information on your computer such as cookies, the time and date of a page viewed, and a description of the page where the web beacon is placed. You may be able to disable Web beacons in email messages by not downloading images contained in the message you receive (this feature varies depending on the email software used on your personal computer). However, doing this may not always disable a web beacon or other automatic data collection tools in the email message due to specific email software capabilities. If you choose to receive marketing emails or newsletters from us, we may automatically collect personal information about you. For example, through Web beacons and personalized URLs embedded in these emails or newsletters, we can track whether you’ve opened those messages and whether you’ve clicked on links contained within those messages.

Some emails from us may use links designed to lead you to a relevant area on our or other websites. The redirection system allows us to change the destination URL of these links, if necessary, and to determine the effectiveness of our marketing initiatives. In emails, such web links may also allow us to determine whether you have clicked a link in an email, and this information about the interaction may be connected to your personal identity. If you do not want us to collect information about the links that you click, you can: (1) change your choice about how you receive communications from us (i.e. choose a text-based version of the message where available); or (2) choose not to click links in an email that we send.

Mercy Ships does not sell, rent, or lease personal information. We may disclose personal information described in this Privacy Policy to service providers, contractors, vendors, or other parties when necessary to operate and support our programs, process payments, manage recruiting and applicant communications, provide customer support, host and secure our websites, analyze website use, prevent fraud, fulfill shipping or transaction requests, comply with law, respond to lawful requests, protect safety, enforce our rights, or protect Mercy Ships property. These parties may use personal information only to provide services to us, comply with applicable law, or as otherwise permitted by law. We do not sell or share SMS opt-in information, mobile numbers, or text messaging consent data with third parties or affiliates for their own marketing or promotional purposes. 

Depending on where you are located and how you interact with us, you may have rights regarding your personal information. These may include the right to request access to the personal information we maintain about you, to request correction or deletion of that information, to object to or restrict certain processing, to request portability of certain information, and to opt out of certain uses or disclosures where applicable law provides that right. We will respond to verified requests as required by applicable law.

You may opt out of receiving communications from us by using one of the following methods:

1. Select the email “opt out” or “unsubscribe” link, or follow the opt-out instructions included in each email communication.
2. Return to our web page(s) where you originally registered your preferences and follow the opt-out instructions.
3. Write to us at the address below. Be sure to provide your name, email and postal address, and specific relevant information about which communications that you no longer wish to receive.

Please note that when you opt out of receiving certain communications, it may affect the services you have chosen to receive from us where accepting the communications is a condition of receiving the services.

To prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, to maintain data accuracy, and to ensure the appropriate use of the information, Mercy Ships utilizes appropriate physical, technical and administrative procedures to safeguard the information we collect. Mercy Ships uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption when collecting or transferring sensitive information such as credit card information. Credit card numbers are used only for processing payments and are not used for other purposes.

Mercy Ships is based in the United States and may process, store, or transfer personal information in the United States and other countries where we, our affiliates, or our service providers operate. Where required by applicable law, we use appropriate safeguards for cross-border transfers of personal information.

Our postal address is:

Mercy Ships International
P.O. Box 2020
Lindale, TX 75771USA

[email protected]