This policy addresses the collection, use, and safeguarding of data about individuals in the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Youngstown’s (UUYO’s) electronic databases. It’s of particular interest to members, leaders, and staff of UUYO, as well as to visitors to our website.

Who do we keep information about?

• Current and former members of UUYO.
• People who have a relationship with UUYO but who are not an official member.
• People who have added their names to our email or other lists.

What information do we keep?

• Basic contact information: Name, address, telephone number, email address, and family and household relationships.
• A person’s date of birth, or certification that they are at least 18 years old.
• A person’s affiliation with UUYO, including positions (e.g., Board membership) held.
• Preferences about whether to receive newsletter, email newsletters, solicitations, etc.
• History of service (Board membership, etc.)
• History of giving, excluding credit card information.
• History of event attendance (e.g., sign-in sheets)

What information don’t we keep?

• Credit card numbers. We use secure and certified 3rd party processors to manage and retain credit card information.
• Bank information for online donors. We use secure and certified 3rd party processors to manage and retain bank information.

How complete is the data, and how far back does the data go, and how long is it retained?

• Some information such as name and addresses is very complete, and may be transferred from written form to our databases. This data may go back as far as 1892.
• Some information will be retained in perpetuity, as part of our church history. Other information—in particular, Social Security numbers and bank information—will be retained as long as it is required by law, regulation, and contractual agreements.

Where does the information come from?

• Contact information about members, friends and visitors comes from the persons themselves through pews cards or through online sign-ups.
• Birthdates come from members or their parents.
• Information about congregational leaders comes through congregational leadership and meeting minutes.
• Donors supply information about themselves.
• Notices of address changes are supplied by the U.S. Postal Service.

Who has access to the information?

• Authorized UUYO staff members responsible for keeping information up-to-date. Our office administrator maintains most mailing and emailing lists for example. Our software permits staff to access only the information needed to do their jobs.
• In some situations, members and friends can view and change their own information (and only their own information).

What about mailing lists and email addresses?

• UUYO uses postal addresses and email addresses to stay in contact with constituents for a variety of purposes, including periodical mailings, email newsletters, and fundraising appeals, for example.

What do we use the data for?

• Mailing lists for the Steel Chalice newsletter and other mailings.
• Communicating with congregants about events, programs, and other church activities.
• Production of the UUYO Directory.
• Fundraising and gift processing.
• Tracking a wide variety of statistics about our congregation.

Where is the information stored, and how is it kept safe?

• We use third party services and tools, such as Icon Church Management Systems and Mailchimp. We have verified that these services provide a suitable level of data security for our needs. Church directory information is made available on our website, behind password protection.
• Online access to these services requires knowledge of a valid user ID and password. Access to specific types of information, and rights to view or change information, are strictly limited by each authorized person’s role.

Whom should a person contact with a question or to have information corrected or removed?

• Individuals can ask our office administrator (office@uuyo.org or 330-746-3067) to change their information, or they can contact the minister (minister@uuyo.org or 330-333-1456) with their request.
• Individuals can view and change their email contact information online. Use this subscribe form to add or change information.
• Individuals can “opt-out” of receiving various email correspondence from UUYO (e.g. email newsletters) by clicking the unsubscribe button in the body of the email.
  Persons with questions or concerns about this policy or data security at UUYO are welcome to contact us at office@uua.org or 330-746-3067.