Privacy Policy

Last Updated: April 4, 2022

By visiting our website, you are accepting the terms described in our privacy policy. If you do not agree to the terms, please do not use the website.

Our privacy policy exists to help explain what information we collect, how we use it, who we may share it with, and your rights in connection with it. By providing information to us—whether by applying for employment, grants or fellowships, attending events or programs, or utilizing our website—you consent to our use of that information in accordance with this policy.

This policy is incorporated into our website terms and conditions, and applies to our website, events, and activities related to our grants and fellowships. In addition to applicable laws, additional policies disclosed at the time of collection may also apply (e.g., in connection with a specific event or program).

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this policy or if you have a disability that prevents you from accessing this policy electronically and requires an alternate format (e.g., audio, large print), please contact us by sending an e-mail to links@linksinc.org or writing to:

The Links, Incorporated
Attn: Communications
1200 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005

Information we collect

We collect information when you voluntarily provide it to us and when you visit certain parts of our website that automatically collect information. We collect information provided by you in various ways including online, by telephone, and offline, for instance when you visit our building in person as a guest of The Links, Incorporated and The Links Foundation, Incorporated. Below we cover the types of information we may collect.

Information you provide directly to us

Contacting us – When you contact us via phone, email or in person to submit a job inquiry; request information about applications, programs, activities or events; participate in surveys, or register to partake in our programs, activities, and events; participate in interactive services or online communities hosted by us; interact with us via social media including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram; or for any other reason knowingly volunteer information to us, we may collect the following information:

• Name, address, date of birth, e-mail address and telephone number
• Organization name, address, e-mail address and telephone number
• Survey responses
• Preferences or information about a disability
• Other information that you choose to provide

Website visits – When you visit our website or sign up for information including our email lists via the website, we may collect the following information:

• Name and e-mail address
• Other information that you choose to provide

Employment applicants – If you apply for a position with The Links, Incorporated and The Links Foundation, Incorporated, you may be asked to create an account through our portal. During the application process, we may collect the following information:

• Name, address, date of birth, gender, e-mail address and telephone number
• Resume, work history, work authorization status, education, skills, professional licenses, permits or certifications, and references
• Other information you choose to provide

If we offer you employment, you may be required to complete a background check and other screenings prior to beginning work.

Grant or fellowship applicants – If you apply for a fellowship or grant from The Links, Incorporated and/or The Links Foundation, Incorporated, or if your employer or organization includes information about you in a grant application or annual report, we may collect the following information:

• Name, address, date of birth, gender, e-mail address and telephone number
• Resume, work history, qualifications, education, skills, professional licenses, permits or certifications, and references
• Other information you choose to provide

Information automatically collected

When you visit our website, we may automatically collect information linked to your computer or device but does not directly identify you personally, including:

• IP address, the type of browser or device you are using, referring and exit pages, domain and other system settings and operating systems
• Information regarding how you interact with the website including the date and time of your visits, webpages visited, and links clicked.

Consistent with most websites, we use cookies and pixel tags to collect such activity information. Cookies are small text files used to collect information, and pixels are transparent images that allow us to understand how users interact with our website.
The cookies we use fall into two categories.

Necessary: Necessary cookies help make the website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.

Analytics: Analytics cookies help us understand how our visitors use our website. These cookies can provide us with information to help us understand which parts of the website interest our visitors and if they experience any errors. We use these cookies to test different designs and features for our site and to help us monitor how visitors reach the website. We may receive reports based on the use of these technologies by these companies.

How we use the Information we collect

We may use the information you provide us to:

• Send email newsletters
• Process your grant or fellowship applications
• Administer or run programs, grants, fellowships or events in which you participate
• Disburse supplier payments
• Disburse grant or fellowship funds
• Respond to your inquiries and/or requests
• Compare and review your personal information for errors, omissions, and accuracy
• Recommend you for fellowships, grants, or other opportunities
• Solicit grant or fellowship applications
• Manage compliance, fraud monitoring, and security
• Provide you information relevant to the programs, grants, fellowship or other activities we think might interest you (e.g., to notify you about a conference, research opportunity or job opening)
• Process your employment application, including assessing your qualifications for a job, conducting reference checks, communicating with you the status of an application, and conducting background checks if we offer you a position, as permitted by applicable law
• Send you information regarding changes to our terms and policies
• For other purposes disclosed at the time of collection or otherwise compatible with the above and applicable law

We may use information that we collect automatically from our website to:

• Administer, maintain and improve our website
• Understand the demographics of our website visitors
• Perform data traffic, e-commerce and other trend analyses
• Manage fraud monitoring and prevention, or other security purposes.

We may combine this information with data we receive from publicly available sources.

Additionally, we may use your information as we believe to be necessary or allowed: (a) under applicable law; (b) to comply with legal process and our legal obligations; (c) to respond to requests or requirements from public, law and government authorities (including national security and law enforcement requirements) and private parties; (d) to enforce our terms and conditions; (e) to protect our operations; (f) to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of you or others; (g) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain; and (h) to prevent or stop activity we may consider to be, or to pose a risk of being, illegal, unethical, or legally actionable activity.

Sharing your Information with third parties

We do not sell your information. However, we may share your information in the following circumstances:

• Our vendors and service providers: We use a variety of vendors and service providers that help us with our administrative, operational and logistical activities such as maintaining our website, e-mail and document management, shipping, payment processing, managing our institutional and individual relationships, and facilitating programs or events. We require these providers to use your information only as necessary to provide the applicable services to us.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose your information when we reasonably believe it is required by law, subpoena or other legal process, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements, as well as to honor user access rights, as applicable.
• Protection of rights: We may transfer information to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, including our employees, contractors and agents, when we are required or permitted to do so by law.
• At your request: We may transfer information to a third party with your consent.
• Fraud detection: We may disclose information when we believe in good faith that it is necessary to investigate fraud.

Do not track

Some browsers have a “Do Not Track” feature. At this time, our website does not respond to these requests or similar signals that users may employ.

Links to other websites

As a convenience to you, our website may contain links to other sites or platforms. We do not control these third-party sites and are not responsible for their privacy practices or content. You should refer to the privacy statements of such third-party sites to find out how they collect and use your information.

Changes to this policy

We may update portions of this policy from time to time and will alert you of those changes by indicating the date of the last update. You can find the date at the top of the page. When you visit our website, you are accepting the current version of this policy as posted on the website at that time. We recommend that you revisit this policy on occasion to learn of any changes.