Privacy Statement for Philanthropic & Revenue Generating Activities

This Privacy Statement describes why and how the Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Historical Foundation Inc. collects, stores, uses and shares personal data collected in connection with the Wisconsin Historical Society’s philanthropic and revenue generating activities through online channels, which includes the Wisconsin Historical Society Store and catalog, publishing, or other commercial activities, as well as its fundraising, marketing, and membership activities (the “Activities”).

The Wisconsin Historical Society’s practices regarding personal information (also referred to as personally identifiable information) generally is addressed in the Wisconsin Historical Society Privacy Statement. We collect such data in various ways, including data you provide to us, data we collect by automated means, and data we collect from other sources.

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

Information You Provide to Us

When you participate in the Activities, you may be asked to provide information about yourself to us, including:

Name
Email and mailing address
Phone number
Payment information (processed securely by third party payment providers)
Preferences and interests in Wisconsin Historical Society’s offerings
Membership and donation details

The following are examples of when you may give your personal information to us:

Orders you place with us for yourself or as a gift
Orders someone else has placed for you as a gift from Wisconsin Historical Society
If you join one of our membership programs, and/or receive our magazine(s)
If you participate in a survey, study, contest, or promotions, or share articles
If you register with us, sign up for an email newsletter, or request a catalog or brochure
If you donate or participate in fundraising activities

How We Use and Disclose Personal Information for Philanthropic and Revenue Generating Activities

The Wisconsin Historical Society may use and disclose information collected for various revenue-generating and fundraising purposes, including:

To process, track, and manage products and/or services you request including but not limited to membership and donations
To communicate with you about the content and/or services you may be interested in through content and advertisements on our Websites, mail, email, advertising networks, and social platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Google
To manage your account, deliver services you request, and to improve and enhance our services
To provide you with special offers, promotions and information from across the Institution, and select third parties in accordance with applicable law
To respond to your inquiries or comments
To contact you about changes to services
To allow social media sharing
To perform internal analysis in order to improve Wisconsin Historical Society operations and business practices
To protect the legal rights and obligations of the Wisconsin Historical Society and others
To help determine how parts of our websites are used in order to optimize site performance
To inform third parties about our users’ aggregate demographics, advertising impressions or how they collectively use our Websites

Please note that if you donate or purchase a Wisconsin Historical Society product or service, you may receive transactional communications. You also may be offered an opportunity to receive additional information and promotions.

The Wisconsin Historical Society uses outside vendors to provide certain services, such as companies that process credit card transactions for the Wisconsin Historical Society. These third-party vendors will have access to the information needed to perform their functions but may not use your information for any other purpose. Examples include:

Email acquisition and distribution
Order fulfillment and shipping
Ticket fulfillment
Marketing and advertising
Travel tourism
Printing and mailing
Data Storage
Payment processing
Fraud prevention

The Wisconsin Historical Society and its service providers may collect personal data about you from unaffiliated sources with whom we contract, such as product and service providers and data aggregators, as well as from public sources or databases. We may obtain data such as your name, postal address, telephone number, demographic data (such as age, gender, income level, and purchasing profiles). We generally use such data to identify potential customers or subscribers, or to update personal data we already have about existing customers or subscribers (such as an address update), or to enhance our data models.

The Wisconsin Historical Society may occasionally share, exchange, or rent information which may include your name, address, email address, demographic data (such as age, gender, income level, and purchasing profiles) and purchasing behavior with carefully selected third-party organizations including our outside vendors, marketers of products and services potentially of interest to you, and cooperative database services in the publishing, catalog, and fundraising industries. We use cooperative database services primarily to identify potential subscribers and customers.

Please note that the Wisconsin Historical Society also may provide your information to: (1) a Federal, State, or local law enforcement agency if the Wisconsin Historical Society becomes aware of a violation or potential violation of law or regulation; (2) a court or party in a court or Federal administrative proceeding if the Wisconsin Historical Society is a party or in order to comply with a subpoena; (3) the Department of Justice or in certain legal proceedings when the Wisconsin Historical Society, an employee of the Wisconsin Historical Society, or the United States is a party to litigation or has an interest in the litigation and the use of such records is deemed relevant and necessary to the litigation; (4) Wisconsin Historical Society officials, including the Inspector General, as needed to perform official duties; (5) a Committee of Congress in response to a formal request; (6) protect the security or integrity of the Wisconsin Historical Society Websites and services; and (7) any other person or entity as required by law.

Opt-Out and User Control

Opt-Out

You may opt out of regular mailings and rental/exchange of files through contacting customer service for the relevant service. For each Wisconsin Historical Society service, customer service contact options may include phone, web, and email. Check the website of the relevant service for contact information. Users can change their email communication preferences by using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email or contacting customer service for the relevant service.

You also have the right to:

request that we delete your personal information
request that we correct your personal information
withdraw your consent
restrict our use of your personal information
opt-out of the sale of your personal information

If you would like to exercise your rights, please click or email the following:

If you are a retail customer: Wisconsin Historical Society Store
If you are a subscriber to the Wisconsin Historical Society newsletters: Marketing
If you participate in philanthropic activities: Membership
For all others: Privacy

We will need to verify that you are who you say you are before we delete or share personal information with you. As such, you may need to provide us with documentation of your identity.

Behavioral Advertising: Your Ad Choices

In order to provide a more relevant online experience, some of the ads that you see on our sites and other sites and digital applications are customized based on your previous online activity on our sites and other sites. The information may be used to predict your interest in future ads related to your interests. The advertising practice is called interest based advertising (IBA). By presenting ads relevant to your interests, we hope to enhance your experience on our websites. You may learn more about online advertising, including IBA, at www.aboutads.info/consumers.

What choices do I have about online behavioral advertising from Wisconsin Historical Society websites?

You can opt out from receiving ads relevant to your interests from "third parties" that participate in the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) program and are identified on their opt-out page. If you elect to opt out of IBA, you will still receive the same number of ads as before, but they may not be as relevant to you. Opting- out is cookie-based and will only affect the specific computer and browser on which the opt out is applied. If you delete your browser cookies and want to continue to be opted out of interest-based ads, you will need to opt out again.

How Can I Learn More?

Learn more about the DAA Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising from www.AboutAds.info. Learn more about online advertising from the Network Advertising Initiative at www.networkadvertising.org/. Learn more from the Interactive Advertising Bureau at http://www.iab.net/privacymatters/, including how to manage cookies using your browser controls.

Data Retention

We will retain your information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Statement unless a longer retention period is required or allowed by law.

Remember that even after you ask us to delete your personal information, copies of some information from your account may remain viewable in some circumstances where, for example, you have shared information with social media or other services. Because of the nature of caching technology, your account may not be instantly inaccessible to others. We may also retain backup information related to your account on our servers for some time after cancellation or your request for deletion, for fraud detection or to comply with applicable law or our internal security or recordkeeping policies. It may not always be possible to completely remove or delete all of your information due to technical constraints or, contractual, financial or legal requirements.

Have Questions?

Questions and comments about this Privacy Statement may be directed to us via the Privacy email or via mail at:

Wisconsin Historical Society Director’s Office

816 State Street

Madison, WI 53706

The Wisconsin Historical Society is a large organization with many people sharing responsibility for the content of its Websites. Please help us respond to your comments and inquiries by sending them to the appropriate Wisconsin Historical Society office. In order to help you contact the appropriate Wisconsin Historical Society office, please consult our list of contacts using the button below.

Privacy Membership Marketing