1. Introduction/Overview

This Privacy Policy describes how The Shawn Carter Foundation (“we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, and discloses your personal information when you visit our website, https://shawncartersf.com/ (the “Site”). Your privacy is important to us, and we are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy.

2. Information We Collect

We collect several types of information from and about users of our Site, including:

Information You Provide to Us

• Contact Information: such as your name, email address, postal address, and phone number.
• Credentials: such as usernames and passwords for account creation.
• Payment Information: such as credit card or bank account details to process donations or transactions. Please note that this information is typically processed by our third-party payment processors, and we do not store full payment card details.
• Demographic Information: such as your age and gender, which you may provide as part of an application or profile.
• Education and Professional Information: such as your academic history, transcripts, resumes, and employment history, typically in connection with scholarship or program applications.
• Audio-Visual Information: such as photos or videos you may submit as part of an application or testimonial.

Sensitive Personal Information

To provide our services, particularly in the context of scholarship applications, we may need to collect certain sensitive personal information. This may include:

• Social Security Number
• Financial Account Information
• Racial or Ethnic Origin

We collect this information only when necessary to evaluate applications, comply with legal obligations, or with your explicit consent. By providing this information, you consent to its use for the purposes for which it was collected.

Automatically Collected Information

As you navigate through and interact with our Site, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

• Device Information: Details about your computer or mobile device, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.
• Internet Activity: Information about your interaction with our Site, such as the pages you visit, the time and date of your visits, and the resources you access.

Information from Third Parties

We may receive information about you from other sources, such as our service providers, partners, or publicly available sources, to supplement the information you provide.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for various purposes, including:

• To Provide and Operate the Site: To process applications, manage accounts, process donations, and deliver the core features of our programs.
• To Improve Features and Security: To enhance the security of our website, prevent fraud, and improve the user experience.
• For Analytics and Performance Measurement: To understand how our Site is used, analyze performance, and make improvements.
• To Comply with Legal Obligations: To meet our legal, regulatory, and reporting requirements.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support our internal operations and service delivery. We are committed to the responsible and ethical use of AI. We implement human oversight for any decisions based on AI that have a significant effect on individuals. We do not use AI for automated hiring decisions or for monitoring customer interactions. We require our vendors to not use your data for their own AI model training purposes.

4. Sharing and Disclosure of Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information with third parties in the following circumstances:

• Service Providers: We may share your information with vendors and service providers who perform services on our behalf, such as payment processing, data hosting, and website analytics. These providers are contractually obligated to protect your data and use it only for the purposes for which it was disclosed.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, protect and defend our rights or property, or in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users or the public.
• With Your Consent: We may share your information with other third parties with your consent.

5. Your Privacy Rights and Choices

Depending on where you reside, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information. These rights may include the right to access, correct, delete, or obtain a copy of your personal information. You may also have the right to opt-out of certain data processing activities. For detailed information specific to your state, please see APPENDIX A: State-Specific Privacy Rights Reference.

How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise any of your privacy rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond to your request consistent with applicable law. We will verify your request using the information associated with your account, such as your email address. You may also authorize an agent to submit a request on your behalf.

Response Timeframes

We will endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within 45 days of its receipt. If we require more time, we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing.

Appeal Process

If we deny your request, you may have the right to appeal our decision. We will provide you with instructions on how to appeal in our response. You will have a reasonable period of time to submit an appeal. We will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal within the time period required by applicable law

6. Data Security

We have implemented reasonable administrative, technical, and physical security measures designed to protect your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. However, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

THE SERVICES AND ALL INFORMATION, CONTENT, MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, AND OTHER SERVICES INCLUDED ON OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE TO YOU THROUGH THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN ‘AS IS’ AND ‘AS AVAILABLE’ BASIS. ROCNATION MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE OPERATION OF THE SERVICES, OR THE INFORMATION, CONTENT, MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, OR OTHER SERVICES INCLUDED ON OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE TO YOU THROUGH THE SERVICES. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

7. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to, and maintained on, computers located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ from those of your jurisdiction. If you are located outside the United States and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including personal information, to the United States and process it there.

8. Children’s Privacy

Our Site is not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. In some cases, we may collect information from individuals aged 13 to 16, for example, for scholarship program eligibility. Where required by applicable law, we will obtain parental or guardian consent before processing the personal information of minors. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at [email protected].

Under California law, users who are California residents between the ages of 13 and 16 have the right to affirmatively authorize the sale or sharing of their personal information. We do not sell or share the personal information of users we know are in this age group without their affirmative consent.

9. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to operate and improve our Site. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive or in device memory that help us improve our services and your experience. We use only strictly necessary cookies to enable core website functionality. For more information about the cookies we use, please see our Cookie Policy.

You can generally manage your cookie preferences through your web browser settings. Most browsers allow you to block or delete cookies.

10. Data Retention

We will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

11. Third-Party Links and Services

Our Site may contain links to other websites not operated or controlled by us. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party services. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party service you visit.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the “Effective Date” at the top. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

13. Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:

The Shawn Carter Foundation

Email: [email protected]

APPENDIX A: State-Specific Privacy Rights Reference

This appendix provides additional information for residents of certain US states, as required by applicable law.

State Law Applicability Summary

Our privacy practices are designed to comply with applicable US state privacy laws. Based on our current operations, state-specific requirements are evaluated as follows:

Note on Potential Applicability: For states listed as “Potential,” we may not currently meet the specific legal thresholds for applicability (e.g., revenue, volume of data processed). However, we are actively monitoring these thresholds and may extend certain rights to residents of these states as a matter of good practice.

Notice to California Residents

While we may not currently meet all applicability thresholds of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), we voluntarily extend certain privacy rights to California residents as described below.

Categories of Personal Information Collected

In the past 12 months, we have collected the following categories of personal information:

Sources of Personal Information: We collect this information directly from you, from your devices, and from our partners.

Your California Privacy Rights

• Right to Know and Access: You have the right to request that we disclose the personal information we have collected about you.
• Right to Delete: You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
• Right to Correct: You have the right to request correction of inaccurate personal information.
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale/Sharing: We do not sell or share personal information as defined by the CCPA.
• Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information: You have the right to limit the use of your sensitive personal information to that which is necessary to perform the services.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your CCPA rights.

To exercise these rights, please contact us at [email protected].

Shine the Light: California law permits users who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed their personal information (if any) for their direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year, as well as the type of personal information disclosed to those parties.

Rights for Residents of Other States

As noted in the table above, several other states have passed comprehensive privacy laws. We are actively monitoring our obligations in these states. As our business grows and if we meet the legal thresholds, residents of states like Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island will be able to exercise rights similar to those listed above. We will update this policy accordingly.