Privacy Policy

Introduction

The September 11th National Memorial Trail Alliance ("we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard information when you visit our website at 911trail.org (the "Site").

Information We Collect

Automatically Collected Information

When you visit our Site, we automatically collect certain information about your device and browsing activity through analytics services:

• IP address and general location
• Browser type and version
• Device type and operating system
• Pages visited and time spent on pages
• Referring website
• Date and time of visit

We also use IP addresses for security purposes, including rate limiting form submissions and bot protection to prevent abuse.

Information You Provide

We may collect information you voluntarily provide when you:

• Contact us through our contact form
• Subscribe to our newsletter(s)
• Make a donation
• Register for events
• Submit a hero story honoring a 9/11 victim or survivor
• Share a "Where Were You?" memory on our memory wall
• Participate in our Trail Ambassador referral program

This information may include your name, email address, phone number, mailing address, and payment information. When making a donation, you may optionally provide your mailing address to receive a personal thank-you and a free trail map. If provided, your address is stored by our payment processor (Stripe) and our donor management system (Salesforce) and is not stored in our website database. Hero story submissions may also include the honoree's name, your relationship to the honoree, photos, and your written story. Memory wall submissions include your name (or pseudonym), location, and your story.

When you participate in our Trail Ambassador referral program, we collect your email address to create an account and track referral activity. Referral codes and donation attribution data are stored to support the program.

Map Requests

When you request a physical trifold trail map, we collect your name, email address, and mailing address to fulfill your request. If you opt in to our newsletter, your email address will be shared with our email service provider (Constant Contact) and our donor management system (Salesforce). Your mailing address is retained only as long as needed to process and ship your request and is not shared with third parties.

How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information for the following purposes:

• To improve and optimize our website experience
• To understand how visitors use our Site
• To respond to your inquiries and requests
• To send you newsletters and updates (with your consent)
• To process donations and event registrations
• To comply with legal obligations

Analytics Services

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors interact with our Site. Google Analytics collects information anonymously and reports website trends without identifying individual visitors. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect information such as how often users visit the Site, what pages they visit, and what other sites they used prior to coming to the Site.

You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Microsoft Clarity

We use Microsoft Clarity to understand how visitors use our Site through behavioral metrics, heatmaps, and session replay. Clarity uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on user behavior and devices. This includes information about how you interact with our Site, including mouse movements, clicks, and scrolling.

For more information about Microsoft Clarity and how it collects and processes data, please see the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Error Monitoring (Sentry)

We use Sentry to monitor and fix errors on our Site. Sentry collects error information (such as error messages, stack traces, and the URL where the error occurred) to help us maintain site reliability. If you accept analytics cookies, Sentry may also record session replays to help us understand and reproduce issues.

For more information, please see the Sentry Privacy Policy.

Vercel Analytics & Speed Insights

We use Vercel Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights to monitor website performance and Core Web Vitals. These services collect anonymized, aggregated performance data and do not use cookies or track individual visitors. This data helps us ensure the Site loads quickly and performs well for all visitors.

Note: Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity are only loaded after you provide consent via our cookie consent banner. Sentry error monitoring runs as an essential service, but session replay features are only enabled with your consent. Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights run without cookies and do not require consent.

Cookies

Our Site uses cookies and similar tracking technologies. Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We categorize cookies into two types:

• Essential cookies — Required for the Site to function properly, including authentication and security. These are always active.
• Analytics cookies — Used by Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity to help us understand how visitors use the Site. These are only set after you provide consent.

Cookie Consent

When you first visit our Site, a cookie consent banner will appear at the bottom of the page. You can choose to "Accept All" cookies (including analytics) or select "Essential Only" to browse without analytics tracking. Your preference is stored in a cookie called 911trail_consent for 180 days.

In addition to cookies, we use your browser's session storage to temporarily store information during your visit, such as referral codes and donation attribution data. This data is automatically cleared when you close your browser tab.

You can change your cookie preference at any time using the button below, or by clearing your browser cookies.

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate our Site:

• Stripe — Payment processing for donations. Stripe's privacy policy is available at stripe.com/privacy.
• Constant Contact — Email newsletter distribution. Used when you subscribe to our newsletter. When you view newsletter archives on our site, the newsletter content is loaded directly from Constant Contact's servers in your browser, which may set cookies subject to Constant Contact's privacy policy.
• Salesforce — Donor and supporter management. Used to manage donations, newsletter subscriptions, referral program activity, and map request contact information.
• Microsoft (Azure AD / Graph API) — Email delivery service. Used to send transactional emails including donation receipts, account access links, and administrative notifications. Microsoft's privacy policy is available at privacy.microsoft.com.
• OpenStreetMap — Interactive maps on our site use map tiles from OpenStreetMap. When you view a map, your browser makes requests to OpenStreetMap's tile servers, which may log your IP address. OpenStreetMap's privacy policy is available at osmfoundation.org.
• Esri ArcGIS — Trail mapping data may be loaded from Esri's ArcGIS platform to display trail routes on interactive maps.
• Vercel — Website hosting, content delivery, and file storage for uploaded images and documents.
• Cloudflare Turnstile — Bot protection for form submissions.

We do not sell or share your personal information with third parties except as described above or as required by law.

Data Security

We implement reasonable security measures to protect your information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, comply with legal obligations, and support our nonprofit mission. Specifically:

• Donation records are retained permanently in accordance with IRS record-keeping requirements for 501(c)(3) organizations.
• Contact form submissions are retained until reviewed and resolved by our team.
• Newsletter subscriber information is retained until you unsubscribe.
• Map request records are retained until fulfilled; mailing addresses are stored in our donor management system (Salesforce) and not in our primary database.
• Story and memory submissions are retained for publication consideration and archival purposes.
• Cookie consent preferences are stored for 180 days.
• Authentication sessions expire after 7 days of inactivity.

Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including:

• The right to access your personal information
• The right to correct inaccurate information
• The right to request deletion of your information
• The right to opt out of marketing communications
• The right to opt out of certain data collection (e.g., analytics)

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information provided below.

California Residents

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), including:

• The right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose about you
• The right to request deletion of your personal information
• The right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information
• The right not to be discriminated against for exercising your privacy rights

We do not sell or share your personal information as defined by the CCPA. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information provided below.

Do Not Track

Our Site responds to your cookie consent preferences rather than browser Do Not Track (DNT) signals. You can control analytics tracking through our cookie consent banner at any time.

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. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete such information.

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 "Last Updated" date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

Contact Us

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