When you give to UMass Amherst, you can be confident that the information you provide will be kept in the strictest confidence. Any information you provide will be used only to process your transaction and to create statistical (non-individual) data for our internal use. We do not provide any personally identifiable information to any other party, unless we are required to do so by law.

How We Handle Your Personal Information
When you fill out and submit our online forms you are asked to provide certain personal information, for example, your name, address, e-mail address and phone number. We ask only for the information we need to complete the transactions you request.

We do not sell, rent, share or otherwise disclose your personal information to any outside party, unless we are legally required to do so. Subject to the University of Massachusetts Electronic Communications Guidelines and other applicable University policy, we use the information you give us only to fulfil your requests and instructions.

Some aggregated user information is used to evaluate and improve this Web site. Individual users are not identified. We use this information to administer the site, to help diagnose problems with our servers, to gather broad demographic information, to analyze trends, and to see how users (in the aggregate) move through our site.

How We Protect Your Privacy Online
For your security, we never request your complete Social Security Number or Employee ID number online. Your alumni Donor ID number is collected only so that we can keep a record of your transaction.

Your credit card number, entered via this web site, is encrypted; it is not sent in clear text at any point in the data’s entry or transmission. This information is not stored in any University of Massachusetts database.
We do not use "cookies" on this site. (Cookies are small data files that are stored on your computer’s hard drive and that may contain personally identifiable information about you.)

How We Safeguard Your Personal Information
We maintain strict physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information. Access to information about you is restricted to only those employees of the Development Office who need access to the information in order to complete your transactions with us, subject to the University of Massachusetts Electronic Communications Guidelines and other applicable University policy.

Changes to This Privacy Policy
If at some point in the future there is a change to our information usage practices that affect your personal information, it will be reflected in the privacy policy date posted on this document.

Donor Bill of Rights
The University of Massachusetts subscribes to the Donor Bill of Rights developed by the American Association of FundRaising Counsel (AAFRC), Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), and the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP):
Philanthropy is based on voluntary action for the common good. It is a tradition of giving and sharing that is primary to the quality of life. To assure that philanthropy merits the respect and trust of the general public, and that donors and prospective donors can have full confidence in the notforprofit organizations and causes they are asked to support, we declare that all donors have these rights:
To be informed of the organization’s mission, of the way the organization intends to use donated resources, and of its capacity to use donations effectively for their intended purposes.

To be informed of the identity of those serving on the organization’s governing board, and to expect the board to exercise prudent judgment in its stewardship responsibilities.

To have access to the organization’s most recent financial statements.

To be assured their gifts will be used for the purposes for which they were given.

To receive appropriate acknowledgment and recognition.

To be assured that information about their donations is handled with respect and with confidentiality to the extent provided by law.

To expect that all relationships with individuals representing organizations of interest to the donor will be professional in nature.

To be informed whether those seeking donations are volunteers, employees of the organization or hired solicitors.

To have the opportunity for their names to be deleted from mailing lists that an organization may intend to share.

To feel free to ask questions when making a donation and to receive prompt, truthful and forthright answers.
The text of this statement in its entirety was developed by the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel (AAFRC), Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), and the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

Policy Regarding Do Not Call Legislation
Federal and Massachusetts Do Not Call Legislation does not limit fund-raising telephone calls by registered charities.  It does, however, apply to any plan, program, or campaign to sell goods or services through telephone calls.  This includes telephone calls to provide, offer to provide, or arrange to provide goods or services to consumers in exchange for payment.

As such, it is the policy of the University of Massachusetts Amherst that any telephone numbers stored on the Advance database will not be released for any such purposes.

This is in keeping with UMass Amherst Advancement’s policy that all records and related information on the Advance database must be kept confidential, to be used only by those staff members who need to use them to further the mission of the campus.

Employees of Advancement, Development and Alumni Relations may release information in the form of lists, labels, computer tapes and reports only to authorized individuals whose work has a direct bearing on fund-raising or alumni relations activities.  Employees of Advancement, Development and Alumni Relations may not release information to groups or individuals for any purpose outside the campus, unless specifically authorized.  Failure to operate within the dictates of this policy may lead to disciplinary measures.