“IdeaCrossing” referred to herein as “we”, “us” or “our”, has created this Privacy Policy to demonstrate our firm commitment to protecting your personal information and to explain our information-gathering and dissemination practices. Each time you visit the IdeaCrossing® website at www.ideacrossing.org (the “Site”), provide us with information, or use related services (the “Services”) offered on the Site, you are agreeing to and accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy at that time. We urge you to read the policy in its entirety so that you will understand our practices with respect to your online privacy. This policy will tell you about the types of information collected on the Site, how it is collected, what it is used for, and to whom it will be given. If you DO NOT agree to these terms, DO NOT use this Site.
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy to comply with applicable laws or to improve your experience at the Site and with the Services. We will post any changes to our policy on this document so that you will always know what information we gather and how we use it. We encourage you to print or download a copy of this document for your permanent records.
You may reach us by email at info@www.ideacrossing.org, by postal mail at IdeaCrossing c/o JumpStart Inc., 6701 Carnegie Avenue, Suite 100, Cleveland, Ohio 44103, USA, or by telephone at 216-363-3400. Please let us know of any possible violation of these policies.
This Site Contains Links to Third Party Sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any other websites to which the Site links or are linked. We encourage you to check the policy statement of such other websites to understand their policies. In interacting with such websites you may be sharing private information with such website. It is your responsibility to keep such information private and confidential.
Information We Gather:
Personally Identifiable Information
We obtain and retain (a) only personally identifiable information that you give to us and (b) certain related transactional information that we collect resulting from your use of any password-protected areas of the Site. For example, you might supply your email address by signing up for one or more of our free mailing lists, by applying to become a member of the Site, by accepting a member’s invitation to participate in the Site, or by contacting us. You also may supply personally identifiable information, including your name, email address, and location by submitting questions or comments to our various public forums.
Only members who have passwords are entitled to create profiles within the Site and are able to submit comments, articles, events, post threads within the Site forums and customize their resource centers. Anyone who registers to become a member of the Site (Entrepreneurs, Investors, Business Mentors, Service Providers and Contributors, as defined below) provides detailed personally identifiable information to us in connection with his or her registration and profile creation. The Site collects information concerning the transaction activities of visitors when they access a password-protected area of our Site. This transaction information includes information about the portions of our Site visited and information about what data they access. Please note that search engines will be able to access the portions of the Site that are not restricted to members only.
Registration. We obtain and retain (a) only personally identifiable information that you give to us and (b) related transactional information that we collect as a result of your use of certain password-protected areas of the Site (collectively, the “User Information“). When you register to become a member and to use the Site, you will provide us with “personally identifiable information” that specifically identifies you and your account, including for example your name, email address, and location. The additional User Information gathered, and how the Company uses and disseminates information, depends whether the user has registered as an entrepreneur seeking investment (“Entrepreneur“), an investor and is an “accredited investor” as defined in Rule 501 of Regulation D of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1933 (“Investor“), a business mentor (“Business Mentor“), a professional service provider (“Service Provider“), or someone who has been invited to become a member by another member but elects not to create a profile (“Contributor“). Please note that IdeaCrossing makes no representation or warranty as to the credentials of or representations of any Entrepreneur, Investor (including representations as to the whether an Investor is accredited), Business Mentor or Service Provider. At the time of registration, all members will have the ability to opt in to receive communications from IdeaCrossing and other third parties which are promotional in nature.
Member Types:
Entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs will provide detailed personally identifiable information about themselves and their business opportunities, including a description of their businesses and current operations, in connection with their membership registration and profile. We will keep Entrepreneur User Information strictly confidential and will disclose the Entrepreneur’s User Information only to people whom the Entrepreneur has invited to participate OR accepted as a referral OR Investors and Business Mentors at the Site if the Entrepreneur has elected to be matched by us with these members and if the information provided by said parties results in a compatibility score of greater than 75%. We generate matches using an internal algorithm that ranks the Entrepreneur’s profile questions and compares them to Investors’ and Business Mentors’ profile questions, resulting in a compatibility percentage match.
Investors. Investors will provide additional User Information regarding their employment, financial status and sophistication, and their investment styles and preferences, in connection with their registration and profile. We will keep the Investors’ User Information confidential and will not disclose the Investors’ User Information to Entrepreneurs without the authorization of the Investor. By selecting the “contact” option on the My Matches tab or within an Entrepreneur’s Match Detail, an Investor is initiating two-way contact with the Entrepreneur and authorizing us to share the Investor’s contact information and company description with the Entrepreneur in question.
Business Mentors. Business Mentors will provide additional User Information regarding their employment, expertise, and their areas of interest, in connection with their registration and profile. We will keep the Business Mentor’s User Information confidential and will not disclose Business Mentor User Information to Entrepreneurs without the authorization of the Business Mentor. By selecting the “contact” option within the My Matches tab or an Entrepreneur’s Match Detail, a Business Mentor is initiating two-way contact with the Entrepreneur and authorizing us to share the Business Mentor’s contact information and company description with the Entrepreneur in question.
Service Providers. Service Providers will provide detailed personally identifiable information about their business, organization and their service offerings, including a description of their current operations, in connection with their registration and profile. We will share information submitted as part of the registration and profile creation within the Site with registered and non-registered users.
Contributors. Contributors will provide personally identifiable information about themselves, such as name and email in connection with their registration, so that Site users can identify them. Contributors may register by invitation from a member only and do not have the ability to create matching profiles. If an invited Contributor wishes to create a matching profile, he or she must change their primary user type to that of Entrepreneur, Investor, Business Mentor or Service Provider at the time of registration.
Private Workspaces. The Site makes a private Workspace available for each Entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs may invite members or non-members to join their secure workspaces, as Contributors, by sending such non-members an email invitation through the Site. To accept an invitation into an Entrepreneur’s secure workspace as a Contributor, members need to accept access by logging in to IdeaCrossing and non-members must register on the Site. Contributors may refer new Contributors to the secure workspace, subject to the approval of the Entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs may control which Contributors receive access to their workspaces through their Dashboard, and request the removal of certain Contributors from the Workspaces.
Invite Contributors. If an Entrepreneur elects to invite Contributors to his or her private Workspace and to participate in a group discussion, the Site will request from the Entrepreneur the contact information (name and email address) of each intended recipient. We will send the intended recipients an email invitation and require the recipients to click to accept. Upon acceptance we will ask the recipients to log in if they are a member or register as a Contributor.
Tell Someone.If a member elects to use our “Tell Someone” referral service to inform others about the Site, we will request their names and email addresses. We will send them an email inviting them to visit the Site. We may store this information solely to send this email and to track the success of this referral program.
Please note that nowhere on the Site do we knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 18. We require that all members represent to us that they are at least 18 years old when they accept the Terms of Use of the Site.
Non-Personally Identifiable Information
When you visit the public parts of our Site, we do not collect data about who you are or any other personally identifiable information except as described above. We do, however, collect certain non-personally identifiable information about you based upon your activity on our Site.
We may collect machine data such as processor type, processor speed, operating system type, browser type, audio devices, modem devices, and video cards. This information may include the Site’s domain name or Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) that you just came from, which URL you next go to, what browser you are using, and your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address.
Online Polls. Occasionally IdeaCrossing conducts an online poll using our online polling system. These polls are optional and if you choose to respond, your responses will be kept confidential and anonymous.
IP Address. Like most websites, each time you visit the Site we automatically collect your IP address and the web page from which you came. In order to administer and optimize the Site for you and to diagnose problems with our Site, we use your IP address to help identify you and to gather broad demographic information about you.
Cookies. We may use “cookies” to enable you to specify unique preferences and to track visitor trends and patterns. Like most websites, the Site uses cookies to keep track of your activity on the Site and enhance your experience on the Site. We also use cookies to deliver content specific to your interests, and if you choose, to save other personal information so you do not have to reenter it each time you visit the Site. You always have the option of disabling cookies via their browser preferences. If you disable cookies on your browser, please note that the Site will not function. We may also track and analyze non-identifying and aggregate usage and volume statistical information from our users.
Online Ad Serving. We serve advertisements when you visit the Site. We may collect and use information (not including your name, address, email address, telephone number, or any other personal information you have provided us) about your visits to the Site in order to provide advertisements about services of interest to you. For this purpose, we may monitor the Site for the purpose of reporting Site traffic, statistics, advertisement data and other activities.
Contests and Sweepstakes. We may periodically conduct contests and sweepstakes. If you choose to enter, the data you provide will be subject to the official rules of the specific contest, as well as this Privacy Policy. We may share data collected during the registration for such contests and sweepstakes with sponsors. Please read the contest rules carefully before you submit your data.
How We Use Personal Information:
Personally Identifiable Information
If you become a member of the Site, we will use your email address to send you email either through our subscription-based mailing lists or to communicate directly with you about your membership and the services we provide.
Other than information you supply on our forums and as described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, we do not sell, rent, or loan personally identifiable information. We may share, at no cost, members’ personally identifiable information, including email lists, with select third parties if the member has provided consent.
We will, at the direction of Entrepreneurs and other members seeking investment or Investor interest, share personally identifiable information contained in the Entrepreneur’s registration and profile with Investors or Business Mentors as set forth under the heading marked “Member Types”.
We will not disclose Investor or Business Mentor User Information to other members without the authorization of the Investor or Business Mentor.
Email Communications & Opting Out or Updating Your Information
We use your email address and your other personal information to help us efficiently operate the Site, to contact you in connection with your transactions and other activities on the Site (including, but not limited to, confirmation emails or important news that could affect your relationship with IdeaCrossing), and to forward contact requests to you from other members. This type of communication is known as an “Operational Communication.” By registering and posting a profile, articles or events on the Site, you are agreeing and opting in to receive operational communications by email. To opt out of Operational Communications you must deactivate your account by going to the “My Account” tab on your Dashboard. If you would like to disable your profile you can either deactivate your account, wait for the profile to expire (every six months you will receive a series of emails prompting you to renew) or you may contact an IdeaCrossing team member at info@www.ideacrossing.org to ask us to deactivate the profile.
With your consent, we also use personal information to send you subscription-based newsletters, information, and other promotional materials for IdeaCrossing (other than those contained in Operational Communications) or third parties’ goods or services that may be of interest to you. The Site will seek to obtain your consent at the time of registration either by an “opt-in” or “opt-out” method, or by other means (such as an email request). If you consent to receive communications from any of these third parties, you will need to communicate with them directly if you later decide that you no longer wish to receive their communications.
We give you the opportunity to modify personal information or demographic information you have provided to us, at any time, by going to the My Profile and My Account sections of your Dashboard. Please note that changing or deleting your information through these section of the Site, will change or delete the data in our database only for purposes of future activities on the Site. To modify your email address for future Operational Communications from the Site (for instance match and contact notifications) you should make those changes through the My Account tab of your Dashboard. To modify the email on your opt-in subscriptions, visit the subscription center link or unsubscribe link found in the email communication. Changes and deletions will not change or delete emails or information that we may have already forwarded to other members or any other select third parties, as provided above in this Privacy Policy.
Sharing of Information with Third Parties
To operate the Site, including processing your transactions and supporting your activities on the Site, we may share your personal information with our agents, representatives, contractors and service providers so they can provide us with support services such as email origination, receipt or support services, customer relationship management services, and promotional fulfillment. We require these entities not to use your information for any other purpose.
As mentioned above, we do share personally identifiable information with third parties, including email addresses, but only with your consent and upon the third party’s agreement to certain communication standards.
We may be required by law, court order, governmental agency, or law enforcement authority to disclose your personally identifiable information. We may also disclose your information to law enforcement authorities investigating suspected illegal activity. By providing us with personally identifiable information, you agree that we may disclose such information under such circumstances.
We do not combine personally identifiable information with any of the non-personally identifiable information gathered on the public portion of our Site.
You have the right to receive (a) information identifying any third party to whom we may have disclosed, within the past year, personal information pertaining to you for the third party’s direct marketing purposes, and (b) a description of the categories of personal information disclosed. To obtain such information, please email your request via the Contact link on the IdeaCrossing website or directly to info@www.ideacrossing.org.
Non-Personally Identifiable Information
We compile and analyze non-personally identifiable information on an aggregated basis. For example, we may know that ninety people visited this Privacy Policy yesterday or how long the average visitor spent at our Site last month, but because we do not know their names or addresses — they are anonymous to us. We may also use this information to conduct internal research on our visitors’ demographics, interests, and behavior to better understand and serve our visitors.
We may also share demographic information with advertisers on an anonymous and aggregated basis (i.e., without telling the advertisers your identity). One of the reasons we may share this information is to increase the likelihood that our advertisers’ goods and services will appeal to you and to specific demographic groups. Our sharing of demographic information with advertisers is anonymous, subject to the rest of this Privacy Policy. In other words, we do not tell advertisers which particular users are members of which demographic groups. When you respond to an advertisement, however, we ask you to remember that if that ad is targeted to a particular demographic group, the advertiser may be able to identify you as being a member of that demographic group.
Our Security Precautions
The public portions of our Site are encrypted or password-protected. We do use industry-standard security measures to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. However, due to the inherent dangers of the Internet, we cannot guarantee the protection of such information against interception, misappropriation, misuse, or alteration. The password-protected areas of the Site (Profiles and Dashboards) are only available to members.
Our secure server software is the industry standard today for secure commerce transactions. We encrypt all of your personal information as it travels over the Internet. We may transfer your information to, and maintain it on, computer networks that may be located outside of the state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction in which you reside, and the country or jurisdiction in which these computer networks are located may not have privacy laws as protective as the laws in your country or jurisdiction.
Because passwords are stored in an encrypted format, we are unable to retrieve them and provide them to you if you forget your password. For your security, we use a password-reset procedure that enables you to reset a password in a secure manner.