Do we collect your personal information?
Personal information we collect may include, but is not limited to, your name, postal address, zip code, telephone number, organization name, e-mail address, credit card, bank, or billing information, depending on the type of transaction or correspondence you have with us.
How do we collect personal information?
Information is collected using a variety of methods. You will be asked to provide your personal information when making a donation, or requesting information or updates through our website, e-mail, direct mail or telephone communications.
Do we share your information?
Catholic Relief Services does not sell donor information to anyone, including other nonprofit organizations. We occasionally exchange a small percentage of our addresses to other reputable nonprofit organizations, primarily Catholic nonprofits. Such information exchange allows CRS to realize a substantial cost savings, ensuring that we can be good stewards of the resources so generously donated to us.
Can I control how you use my personal information?
Absolutely. We will always honor your wishes. If you have any concerns about how your information is handled, or to add your name to our do-not-share list, please e-mail, call or write us. Please provide us with your exact name and address. We will be sure your name is not on any list we share with other organizations.
Write to: Catholic Relief Services
228 West Lexington St.
Baltimore, Maryland 21201-3443
E-mail:
[email protected]
Phone: 1-888-277-7575
CRS donors can update their information and control some of these preferences by registering for our
online donor self-service center.
Can I control how you contact me?
We strive for respectful communications. To share your preferences for being contacted through mail, e-mail, phone or name exchange, please call 888-277-7575, or e-mail us at
[email protected].
Do we protect your personal and credit card information from loss and theft?
Yes. For your online security, we use industry-standard encryption technologies when transferring and receiving payment data, including credit card information. And we have security measures in place to protect against loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from or about you.
Once the gift is processed, our donor data resides in a PCI-compliant data center. We manage all hardware, software and security tasks, including handling a redundant site, backup, disaster recovery and credit card processing. Our fundraising software meets the rigorous requirements necessary to gain Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliant status. More information on these requirements can be found on the PCI Security and Standards Council website.
Credit card data is not stored for one-time donations. For recurring donations, encrypted credit card numbers are stored in a PCI-compliant data vault. Tokenized credit card numbers are stored in the core donor database. No actual credit card numbers are visible from the core donor database.
Do we use cookies?
Our server tracks anonymous information, such as IP addresses, from our website visitors. In addition, we use services hosted by third parties, such as Google Analytics and Hotjar, to provide you with a better experience, diagnose technical problems, analyze trends and improve our website. These tools collect information anonymously using first-party cookies, tracking visitor browsing actions and patterns and reporting website trends without identifying individual visitors. This information is used for internal processes, to measure web traffic and to improve the content of our web pages. No personally identifiable information is collected or used in this process.
Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. These cookies are used to store information, such as the time that the current visit occurred, whether the visitor has been to the site before and what site referred the visitor to the web page.
You can opt out of Google Analytics without affecting how you visit our site. For more information about Google Analytics or to opt out of Google Analytics, please go to Google’s
opt-out information page. You may opt-out from having Hotjar collect your information when visiting our website at any time by using a ‘Do Not Track’ header.
Learn more here.
In addition, we may use third-party vendor remarketing tracking cookies, including the Google Adwords tracking cookie, to advertise on third party websites. Consequently, after leaving our website you may see a CRS advertisement on other websites, such as the Google search results page or websites using the Google Display Network. As always, we respect your privacy and are not collecting any identifiable information through the use of Google’s or any other third-party remarketing system. Any data collected will be used in accordance with our own privacy policy and Google’s privacy policy.
This Privacy Policy does not cover the collection methods or use of the information collected by third-party vendors. These vendors have their own privacy policies and may be members of the
Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”). To remove yourself from some or all NAI member advertising programs, visit the
Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page and follow the relevant instructions.
Please also see the privacy policies of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and
Catholic Charities USA.
Thank you for your trust.
Your privacy is very important to us, and we want to make sure your experience with us is a positive one. We want to keep you informed about our vital work and the interests we share, but we don’t want to do that at the expense of your privacy or trust in us. If you have any concerns, please call 888-277-7575 or e-mail
[email protected].