Privacy Notice for University Relations at Santa Clara University

Updated: May 8, 2025

Website Privacy Statement

Santa Clara University (“SCU” or the “University”) is committed to safeguarding the privacy of data provided by our alumni, parents, donors and other constituents. This privacy notice explains how SCU, through University Relations (Office of Alumni Relations and the Office of Development), may collect, process, and share your personal data for engagement and development activities.

Data We Collect

University Relations collects and maintains information about you based on its interest in continuing its relationship with you, including by promoting SCU’s interests and achievements to you and inviting you to support the University and participate in SCU programs and events. This information is from various sources, including the following:  

Information you give us directly

We may obtain information about you when you provide information through one of our websites, when you take part in one of our events, make a donation, apply to volunteer for us, purchase products and services, when you register to receive one of our newsletters, or when you provide information in response to University outreach.

Information you give us indirectly

Your information may be shared with us by third parties, which includes subcontractors acting on our behalf who provide us with technical, payment, or delivery services, our business partners, advertising networks, analytics providers, and search information providers. 

When you visit a University Relations website

We automatically collect information about your visit to this website to comprehend how you interact with and utilize our website, for example we collect information about pages you visit and how you navigate the website, i.e., length of visits to certain pages, products and services you viewed and searched for, and referral sources (e.g., how you arrived at our website).

We collect and use your personal data by using cookies and web beacons on our website, tracking your activity for analytical purposes. These analytics aid in personalizing content and inform our marketing and development efforts.

Type of information we may collect

The personal data we collect, store and use might include:

• your name and contact details (including address, email address and phone number);
• your date of birth;
• information about your activities on our websites;
• education and academic background;
• parent and guardian information;
• social network handle;
• publicly available information from third parties such address, phone, email, employment, real estate, philanthropic giving, corporate board membership and the like;
• and any other personal data shared with us either directly or indirectly.

How We Use Your Data

University Relations uses information about you to tailor our messages and invitations to your interests, to analyze and improve our alumni and relationship efforts, and to conduct general demographic and statistical research and prospect research. Your personal information may serve operational purposes such as security, fraud prevention, and legal compliance. We also use and share your information internally with other University offices and units as necessary to provide services to you. Below are some examples of how we use your data: 

• Personally identifiable information. 
  
  To help confirm your identity, our sites may require you to provide authentication (such as your full name, address, email, password, a university-provided ID or number or your date of birth).
  
  
• Site activity.
  
  When you access our website, we may collect information about your browser type and location, as well as the pages you visit. Non-personally identifiable information aids in analyzing web traffic and our website performance, enhancing user experience, and supporting marketing and development endeavors.
  
  
• Documenting our relationship with you and building profiles. 
  
  In conducting our alumni engagement and advancement fundraising operations, University Relations may document communications to more effectively steward our relationship with both alumni and supporters. In addition, we may analyze your personal data to create a profile of your interests, preferences and financial ability to support SCU through philanthropy. We do this so that we can tailor and target our communications in a way that is timely and relevant to you.
  
  
• Service management. 
  
  University Relations uses information collected to provide, measure, and improve services and features to users and to provide customer support. We may use the information to prevent activities which might breach the conditions of use of our site. 

Who We Share Your Data With

We disclose your information to third parties as follows:

• Consent. If you do not wish to have your email address/contact information used by University Relations to promote our own or third parties’ products or services, you can opt-out by emailing us at giftsandrecords@scu.edu. Subject to the terms of the GDPR, this opt-out does not apply to information provided to University Relations as a result of a service or product purchase, product service experience or other transactions. 
  
  
• Service Providers. We use third parties to support our operations and legitimate educational interests and may share your information with such third parties. For example, we may share your personal information with third parties engaged in information processing and storage. These may include providers of data hosting, analytics, financial aid, payment processing, event planning, and marketing services. We may share your personal information with trusted third-party marketing partners for the purpose of sending you promotional materials. You can opt-out of receiving marketing communications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the emails.
• Required by Law. We will share your information with third parties to the extent we are required to do so by law, court order, or subpoena.
  
  
• De-Identified and Aggregate Information. We use and disclose information about you in de-identified or aggregate form.

In addition to the above, we share your information internally with other University offices and units as necessary to provide services to you.

Except as described herein, we do not share your personal information, nor do we sell or disclose it to third parties.

Retention and Destruction of Your Information

Your information will be retained by SCU in accordance with the applicable retention periods in the University’s Record Retention Policy. The manner of destruction shall be appropriate to preserve and ensure the confidentiality of your Information given the level of sensitivity, value and criticality to the University.

If you are located in the European Union, you may also have additional rights with respect to your Information, such as: (i) data access and portability; (ii) data correction (including the ability to update your personal data); (iii) data deletion (including the right to have SCU delete your personal information, except information we are required to retain, by contacting us); and (iv) withdrawal of consent or objection to processing (including, in limited circumstances, the right to ask SCU to stop processing your personal data, with some exceptions, by contacting us). You may also be able to file a complaint with the appropriate supervisory authority in the European Union.

How We Protect Your Data 

You must have a secure browser—one that supports secure transmission of data across the Internet—to send payment to/from the University. For more information about your browser’s security features, use your browser’s help feature.
Reputable third-party merchant processors, financial institutions and software vendors handle our credit card transactions pursuant to written agreements with the University that require them to maintain the confidentiality of these records.

We seek to implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your information when you transmit it to us and when we store it on our information technology systems. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have an account with SCU (i.e., via the mySCU Portal), your account password is protected so that only you can access it and view the information that you provide to us through the online site. We strongly advise you not to share your password with anyone.

Your Access and Choice 

If you are a SCU student, faculty member or staff member, you can manage privacy settings for your directory information on Workday by entering in the search bar “Manage My Privacy Settings” and choosing what directory information you wish to keep private. 

You can choose not to receive certain marketing emails from us by “unsubscribing” using the instructions in any email you receive from us or you can opt-out by emailing us at giftsandrecords@scu.edu. This will not stop us from sending emails about your account or education with us. You cannot remove yourself from our database, but you can prevent unwanted communication. 

Use of Links on Website

Throughout our website, we provide links to other servers which may contain information of interest to you. We take no responsibility for, and exercise no control over, the organizations, views, or accuracy of the information contained on other servers. 

Creating a text link from your website to our website does not require permission. If you have a link you would like us to consider adding to our website, please send an email to giftsandrecords@scu.edu with the subject “Link request.”

Use of Text and Images

If you would like to publish information that you find on our website, please send your request to giftsandrecords@scu.edu. Where text or images are posted on our website with the permission of the original copyright holder, a copyright statement appears at the bottom of the page. 

Accessibility

This website is designed to be accessible to visitors with disabilities, and to comply with federal guidelines concerning accessibility. We welcome your comments. If you have suggestions on how to make the website more accessible, please contact us at giftsandrecords@scu.edu.

Updates to This Policy

SCU reserves the right to change this notice or University policies at any time without notice. You should visit this page periodically to review the current notice. 

If you have questions about this privacy notice, please contact us via e-mail at giftsandrecords@scu.edu.