Privacy Policy

Welcome to mshinstitute.org - a website of the Mount St. Helens Institute (“MSHI”, “we”, “us”, “our”). Mount St. Helens Institute is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information. This Privacy Policy (“policy”) explains how our organization uses the personal data we collect from you when you use our website. Our privacy policy may change at any time as our organization evolves.

What information does MSHI collect and/or store?
We strive to only collect information about you that is necessary for the use, services, and programs that you choose both on our website and in our programs. By using our website and by providing us with personal information, you agree that you are knowingly providing us with the following information.

Information we may collect:

• When you are simply browsing our website we collect very little data about you. We do collect information about how you use the website. See information about cookies and third party services below.
• When you register for a program, become a donor or volunteer, we request that you provide additional personal information. The personal information you provide is used to process donations, to sign individuals and groups for events and programs, to rent our facilities, and provide customer service. We may collect the following information: personal identification information name, email address, phone number, mailing address); message contents of emails; emergency contact information, etc.
• MSHI does not sell your information to external companies and only shares with key third party partners to improve services on your behalf. Read more about third party services below.

How we collect your data:

• You directly provide MSHI with most of the data we collect. We collect data when you:
  • Register online or place an order for any goods or services.
  • Make a donation online.
  • Voluntarily complete a survey or provide feedback.
  • Use or view our website via your browser’s cookies.
• We may also receive data indirectly from our third party sources that help us process credit card transactions, manage communications, manage donors, manage volunteers, etc.

Mail & Email Communications
We occasionally send out mailing and emails related to Mount St. Helens Institute such as information on programs, events, news, and donor appeals. You can subscribe and unsubscribe to receive this information at any time by contacting us at the information below.

Social Sharing Features
MSHI communications and service may offer social sharing features or similar integration (for example Facebook). The use of such features enables sharing of information depending on the settings you establish with the third party that provides the social feature. For more information please visit the privacy policies of the third parties that provide these features.

Third Party Services
Mount St. Helens Institute does not sell your information to third parties. We do share some information with third party companies that perform services on our behalf. These services include things such as marketing, website analytics, donation and volunteer management, registration and payment services. Please review the privacy policies of our third party partners.

• Better Impact Privacy Policy | volunteer management software
• NEON One Privacy Policy | program registration, donation, and donor management software
• Google Forms | MSHI program information collection
• JotForm Privacy Policy | forms

Cookies
Like most websites, MSHI websites use cookies to collect information. Cookies are text files placed in your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behavior information. You can set your browser not to accept cookies, however, some website features may not function as a result.

Transfer and Processing of Data
MSHI is headquartered in Clark County, Washington, United States and our websites are also hosted in the United States. Any personal information submitted to MSHI will be transferred from your device to MSHI database(s) (located in the United States) where it will be stored. By providing your personal information you are expressly consenting to this transfer, processing, and use of this data. In some instances you could be submitting information vai one of our third-party trusted partners.

Emergency Situations
We may use or disclose personal information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to a) conform to applicable law or comply with legal process served on us or the website; b) protect and defend our rights or property, the website or our users; and c) act under emergency circumstances to protect the personal safety of us, our affiliates, agents, the users of the website, or the public.

Governing Law/Assignment
Our website is published in Washington State, United States. The law of the State of Washington shall govern in any and all disputes, including privacy or defamation issues or concerns.

Changes to this Policy
This policy undergoes periodic internal review and will be updated on our website when changes are made. This policy was last updated on June 14, 2025.

Contact Us
Please contact us at info@mshinstitute.org or call (360) 449-7883, if you have questions about our privacy policy or if you would like:

• Access to your personal information
• To correct your personal information
• To be added to or remove from our communications