Privacy policy

This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) was last updated on January 1, 2026

INTRODUCTION

Welcome! You have arrived at a website operated by The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (GC) or our affiliates (“GC,” “we”, “our” or “us”).

We at GC recognize the importance of data privacy compliance and therefore take your privacy seriously.

We act as the controller of any personal information provided to or gathered by our websites, World Church Platforms, also known as adventist.cloud; and mobile applications (our “Services”). This Privacy Notice (“Notice”) describes the types of Personal Information (also referred to as Personal Data, “Personally Identifiable Information,” or ” PI”) that we collect, how we use it, how and when we share it, and the rights you have with respect to your information. It also explains how we communicate with you and how you can make inquiries and requests to us about your information. As part of our commitment to maintaining your trust, we strive to help you understand how we use your information to improve our products, services, marketing, and interactions with you.

You are subject to this Notice and our Terms of Service when you use or access the website, https://adventist.org/ and its subdomains or portals (the “Site”) or otherwise provide Personal Information or interact with us online or in-person. For the purpose of this Notice, “Personal Information” means any personal information relating to an identified or identifiable individual that is protected by applicable privacy laws. We refer to all of the above as “Services.” By using the Services, you agree to this Notice and our Terms of Service.

PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

This section describes what information we may collect from you through our Site or Services. We may receive information (including Personal Information) in the following ways:

Purposes for which we process personal information	Categories and Source (directly from you or another source)	Legal basis
To provide our products and services; to communicate with you; to enforce our Terms of Service, agreements, or policies	Contact and account information. We may collect information such as your first and last name, email address, home or business address, telephone numbers, mobile numbers and passwords from you	Legitimate interest; consent for emailing newsletters
To provide our products and services	Financial information. We may collect information such as your credit card or debit card number, bank account information and your payment, service and purchase history from you or by a third party payment provider.	Contract
To provide our products and services; to communicate with you	Social media information. From our social media pages, we may collect information such as social media handles or public usernames, content and other data shared with us through third-party features that you use on our Site or Services (such as tools, widgets and plug-ins offered by social media services like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube) or posted on social media pages (such as our social media page or other pages accessible to us)
Evaluate your application for employment	Job Applicant information. If you apply for employment with us through our VividFaith portal, we may collect information such as your current or past employment or educational information, credit information and other information related to a background check as well as references and referrals provided to us	Legitimate Interest
To improve our sites and services	Internet or other electronic network activity information. Your IP address, IDFA, Android/Google Advertising ID, IMEI, or another unique identifier; Your Device functionality (including browser, browser language, settings and behavior, operating system, hardware, mobile network information);Referring and exit web pages and URLs; The areas within the Site that you visit and your activities there, including remembering you and your preferences; Your Device location or other location information, including the zip code, state or country from which you accessed the Site or Services; Your Device characteristics; Certain other Device data, including the time of day you visit our Site or other information used to provide analytics or other usage information;Information about your engagement with our emails from your device.	Consent
To improve our sites and services	Aggregate information. Statistical information about how both unregistered and registered users, collectively, use the Site and Services. This aggregate information is derived from Personal Information but cannot be tied back to you or your web browser.	Consent
To provide our products and services; to communicate with you	Audio/video information. From phone or web-based calls with us	Consent
To provide our products and services	Sensitive or Special Category Data. Information about your religious beliefs, information about your health and wellbeing, information revealing racial or ethnic origins, or in the case of background checks for employment, information about criminal records or proceedings.	Consent

RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

GC will retain your Personal Information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice. We will retain and use your Personal Information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our legal agreements, Terms of Service and policies.

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers or those of our third-party data storage providers.

INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM THIRD PARTIES

The Site may include functionality that allows certain kinds of interactions between the Site and your account on a third-party website or application. The use of this functionality may involve the third-party site providing information to us. For example, we might obtain information about the traffic and usage of our Site from third parties. These third parties also use cookies and other tracking technologies to capture information about your interactions with the GC. The GC does not have control over the information that is collected, used, and shared by these third parties. We encourage you to review the privacy statements of these third parties to understand their privacy practices.

USE OF COOKIES

We use cookies, which are small text files sent by your computer each time you visit our site, and other tracking technologies to personalize your experience, analyze user trends, and improve the Site and Services. These tracking technologies allow us to collect information such as your device type, browser type, interactions with our Site, geographic location, your web request, the date and time of your web request, your Internet Protocol address, the domain name of your Internet service provider and other data. If you can be identified from this information by combination with other pieces of information, then we will treat this information as Personal Information. You can alter the configuration of your browser to refuse to accept cookies, but it is possible that doing so may cause limited functionality of the Site.

We may use the following types of cookies:

Advertising cookies. These cookies track your online activity to help advertisers deliver more relevant advertising or to limit how many times you see an ad. These cookies can share that information with other organizations or advertisers. These are persistent cookies and almost always of third-party nature.

Strictly necessary cookies. These cookies are essential for you to browse a website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. While it is not required to obtain consent for these cookies, what they do and why they are necessary should be explained to the user.

Functionality cookies. Also known as “preference cookies,” these cookies allow a website to remember choices you have made in the past, like what language you prefer, what region you would like weather reports for, or what your user name and password are so you can automatically log in.

Analytics cookies. Also known as “performance cookies,” these cookies collect information about how you use a website, like which pages you visited and which links you clicked on. None of this information can be used to identify you. It is all aggregated and, therefore, anonymized. Their sole purpose is to improve website functions. This includes cookies from third-party analytics services as long as the cookies are for the exclusive use of the owner of the website visited.

We may also use pixel tags, which are small graphic files that allow us and third parties to monitor the use of the Site and provide us with information based on your interaction with the Site. These tags may collect the IP address of the device from which you loaded the page and the browser type. Pixel tags are also used by our third parties to collect information when you visit our site, the links and other actions you take on our site, and we may use this information in combination with cookies to display targeted advertisements.

Other data technologies may be used that collect comparable information for security and fraud detection purposes. If you have any questions about cookies or to generally find out more about cookies, visit this site.

On most web browsers, you will find a “help” section on the toolbar. Please refer to this section for information on how to receive a notification when you are receiving a new cookie and how to turn them off. Please see the links below for guidance on how to modify your web browser’s settings on the most popular browsers:
● Apple Safari
● Google Chrome
● Microsoft Edge
● Mozilla Firefox

Note, however, that if you reject our request to use cookies or turn cookies off, you may be unable to access certain parts of the Site and you may not be able to benefit from the full functionality of the Site. To find out more about cookies and similar technologies, visit www.allaboutcookies.org, and/or www.youronlinechoices.com.

GLOBAL PRIVACY CONTROL

GC receives and responds to the Global Privacy Control (GPC) browser opt-out signal.

DO NOT TRACK

Your browser may offer you a “Do Not Track” (“DNT”) option, which allows you to signal to operators of websites and web applications and services (including behavioral advertising services) that you do not wish such operators to track certain of your online activities over time and across different websites and platforms. There is no universally agreed-upon standard for what an organization should do when it detects a DNT signal. Currently, we do not monitor or take any action with respect to these signals or other mechanisms. You can learn more about Do Not Track here.

ANALYTICS

We use Google Analytics to help us understand how our customers use the Site. You can read more about how Google uses your Personal Information here. You can also opt-out of Google Analytics here.

GENERAL CONFERENCE AND DIVISIONS

The General Conference is comprised of independent Unions, which are regionally coordinated by the General Conference Divisions. The Divisions have been established as regional offices of the General Conference serving a defined geographical area. We integrate and share your information with various Unions to allow us to perform the various duties discussed above and provide you with valuable Services.

SERVICES PROVIDERS

We share your Personal Information with our third-party service providers who provide services such as website hosting, data analysis, information technology, customer service, email delivery, online advertising, auditing, and other services.

THIRD PARTY ADVERTISING

We share information about your use of our Site and Services, and your interaction with our ads on other websites with our advertising partners to provide you with our own targeted advertisements or marketing communications we believe may be of interest to you. We collect and share some of this information directly with our advertising partners, and in some cases through the use of cookies or other technologies (which you may consent to, depending on your location).
For more information about how targeted advertising works, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s educational page here.

You can opt out of targeted advertising by visiting the following:
● Facebook
● Google
● Bing
● LinkedIn

OTHER

Aside from the instances described above, we will only share your Personal Information:
● to comply with law enforcement;
● to respond to claims or comply with legal process served on GC (e.g., a lawful subpoena, warrant, or court order);
● to enforce or apply our Terms of Service, policies or agreements;
● to protect and defend our rights or property or that of our customers, employees, visitors, or the public;
● in connection with a business transfer, sale, liquidation, or merger;
● if we reasonably believe that an emergency involving immediate danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure; and
● with your consent.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

The Site is operated in the United States. If you are located in another jurisdiction, please know that your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States. By using the Site and providing us with information, you consent to this transfer, processing and storage of your information in the United States. It is important to note that the privacy laws in the United States may not be as comprehensive as those in other countries such as those in the European Union (“EU”). Our service providers use appropriate safeguards to transfer your Personal Information to the United States.

SECURITY

We seek to use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures to protect Personal Information. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please contact us at privacy@gc.adventist.org.

THIRD PARTY LINKS

Out Site may contain links to other websites such as social media platforms, other websites, and event and partner websites. These websites are not covered by this Privacy Notice. Please review the Privacy Notices or Policies of those websites to understand the privacy practices of these third parties.

YOUR RIGHTS

In certain circumstances, subject to certain exceptions and applicable law, you may have the following rights in relation to personal information about you:

● the right to know (i) the specific pieces of personal information collected; (ii) the categories of personal information; (iii) the categories of sources of the personal information: (iv) the business or commercial purpose for collecting the personal information; (v) the categories of personal information disclosed for a business purpose; and (vi) the categories of third parties with whom the personal information is shared;
● the right to have your personal information corrected, for example if it is incomplete or incorrect;
● the right to opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time;
● the right to request that your personal information is deleted;
● the right to restrict or object to the processing of your personal information;
● the right to receive a copy of the personal information which you have provided to the firm, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (known as “data portability”);
● where you have provided personal information voluntarily, or otherwise consented to its use, the right to withdraw your consent;
● the right not to be discriminated against if you exercise any rights conferred on you by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018;
● the right to complain to a Data Protection Authority (see further below).

If you have an online account, you may access, update and correct your personal information – including your marketing choices – using the account management facilities. You may also opt out of receiving marketing and market research communications at any time by contacting us at privacy@gc.adventist.org .

If you are an employee of Division, Union or Conference please contact them directly.

We do not and will not sell or share your personal information as defined under U.S. data protection laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act.

If you have a query about this statement or wish to exercise your rights, please contact privacy@gc.adventist.org .

California residents may also call our toll-free number INSERT. You may also appoint an agent to submit a request on your behalf.

If you are an Australian resident and believe we may have breached the Australian Privacy Principles or your complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you are entitled to make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner can be contacted by telephone on 1300 363 992. Full contact details for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner can be found online at www.oaic.gov.au.

If you are a Columbian resident and are unsatisfied with our resolution, you can then file a complaint with the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC), the Colombian data protection authority. For more information or to submit a complaint, you can visit the official website of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC).

If you are an Ecuadorian resident and we fail to respond satisfactorily or within the time limit, you can lodge a formal complaint with the Superintendence for the Protection of Personal Data (SPDP). The SPDP is the independent regulatory authority responsible for enforcing the LOPDP and has the power to investigate and impose administrative sanctions. The SPDP is expected to provide mechanisms, such as an electronic complaint submission form, to facilitate this process. Specific contact information and procedures should be available on the official SPDP website.

If you are a Peruvian resident Peru how to file claims.

If you are a South Korean resident, South Korea offers a remedy for infringement on rights. Once we receive your request, we will contact you or your agent within the timeframe specified by applicable law to confirm receipt of your request and, if needed, to gather more information about your request. Depending on the nature of the request, additional information may be requested. You or your authorized agent may need to provide the following:

● Proof of identity and address (e.g., a copy of your driving license or valid passport);
● If you are acting as an authorized agent, express notarized permission from the individual on whose behalf you are acting;
● A description of the right(s) you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.

Please note, we may not be obligated to provide access to Personal Information or delete any data to the extent that we cannot verify that the person making the request is the person about whom we collected information, or is someone authorized to act on that person’s behalf. Any personal information we collect from you to verify your identity in connection with your request will be used solely for the purposes of verification.

You also have the right to complain to a Data Protection Authority if you believe that your personal information has been collected or used in breach of relevant privacy legislation. If you are located in the European Union, this will be the Data Protection Authority in the country in which you are located.

We will not discriminate against you for requesting these rights.

If you wish to receive this policy in an alternative format, please contact privacy@gc.adventist.org.

Communication Preferences
With your consent, GC communicates with you via a variety of digital media. To help us make e-mails more useful and interesting, we often receive a confirmation when you open e-mail from us if your computer supports such capabilities. You can opt out of receiving emails from us at any time. To manage your communications preferences with GC — or to opt out of communications entirely — please unsubscribe at the bottom of our emails or contact us at privacy@gc.adventist.org.

We do not disclose your Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

Our Site and Services are not directed at children under 18 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect or receive Personal Information from them. If you believe that we have received Personal Information from a child under the age of 18, you may contact us at privacy@gc.adventist.org to request deletion of that information.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE

We may change this Privacy Notice at any time. We will post all changes to this Privacy Notice on this page and will indicate at the top of the page the modified notice’s effective date. We encourage you to refer to this page on an ongoing basis so that you are aware of our current privacy notice. If required by the applicable law, we will notify you of the changes.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this Privacy Notice, please contact us at:

GC Preferred Email Address Below
Email: Privacy@gc.adventist.org
Contact number: +1-301-680-6000

Data Controller: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Attn: Office of General Counsel
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904-6601
USA
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1-301-680-6000