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RMEF PoliciesPrivacy Policy

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is committed to respecting the privacy rights of all visitors to the rmef.org and the elknetwork.com websites as well as any other media form, media channel, mobile website or mobile application related, linked or otherwise connected thereto (collectively, the “Site”). The following policy describes how we use information we receive from visitors to the Site.

LAST UPDATED

July 5, 2026

To assist you in reviewing our Privacy Policy, we have divided it into the following topics:  

  • Your Consent 
  • Visitor Protection 
  • Definitions 
  • What Information Do We Collect? 
  • How Do We Use the Information We Collect? 
  • How Long Do We Keep Your Information? 
  • Sensitive Information, Automated Decisions, and Profiling 
  • Do We Disclose the Information We Collect to Outside Parties? 
  • Your Rights and Choices 
  • Do We Use Cookies? 
  • Social Logins 
  • Links to Third-Party Sites 
  • Minors’ Use of Our Site 
  • Changes to This Privacy Policy 
  • Terms and Conditions 
  • Questions? 

YOUR CONSENT

By using the Site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand this Privacy Policy. Where required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent before collecting, using, or sharing certain personal information (for example, where you opt in to marketing communications or where certain cookies/technologies require consent). By interacting with the Site, becoming a member, making a donation, registering for an event, or otherwise engaging with RMEF, you acknowledge and agree that your personal information may be used and shared as described in this Privacy Policy. 

VISITOR PROTECTION

We implement a variety of security measures to attempt to maintain the safety of your personal information. Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems and who are required to keep the information confidential. When you place orders or access your personal information, we offer the use of a secure server. All sensitive/credit information you supply is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our databases to be only accessed as stated above. However, please also remember that we cannot guarantee that the internet itself is 100% secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Site is at your own risk. You should only access the services within a secure environment. 

DEFINITIONS

“Affiliates” means organizations legally related to or affiliated with RMEF, including organizations formed to advance conservation, education, advocacy, or other aligned public interest objectives. 

“Marketing Cooperative” means a data cooperative to which RMEF contributes donor contact and transaction data and from which RMEF receives modeled lists and contact information to help identify likely supporters. Under some state laws, this type of data exchange may be considered a “sale” of personal information because RMEF receives valuable services in return. 

“Nonprofit Partners” means nonprofit organizations with aligned conservation, wildlife, outdoor recreation, or public interest missions with whom RMEF collaborates, including list-sharing or cooperative outreach programs. 

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when registering at the Site, expressing an interest in obtaining information about RMEF, or our mission, products and services, when participating in activities on the Site (such as posting messages or entering competitions, contests or giveaways) or otherwise contacting us. The personal information we collect can include the following: 

Name and Contact Data. We may collect your first and last name, email address, postal address, phone number, and other similar contact data. 

Membership Account Data. For members, we collect and maintain information related to your membership, including membership type, status, renewal dates, chapter affiliation, event participation history, and related account activity. This information is necessary to administer your membership and deliver the benefits associated with it. 

Credentials. We may collect passwords, password hints, and similar security information used for authentication and account access.  

Payment Data. We collect data necessary to process your payment if you make purchases, such as a credit card number, and the security code associated with your credit card. All payment data is stored by our payment processor, and you should review its privacy policies and contact the payment processor directly to respond to your questions. 

Social Media Data. We provide you with the option to register using social media account details, like your Facebook, Twitter or other social media account. If you choose to register in this way, we will collect the information described in the section called “Social Logins” below. 

Contests, Drawings and Giveaway Data. We may collect personal information that you provide to us when entering contests or giveaways offered on the Site.   

Automatically Collected Data. We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use or navigate the Sites. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, general location, information about how and when you use our Site and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Sites, to support core Site functionality, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes. 

Mobile Application Data. If you use our mobile application, we may request access to location-based information from your mobile device to provide location-based services, if you enable such permissions. We may request access to certain features from your mobile device, including your mobile device’s Bluetooth, calendar, camera, contacts, microphone, reminders, sensors, SMS messages, social media accounts, storage, and other features, if you choose to grant permission. You may change our access in your device’s settings. We may automatically collect mobile device information, such as your mobile device ID, model, manufacturer, operating system information, application version and IP address. We may request to send you push notifications regarding your account or the mobile application. If you wish to opt-out from receiving these types of communications, you may turn them off in your device’s settings.  

Other Data. We may obtain information about you from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, social media platforms (such as Facebook), as well as from other third parties. Examples of the information we receive from other sources include: social media profile information (your name, gender, birthday, email, current city, state and country, user identification numbers for your contacts, profile picture URL and any other information that you choose to make public); marketing leads and search results and links, including paid listings (such as sponsored links).  

HOW DO WE USE THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT?

We use personal information collected via our Site for a variety of business reasons described below. We process your personal information for these purposes in reliance on our legitimate business interests, with your consent, and/or for compliance with our legal obligations.  

Account Creation and Login. If you choose to link your account with us to a third-party account such as your Google or Facebook account, we use the information you allowed us to collect from those third parties to facilitate account creation and login process. See the section below headed “Social Logins” for further information.  

Marketing and Promotion. We and/or our service providers and partners may use the personal information you send to us for our marketing, fundraising, and membership purposes, consistent with your communication preferences and applicable law. You can opt out of marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link in our emails or by contacting us directly.  

Administrative Information. We may use your personal information to send you products, services and new feature information and/or information about changes to our Terms and Conditions, and policies. 

Order Fulfillment. We may use your information to fulfill and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges made through the Site. 

Targeted Advertising. We and/or our third-party marketing partners may use your information to develop and display content and advertising tailored to your interests and/or location and to measure its effectiveness. 

SMS/Text Messaging Communications. Where you have provided your mobile number and opted in, we may send recurring SMS/text messages related to membership, donations, events, fundraising, cart reminders, and other RMEF programs. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. You can opt out at any time by replying STOP to any message, and you can request help by replying HELP. Consent to receive SMS messages is not a condition of any purchase or membership.  

Contests, Drawings and Giveaways. We may use your information to administer contests, drawings and giveaways for prizes when you elect to participate. 

Feedback. We may use your information to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Site.  

Protection and Security. We may use your information as part of our efforts to keep our Site safe and secure from fraud and cyber theft. 

Enforcement. We may use your information to enforce our Terms and Conditions and policies. 

Legal Reasons. We may use your information to respond to legal requests. If we receive a subpoena or other legal request, we may need to inspect the data we hold to determine how to respond. 

Other Business Purposes. We may use your information for other legitimate business purposes, such as analytics, usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and evaluating and improving our Site, products, services, and marketing. 

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION? 

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including to: 

  1. Provide and administer membership benefits, donations, and program participation; 
  2. Comply with our legal, tax, accounting, and reporting obligations (including IRS substantiation and donor recordkeeping requirements); 
  3. Resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and protect our legal rights; and 
  4. Maintain historical records of our mission-related activities.  

When personal information is no longer needed for these purposes, we will delete, de-identify, or securely archive it, except where retention is required by law. 

SENSITIVE INFORMATION, AUTOMATED DECISIONS, AND PROFILING 

RMEF does not knowingly collect categories of personal information defined as “sensitive” under state privacy laws (such as precise geolocation, government identifiers, biometric or genetic data, or information about racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or health) for marketing or fundraising purposes. Where such information is incidentally provided to us, we use it only for the purpose for which it was provided. We do not use personal information to engage in automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects concerning you. 

DO WE DISCLOSE THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT TO OUTSIDE PARTIES?

We may disclose personal information that you voluntarily provide to us with the following categories of recipients, for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy: 

  • Our Affiliates, including organizations with related conservation, education, or advocacy missions; 
  • Selected Nonprofit Partners, including organizations participating in joint programs, coalition efforts, advocacy initiatives, or list-sharing or cooperative outreach programs; 
  • Service providers and vendors who assist us in operating our Site, processing transactions, conducting outreach, or supporting our programs and operations. 

In connection with these relationships, shared personal information may be used for outreach, advocacy, fundraising, membership development, educational communications, and other mission-related purposes consistent with RMEF’s conservation objectives and applicable law. 

Your personal information may be processed by our service providers (including website hosting partners) in the course of assisting us in operating our Site, processing transactions, providing communications, and supporting our programs, and such service providers are permitted to use the information only to perform services for us or as otherwise permitted by applicable law. 

In some cases, our Affiliates or Nonprofit Partners may communicate directly with individuals whose information has been shared for permitted purposes. Individuals may opt out of receiving future communications at any time by using the unsubscribe or opt-out mechanism included in those communications or by contacting us directly. We do not sell personal information to commercial data brokers or unrelated third parties for their independent commercial use; however, we may disclose personal information to the categories of recipients described in this Privacy Policy for our mission-related and operational purposes. 

We may send you emails with links to third party sites, including links to partner websites and resources. 

SMS/Text Messaging Consent. We will not share your mobile opt-in or consent to receive SMS/text messages with any third party for purposes unrelated to providing the services of the SMS program for which you opted in. We may share your personal data, including your SMS opt-in or consent status, with third parties that help us deliver our messaging services, including platform providers, telecommunications carriers, and other vendors who assist us in the delivery of text messages. No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.  

YOUR RIGHTS AND CHOICES 

Regardless of where you live, you may exercise the following choices at any time: 

  • Opt out of Marketing Cooperative participation (including Wiland data contributions and receipt of modeled lists) 
  • Opt out of data sharing with campaign and sweepstakes partners 
  • Opt out of targeted advertising and remarketing 
  • Opt out of marketing and fundraising communications 

 Residents of certain states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Virginia, may have additional rights under applicable state privacy laws, which may include: 

  1. The right to know or access the personal information we have collected about you; 
  2. The right to request correction of inaccurate personal information; 
  3. The right to request deletion of your personal information; 
  4. The right to data portability (to receive a copy of your personal information in a portable format); 
  5. The right to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information, targeted advertising, and certain profiling activities; and 
  6. The right to appeal a denial of any of the foregoing requests. 

The specific rights available to you depend on your state of residence and the applicable law. We will respond to verifiable consumer requests consistent with applicable law. 

RMEF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Some state privacy laws exempt nonprofit organizations from coverage in whole or in part. Regardless of whether RMEF is legally required to extend these rights under a particular state law, we voluntarily honor the request methods described below for all individuals whose personal information we maintain. 

To exercise any of these rights: 

  • Use the unsubscribe or opt-out link included in any communication you receive from us. 
  • Email us at [email protected] 

We will acknowledge receipt of your request and respond within 45 days. If we need additional time to respond (for example, due to the complexity or volume of requests), we will notify you within the initial 45-day period and may extend our response time by an additional 45 days as permitted by law. Before fulfilling certain requests, we may need to verify your identity using information already in our records. If we decline to act on your request, we will explain the reason and provide information on how to appeal. 

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights. 

DO WE USE “COOKIES”?

Yes. Cookies are bits of electronic information that a website operator can transfer to your hard drive to help tailor and keep records of your visit to the site. The use of cookies is standard on the Internet, and many websites use them. Cookies allow us to better customize your visits to our site to your individual preferences. We also contract with third-party service providers who may place cookies or similar technologies to conduct site analytics and support our Site’s functionality. These companies may use these technologies to provide us with aggregate data about site traffic and usage, and in some cases to help us measure the effectiveness of communications or advertising. Although most web browsers automatically accept cookies, you can usually change your browser to prevent that or notify you whenever you’re sent a cookie. This gives you the chance to decide whether to accept it. Even without accepting a cookie, you can still access most of the features on our site (though some features may not function properly). 

The Site also uses cookies and similar technologies to track items you add to your shopping cart, including when a cart is abandoned. This information may be used to determine when to send cart reminder messages via SMS to mobile numbers you have provided with consent. 

Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track Signals. Some browsers and browser extensions transmit “Do Not Track” (DNT) or Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals to websites you visit. RMEF treats a GPC signal received from a visitor’s browser as a valid request to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information and out of targeted advertising on the Site, to the extent required by applicable law. Because there is no common industry standard for DNT signals, we do not currently respond to DNT signals separately from GPC. 

SOCIAL LOGINS

Our Site offers you the ability to register and log in using your third-party social media account details (like your Facebook or Twitter logins). Where you choose to do this, we will receive certain profile information about you from your social media provider. The profile information we receive may vary depending on the social media provider concerned, but will often include your name, e-mail address, friends list, profile picture as well as other information you choose to make public. If you log in using Facebook, we may also request access to other permissions related to your account, such as friends, check-ins, and likes, and you may choose to grant or deny us access to each individual permission. 

We will use the information we receive only for the purposes that are described in this privacy policy or that are otherwise made clear to you on the Site. Please note that we do not control, and are not responsible for, other uses of your personal information by your third-party social media provider. We recommend that you review their privacy policy to understand how they collect, use and share your personal information, and how you can set your privacy preferences on their sites and apps. 

LINKS TO THIRD PARTY SITES

We may provide links to third–party sites. Since we do not control those sites or the privacy policies or security of those sites, we encourage you to review the privacy policies posted on these third-party sites. We cannot guarantee the safety or privacy of data you provide to any third party.  

MINORS USE OF OUR SITE

Under 13. Minors under 13 years of age should not submit any personal information on our site. RMEF does not knowingly collect or use any information from minors under the age of 13. If you become aware of any data we have collected from minors under the age of 13, please contact us at the email address listed below. 

Under 18. Minors under the age of 18 who reside in California may request removal of any unwanted data that has been posted on the Site. To request removal, contact us at the email address listed below. 

CHANGES TO OUR POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. The “Last Updated” date at the top of this Policy indicates when it was most recently revised. 

If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will provide notice through one or more of the following methods before the changes take effect: (a) posting a prominent notice on the Site; (b) sending an email to the address associated with your account or membership; or (c) other reasonable means consistent with applicable law. For a period of at least 30 days following any material update, we will also post a brief summary of the changes alongside this Policy. Your continued use of the Site after the effective date of any updated Policy constitutes your acknowledgment of the updated terms, except where additional consent is required by law. 

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Please also visit our Terms and Conditions establishing the use, disclaimers and limitations of liability governing the use of our Site.

QUESTIONS?

RMEF welcomes comments and questions on this privacy policy. We are dedicated to protecting your personal information and will make every reasonable effort to keep that information secure. 

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
5705 Grant Creek Road
Missoula, MT 59808
[email protected]