Who we are

This website, cltweb.org, is run by the International Center for Community Land Trusts (CLT Center), a nonprofit organization registered in the United States under section 501(c)(3). The CLT Center decides how the information collected through this website is used.

Address: 3146 Buena Vista Street, Madison, WI 53704, United States
Email: info@communitylandtrust.net

We collect as little information as we can. We do not sell personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.

When you visit the website

Basic technical information. Like every website, ours receives your IP address and information about your browser when you open a page. Our web host, DreamHost, keeps this in server logs for security and to keep the site running. This is necessary to show you the website.

Visit statistics (only if you agree). If you accept statistics cookies, we use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are read most. Google Analytics does not store full IP addresses. If you do not accept, Google Analytics does not run.

Videos, maps and other outside content (only if you agree). Some pages show content from other services: videos from YouTube, a map from Google Maps, audio from SoundCloud and a post from Instagram. These services can set their own cookies and receive your IP address, so they load only after you accept them. Until then you see a placeholder. Some videos come from Vimeo, which we load in Vimeo’s “do not track” mode, so it does not set tracking cookies. The searchable directory on our CLT Map and Directory page is provided by Airtable and uses cookies that it needs to work.

You can change your choices at any time with the “Manage consent” tab at the bottom of each page. Our Cookie Policy lists the cookies used.

When you contact us

When you send a message through our contact form, we collect your name, email address, the topic you choose and your message, as well as your IP address and browser details. We use them to read and answer your message. The message is stored in the website’s database and sent to our email, which is provided by Google Workspace.

To keep out spam, the form uses Cloudflare Turnstile (a check that you are a person, not a program) and Stop Forum Spam, a public list of known spammers. Your IP address and email address are checked against that list.

We keep contact messages for up to two years, then delete them, unless the conversation is still going on.

When you make a donation

When you give through our Support Our Work page, we collect your name, email address, the amount and date of your gift, and, if you give them, your organization and a comment. We use this information to process your gift, send you a receipt, manage a monthly gift if you set one up, and keep the financial records required by law.

Card payments are handled by Stripe and PayPal payments by PayPal. Your card or bank details go directly to them; the CLT Center never sees or stores them. Stripe and PayPal also use cookies on the donation form that they need to process payments safely.

We keep donation records for seven years, as required for nonprofit financial and tax records in the United States.

When you use the CLT Librarian

The CLT Librarian is an AI assistant provided by Chatbase. What you type into it is sent to Chatbase and to the AI service it uses to write answers, and the conversation is stored by Chatbase so that we can see which questions people ask and improve the answers. Please do not type personal or sensitive information into the CLT Librarian.

Our newsletter

Our newsletter is sent with Mailchimp. When you subscribe, you do so on a Mailchimp page, and your email address and name are stored by Mailchimp. Every newsletter has a link to unsubscribe.

Why we are allowed to use your information

For visitors in the European Union, the United Kingdom and other places with similar laws, we rely on these legal grounds:

• Your consent for visit statistics and for outside content such as videos and maps. You can withdraw it at any time.
• Our legitimate interests in keeping the website secure, keeping out spam and answering the messages you send us.
• Processing your gift and our legal obligations for donations, receipts and financial records.

Who else receives your information

We share information only with the services that help us run the website, and only for the purposes described above:

• DreamHost (website hosting)
• Google (email through Google Workspace, and Google Analytics if you agree)
• Stripe and PayPal (donations)
• Cloudflare and Stop Forum Spam (spam protection on the contact form)
• Chatbase (the CLT Librarian)
• Mailchimp (the newsletter)
• YouTube, Google Maps, SoundCloud and Instagram, whose videos, map, audio and post appear on some pages. They load only if you agree, and then receive your IP address and can set their own cookies.
• Airtable, which provides the searchable CLT directory. It receives your IP address and sets only the cookies it needs to work.
• Vimeo (some of our videos, played in “do not track” mode). It receives only your IP address and basic information about your browser when a video loads. It collects nothing else.

Most of these services are based in the United States, as is the CLT Center, so your information is processed there. Where they offer them, these services use safeguards recognized under European law, such as the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses.

Your rights

You can ask us to show you the personal information we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or stop using it, and you can withdraw your consent at any time. To do so, write to info@communitylandtrust.net. We will answer within one month. If you live in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you also have the right to complain to your national data protection authority.

Children

This website is not intended for children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we use information, we will update this page and the date at the top.