Privacy Policy

What information do we collect?

We collect information from you when you fill out an inquiry form or subscribe to our newsletter.
We also collect information when registering on our Professional Development Portal for online e-learning, where you are asked to enter your name, company, e-mail address, and other contact details as appropriate.
You may, however, visit all of our public pages anonymously.

What do we use your information for?

Any of the information we collect from you may be used in one of the following ways:
To follow up on inquiries for business development purposes; to send periodic ‘update’ or news emails; or if you are a registered participant for online e-learning, to send you information or updates pertaining to your progress and any certification requirements appropriate to the course.

Scope of Privacy Policy

This privacy policy applies only to information collected through the mechanisms described above. MFO conducts research using online tools. Before collecting this information MFO will secure the consent of each research subject in accordance with its research policies that guarantee the confidentiality and anonymity of the data it collects. This means that any time MFO asks you to share information about yourself beyond what is described in this privacy policy, we will ask for your explicit consent and explain to you how we plan to use the data we collect and keep your personal data confidential and anonymous.

How do we protect your information?

We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you enter, submit, or access your personal information. We offer the use of a secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via PayPal technology and then encrypted into our Database to be only accessed by those authorized with special access rights to our systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. After any and every transaction, your private information (credit card details or other financial information used to make the payment) will not be stored on our servers.

Do we use cookies?

Like most interactive web sites, MFO’s website [or ISP] uses cookies to enable us to retrieve user details for each visit. Cookies are used to enable the functionality when delivering content-specific information to you, specifically when you log on as an Associate or when you access the MFO Professional Development Portal for online e-learning courses. You can change the settings of your browser to refuse all cookies or to notify you each time a cookie is sent to your computer.

We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track users’ movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information. Additionally, for systems administration, detecting usage patterns and troubleshooting purposes, our web servers automatically log standard access information including browser type, access times/open mail, URL requested, and referral URL. This information is not shared with third parties and is used only within this Company on a need-to-know basis. Any individually identifiable information related to this data will never be used in any way different to that stated above without your explicit permission.

Do we disclose any information to outside parties?

Because we value your privacy we have taken the necessary precautions and will not sell, share, trade, distribute, or rent your personally identifiable information to any third party or use your e-mail address for unsolicited mail. Any emails sent by this Company will only be in connection with the provision of agreed services and products.

This does not include a limited number of trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our online e-learning portal, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law or if legally required to do so by the appropriate authorities, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

Clients or online e-learning participants have the right to request sight of and copies of any and all Client or Participant Records we keep on the proviso that we are given reasonable notice of such a request. Clients or Participants are requested to retain copies of any literature issued in relation to the provision of our services. Where appropriate, we shall issue Clients and Participants with appropriate written information, handouts, or copies of records as part of an agreed contract, for the benefit of both parties.

Links to the MFO Website

You may not create a link to any page of this website without our prior written consent. If you do create a link to a page of this website, then you do so at your own risk, and the exclusions and limitations set out above will apply to your use of the MFO website by linking to it.

Links from the MFO Website

We do not monitor or review the content of other parties’ websites which are linked to or from the MFO website. Opinions expressed or material appearing on such websites are not necessarily shared or endorsed by us, and MFO should not be regarded as the publisher of such opinions or material. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices, or content, of these sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of these sites. You should evaluate the security and trustworthiness of any other site connected to this site or accessed through this site yourself, before disclosing any personal information to them. MFO will not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage in whatever manner, howsoever caused, resulting from your disclosure to third parties of personal information.

Copyright Notice

Copyright and other relevant intellectual property rights exist on all text relating to MFO’s services and the full content of this website.

MFO’s logo is a registered trademark of this Company. The brand names and specific services of Microfinance Opportunities (MFO) featured on this web site are trademarked.

Exclusions and Limitations

The information on this web site is provided on an “as is” basis.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, MFO: excludes all representations and warranties relating to this website and its contents or which is or may be provided by any affiliates or any other third party, including in relation to any inaccuracies or omissions in this website and/or MFO’s literature; and excludes all liability for damages arising out of or in connection with your use of this website. This includes, without limitation, direct loss, loss of business or profits (whether or not the loss of such profits was foreseeable, arose in the normal course of things, or you have advised MFO of the possibility of such potential loss), damage caused to your computer, computer software, systems, and programs and the data thereon or any other direct or indirect, consequential, and incidental damages.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation which standardizes data protection and privacy law throughout the 28 member states of the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR went into force on May 25, 2018, and it applies to any company or organization that collects or handles the data of a citizen of the EU. As a USA based 501c3 nonprofit corporation and public charity, Microfinance Opportunities would not necessarily be directly affected by the GDPR. However, MFO is an organization with an inherent international focus: in an effort to reach the lowest-income households, our work spans multiple continents, and visitors to our website come from many different countries. We also have citizens from the EU and beyond subscribed to our newsletter, and our professional contacts and funding-base are equally global. Moreover, because we believe that the spirit of the GDPR is an important step towards fully ethical data management practices, we are incorporating the applicable portions of the GDPR into our Privacy Policy which were not already present.

The GDPR establishes eight basic rights for all entities whose data is collected or processed:

1) Right to Information

This establishes the individual’s right to know what we are doing with your data, and to have this knowledge communicated to you in plain, clear language and free of charge.

2) Right to Access

This establishes the individual’s right to ask us if we are using or processing your personal data, and to know why we are doing so. You have the right to request copies of how we have used your data.

3) Right to Rectification

This establishes the individual’s right to ask that their personal data be corrected or modified in some way if the individual feels that their personal data is or has become inaccurate or not representative of the individual.

4) Right to Erasure

This establishes the individual’s right to be “forgotten”. The individual may request that their data is deleted from our databases, wherever and whenever applicable data-protection law applies.

5) Right to Restrict Processing

This establishes the individual’s right to restrict certain actions taken upon their personal data. For instance, the individual may restrict the deletion of their data by a data processor.

6) Right to Object

This establishes the individual’s right to request that we stop processing your data immediately. The request carries greater weight when the processing of the data relates to direct marketing. The request may carry less weight if the data being processed is being carried out to benefit the general public.

7) Right to Data Portability

This establishes the individual’s right to have their data transferred, whether back to the individual or to another party. The method of data transfer must be in a format easily accessible to the individual.

8) Right to Appeal Automated Decision Making

This establishes the individual’s right to challenge a decision made by an automated system or algorithm. The individual may file a complaint or otherwise seek redress via manual or human-based intervention.

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Beyond these rights, your integrity as an individual is important to MFO, meaning that at any time you have the right to control your personal data and its collection. At any time, you may email us at enquiries@mfopps.org, call us at 202-721-0050 or fill out our Contact Form to request that we handle your data in a manner appropriate to you. You may request that we remove you from any and all email lists and/or “newsletter” lists. In all of our newsletters, you will always have the option to click on an “Unsubscribe” or “Update Profile” link.

You also have the right to know how we are using your data and what we are doing to ensure its protection. Please get in contact with us if you ever have any questions or concerns regarding your personal data.

Your Consent

By using our site, you consent to the MFO web site privacy policy and our use of cookies.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will update the Privacy Policy modification date below.
This policy was modified on November 10, 2013 and again on June 13, 2018.

Contacting Us

If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy you may contact us.