Nansi with a prepared meal in her home

Privacy Policy

Last modified: July 29, 2025

Second Harvest Heartland (SHH) has created this Privacy Policy to explain how and why we collect, use, and disclose particular personal information and how we will protect your personal privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for our organization, including the website located at the URL www.2harvest.org (Website).

To fully understand your rights, we encourage you to read this Privacy Policy. SHH reserves the right at any time and without notice to change this Privacy Policy simply by posting such changes on our Website. Any such change will be effective immediately upon posting. By accessing or using this Website and/or by disclosing personal information to us, you agree to this Privacy Policy.

Because we want to demonstrate our commitment to your privacy, this Privacy Policy notifies you of:

  1. What personally identifiable information of yours is collected and how it is collected
  2. How such information is used
  3. With whom your information may be disclosed
  4. What choices you have regarding collection, use and distribution of your information
  5. What kind of security procedures are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information under our control

This Privacy Policy does not apply to information:  

  • Collected by any third-party including affiliates and subsidiaries, including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or through the Website; or
  • That is aggregated and from which individual identities have been removed.

Questions regarding this Privacy Policy should be directed to Second Harvest Heartland by sending an email to SHHDataRequest@2harvest.org.  Please refer to this Privacy Policy in your subject line. 

Personal Information Collection

We collect categories of personal information directly from you, such as when you contact us or browse our Website. We may also receive categories of personal information about you from others, as further described below:

  • Personal identifiers, such as your name, address, email address, phone number, IP address, employer/organization, personal interests, and demographic information;
  • Financial information you provide to us, such as your bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or other financial information;  
  • Transaction information, such as information about the donations or purchases you have made or considered and the amounts and frequency of such donations or purchases;
  • Information about your Internet or similar network activity, such as browsing history, search history, device information, browser information, and information about your interaction with the Website or advertisements;  
  • Images and videos, including audio, of you;
  • Information about your geolocation, such as your physical location based on IP address, device data, or region; and  
  • Inferences we draw from your personal information, such as a profile reflecting a person’s preferences, characteristics, and behavior.

Please note that if you are sharing someone else’s personal information with SHH, you must be legally authorized to share such information on their behalf. 

Internet Protocol (IP) Address

We also collect an IP address from all visitors to our Website. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet. We use IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our server, administer our Website, analyze trends, track users' online activities, gather broad demographic information for aggregate use in order for us to improve the site, and deliver customized, personalized content.

Use of "Cookies"

Our Website may use cookies and similar technologies (e.g., web beacons, pixels, ad tags, and device identifiers) to enhance your experience while using our Website and to improve our analysis and marketing. Cookies are pieces of information that some websites transfer to the computer that is browsing that website and are used for record-keeping purposes at many websites. Use of cookies makes web-surfing easier by performing certain functions such as saving your passwords, your personal preferences regarding your use of the particular website and to make sure you don't see the same ad repeatedly. Many consider the use of cookies to be an industry standard.

Your browser is probably set to accept cookies. However, if you would prefer not to receive cookies, you can alter the configuration of your browser to refuse certain cookies. If you choose to have your browser refuse cookies, it is possible that some areas of our Website will not function properly when you view them.

Use of Personal Information

We may use the personal information we collect for the following purposes:

  • To provide and deliver our services and our Website;  
  • To provide customer service and respond to your inquiries and requests;  
  • To process any donations, transactions, or payments;
  • To engage in marketing and fundraising and plan future fundraising and marketing activities and events;
  • To keep your information and our systems secure such as by detecting security incidents, and to be able to verify your identity and contact information;
  • To alert you about updates, special offers, updated information, and other news and services from us, our partners, or others;
  • For testing, research, analysis, and development, including to develop and improve our content, Website, and services;  
  • To analyze giving patterns, statistics, and engagement, as well as create strategies and modeling to support SHH and its fundraising;
  • To ensure our content, Website, and services are functional, efficient, and relevant to you and your interests;  
  • To recognize donors, volunteers, and supporters for their contributions;  
  • To protect against, detect, and investigate fraud;
  • To enforce our agreements and policies; and
  • To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.

Disclosure of Personal Information

SHH respects your desire for privacy and strives to handle any information you provide with care. We do not sell your personal information.  We disclose the categories of personal information listed above to the following categories of recipients:  

  • We disclose your information to select service providers. We rely on certain trusted third-party service providers to provide, analyze, and process our Website and our services.  These service providers do things like help us store your data, process your donations, deliver the Website to you, improve our advertising, and secure our systems.  
  • We disclose certain personal information to data cooperatives, which enable cooperative participants to pool personal information about their respective supporters.  We disclose personal information to these data cooperatives for analytical and modeling purposes to identify potential donors and supporters and strengthen our marketing and communication efforts, including through targeted marketing.  We never disclose credit card information to these data cooperatives.  
  • We disclose your personal information to our partners and affiliate organizations in order to facilitate providing you with certain services such as food assistance.  
  • We may also disclose your personal information to comply with any court order or legal requirement, to enforce any agreement, or as we believe necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of SHH or others.  
  • We may disclose personal information to other companies for the purpose of evaluating or conducting a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets.
  • We may disclose or allow access to your personal information if you otherwise consent, request, or direct us to do so.   

Security

We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure.  The security of your personal information is important to us; however, no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure.  While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Retention

We will keep your personal information for as long as is necessary to perform the processing activity for that information, as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us, or as required or allowed by law.  The relevant retention period is determined on a case-by-case basis because it depends on things like the nature of the data, why it is collected, why it is processed, and any relevant legal or operational retention needs.  For example, we may retain your data for as long as you are a donor of ours so that we may process and complete any donations you may make.  When the relevant processing activity has been completed, we may destroy your data, or alternatively anonymize the data, such that the data is not personally identifiable.  We do not have any obligation or liability to you or any other party with respect to personal information that is deleted or destroyed.   

Other Websites

Our Website contains links to other websites. Please note that when you click on one of these links, you are entering another website for which Second Harvest Heartland has no responsibility. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on all such sites as their policies may be different than ours.

Children Under the Age of 16

Our Website is not intended for children under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you are under 16, do not use this Website or provide any personal information. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from a child under 16, please contact us at communications@2harvest.org. 

Personal Information Rights and Requests - Minnesota Residents

Individuals residing in Minnesota have certain rights regarding their personal information. Except where an exception or exemption applies, these rights include:

  • The ability to access the categories of personal information we are processing;
  • The ability to request correction of inaccurate personal information;  
  • The ability to request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions;  
  • The ability to request to obtain your personal information which you previously provided to us;  
  • The ability to request that we opt you out of the processing of your personal information for targeted advertising; and  
  • The ability to request to obtain a list of the third parties to which we have disclosed your personal information.

Minnesota residents may submit a request by emailing SHHDataRequest@2harvest.org and providing your name, your address, your email address, and the details of your request.  You may also opt-out of having your personal information processed for purposes of targeted advertising by clicking on “Your Opt-Out Rights.” You may also designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf.  

To protect your privacy and security, we may take additional reasonable steps to verify your identity before processing or fulfilling your request.  We will generally respond to your request within 45 days, unless a longer response time is necessary, in which case you will be advised accordingly.  Please note that we may retain certain personal information as required or allowed by law.

If we decide not to take action in response to your request, you may submit an appeal by sending an email to SHHDataRequest@2harvest.org with the subject line “Appeal.” We will resolve your appeal within the time frames established by applicable law. If your appeal is denied, we will explain why. If you continue to dispute our decision or would like to file a complaint regarding our handling of your personal information, you may contact the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General. 

Contact Second Harvest Heartland/Opt-out of Marketing Communications

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of our organization and our Website, or your dealings with our organization and our Website, you can contact us as shown below. If you wish to opt-out of future marketing communications from Second Harvest Heartland or exercise any other privacy right you may have by law, please contact us in any of the ways shown below.

All marketing opt-out requests will be honored, but please be patient with us as it may take up to twelve (12) weeks for opt-out changes to be fully implemented. Regardless of your marketing communication preferences, we may still contact you for transactional, operational, or informational purposes, such as for customer service, reminders, or information regarding the Website or any services you are using.  After several years, we may occasionally initiate contact with past supporters to update their contact preferences, and we will promptly accommodate their updated preferences, if any.