The Children’s Inn at NIH (“The Inn,” “we,” “us”) deeply values your privacy. This notice explains how and what information The Inn collects, how the information is used, and how we protect your privacy. This notice applies to information we receive via the mail, social media platforms, or online through our childrensinn.org and related websites, such as name, address, phone number, email address, and credit/debit card information. We also collect information on families who will be staying at The Inn. We may also collect information about you from other publicly available sources and combine it with information you have voluntarily provided us to streamline our fundraising processes.

When you use our site, we may collect the following information from you:

Remember, even if you provide us with your email address, we will never send you an email asking for your credit card information or social security number.

When you use the site, we may automatically collect and store some information about you and your device through cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies. We use these technologies to enhance your experience on our site. A “cookie” is a small data file sent from a website and stored on your device to identify your device in the future and allow for an enhanced personalized user experience. A “session cookie” may disappear after you close your web browser or may expire after a fixed period of time. A “persistent cookie” remains after you close your web browser and may be accessed every time you use our site. We may use both session and persistent cookies. You should consult your web browser to modify your cookie settings. Please note that if you delete or choose not to accept cookies from us, you may not be able to use certain features of our site.

There may be other tracking technologies now and later devised and used by us in connection with the site. Also, third parties may use tracking technologies with our site. We do not control those tracking technologies, and we are not responsible for them. However, you consent to potentially encountering third-party tracking technologies in connection with your use of the site and accept that this Privacy Policy does not apply to the tracking technologies or practices of such third parties.

The Inn does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children (minors younger than 13 years of age) on our online platforms without parental or guardian consent. If you are a parent or guardian and become aware that your child has provided us with information, please contact us using any of the methods outlined below.

The information we collect is used to verify eligibility for residents to stay at The Inn, responded to questions, thank donors, inform about special events and marketing campaign initiatives or provide other updates, to which you may opt-out. Personal data is never shared with advertisers. Like other nonprofits, The Inn does rent/exchange its donor lists with other nonprofits to reduce expenses so that additional funds may go towards supporting The Inn’s mission. To facilitate our fundraising activities, we participate in certain “cooperative databases,” as do many other reputable charitable organizations. This means that we occasionally contribute certain donor names and postal addresses to a shared database that may be accessed by other participating organizations who also contribute certain information to the database. Note that the cooperative database does not allow participating organizations to identify donors to the nonprofit or access donation amounts but may identify a donor as being interested in a particular type of charitable organization (e.g., child health). Our partner organizations will not have continued access to your name and address unless you choose to respond to their mailings. They may also be required to comply with certain laws or guidelines concerning your information, such as the Direct Marketing Association’s guidelines for ethical business practice. We do not sell your information or share your email address with cooperative databases.

The Inn may also use algorithms to provide our constituents with better and more personalized services. Different technologies are used to process information and recognize patterns in data. For example, data about constituents’ interactions with The Inn and our campaigns are analyzed to optimize future communications and interactions. The Inn may combine data collected across sources, including publicly available information.

If you decide you do not wish to have information shared with other nonprofits, The Inn will remove your name and address from lists that are rented/exchanged. To request your information be removed, please send us an email at [email protected] or 301-496-5672, and we will honor your request.

The Inn engages technical services from a variety of companies. These organizations may have access to your information if needed to perform the functions they have been hired to address and for no other purposes. We will not release or use this information for any other purpose unless we have your consent.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may disclose your information if required to do so by law to comply with state and federal laws, in response to a court order, judicial or other government subpoena or warrant, or to otherwise cooperate with law enforcement or other governmental agencies.

We also reserve the right to disclose your information that we believe, in good faith, is appropriate or necessary to (i) take precautions against liability, (ii) protect ourselves or others from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses or activity, (iii) investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations, (iv) protect the security or integrity of the site, or (v) protect our property or other legal rights (including, but not limited to, enforcement of our agreements), or the rights, property, or safety of others.

The Children’s Inn at NIH believes that the information contained on our social media pages might be helpful for our families and supporters. Sharing this information does not indicate an official endorsement from The Inn of the organizations that originated the information. 

The Inn reserves the right to remove any content (posts, comments, or creative visuals) that contain profanity, discrimination, spam, misinformation, copyright infringement, and violence and/or the promotion of such. 

The Inn does not control the privacy and security practices of sites not owned by The Inn, and we encourage you to check their privacy policies. The Inn also works with analytics service providers, such as Google Analytics, and other vendors, to provide us information about traffic to The Inn’s site. To prevent technology companies from collecting this information, you may be able to install opt-out browser add-ons. For more information, go to Google Analytics Opt-outs. 

The Inn uses appropriate physical, managerial, and technical safeguards that are designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and security of personal data that we collect and maintain against accidental or unlawful loss, theft and misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, destruction, or any other type of unlawful processing. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our payment gateway providers’ database only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems and are required to keep the information confidential. 

The Inn takes the security of the personal information that you provide to us very seriously, and we take reasonable measures to safeguard your information consistent with our Privacy Statement. We comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (“PCI DSS”) for financial transactions and the information we collect from you. Unfortunately, no website, server, or database is completely secure. The Inn cannot guarantee that your information will not be disclosed, misused, or lost by accident or by the unauthorized acts of others. The Inn’s computer systems are based in the United States, and your information will be processed in the United States, where data protection and privacy laws may not offer the same level of protection as in other parts of the world, such as the European Union. By using any portion of our online platforms, you understand and consent to the transfer of your information to the United States and those third parties with whom we share it as described in this privacy policy.

We will provide you with the means to ensure that personally identifiable information in your account file is correct and current. You may review this information by contacting [email protected] or 301-496-5672.

You should be aware that it is not always possible to completely remove or delete all of your information from our databases without some residual data because of backups and other reasons.

Please also keep in mind that any opt-out choices you make will not apply in situations where: (a) you make a specific request for information from us or (b) we use your personally identifiable information for either operational purposes (e.g., to complete transactions requested by you, or to send you administrative communications either about your account with us or about features of our site, including any future changes to this Privacy Notice, the Terms of Use, or any other policy or terms that affect you and your use of our site) or fulfillment purposes (e.g., completing any transaction that you execute).

Updates to our privacy notice will be posted on this page. The effective date for the policy will be listed.

If you would like to update, correct or remove your name from our mailing list, you may unsubscribe online or by contacting [email protected] or 301-496-5672. You may also contact us at:

The Children’s Inn at NIH
7 West Drive
Bethesda, MD 20814

ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT

The Children’s Inn is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. We are actively working to increase the accessibility and usability of our website and, in doing so, adhere to many of the available standards and guidelines.

To help us make the website a positive place for everyone, this website endeavors to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities and user-friendly for everyone.

While The Inn strives to adhere to the accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website. The Inn is continually seeking solutions that will bring all site areas up to the same level of overall web accessibility. In the meantime should you experience any difficulty accessing the site, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

The Children’s Inn is not responsible for the content and accessibility of external websites linked to The Inn’s website. External websites are the sole property of such websites, and as such, the content and accessibility of external websites are the sole responsibility of the entity or entities in control of the content and administration of such websites.

Last updated: June 2023