Policies and Guidelines
The Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville policies below detail the procedures that protect our client’s information, activities, and provide support for program participants.
Confidentiality Policy
The Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville (“Foundation”) maintains and manages much information that must be kept confidential. This includes information about donors, prospective donors, grantees, prospective grantees, wealth advisors and their firms, and program participants. The effective functioning of the Foundation also requires respecting the confidentiality of discussions that take place and information that is shared in the course of conducting Foundation business.
The Foundation’s Board has adopted this Policy on Confidentiality to assist the Foundation’s directors, officers, employees, agents, fiduciaries, volunteers, and participants in fulfilling their confidentiality obligations and commitments. While the policy addresses some common confidentiality concerns, it is not an exhaustive list of all situations where a confidentiality obligation may arise. Questions about whether information is confidential or about situations in which confidential information may be released or discussed should be directed to the employee’s supervisor, the Chair of the Governance Committee, or the Board Chair of the Foundation. As used in this Policy, the term “Foundation personnel” includes the Foundation’s directors and officers, employees, agents, fiduciaries, consultants, and volunteers.
General Rule: Information in the possession of the Foundation and discussions of Foundation business should generally be presumed to be confidential. All Foundation personnel at every level are responsible for maintaining confidentiality.
Confidentiality of Donor Information: Except as required by law, the Foundation will not disclose information about a donor or a donor’s gift. However, unless otherwise requested by the donor, the Foundation may publish the names of individual donors in the Foundation’s Annual Report and other reported listings. In the case of memorial gifts, the Foundation will provide the names of donors to members of the immediate family unless the donor has requested anonymity. The Foundation will not disclose the amount of any gift without the donor’s consent. The Foundation may accept anonymous gifts to it on a case-by-case basis.
Confidentiality with Respect to Grant Applicants and Grantees: The Foundation will not disclose the identity of grant applicants except as necessary to process the application and will protect financial and personal information that applicants submit to it. This includes information provided by applicants for grants to individuals such as scholarships and hardship assistance. Except in the case of hardship assistance grants to individuals, the Foundation will generally disclose the identity of grantees and the amount awarded.
Confidentiality of Foundation Business: Except as authorized by the Foundation’s board, or by an appropriate board committee, discussions and records of the Foundation’s operations are generally not to be disclosed. This includes information about the Foundation’s financial operations, fundraising, investments, personnel, grantmaking, and contractual relationships. The positions of individual directors, officers, employees, agents, fiduciaries, and volunteers should not be discussed, even within the Foundation, except in the course of official Foundation meetings and processes where those subjects are discussed.
Exceptions: This policy does not apply to disclosures to attorneys, accountants, and other professionals providing assistance to the foundation. It also does not apply to disclosures to tax authorities, government agencies, courts, or as otherwise required by law.
The following are considered public documents and information contained in them is not subject to the confidentiality requirements of this policy:
- The Foundation’s annual report or financial review once it has been accepted by the board.
- The Foundation’s Form 990 as required to be publicly disclosed. This does not include the names and addresses of donors as that information is not required to be disclosed.
- The Foundation’s investment and spending policies.
- The Foundation’s investment performance.
Protection of Confidential Information: Foundation personnel who have executed a copy of this policy may access confidential information necessary to the performance of their functions. Foundation personnel are expected to exercise sound judgment in securing information taken outside the Foundation’s offices or copied from its network. Any information so removed should be returned as soon as possible and deleted from laptops or other personal devices.
Grievance Procedure
The policy of the Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville (“Community Foundation”) is to treat all program participants with respect and dignity and to outline a clear procedure to resolve any outstanding issue that may arise.
Treatment of Program Participants
All program participants should expect the following treatment when dealing with the Community Foundation:
- To be treated with professionalism
- To be treated with respect
- To be treated with dignity
- To be treated with courtesy
- To be treated with fairness
Problem Resolution
Program participants have the right to present questions, suggestions, complaints, and grievances on behalf of themselves and their organizations. The staff of the Community Foundation will give careful consideration to each of these in a continuing effort to improve the effectiveness and impact of the Community Foundation.
Grievance Process
First, if a program participant feels he or she has a reasonable program-related problem, he or she should present the situation to the Program Officer so that the issue can be resolved quickly. Most problems can be resolved through conversation or e-mail after a basic examination and discussion of the facts with a Community Foundation representative.
Second, if the program participant is not reasonably satisfied with the Program Officer’s response, or if for some reason he or she does not wish to bring the problem to the Program Officer, the program participant may address it with the CEO/President, who will review the matter and respond accordingly.
Finally, and only if the nature of the matter is such that the program participant is not comfortable addressing the issue with either the Program Officer or the CEO/President, he or she may wish to contact the Board Chair, who will review the matter and attempt to assist the participant in reaching a satisfactory resolution.
Privacy Policy
This website is owned and operated by the Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville. We maintain this site to inform and educate visitors about our work as a philanthropic partner to local individuals, families, and corporations, as well as our work as a grantmaker and community resource. The Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville is committed to honoring the privacy of all those we work with, including visitors to our website and subscribers to our electronic newsletters.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Your privacy is very important to us. We recognize that providing the Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville with your personal information is an act of trust. When you visit our website, you remain anonymous, as we do not require registration to view our website or access information.
We may occasionally ask for your feedback through the use of surveys or other communications to better understand your interests and needs. We will also request information through online forms used to register for one of our events. We do not share or make public any personal information gathered through our website.
If you are a Community Foundation fund holder and you use our online system, you will be asked to provide personal information to authenticate your identity. That information is only used to access your fund information and is not distributed or sold to any other party or site.
PUBLIC INFORMATION
Under IRS Code, the following foundation documents are public information:
- IRS Forms 990 and affiliated schedules for the past three years.
- Exemption letter from the IRS.
- Approved application for exemption with supporting documentation.
This information is available upon request by contacting us at the address below.
Lists of our donors, other than those published in the annual report or otherwise featured in stories on our website or newsletters, are not available to the public. We do not reveal the name of anonymous donors to the recipient of a grant.
THIRD PARTY SITES
Throughout our website, we offer links to third party sites. Because we do not control those websites, we encourage you to review their privacy policies as well.
COMMUNICATIONS
If at any time you wish to stop receiving the Community Foundation’s electronic newsletters or other communications, you may unsubscribe from that list as explained in each message. The Community Foundation will not share your email addresses to other organizations; however, we may occasionally send you mailings regarding events or products or services by reputable third parties if we think they may be of interest to you. In such circumstances, we do not provide the organization with your information, but send the mailing ourselves.
