Online Privacy Policy
1 Overview and Scope
Apostolic Christian Church of America, and its corporate affiliates: Apostolic Christian Ministries, Apostolic Christian Bookstore (an assumed name of Apostolic Christian Ministries), Onward Media (an assumed name of Apostolic Christian Ministries), Elders Teaching Resource (a service of Apostolic Christian Ministries), The Learning Connection (a service of Apostolic Christian Ministries), Apostolic Christian HarvestCall and Apostolic Christian Counseling and Family Services (collectively, the “AC Entities,” "we," "us," or "our"), each a not for profit corporation incorporated in the state of Illinois, United States, and described as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code, respect your privacy.
This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect Personal Information when you visit or use our website (collectively the “Website”), use The Learning Connection portal, AC Central App, AC Jobs portal (collectively “Services”), make a donation, register for or attend events, use online services provided by us, receive communications from us, visit our offices, interact with our representatives, or otherwise interact with us online or offline in a context where this Policy is made available. Protected Health Information may also be governed by the AC Entities’ Notice of Privacy Practices. In the event of any conflict between this Policy and the Notice of Privacy Practices, the Notice of Privacy Practices shall govern.
This Policy serves as a single integrated privacy notice. Where a law uses terms such as “personal data,” “personal information,” “controller,” “business,” “processor,” “service provider,” “sale,” or “share,” we use the terms below to cover those concepts where applicable. This Policy is a privacy notice, not a contract, unless a separate agreement says otherwise.
We may update this Policy from time to time. The effective date above shows when this Policy was last updated. If we make material changes, we will post the updated Policy on the Website and through the Services and, where required, provide additional notice or obtain consent before applying changes to Personal Information already collected.
2 Our Role and Privacy Contacts
For Personal Information we collect directly, AC Entities determines the purposes and means of processing and acts as the controller or business where those terms apply. We have designated a Privacy Officer and a Data Protection Officer. You may contact them using the details in Section 14.
3 Key Terms
Terms and Meaning
“Personal Information”
Information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with an identified or identifiable natural person or household. This term includes similar concepts such as “personal data” under applicable U.S. state privacy laws and GDPR, where applicable. It does not include deidentified, aggregated, or publicly available information as those terms are defined by applicable law.
“Protected Health Information”
Personal Information about you which someone may use to identify you and which We keep or transmit in electronic, oral or written form. It includes information such as your: (1) name; (2) contact information; (3) past, present, or future physical or mental health or medical conditions; (4) payment for health care products or services; or (5) prescriptions.
“Sensitive Personal Information”
Personal Information that applicable law treats as sensitive, including, where applicable, health information; Personal Information from a known child; and other information treated as sensitive under applicable law.
“Process or Processing”
Any operation performed on Personal Information, such as collecting, using, storing, disclosing, analyzing, deleting, or otherwise handling it.
“Processor / Service Provider”
A person or entity that processes Personal Information for us under our instructions and for specified purposes.
“Third Party”
A person or entity that is not you, one of the AC Entities, or our Processor/Service Provider.
“Sale, Share, and Targeted Advertising”
Terms that apply where a law treats disclosing Personal Information for money, as a sale, sharing, or targeted advertising. These terms do not include disclosures to the AC Entities, Processors/Service Providers, or other exceptions recognized by applicable law.
“Profiling”
Automated processing of Personal Information to evaluate, analyze, or predict personal aspects, including where used for decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
“Consent”
A freely given, specific, informed, unambiguous, and affirmative act that authorizes the processing of Personal Information. You may withdraw Consent where required or where consent is the basis for processing, subject to legal exceptions.
4 Personal Information We Collect
We collect Personal Information from you, your device or browser, our service providers, payment processors, event partners, affiliates, publicly available sources, and other sources you authorize. We collect only Personal Information that is reasonably necessary and proportionate to the purposes described in this Policy, subject to applicable law.
Category, Examples, Typical sources, and Purposes
Identifiers and contact information
Name, postal address, email address, telephone number, username or account ID, IP address, or similar identifiers.
Directly from you; your device; service providers.
Responding to requests; donations; memberships; accounts; events; communications; security; legal compliance.
Donation, payment, and transaction information
Donation amount, billing details, transaction history, payment token and related records. Our payment processors may collect credit card, debit card, bank account, or similar payment details directly.
You; payment processors; donation platforms.
Processing donations or payments; receipts; tax, accounting, audit, fraud prevention, and legal purposes.
Professional, membership, event, and relationship information
Employer, title, professional affiliation, membership status, event registrations, volunteer or donor interests, and preferences.
You; event partners; affiliates; public sources.
Providing services, events, publications, networking, membership benefits, donor stewardship, and requested accommodations.
Communications and support information
Messages, inquiries, preference selections, call notes, and customer-support records.
You; communications providers.
Responding to you; improving services; maintaining records; quality assurance; legal compliance.
Internet, network, device, and analytics information
Device identifiers, browser type, operating system, ISP, pages viewed, referring page, date/time stamps, general location derived from IP address, cookie IDs, pixels, beacons, and similar online activity.
Your browser/device; cookies and tracking technologies; analytics providers.
Website operation; Services function; analytics; security; remembering preferences; measuring campaigns; targeted advertising if enabled and not opted out.
Sensitive Personal Information
Only where necessary or voluntarily provided, such as optional demographic information or other information listed in Section 3.
You; authorized representatives; service providers.
Providing requested accommodations or services; legal compliance; consented purposes; security. We do not use Sensitive Personal Information for targeted advertising, sale, or marketing lead generation unless expressly consented or otherwise permitted by law.
Inferences and preferences
Preferences, interests, likely event or publication interests, or donor/member engagement segments.
Your interactions with us; analytics; CRM systems.
Personalizing communications, measuring engagement, improving services.
5 Legal Bases and Consent
Where GDPR or similar laws require a legal basis, we process Personal Information under one or more lawful bases, including consent, performance of a contract or requested service, compliance with legal obligations, our legitimate interests, vital or public interests, or other bases permitted by law. Where we rely on consent, you may give, refuse, or withdraw consent at any time, and withdrawal will not affect processing that occurred before withdrawal.
We obtain consent where required before processing Sensitive Personal Information, before selling or sharing Personal Information of children or teens where required, before using certain cookies or tracking technologies where required, and before sending automated marketing text messages where consent is required.
6 How We Use Personal Information
- Provide, administer, personalize, and improve the Website, the Services, events, memberships, publications, donations, programs, and other services you request.
- Process donations, payments, receipts, refunds, tax acknowledgments, accounting, audit, and compliance records.
- Respond to inquiries, provide support, send administrative messages, and communicate about your relationship with us.
- Send newsletters, publications, event notices, fundraising communications, and other marketing communications where permitted by law and subject to your choices.
- Operate analytics, measure Website or Services performance, improve content and user experience, and understand visitor trends.
- Use cookies, pixels, beacons, and similar technologies for functionality, analytics, and measurement, subject to Section 7 and your choices.
- Send service or marketing text messages if you opt in, subject to Section 8.
- Protect the security and integrity of our systems, prevent fraud, debug, repair errors, and enforce terms or policies.
- Comply with legal obligations, respond to lawful requests, establish or defend legal claims, and protect the rights, safety, and property of AC Entities, our users, and the public.
- Create aggregated, anonymized, or deidentified information for statistical, research, service-improvement, or reporting purposes.
- Use Personal Information for other purposes disclosed to you at collection or with your consent.
7 Cookies, Analytics, and Targeted Advertising
We use cookies and similar technologies, including pixels, web beacons, tags, SDKs, and local storage, to operate the Website, to provide the Services, remember preferences, analyze traffic, measure campaigns, improve user experience, and, if enabled, support advertising or outreach. Our Cookie Policy, available at [INSERT COOKIE POLICY LINK], provides more information about cookie categories, providers, duration, and choices.
You can set your browser to refuse or delete cookies. Some parts of the Website or Services may not function properly without certain cookies. You can set or modify your cookie choices by clicking the cookie icon, typically found on the bottom left of the website page.
We do not currently respond to browser Do Not Track signals because there is no consistent industry standard for those signals. Some browsers, plug-ins, or privacy tools transmit opt-out preference signals, such as Global Privacy Control. Where required by applicable law, we treat recognized opt-out preference signals as a request to opt out of sale, sharing, or targeted advertising for that browser or device.
We do not sell Personal Information for money.
8 Marketing, Email, Text Messages, and Videoconferencing
8.1 Email and Other Marketing
We may send marketing communications, newsletters, publications, fundraising messages, event information, and similar communications where permitted by law. You may opt out of marketing emails by using the unsubscribe link in the message or contacting us. We may continue to send transactional, relationship, or administrative messages where permitted.
8.2 Text Messages
If you opt in to receive text messages from us, you authorize us to send service or marketing texts to the number you provide, including by automated technology where applicable. Consent to marketing texts is not required as a condition of receiving goods or services. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies. You may revoke consent by replying STOP or by using another reasonable method we provide. Reply HELP for help. We may send one confirmation message after an opt-out request. We will honor opt-out requests within the timeframe required by applicable law.
9 How We Disclose Personal Information
We disclose Personal Information to the categories of recipients below for the purposes described in this Policy. We do not authorize our Processors/Service Providers to use Personal Information for purposes other than providing services to us or as otherwise permitted by law and contract.
Recipient category followed by Purpose / examples
Processors / Service Providers
Website hosting, cloud storage, CRM, email and marketing platforms, payment processors, donation platforms, event platforms, analytics providers, security vendors, professional advisers, and similar providers.
Payment processors and financial service providers
Processing donations, payments, refunds, fraud checks, receipts, tax acknowledgments, and related records. Payment card or bank details may be collected directly by the payment processor.
Affiliates, offices, and related organizations
Internal administration, services, reporting, events, and communications, subject to applicable law and user choices.
Authorities, courts, regulators, and legal parties
Compliance with law, legal process, investigations, enforcement, safety, fraud prevention, security, or defense of claims.
Professional advisers
Legal, accounting, audit, insurance, compliance, cybersecurity, and other professional services.
Transaction parties
A merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, transfer of assets, or similar organizational transaction, subject to applicable law.
Other parties with consent or at your direction
Any purpose disclosed to you or to which you consent.
We require Processors and Service Providers to process Personal Information only under our instructions and for specified purposes; maintain appropriate confidentiality, security, and breach-notice obligations; assist with privacy-rights requests and assessments where applicable; and return, delete, or deidentify Personal Information when the services end, subject to legal retention needs.
10 Sale, Sharing, Targeted Advertising, and Last-12-Month Disclosures
We do not sell Personal Information for money. We do not sell or share Sensitive Personal Information. We do not knowingly sell, share, use for targeted advertising, or profile Personal Information of children or teens where prohibited, and we obtain consent where required before processing Personal Information of known children or teens.
11 Retention
We retain Personal Information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including providing services, maintaining records, resolving disputes, enforcing agreements, protecting security, complying with legal obligations, and preserving rights. We use criteria such as the nature and sensitivity of the information, the purposes for processing, the length of our relationship with you, legal and accounting requirements, limitation periods, security needs, and whether information can be deidentified or anonymized.
When retention is no longer necessary, we will delete, deidentify, anonymize, or securely dispose of Personal Information in accordance with our retention and disposal procedures. Deidentified, anonymized, or aggregated information may be retained and used without attempting to reidentify it, except as permitted or required by law.
12 Security and Incident Response
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical measures designed to protect Personal Information against unauthorized access, acquisition, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If you believe your interaction with us is no longer secure, please contact us using Section 14.
If we become aware of a security incident involving Personal Information, we will investigate, take appropriate steps to mitigate the incident, and notify affected individuals, regulators, supervisory authorities, or other parties when and as required by applicable law. Where GDPR applies and notification to a supervisory authority is required, we will make that notification within the applicable GDPR timeframe.
13 International Transfers
We are based in the United States, and Personal Information may be processed in the United States or other countries where we or our Processors/Service Providers operate. These countries may have privacy laws that differ from those in your jurisdiction.
14 Your Privacy Rights and Choices
Depending on your location and subject to applicable exceptions, you may have the right to: confirm whether we process your Personal Information and access that information;
- receive a portable copy of your Personal Information;
- correct inaccurate Personal Information;
- delete Personal Information provided by or obtained about you;
- limit the use or disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information or withdraw consent where applicable;
- appeal our decision on a privacy-rights request;
- designate an authorized agent to exercise rights where permitted;
- not be unlawfully discriminated against for exercising privacy rights.
To exercise privacy rights, contact us at itsupport@apostolicchristian.org. We will verify your request based on the information requested and the sensitivity of the information involved. We may request additional information to verify your identity or authority. We will not require you to create a new account solely to submit a request, but we may require you to use an existing account if you have one.
Authorized agents may submit requests where permitted by law. We may require proof of authorization and may also require you to verify your identity directly with us, unless prohibited by law. Parents, guardians, conservators, or other legally authorized representatives may exercise rights for children or individuals under protective arrangements where permitted.
If we deny or do not fully grant your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision or emailing itsupport@apostolicchristian.org with “Privacy Appeal” in the subject line. We will respond to appeals within the timeframe required by applicable law and will explain our decision. If your appeal is denied, you may contact the appropriate state attorney general or privacy regulator.
You may opt out of marketing emails through the unsubscribe link in the message. You may opt out of text messages as described in Section 8.
15 State-Specific Notices
Residents of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and other states with applicable privacy laws may have the rights described in Section 14, subject to statutory thresholds, exemptions, and exceptions. The same request methods apply to all state-law rights unless we provide state-specific instructions.
California Notice at Collection and last-12-month disclosures. The categories in Section 4 are the categories of Personal Information we may have collected in the preceding 12 months. The sources, purposes, and disclosures are described in Sections 4, 6, 9, and 10.
California “Shine the Light.” California residents may request information about our disclosure of certain Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, if applicable, by contacting us using Section 14.
Nevada sale opt-out. We do not currently sell covered information as defined by Nevada's online privacy law.
Consumer health data. If AC Entities collect consumer health data or health-related inferences subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or Washington, Nevada, Connecticut, or similar consumer health data laws, AC Entities shall publish any required separate consumer health data privacy policy and obtain any required consents or authorizations before collection, sharing, or sale, and in such case, the consumer health data privacy policy shall control for purposes of resolving any conflicting terms between the consumer health data privacy policy and this Privacy Policy.
16 Children and Teens
The Website and the Services are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information online from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent. If we learn that we have collected Personal Information online from a child under 13 without required consent, we will delete it or take other legally required steps. Parents or guardians may contact us using Section 14.
We do not knowingly sell, share, use for targeted advertising, or profile Personal Information of children or teens where prohibited, and we obtain consent where required before processing Personal Information of known children or teens.
17 Third-Party Websites and Social Media
The Website may link to third-party websites, social media platforms, plug-ins, or services. This Policy does not apply to those third parties. Their privacy policies and settings govern their collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information. We encourage you to review their privacy notices and privacy settings.
18 Contact AC Entities
To ask questions about this Policy, exercise privacy rights, submit an appeal, or contact our Privacy Officer or Data Protection Officer, use the contact details below:
Privacy Officer / DPO:
Jan Young, Director of Support Services
Email:
itsupport@apostolicchristian.org
Phone:
309-263-6841
Postal address:
AC Ministries
515 E. Highland Street
Morton, IL 61550
Appeals:
itsupport@apostolicchristian.org
Last modified 2026-0929