PRIVACY POLICY

Herd of Shepherds is a creative agency based in Seattle, Washington. This policy explains what personal information we collect through [herdofshepherds.com] and in the ordinary course of doing business, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. We have tried to write it in plain language rather than legal boilerplate.

If you have a question about anything here, email us at [tools@herdofshepherds.com].

1. Who we are

Herd of Shepherds ["Herd of Shepherds LLC, a Washington limited liability company"] is responsible for the information described in this policy. Our mailing address is 240 2nd Ave S. Seattle, WA 98104.

2. Who this policy covers

This policy applies to:

•     Visitors to our website

•     People who contact us through the site, by email, or through a form

•     People who subscribe to our mailing list

•     Prospective, current, and former clients, and the individuals who work at them

•     Candidates who apply to work with us

It does not cover information we handle on behalf of a client as their service provider. That information is governed by our agreement with that client and by that client's own privacy policy. Section 8 explains the difference.

3. Information we collect

Information you give us directly

•     Your name, email address, company, and anything else you choose to write when you submit a contact form or email us

•     Your email address and any preferences you set when you subscribe to our mailing list

•     Information you send us as part of a project inquiry, pitch process, or job application

•     Billing and vendor-onboarding details for clients, including contact names and payment information (we do not store full payment card numbers)

Information collected automatically when you visit our site

Our website runs on Squarespace and uses Squarespace's built-in analytics as well as Google Analytics. These tools collect:

•     Your IP address and approximate location derived from it

•     Browser type, device type, operating system, and screen size

•     Pages you visited, how long you stayed, and what you clicked

•     The site or search that referred you, and any campaign parameters in the link you followed

•     Cookie identifiers that let these tools recognize a returning browser

Squarespace sets analytics cookies (ss_cid, ss_cpvisit, ss_cvisit, and others) that persist for up to two years. Google Analytics sets its own cookies for a similar purpose. Section 6 explains how to turn these off.

Website visitor identification

We use a service called Warmly on our website. You should understand what it does.

Warmly attempts to identify who is visiting our site, not just how many people visit. It combines your IP address, device and browser characteristics, cookie identifiers, and the page you are on with third-party commercial databases in order to match your visit to a company and, in some cases, to a specific individual. When a match succeeds, we may learn a visitor's name, employer, job title, work email address, LinkedIn profile, and business phone number, even though the visitor never filled out a form or told us who they were.

We use this to understand which companies are considering working with us and to follow up with prospective clients. We do not use it to build profiles of people for any purpose unrelated to our own business development, and we do not sell the results.

If you would rather not be identified this way, see Your choices in Section 9.

4. How we use information

We use the information described above to:

•     Respond to your inquiry and provide the services you or your organization asked for

•     Send our newsletter and occasional updates, if you asked for them

•     Understand how people find and use our site, so we can improve it

•     Identify and reach out to prospective clients

•     Evaluate candidates who apply to work with us

•     Invoice clients, keep business records, and meet our tax, accounting, and insurance obligations

•     Protect the site against fraud, abuse, and security problems, and comply with the law

We do not sell your personal information for money.

5. Who we share it with

We share personal information with the vendors that run parts of our business. Each of them is bound by its own agreement with us. They fall into these categories:

•     Website hosting and analytics — e.g. Squarespace, Google Analytics

•     Visitor identification and sales intelligence — e.g. Warmly

•     Email and marketing — e.g. Mailchimp or Squarespace Email Campaigns

•     Productivity, file storage, and communication — e.g. Google Workspace, Dropbox, Slack

•     Accounting, invoicing, and payments — e.g. QuickBooks

•     Professional advisors — e.g. our attorneys, accountants, and insurance carrier, when needed

We also share information when the law requires it, when we need to enforce our agreements, or in connection with a sale or reorganization of the business. If that last one ever happens, we will update this policy.

We do not share your information with anyone else for their own marketing purposes.

6. Cookies and tracking

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. We use them for analytics and visitor identification, as described above. We do not currently run advertising or retargeting pixels on our site.

You have several ways to limit this:

•     Most browsers let you block or delete cookies in their settings. Blocking them will not break our site.

•     Google offers a browser add-on that opts you out of Google Analytics across every site: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

•    Turning on your browser's "Do Not Track" or Global Privacy Control setting will signal your preference, and we honor Global Privacy Control signals where our tools support them.

If our site shows a cookie banner, your choices there control the non-essential cookies described in section 3.

7. How long we keep it

We keep information only as long as we have a reason to:

•     Contact form and inquiry messages: up to two years after our last exchange

•     Mailing list subscriptions: until you unsubscribe, plus a suppression record so we do not email you again

•     Website analytics and visitor identification data: up to 26 months

•     Job applications: up to one year, unless you ask us to delete them sooner

•     Client records, contracts, and invoices: seven years, to meet tax and professional obligations

8. Client and project information

In the course of our work, clients give us access to material that may contain personal information — customer lists, audience segments, research participants, donor records, employee contact details, and similar. When that happens, we are handling that information on the client's behalf and under their instructions, not for our own purposes.

In those engagements we:

•     Use client data only to perform the work described in the applicable agreement or statement of work

•     Do not sell client data, and do not use it to market our own services

•     Limit access to the people on our team who need it for the project

•     Return or delete it at the end of the engagement when the client asks us to

•     Pass on any data protection terms we have agreed to when we bring in a subcontractor or freelancer

If you believe a client of ours holds information about you and you want it corrected or deleted, contact that organization directly. They control the information.

9. Your choices and rights

Whatever state or country you live in, you can ask us to:

•     Tell you what personal information we hold about you

•     Correct information that is wrong

•     Delete information we no longer need

•     Stop emailing you

•     Stop identifying you when you visit our site

To make any of these requests, email [tools@herdofshepherds.com]. We will respond within 45 days. We will not treat you differently for asking.

Every marketing email we send includes an unsubscribe link, which takes effect immediately.

If you live in California, Washington, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, or another state with a comprehensive privacy law, that law may give you additional rights, including the right to appeal if we deny your request. We extend the rights listed above to everyone regardless of where they live, so in practice you do not need to identify your state to exercise them. If we deny a request, we will explain why and tell you how to appeal.

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you also have the right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests and to lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority.

10. Security

We use reasonable safeguards to protect the information we hold, including access controls, encrypted storage and transmission through our vendors' platforms, multi-factor authentication on our business accounts, and limiting access to the people who need it. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

If we discover a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law.

11. Children

Our site is meant for businesses and is not directed to children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has given us information, email us and we will delete it.

12. Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when our practices change. The date at the top tells you when it was last revised. If we make a significant change, we will say so on the site.

13. Contact us

Herd of Shepherds

240 2nd Ave S. Seattle, WA 98104

[tools@herdofshepherds.com]