Last updated: June 6, 2025

This Privacy Policy explains how Cascale, Inc. (“Cascale,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) collects and uses personal information obtained through interactions with our members, users of our websites, and others who engage with our Services.

While our primary focus is on serving businesses rather than individual consumers, we may collect limited personal information in the course of providing our Services. This includes business contact details, newsletter subscription data, speaker information, and similar details necessary to support communication, event administration, and service delivery.

WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND WHY

Cascale collects personal information from individuals, from their organizations, and occasionally from third parties, in connection with the provision of membership services, training, other services (e.g. the MCAP program), events, communications (e.g. newsletters and updates), and use of our websites (collectively, the “Services”). We also collect information from visitors to our websites: www.cascale.org, https://howtohigg.cascale.org, and https://connect.cascale.org (the “Sites”).

We may collect the following types of information, depending on your interaction with us:

1. Information You Provide

• When your organization becomes a member or accesses our Services, we may collect your name, role, business contact details (including email, phone number, and physical address) as a point of contact.
• When you register for or attend one of our in-person or virtual events, we may collect your name, role, company name, business email address, and contact details. We may also collect feedback or questions you submit during or after the event.
• For certain events, and where required by law or regulation, we may request personal identification information such as your full name, home address, or passport details to ensure compliance with legal obligations. This information is collected only when necessary.
• If you are participating as a speaker, we may collect your name, biography, headshot, employer, and contact information (home and/or business), as needed for event promotion and administration.
• When you sign up to receive our newsletters or other updates, we collect your name and email address.
• If you contact us via email, phone, or other means, we may collect your name, role, organization, contact information, and the content of your inquiry or correspondence

2. Information We Collect Automatically

When you visit our Sites, we may collect certain technical and usage data through cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies. This may include:

• IP address
• Browser type and device information
• Language preferences
• Pages visited, time spent, and interaction data
• Referring URLs and clickstream behavior

Where permitted by applicable law, we may combine this information with other data we hold about you, including personal information. See the section on “Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies” for more details.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use your personal information for the following purposes:

• To manage your organization’s membership, provide associated benefits and communications, and offer related support.
• To operate, deliver, and improve our Services and ensure they are accessible and functional.
• To interact with users on social media platforms and measure the effectiveness of our social campaigns.
• To send you newsletters, announcements, updates, and other relevant communications. You can opt out at any time.
• To understand how members and users engage with our Services and Sites, both in aggregate and individually, in order to improve performance and experience.
• To carry out research and analytics to carry out our purpose and to improve our Services.
• To plan, manage, and follow up on in-person and virtual events. Events may be recorded or photographed for promotional or service improvement purposes, as appropriate and subject to consent where required.
• To administer surveys and gather feedback for research, evaluation, or improvement purposes.
• To respond to your questions or requests and maintain a record of communications for quality assurance and continuity.
• To support our legitimate business operations, including administration, reporting, and internal governance.
• To meet applicable legal obligations or to establish, exercise, or defend legal rights.
• To facilitate mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, or other business transfers where personal data may be included as part of the transaction.
• To investigate, prevent, or take action in relation to suspected fraud, illegal activity, impersonation, security threats, or violations of our policies or agreements.

WHO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH

Service Providers and Business Operations

We may share personal information with carefully selected third-party service providers who process data on our behalf including:

• Event management
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
• Website and platform hosting
• Email marketing and communications
• Marketing analytics
• Fraud detection and prevention
• Payment processing

If you pay for our Services, your payment will be processed by a third-party payment processor. We do not store your full payment details. These third parties handle your information in accordance with their own privacy policies, which we encourage you to review before submitting any payment information.

Legal and Regulatory Requirements

We may disclose personal information to public authorities, regulatory bodies, government agencies, or law enforcement when we believe such disclosure is required to:

• Comply with applicable laws, legal processes, or regulatory obligations
• Respond to lawful requests, including those made for national security or law enforcement purposes

Professional Advisors

We may share personal information with our legal, financial, and other professional advisors as needed to obtain advice, manage risks, or protect our legal and business interests.

Mission-Aligned Sharing

• If you share personal information as part of your organization’s membership, we may share that information with Worldly Holding Inc. and its affiliates (“Worldly”), who host and manage the Higg Index tools.
• Where applicable, personal information may be shared with event sponsors and co-hosts. For information on how those third parties handle personal data, please refer to their individual privacy policies.
• When we sell combination tickets for our events and Worldly events, we may share the necessary registration and contact details with Worldly.
• We may share personal information with environmental, decent work, or sustainability-focused nonprofit organizations and associations with whom we collaborate to support our mission.

With Your Consent or Direction

We may share personal information with third parties where you have provided explicit consent, such as agreeing to share your contact information with event sponsors or collaborators.

Security and Risk Mitigation

We may disclose personal information where we believe it is reasonably necessary to:

• Protect the security, integrity, or lawful use of our Services or Sites
• Detect, investigate, or prevent fraud, abuse, or other harmful activity

Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, sale of company assets, or transition of service to another provider, personal information may be shared or transferred as part of that transaction, subject to standard confidentiality and data protection practices.

AGGREGATED AND DE-IDENTIFIED INFORMATION

We may use aggregated or de-identified personal data for internal analysis, reporting, and to improve our Services. This information does not identify individuals and may be shared with affiliated entities or trusted collaborators in pursuit of our mission and business objectives.

COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to:

• Improve the functionality and performance of our Sites
• Monitor usage patterns and user engagement
• Deliver relevant content and communications
• Maintain secure access to certain areas of the Sites

For more information about the types of cookies we use, how they work, and how to manage your preferences, please refer to our Cookie Statement.

DATA RETENTION

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including to:

• Deliver our Services
• Fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy
• Comply with legal and operational requirements.

Where data is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymize it. In some cases, we may retain information in an aggregated or de-identified format for analytics and reporting.

INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

Cascale is based in the United States, but we collect, store, and process personal information globally to support our Services, including event administration, communications, and member support.

As a result, your personal information may be transferred to, stored in, or accessed from countries outside of your jurisdiction, including the United States. These countries may not have the same level of data protection as your home country.

Where required by applicable data protection laws, measures are implemented to ensure that transferred data is protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
 

EU and UK Users

EU and UK users have several rights with respect to their personal information, including: (i) the right to be informed; (ii) the right of access; (iii) the right to rectification; (iv) the right to erasure; (v) the right to restrict processing; (vi) the right to data portability; (vii) the right to object to processing; and (viii) rights in relation to automated decision-making, including profiling.

EU and UK users also have the right to lodge a complaint about the collection or use of their personal information with their respective supervisory authority. Our legal bases for collecting and processing EU and UK users’ personal information include the performance of a contract, compliance with a legal obligation, the user’s consent, and our legitimate interests, where applicable and appropriate. The specific legal basis depends on the nature of the processing activity.

Depending on your location, specific data protection laws may apply to our processing activities, including the LGPD (Brazil), CCPA (in California) and PIPL (China), among others. We comply with applicable laws and implement appropriate safeguards for cross-border data transfers where required.

SECURITY

Cascale uses technical, administrative, and organizational safeguards to protect personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, loss, or alteration. While we take reasonable steps to secure information, no system is completely secure. 

INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM CHILDREN

Our Sites and Services are not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe we have collected such data, please contact us so we can delete it.

MEMBER ACCOUNTS

If you have access to your organization’s member account, you can update or correct your information by logging in or contacting us. To request deletion of your contact details from a closed account, email mm@cascale.org. Please note that we may be unable to provide Services if essential personal data is removed.

COMMUNICATIONS PREFERENCES

You may opt out of receiving promotional or marketing emails from us at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions included in those emails, or by contacting us at marcomm@cascale.org.

Please note that even if you opt out of promotional communications, we may still send you important non-promotional messages related to your member account, ongoing business relationships, or essential service updates.

We and our trusted parties (as described in this Privacy Policy) may also contact individuals at their professional email addresses in connection with their roles at member organizations. These communications may include relevant updates about our Services, events, or collaborative opportunities. You may object to receiving such communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link provided in the message or by contacting us at mm@cascale.org. Please bear in mind that if you opt of such communication, we will be unable to communicate with you in respect to your organization’s membership.

THIRD-PARTY LINKS

Our Sites may contain links to third-party websites. These sites have their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their practices. We encourage you to review those policies before submitting personal data.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. We will revise the “Last Updated” date accordingly. Continued use of our Sites or Services after updates constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@cascale.org

Address: 1714 Franklin St. #100-272, Oakland, CA 94612-3409