If you are in the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom or Switzerland this General Privacy Policy does not apply to you. Please view our EU Privacy Notice available here.

Revised September 21, 2022

Your information privacy is extremely important to us. We have prepared this Privacy Policy to explain how we collect, use, protect, and disclose information and data when you visit the Self-Realization Fellowship (“SRF”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) websites, including those at yogananda.org, yogananda-srf.org, srfonlinemeditation.org, and conovocation.yogananda.org, and www.awaketheyoganandamovie.com (collectively the “Sites”) and use any SRF mobile app or other services offered by SRF (collectively the “Services”). This Privacy Policy also explains your choices for managing your information preferences, including opting out of certain uses of your Personal Information (defined below). This Privacy Policy applies to all users of the Sites and Services except those who are in the EU, EEA, United Kingdom or Switzerland. The Sites and Services are provided by SRF.

You” as used in this policy includes your child, if your child has contact with SRF such as by registering for and participating in online youth programs offered by SRF.

BY USING THE SITES OR SERVICES, YOU ARE CONSENTING TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY. PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.

1. Managing Your Information Preferences

You can review, correct, update, delete, or change your Personal Information through your Member Portal account or e-mailing us at info@yogananda-srf.org. You can also opt-out of receiving certain e-mails and other communications from us through your Member Portal account, or by using the “unsubscribe” link in the emails, or e-mailing us at info@yogananda-srf.org. You are able to opt out of receiving our eNewsletter and most e-mails from us; however, you cannot opt out of receiving all e-mails from us, such as e-mails about the status of your account or orders. If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, please e-mail us at info@yogananda-srf.org.

2. Information We Collect

Personal Information

We collect information that personally identifies you, such as your name, address, phone number, mobile phone number, e-mail, payment information, and other personally identifiable information that you choose to provide us with or that you choose to include in your account (“Personal Information”). You may be asked to provide us with Personal Information when you make a purchase or donation, register with us for activities including youth programs, join an online meditation or service, volunteer with us, apply to study the SRF Lessons or use any of our Sites or Services, and at other times. In addition, we may collect Personal Information through your participation in online activities or through your use of our Services. For example, if you or your child participates in a study program online or through our app, we will collect information about your attendance, progress and interaction with our materials, and communications with instructors and other participants. We also make video and audio recordings of programs and meetings that are offered online.

In addition, you have the ability to register for our website at www.awaketheyoganandamovie.com using a social media account such as Facebook or Twitter. When you do so, you will be provided with information about the types of data that may be shared between our www.awaketheyoganandamovie.com website and the social media site. You should always review, and if necessary, adjust your privacy settings on third-party websites, applications and services before using them to log in to our Sites. You may also unlink your social media account from our Sites by adjusting your settings on the third-party service. For more information, please review the privacy disclosures and terms of your social media account, which govern how that account information is collected and shared with us.

Correspondence

If you correspond with SRF via e-mail, the postal service, or other form of communication, we may retain such correspondence and the information contained therein and use it to respond to your inquiry and/or share SRF news or other SRF-related information with you. If you do not wish to receive such notifications, you may express your preference to not be contacted by sending a letter, calling or e-mailing SRF offices at the contact information below informing us of your preference.

Spiritual Guidance, Lessons, Donations and Payments

In the course of applying for the SRF Lessons, or pursuing the SRF teachings and meditation techniques, in participating in online or youth programs, or making an online donation or purchase, you may provide other personal or familial health, financial, marital, and other information about matters of a confidential nature, for purposes of seeking spiritual guidance and requesting prayers, pursuing the teachings, or making an online donation or purchase. SRF monastics, volunteers and their support staff may have access to such information in order to provide these services and support to the members. These parties, however, have agreed to maintain the confidentiality of any information of a confidential nature that is provided.

Volunteering with SRF

When you volunteer with SRF you may provide an application and other information about your background, your history of volunteering, your interests, and other information relevant to becoming or serving as a volunteer for SRF.

Usage Data and Site Activity

We may automatically collect the following information about your device and your use of our Sites or Services through cookies, web beacons, and other technologies: your browser type and operating system; web pages you view; links you click; your IP address, MAC address, Unique Device Identifiers (UID), and other persistent identifiers; the length of time you visit our Sites and or use our Services; and the referring URL, or the webpage that led you to our Sites (“Usage Data”). We may collect similar Usage Data if you join an online meditation or service via Zoom or a similar conferencing service. We use this information to monitor and improve the Sites and Services, enhance your online experience and to enable us to provide you with an easier and more personalized experience and level of service.

Cookies and Anonymous Identifiers

  • We use cookies (a small text file placed on your computer to identify your computer and web browser) and may use anonymous identifiers (a random string of characters that is used for the same purposes as a cookie). We use cookies for authentication purposes (to keep track of the fact that you have logged in) and for certain functionality (such as to allow you to put items in your shopping cart).
  • We use Google Analytics on the Sites and Services to collect Usage Data and to analyze how users use the Sites and Services. The information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. The cookie information we send to Google Analytics is not linked to personally identifiable information, and is not used to track users across websites not owned by SRF. Further, we send only anonymized IP address information to Google. For more information about how to opt out of having your information used by Google Analytics, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpag....
  • In addition, we use third parties to enhance the functionality of our Sites, and these third parties set cookies. For example, we may use PayPal to allow people to make purchases or donations using PayPal’s services, or we may use the services of social media companies (such as YouTube or similar companies) to help display video or social media content on our Sites. Cookies set by these third parties allow the provision of enhanced functionality, and so certain functionality might not be available if you choose to reject all cookies. As further explained in Section 6 below, these third parties may also use cookies to track your activities on our Sites and on other sites.

Most web browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. You can set your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent, however, certain features of the Sites or Services may not work if you delete or disable cookies.

3. How We Use Information and When We May Share and Disclose Information Generally

We use the information, including Personal Information, alone or in combination with other information that we may collect about you, including information from third parties, for the following purposes that are necessary for the performance of the contract between us to provide you with the services you requested or that we consider in our legitimate interests:

  • to provide you with the Sites and Services, including to allow you to join an online meditation, to participate in a program or to use a service and to send you alerts about your account;
  • to better understand how users access and use our Sites, Services, and programs, both on an aggregated and individualized basis, to maintain, support, and improve our Sites, Services, and programs, to respond to user preferences, and for research and analytical purposes;
  • to deliver subscription benefits (e.g., the SRF eNewsletter);
  • to deliver services (e.g., to pray for you or your loved ones);
  • to assist you with and process any purchase or donations, or to receive and handle your bequest documents;
  • to better allow you to share your experiences (e.g., “Share your story”);
  • to keep you informed of SRF programs and other resources we think may be of interest to you;
  • to determine your suitability to study our Lessons, participate in a program or volunteer with us, to manage your volunteer activities and communicate with you about volunteering; and
  • to answer your questions and otherwise communicate with you about SRF.

Please note that if you volunteer with SRF, we may share your contact information with other volunteers so that they may contact you in connection with your volunteer role and for organizational and administrative purposes.

We will not disclose Personal Information to third parties, including for their direct marketing or commercial purposes, without your consent, except as explained in this Privacy Policy. We use third parties to collect and analyze certain Usage Data and Site Activity information. We also use third parties to provide online audio and video conferencing and communications.

4. Personal Information You Make Available to Others

By using the Sites or the Services you may make certain of your Personal Information available to others. For example, if you post information to the Share your story” feature, or post a comment, photo, or other content on the www.awaketheyoganandamovie.com site, other users will see the information that you post or choose to make available.

5. Service Providers

We share Personal Information with our authorized service providers that perform certain services on our behalf (“Service Providers”). For example, we may contract with Service Providers to provide certain services, such as to process payments or donations from you, for hosting and maintenance of our Sites, Services and databases, data storage and management, email newsletters, or management of certain volunteer activities. We also use Service Providers to provide interactive learning websites. We only provide our Service Providers with the information necessary for them to perform these services on our behalf. Each Service Provider must agree to use reasonable security procedures and practices, appropriate to the nature of the information involved, in order to protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Service Providers are prohibited from using Personal Information other than as specified by us.

6. Online Tracking

We use third parties to enhance the functionality of our Sites. The third parties we use may set cookies and collect certain information when you visit the Sites and Services. These companies may collect your IP Address, information from cookies they set during your visits to the Sites and other websites, and other information (e.g., click stream information, web browser type and other information about your browser or computer operating system, time and date, and the pages or videos you viewed). These companies may track your activity over time and across different websites, and may use the information they collect to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of interest to you. Our systems do not recognize browser “Do Not Track” signals, but several of the third parties who utilize these cookies on our Sites enable you to opt out of targeted advertising practices. To learn more about these advertising practices or to opt out of this type of advertising, you can visit optout.aboutads.info and optout.networkadvertising.org.

7. Notice to California Residents/Your California Privacy Rights

We do not share your Personal Information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

8. Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement

We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with the law. We may disclose Personal Information and any other information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties if, in our discretion, we believe it is necessary or appropriate in order to respond to legal requests (including court orders and subpoenas), to protect the safety, property, or rights of SRF or of any third party, to prevent or stop any illegal, unethical, or legally actionable activity, or to comply with the law.

9. Be Careful When You Share Information with Others

Please be aware that whenever you share information on any public area of the Sites or Services (such as through the “Share Your Story” feature, publicly participating in a meditation session, or by posting a comment on our website www.awaketheyoganandamovie.com), that information may be accessed by others and the public. That information may be further passed along or further made public by others. This means that anyone with access to such information can potentially use it for any purpose, including sending unsolicited communications.

10. Security

We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect the confidentiality and security of information transmitted to us. Although no data transmission over the Internet or other network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, we strive to protect your personal data on or through the Sites or Services so that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed. However, we cannot and do not guarantee the security of any information you transmit on or through the Sites or Services, and accept no liability for any unintentional disclosure or misuse.

11. Links

Our Sites and Services may contain links to other websites or allow others to send you such links. A link to a third party’s website does not mean that we endorse it or that we are affiliated with it. We do not exercise control over third-party websites. You access such third-party websites or content at your own risk. You should always read the privacy policy of a third-party website before providing any information to the website.

12. Children’s Privacy

The Sites and Services are intended for users who are 13 years old or older. We do not knowingly or intentionally collect Personal Information from children under the age of 13. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received Personal Information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete such information from our records. California users under the age of 18 may request the removal of their content or information publicly posted on the Sites or Services by e-mailing us at info@yogananda-srf.org. Please note that complete and comprehensive removal of the content may not be possible.

13. Processing in the United States

SRF is located in the United States. Please be aware that when you provide your Personal Information, visit our Sites, use our Services, participate in online programs, or communicate with us, you are transferring your Personal Information to the United States. Thus, your Personal Information and communications may be transferred to and maintained on servers or databases located outside your state, province, or country. And if you are located outside of the United States, we process and store all information in the United States. The laws in the United States may not be as protective of your privacy as those in your location. By using the Site or Services, you are agreeing to the collection, use, transfer, and disclosure of your Personal Information and communications will be governed by the applicable laws in the United States.

14. Privacy Policy Changes

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we decide to change this Privacy Policy, we will inform you by posting the revised Privacy Policy on the Sites. Those changes will go into effect on the “Revised” date shown in the revised Privacy Policy. By continuing to use the Sites or Services, you are consenting to the revised Privacy Policy.

PLEASE PRINT A COPY OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY FOR YOU RECORDS AND PLEASE CHECK THE SITES FREQUENTLY FOR ANY CHANGES.