Privacy Policy

1. What Information We Collect and Why

We may collect personal information in a variety of circumstances, including when you visit our Site, register for or attend one of our events, subscribe to our newsletter, contact us directly, or otherwise use or engage with our Services.

Information You Provide
Depending on your interaction with us, this may include:

• When you or 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.

•  If you provide any comments or feedback on our social media  we may also collect your username, display name, avatar, optional biography.

• 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.

• We may also obtain publicly available business contact information (such as names, roles, and work email addresses) as a point of contact for sales and marketing activities.

Information We Collect Automatically
When you visit our Site, we may automatically collect technical and usage data via cookies, web beacons and similar technologies. This may include:

• IP address;

• Browser type and version, device type and operating system;

• Language preference;

• Pages visited, time spent on each page, click behavior and referring URL;

• Other related usage data.

 

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for purposes including but not limited to:

• Operating, delivering, maintaining and improving our Services and Site;

• Communicating with you (e.g., newsletters, updates, event announcements);

• Administering and managing events, webinars, training or other initiatives;

• Responding to your inquiries, providing support and maintaining records of communication;

• Performing analytics and research to understand how users engage with our Site/Services and to improve them;

• Protecting our operations, investigating fraud or misuse, and complying with legal obligations;

• In connection with mergers, acquisitions, restructuring or sale of our organization or assets.

 

3. 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 

 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 Cascale, Inc. and its affiliates (“Cascale”) facilitate our Services. 

• 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 Cascale events, we may share the necessary registration and contact details with Cascale.

• We may share personal information with environmental, decent work, or sustainability-focused nonprofit organizations and associations with whom we collaborate to support our mission.

• We may also obtain publicly available business contact information as detailed above and share it with affiliated entities or trusted collaborators (including those mentioned in this section) in pursuit of our mission and business objectives and where we have a legitimate interest in doing so — for example, for collaborative sales and marketing activities. Where applicable, we provide options to opt out of marketing communications.

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.

 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.

 

4. Aggregated and De-identified Information

We may aggregate or de-identify personal data (so that the information can no longer reasonably identify an individual) and use or share it for analytics, reporting, research or benchmarking purposes.

 

5. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

Our Site uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to:

• Improve functionality and performance of the Site;

• Monitor usage patterns, user engagement, and site traffic;

• Deliver relevant content and communications;

• Maintain security for certain Site features.

You may manage or disable cookies via your browser settings, but doing so may affect your ability to use certain features of the Site.

 

6. Data Retention

We retain personal information only as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected (for example, to deliver our Services, maintain contact with you, comply with legal obligations). When data is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymize it, unless retention is required by law.

 

7. International Data Transfers

SFC is based in the United States. We may collect, store and process personal information internationally, including in countries that may not have the same level of data protection as your jurisdiction. Where required by data protection laws, we implement appropriate safeguards to protect your information when transferred across borders.

 

8. Rights of Users (EU/UK/other jurisdictions)

If you are located in the European Union, United Kingdom, or other jurisdictions with data-protection laws, you may have rights regarding your personal information, such as:

• The right to be informed about what information is collected and how it is used.

• The right of access to your personal information.

• The right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.

• The right to request erasure of your personal information (“right to be forgotten”).

• The right to restrict or object to certain processing activities.

• The right to data portability (receive your data in a structured, commonly used format).

• Rights regarding automated decision-making or profiling (where applicable).

Please note the legal basis for our processing varies depending on the context (e.g., consent, performance of a contract, legitimate interests, legal obligation). If you reside in a jurisdiction that provides supervisory authorities, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with your local regulator.

 

9. Security

We use appropriate technical, administrative and organizational measures to safeguard personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. However, no system is completely secure and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

 

10. Information Collected from Children

Our Site and Services are not intended for children under the age of 13 (or the minimum age in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under that age. If you believe we have inadvertently collected personal data of a child under the applicable age, please contact us and we will delete it.

 

11. Member/Participant Accounts

If the Services include account access (e.g., member accounts, training portal), you may update or correct your contact information by logging into your account or by contacting us directly at admin@sustainablefurnishings.org. If you request deletion of data from a closed account, we’ll respond to the extent practicable — please note that removing essential data may impede provision of Services.

 

12. 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 admin@sustainablefurnishings.org Even if you opt-out of marketing communications, we may still send you important service-related or account-related messages which are necessary for the Services.

 

13. Third-Party Links

Our Site may contain links to third-party websites or services that are not operated or controlled by us. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those third parties. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before submitting personal data.

 

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. We will revise the “Last updated” date accordingly. Continued use of the Site or Services after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of those changes.

 

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
Email: admin@sustainablefurnishings.org
Address: PO Box 21, High Point, NC 27261