Privacy policy.

Updated: March 3, 2025

Crosstown Community Church (“Crosstown Chicago” or '“the Church”) recognizes that the privacy of individuals is very important and that persons have a right to control their personal information. Crosstown Chicago acknowledges that when an individual furnishes personal information about themselves to another party, it is an act of trust. In response, Crosstown Chicago takes the process of honoring and upholding an individual’s privacy very seriously.
This Privacy Policy applies to the following website(s) owned and/or maintained by Crosstown Chicago:
https://www.crosstownchicago.org/

The said website(s) shall be collectively referred to in this Privacy Policy as the “Site”. Unless you give Crosstown Chicago explicit consent to act otherwise, the following policy will govern how the Church handles your personal information and safeguards your privacy.

By using any Site, you are giving us your express consent to use all the information that we collect about you in the manner described in this policy. This includes the release of such information to owners of each respective Site and third parties as described below. The following principles shall apply to all personal information submitted to or collected by Crosstown Chicago.

What Information of yours does Crosstown Chicago collect?
Crosstown Chicago collects two different types of information. One type is voluntary information, which you provide, such as registration information for events, membership information, or shipping and billing information. The other type of information the Church collects is user information provided by your computer each time you visit this site, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address or browser. The information that the Church collects helps us to provide information and service to you. We may combine information from other sources with the information that we collect.

What does Crosstown Chicago do with the information that is collected?
Any information that you provide to Crosstown Chicago or that is obtained through the Site may be used by the Church or the respective owners of the Site. While Crosstown Chicago will not sell, rent, or lease your personal information to commercial entities, we may provide your information to third parties with whom we have a relationship to offer you products and services we believe may be of interest to you.

From time to time, Crosstown Chicago may share personal information with companies that provide services such as information processing, managing and enhancing customer data, delivering customer service, and conducting customer research or satisfaction surveys. These companies are obligated to protect your information.

It may be necessary − by law, legal process, litigation, and/or requests from public and governmental authorities within or outside your country of residence − for Crosstown Chicago to disclose your personal information. We may also disclose information about you if we determine that for purposes of national security, law enforcement, or other issues of public importance, disclosure is necessary or appropriate.

Crosstown Chicago may also disclose information about you if we determine that disclosure is reasonably necessary to enforce our terms and conditions or protect our mission, our operations, or our users. Additionally, in the event of a transfer, reorganization, merger, or sale of the website, we may transfer any and all personal information we collect to the relevant third party.

Crosstown Chicago may offer services to you, such as chat rooms, message boards, or other similar discussion forums. Please be aware that any information you divulge in these arenas is deemed public information and is not protected.

What are “cookies” (and related technologies) and how does Crosstown Chicago use them?
Cookies (often known as internet cookies) are small text files that are used to identify your computer as you use a network. These files contain personal information, such as user identification codes, customized preferences, or records of pages visited. Cookies are used by web developers to identify specific users and provide them with a more personalized and convenient web browsing experience. Their use has become an industry standard for most major websites.

The Crosstown Chicago Site, online services, interactive applications, email messages, and advertisements may use “cookies” and other related technologies, such as pixel tags and web beacons, to help us better understand user behavior. These technologies can tell us which parts of the Site people have visited, which areas of our Site are less popular, and how the Site is being used so that we can make improvements and updates to better serve the needs of our users. These technologies can help us remember personal information when you use the Site, online services, and applications and also facilitate and measure the effectiveness of advertisements and web searches.. Our goal in these cases is to make your experience while on the Site more convenient and personal. We do not use cookies to obtain any personal information about you before or after you leave the Site.

Pixel tags enable us to send email messages in a format that recipients can read, and they tell us whether mail has been opened. We may use this information to reduce or eliminate messages sent to our constituents.

As is true of most websites, Crosstown Chicago gathers some information automatically from Site users and stores it in log files. This information includes Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser type and language, Internet Service Provider (ISP), referring and exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data. We use this information to understand and analyze trends, to administer the Site, to learn about user behavior on the Site, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. Crosstown Chicago may use this information in our marketing and advertising efforts.

Most web browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. You can reset your browser to either refuse all cookies or to notify you when you are receiving a cookie and allow you to decide whether or not to accept it.

We treat information collected by cookies and other technologies as non-personal information. However, to the extent that Internet Protocol (IP) addresses or similar identifiers are considered personal information by local law, we also treat these identifiers as personal information. Similarly, to the extent that non-personal information is combined with personal information, we treat the combined information as personal information for the purposes of this Privacy Policy.

How does linking to other sites affect my privacy protections?
As a courtesy, Crosstown Chicago may provide links to other sites that are neither owned nor controlled by the Church. These third-party sites, however, are NOT subject to or bound by this Privacy Policy. Such third-party sites may or may not have their own privacy policies and may or may not collect personal information from you or place cookies on your browser. Crosstown Chicago is not responsible for the privacy policies or any information collection practices of these sites or any damages resulting therefrom.

What security procedures are in place to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of your personal information?
The security of the information that you provide to us is very important. As a result, we have taken multiple precautions — including administrative, technical, and physical measures — to safeguard your personal information against loss, theft, and misuse, as well as against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction.

Crosstown Chicago uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption on all web pages where sensitive information, such as your credit/debit card number or related information, may be collected. When making donations to Crosstown Chicago or purchasing any products sold through our websites, you must use an SSL-enabled browser. Doing so protects the confidentiality of your personal information as it is transmitted over the Internet.

When you use some Crosstown Chicago services or applications or post on a Crosstown Chicago forum, chat room, or social networking service, the personal information you share is visible to other users and can be read, collected, or used by them. You are responsible for the personal information you choose to submit in these instances.

How can my personal information be updated, and how long is it retained?
Crosstown Chicago makes it easy for you to keep your personal information accurate, complete, and up to date. We will retain your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

How does Crosstown Chicago protect the privacy of children?
Crosstown Chicago encourages parents and guardians to spend time with their children online. No information should be submitted to or posted on Crosstown Chicago’s website by users 13 years old and younger without the consent of their parent or guardian. Unless otherwise disclosed during collection, Crosstown Chicago will not provide any personally identifying information, regardless of its source, to any third party for any purpose whatsoever for our users 13 years and younger. If any services or features on the site require registration, a user 13 years old or younger will be required to provide the email of the parent or guardian, which will allow us to notify that person that the child has registered for a service or feature. Parental or guardian consent will consist of an email from that person to the Church stating that they are aware that the child is using the website. Identifying a website user as 13 or under is not easy and Crosstown Chicago will not be held responsible for anyone misrepresenting themselves as over 13 years of age when, in fact, they are not.

Updates and amendments to the Privacy Policy
Crosstown Chicago reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to update, amend, or re-state this Privacy Policy, at any time. It is your responsibility to check this Privacy Policy periodically for changes. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes will mean that you accept and agree to the changes.

Your affirmative consent to Crosstown Chicago’s collection and use of personally identifiable information
By using Crosstown Chicago’s website, you are giving us your express consent to use all the information that we collect about you in the manner described in this policy. This includes the release of such information to third parties as described above.

Questions or Concerns?
If you have questions or concerns about this privacy policy, please contact us at: hello@crosstownchicago.org.

The information contained on this website is subject to change without notice.