Last Revised: August 7th, 2026

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The Center for Whale Research (“we,” “us” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and share personal information when you visit or interact with www.whaleresearch.com, including its webpages, forms and online services (collectively, the “Site”).

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Who We Are

The Center for Whale Research is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the study and conservation of Southern Resident killer whales and their ecosystem. We conduct long-term research and monitoring and engage the public through education, outreach and opportunities to support our mission.

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Information We Collect

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide when you interact with the Site, including when you:

• Sign up for news and communications

• Make a donation

• Register for programs, events or volunteer opportunities

• Pre-order or request materials

• Apply for employment or internships

• Complete a form or contact us

This information may include your name, email address, phone number, mailing address, date of birth, donation or transaction information and information you choose to provide through forms, applications or communications.

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Donations and Donor Information

When you make a donation, we collect personal information necessary to process and acknowledge your donation and maintain our donor records. This may include your name, contact information, mailing address, donation amount and transaction information.

Online donations are processed through RaiseDonors using secure third-party payment processing services. We use Virtuous for donor management and related fundraising. Information associated with your donation may be maintained in Virtuous to help us maintain donation records, understand donor engagement and communicate with you about our work and opportunities to support the Center for Whale Research.

Sensitive payment information, such as full credit card or bank account details, is processed through third-party payment services that maintain security measures designed to protect payment information. We do not directly store full credit card or bank account information submitted through these services.

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Information Collected Automatically

When you use the Site, we may automatically collect limited technical and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device information, pages visited, referring pages and general Site activity.

We use this information to operate and secure the Site, understand how it is used and improve its performance and user experience.

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How We Use Your Information

We may use your personal information to:

• Process and acknowledge donations and maintain donor records

• Send newsletters, research updates and other communications

• Respond to questions and requests

• Manage registrations, applications, pre-orders and volunteer opportunities

• Manage our relationships and communications with donors and supporters

• Operate, maintain and improve the Site

• Analyze Site activity and supporter engagement to better understand our audience and inform our outreach and fundraising efforts

• Meet applicable legal, tax, accounting and reporting requirements

We use personal information only for purposes related to our operations, programs, communications and fundraising activities.

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How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information to any third parties.

We may share personal information with trusted service providers in order to help maintain our operations, including providers of donation and payment processing, donor management, email communications, website hosting, analytics and online forms. These providers may access and process personal information as necessary to provide services on our behalf and maintain their own privacy and security measures designed to protect the information processed.

We may also disclose personal information when required by law or when reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of the Center for Whale Research, our supporters, Site users or other security and data safety measures.

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Cookies

The Site may use cookies and similar technologies for necessary functionality, security and analytics. These technologies help the Site operate effectively and help us understand how visitors use the Site.

You can manage or delete cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect Site functionality.

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Your Rights and Choices

Email Communications. You may unsubscribe from newsletters, fundraising messages and other marketing communications at any time by clicking the “Unsubscribe” link in our emails. We may still send transactional communications, such as donation receipts.

Access, Correction and Deletion. Depending on applicable law, you may request access to, correction of or deletion of personal information we maintain about you. We may retain information when necessary for legal, tax, accounting, recordkeeping or other legitimate organizational purposes.

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Data Retention and Security

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and to meet applicable legal, tax, accounting and organizational requirements.

We take reasonable administrative, technical and organizational measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure. We also use secure third-party services for functions such as donation and payment processing, which maintain their own security measures designed to protect the information processed.

However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

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Children’s Privacy

We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13 without appropriate authorization. If we learn that such information has been collected, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

Parents or legal guardians who believe a child under 13 has provided personal information to us may contact us using the information below.

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External Websites and Third-Party Services

The Site may use services operated by third parties or contain links to third-party websites, including services for donations, payments, forms and applications. Information provided directly to a third party is subject to that third party’s privacy practices.

We do not control the privacy or security practices of third-party websites or services and encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing personal information.

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Updates to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as our practices, services or applicable requirements change. Any updates will be reflected in the “Last Revised” date above.

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Contact Us​

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

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Center for Whale Research
Email: info@whaleresearch.com
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1577, Friday Harbor, WA 98250​