Last updated: September 3, 2026
Trout Unlimited Mad River Chapter is a volunteer-run nonprofit conservation organization. This policy explains what personal information we collect through https://tumadriver.org when you register for a volunteer event or sign up to hear from us, why we collect it, who sees it, and what you can ask us to do with it.
We are a small organization run by volunteers. We collect the least information we can that still lets us run a safe event, and we do not sell it. Ever.
What we collect
When you register as a volunteer we ask for:
- Your name, email address, and phone number, so we can confirm your place and reach you about the event.
- The name and phone number of an emergency contact. This is required for events involving field work. We ask for it because, as the volunteer waiver says, volunteer activities can involve hazards: moving water, uneven ground, tools, changing weather, and travel to and from work sites. If something happens to you we need to be able to reach someone.
- Whether you are under 18, and if so a parent or guardian’s name and phone number.
- Your acceptance of our liability waiver, together with the date, the wording you agreed to, and the IP address and browser details the acceptance came from. We keep this because it is the record that you agreed, and a waiver we cannot evidence protects nobody.
- Optional details you choose to give: your town, t-shirt size, experience level, dietary needs, whether you can bring a boat or drive, whether you are willing to carpool (used only to group volunteers by rough area, never your address), topics you would like to hear about, how you found out about us, any organization you are attending with (including one you suggest we add), and any notes you add.
During and after the event we may also record:
- The times you checked in and out, which we use to calculate volunteer hours.
- Skills or certifications a coordinator records with your agreement, such as a first-aid qualification, used only to plan crews safely.
- Photographs, video, notes and location coordinates submitted from the field by your group.
- Standard web server logs, which include IP addresses and are kept only briefly for security.
Children
Our events are family events and young people are welcome, but a parent or legal guardian must complete the registration for anyone under 18 and accept the waiver on their behalf. We do not knowingly collect information directly from a child. If you believe a child has registered without a guardian, contact us and we will remove the record.
Why we collect it
- To run the event safely. Contact details, emergency contacts and waivers exist so that we can organize groups, account for everyone at the event, and respond if someone is hurt.
- To report on our work. We report totals (how many volunteers, how many hours, what the work achieved) to funders, partners and the public. These figures are aggregated and do not identify you.
- To keep in touch, if you ask us to. We only send newsletters and volunteer opportunities to people who explicitly opted in. Registering for an event does not subscribe you to anything.
Who sees your information
Inside the organization, access is limited to the volunteers coordinating the event. Emergency contact details are shared with the event coordinator and, on the day, printed on a sheet kept with them; those printouts are destroyed afterwards.
We share information outside the organization only in these cases:
- Our website host and email delivery provider, who process data on our instructions in order to run the site and send our mail.
- Emergency services or medical personnel, if you are injured and they need your information.
- Anyone we are legally required to disclose to, such as in response to a valid legal process.
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information, and we do not share it with other organizations for their own marketing. If we ever partner with another group on an event, we will tell you before sharing anything and give you the choice.
Photographs and video
Events are photographed, and we use those images in recaps, newsletters, grant reports and social media to show the work being done. Photographs submitted by volunteers are reviewed by a coordinator before anything is published.
We publish a photograph in which you are identifiable only with permission. That permission can come from the photo box on the registration form, which asks whether you are happy to appear in what we publish (it is never ticked for you), or from a photographic release inside the volunteer waiver you sign, where your waiver includes one. The exact waiver wording you agreed to is kept with your signature, and that wording is the release that applies to you.
Whichever you signed, our working practice follows the box: when we choose photographs of identifiable people we are guided by that answer, and you can change it at any time by telling a coordinator or emailing us. If a picture of you is already published and you want it taken down, email us and we will remove it. You do not have to give a reason. These practices are how we choose to operate; they sit alongside the release in your waiver and do not rewrite it.
Email we send you
Everyone who registers receives transactional email about the event itself: a confirmation with your check-in link, your sign-in link if you make an account, a notice if a waiting-list place opens for you, any safety message about an event you are at, and a thank-you afterwards. These are part of taking part and are not marketing. Other routine messages, such as the day-before reminder, an hours nudge, or a short survey, can each be switched off individually from your account page.
Newsletters and other volunteer opportunities are sent only to people who ticked the box asking for them. Every one of those emails has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect immediately. You can also just reply and ask us to stop.
How long we keep it
- Signed waivers, incident reports and emergency contact records: kept for 6 years after the event, following our records retention practice, or longer where our insurer, a contract, or applicable law requires it.
- Volunteer contact details and hours: kept while you remain involved, so we can recognize returning volunteers and confirm service hours if you need them documented.
- Mailing list membership: kept until you unsubscribe.
- Published photographs: kept indefinitely as part of our record of the work, subject to any removal you request.
- Aggregate totals with no personal detail: kept permanently for historical reporting.
Your choices and rights
Whatever jurisdiction you are in, you can ask us to:
- Tell you what we hold about you, and give you a copy.
- Correct anything that is wrong.
- Delete or irreversibly anonymize your information. Where we are required to keep a waiver or incident record, or hours already counted in figures reported to funders, those records are kept with your name and contact details removed, and we tell you that is what happened.
- Stop sending you marketing email.
- Remove a photograph you appear in.
Email us and we will respond within 30 days. We will never charge you for this, and we will not treat you differently for asking.
How we protect it
The site is served over HTTPS. Volunteer records are visible only to signed-in coordinators. Photographs submitted from the field are stored outside the publicly browsable part of the site and are served through a check that refuses anything not yet approved. Field access for volunteer groups uses a shared passphrase rather than accounts, and those passphrases give access only to that group’s own route and reports: never to anyone’s personal details.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your information we will tell you and the appropriate authorities as required by law.
Cookies and local storage
The volunteer portal stores your group session and any reports you make on your own device, so that it keeps working where there is no phone signal and sends them when you are back in range. This stays on your device and is cleared when you sign out. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
Changes
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top. Changes that materially affect how we use information already collected will be notified by email to people we hold addresses for.
Contact us
Questions about this policy, or any request about your information:
Trout Unlimited Mad River Chapter
info@tumadriver.org