Privacy Statement

Introduction

The MIT Alumni Association and Office of Resource Development ("we") are committed to supporting the privacy of MIT Students, Alumni, and Friends of MIT. This Privacy Statement explains how we handle and use the personal information we collect about our alumni and our past, present and future supporters. For information on the terms and conditiona of use for the Infinite Connection, please see Terms.

What personal information we collect

While specific information may vary for particular individuals, we may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal information about you, which we have grouped together as follows:

  1. Basic biographic/contact information – home and business addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and social media contact information
  2. Demographic information – names, gender, pronouns, birth and death dates, photograph, and ethnicity (solely if you choose to provide ethnic information)
  3. Student information obtained from MIT records – degrees, majors, MIT affiliations and clubs, awards, activities, and sports participation
  4. Employment information – company names, job titles, and industry information
  5. Family information – spouse/partner's name, children's names and birth dates, and familial relationships
  6. Alumni information – event attendance, volunteer interests, organization affiliations, committee participation, awards and honors
  7. Donor information – giving information regarding any donation which is made, including wealth assessment information and indicators of your interest in giving
  8. Analytical information – aggregated information related to web visitor activity and email marketing actions

How we collect personal information about you

We collect information about you from a variety of sources. A significant portion of the information we maintain is that which you have provided to us, either by updating your profile online, registering for an event, communicating with us, or making a donation. For MIT students and alumni, your personal data is transferred to the Alumni and Resource Development database from MIT’s student record system when you enroll at MIT.

We may also augment the information we collect about you from targeted internet searches and may use third party sources, including but not limited to Lexis Nexis for Development Professionals, Iwave (PRO), Capital IQ, WealthX, Relationship Science, social media sites (such as Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin), and DonorSearch.

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information for a number of legitimate purposes all in support of the Institute and its mission. Specifically, we use your personal information to:

  1. Keep you updated with information about MIT and alumni activities
  2. Conduct surveys, including alumni satisfaction, donation preferences and interests
  3. Provide alumni services, such as access to MIT alumni email for life (@alum.mit.edu address)
  4. Provide access to an online account in the Infinite Connection, for enabling online giving, event registration and more
  5. Fundraise for particular MIT concerns, initiatives or programs
  6. Send you information about volunteer activities and invite you to MIT events in your area
  7. Conduct philanthropic preference research in order to understand alumni and supporters, to inform our fundraising strategy and target our communications
  8. Perform administrative tasks and for internal record keeping purposes.
  9. Create and analyze aggregated (fully anonymized) information about our students, alumni, donor and other supporters for statistical research purposes in support of our educational mission.

If you have concerns about any of these purposes, or how we communicate with you, please contact us at recordsprivacy@mit.edu. We will always respect a request by you to stop processing your personal information (subject to our legal obligations).

When we share your personal information

To perform the functions listed above, it may be necessary to share your personal information with volunteers and students. All individuals performing functions for us are informed regarding appropriate handling of your personal information. We may also share your personal information with third parties under contract with us to perform services in support of our operations or to offer services to alumni who are interested, including but not limited to Acoustic, Anthology, eVisors, Hivebrite and MIT Federal Credit Union. Additionally, we may share your personal data with government and law enforcement agencies or regulators to 1) comply with a legal process, subpoena, order or other legal or regulatory requirement applicable to us, or 2) to pursue available legal remedies or defend against legal claims.  In such cases, we will make every effort to notify you that your information has been shared.

How your information is stored and secured

MIT uses risk-assessed administrative, technical and physical security measures to protect your personal information. Only authenticated users with specific permissions may access the data using a virtual private network. We use firewalls and regular monitoring to evaluate any attempts at accessing the systems without permission. We conduct an annual security audit of our systems.

How long we keep your personal information

We consider our relationship with alumni, donors and other stakeholders to be lifelong. This means that we will maintain a record for you until such time as you tell us that you no longer wish us to keep in touch. You may also make changes to communication preferences online through accessing the Infinite Connection.

Rights for Individuals in the European Economic Area

You have the right in certain circumstances to (1) access your personal information; (2) to correct or erase information; (3) restrict processing; and (4) object to communications, direct marketing, or profiling. To the extent applicable, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation provides further information about your rights. You also have the right to lodge complaints with your national or regional data protection authority.

If you are inclined to exercise these rights, we request an opportunity to discuss with you any concerns you may have. To protect the personal information we hold, we may also request further information to verify your identify when exercising these rights. Upon a request to erase information, we will maintain a core set of personal data to ensure we do not contact you inadvertently in the future, as well as any information necessary for MIT archival purposes. We may also need to retain some financial information for legal purposes, including US IRS compliance. In the event of an actual or threatened legal claim, we may retain your information for purposes of establishing, defending against or exercising our rights with respect to such claim.

If you provide information directly to MIT from the European Economic Area (EEA), you consent to the transfer of your personal information outside of the EEA to the United States. You understand that the current laws and regulations of the United States may not provide the same level of protection as the data and privacy laws and regulations of the EEA.

You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide any personal data to us (other than personal data provided in connection with your status as an MIT student).

If you are in the EEA or UK and wish to assert any of your applicable GDPR rights, please contact dataprotection@mit.edu. You may also contact MIT’s representatives listed below:

MIT Representative in the European Economic Area
J-PAL Europe
Email: jpaleurope@povertyactionlab.org
Address: 48 Boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris, France

MIT Representative in the United Kingdom
MIT Press UK
Address: 71 Queen Victoria Street, London, United Kingdom, EC4V 4BE

Additional Information

We may change this Privacy Statement from time to time. If we make any significant changes in the way we treat your personal information we will make this clear on our MIT websites or by contacting you directly.

The controller for your personal information is MIT. We can be contacted at dataprotection@mit.edu.