Privacy Policy

(Updated: 8/1/2020)

NRFA offers various services to help its users find and coordinate adoption. NRFA’s Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) is designed to provide a clear understanding of the information we collect and how we use it to provide our services and give users a better experience. It applies to any users of www.NRFA.org and any affiliated websites, web pages, mobile applications and mobile websites operated by NRFA (the “Site”), including those who are seeking to become Embryo Recipients through NRFA (“Embryo Recipients”) as well as those who are looking to find families or individuals looking to receive embryos through NRFA (“Embryo Donors”), and any users of any of the various services that NRFA provides through the Site or any other channels, including over the telephone (“Services”). For purposes of this Agreement, the terms “NRFA,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to NRFA, LLC. “You” refers to you, as a visitor or user of the Site or of the Services. Please note that our subsidiaries have separate privacy policies. In addition, this Privacy Policy does not apply to third party entities that may use the NRFA Site or Services. Such entities’ use of the NRFA Site and Services are subject to separate terms that they agreed when they registered with NRFA. By using the Site and/or the Services, you consent to our collection, storage, use and disclosure of your personal information and other information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Information We Collect

Information you provide

Information provided by others

Technical and usage information

How We Use Information

Personal Information

Non Personal Information

How We Share Information

Personal Information

Background Checks

Non-Personal Information

Business transactions

Your Choices Regarding the Sharing of your Personal Information

Your Communication Choices

Changing or Removing your Personal Information and Closing your Account

Collection of Information from Children

How We Protect Information

Links to other Websites

Changes to our Privacy Policy

Information We Collect

We collect both “Personal Information” and “Non-Personal Information” about our users. In this policy, Personal Information is information that can be used to contact or identify you, such as your full name and email address, and information that is linked to such information. “Non-Personal Information” is information that cannot be used to contact or identify you and is not linked to information that can be used to contact or identify you and includes passively collected information about your activities on our Site, such as usage data, to the extent that information is not linked to your Personal Information.

Site Visitors can access and browse certain portions of the Site without disclosing Personal Information, although, like most websites, we passively collect certain information from your computer, such as your IP address and web browser user agent, when you browse the Site. Visitors who access and browse the Site without registering are “Site Visitors”. In order to utilize some of the Services offered by NRFA, you must register with NRFA. All users who register with NRFA are “Registered Users”.

Information you provide

Regardless of whether you are a Site Visitor or a Registered User, all Personal Information that you provide to us when registering, posing a profile, communicating through the Site, discussing adoption options over the phone, utilizing our mobile applications or that you otherwise provide on the Site or by phone, email or postal mail, will be stored by us. You represent and warrant to us that you have the right and authority to provide us all Personal Information you provide about yourself or others. You may provide us this Personal Information in various ways, including:

When registering

When you register directly through NRFA, we will collect and sore the information that you provide to us directly on our online registration forms. This may include, among other information:

Your first and last name
Your email address
Your home address
Your gender
Your age
Your phone number

If you register for a Service that requires you to pay a fee, NRFA will also collect your credit card type, number, expiration date, and security code.

When posing a profile

If you create a profile, we collect and sore all of the additional

information that you provide to us in your profile. This may include, among other information:

Details on your background, including your location, your level of education, occupation, and family history
Pictures you choose to post
Any other information you choose to include in your profile

By telephone

Both Site Visitors and Registered Users may provide Personal Information to NRFA when they contact Member Care or utilize certain Services NRFA may offer by telephone. For example, if you call NRFA to discuss adoption options over the phone, we will collect and store all of the Personal Information you chose to provide to us. If you provide information about someone other than yourself, you represent that you have authority to do so.

Otherwise through the Site or by telephone, email, postal mail or chat

Certain Registered Users may provide Personal Information on the Site through other Site features and offerings such as our online communications. In some cases, Site Visitors may have the ability to provide us Personal Information through the Site, such as contact information. In addition, both Registered Users and Site Visitors may choose to provide us additional Personal Information by phone, email, postal mail, or chat. We collect and store all of the Personal Information you provide us through these channels. Moreover, if you provide information about someone other than yourself through any of these channels, you represent that you have authority to do so.

Information provided by others

By third parties to verify your information and representations

In order to promote the safety and integrity of the Site and Service, you authorize NRFA to utilize third party service providers to use your Personal Information to scan on an ongoing basis a variety of sources, which may include, but are not limited to, national criminal databases, sex offender registries, certain media streams, terrorist watch lists, criminal and fugitive watch lists, fraud watch lists, law enforcement reports, and other data to assist us in verifying the information you provide us (such as your name, address, email address, etc.) and the representations and warranties you make in the Terms of Use and on the Site (such as representations regarding your criminal background) (“Verification Checks”). The results of any Verification Checks will be made available to NRFA.

By third parties that perform background checks

For the legitimate business purpose of protecting the safety and integrity of the Site and NRFA users, you authorize NRFA in its Terms of Use to utilize a third party consumer reporting agency to use your Personal Information to run periodic background checks on you when you register with NRFA and thereafter in connection with your continued use of our Services and/or interaction with our Site.

By other sources

In addition, we may obtain from other sources publicly available Personal Information, such as demographic data, and other information to enable us to comply with regulatory requirements, ensure the accuracy of data, better understand your likely interests, prevent fraud, etc.

Technical and usage information

Log files, IP addresses and information about your computer and mobile device

When you visit the Site, NRFA receives the internet protocol (“IP”) address of your computer (or the proxy server you use to access the internet), your computer operating system and type of web browser you are using. If you are using a mobile device, NRFA may also receive your mobile device id (UDID), or another unique identifier, and mobile operating system. We may correlate this information with other Personal Information we have about you. Additionally, when you visit the NRFA website we and any third parties we use to place ads on our Site automatically receive the URL of the webpage from which you came. If you click on an ad, we and any such third party may also receive the URL of the page you were on when you clicked the ad and the URL of the site associated with the ad that you clicked.

Cookies and other technologies

Like most websites, we and our service providers use cookies and tracking pixels to track Site usage and trends, evaluate the effectiveness of our ads both on and of our Site, customize your experience on the Site and improve the quality of our Services. For example, using these technologies we can determine, among other things, which pages of our Site you visit and which ads you click on. A cookie is a tiny data file that resides on your computer, mobile phone, or other device, and allows us to recognize you when you return to the Site using the same computer (or mobile device) and web browser. You can remove or block cookies using the settings in your browser, but in some cases doing so may impact your ability to use NRFA. Tracking pixels do not identify individual users and the analysis of data obtained by tracking pixels is performed on an aggregate basis.

Social media features and widgets

Our Site includes social media features and widgets, such as the Facebook “Share” button. These features may collect your IP address, the URL of the page you are visiting on our Site and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets are either hosed by a third party or hosed directly on our Site. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

How We Use Information

Personal Information

In general, the Personal Information we collect is used (1) to improve our Services and enhance your experience with NRFA, (2) to enable us to provide a safer community for all of our Registered Users, and (3) to help us communicate with you. For example, we may use your Personal Information to:

Register and service your account.
Contact you in response to questions and solicit feedback and input from you.
Enable Embryo Recipients and Embryo Donors to search based on the Personal Information the other has made available on the Site, and the information others have provided about them.
Connect Embryo Recipients with Embryo Donors that appear to meet their needs and preferences.
Enable Registered Users to search for, find, interact, connect and share information with other Registered Users they may have an interest in interacting with.
Verify information you provide us as well as the representations and warranties you make to us in the Terms of Use or on the Site.
Otherwise help protect the safety and integrity of the Site and NRFA users.

Non-Personal Information

In general, we use the Non-Personal Information we collect to help us improve our Services and customize the user experience, such as by providing targeted useful features and promotions based on the type of Service you seek. We also aggregate the information collected via cookies and similar technologies to use in statistical analysis to help us track trends, evaluate the effectiveness of our ads and analyze patterns in the use of NRFA.

How We Share Information

In addition to using the information collected by NRFA for the purposes described above, we may also share your information with various third parties, as described below. Please review our sharing policy closely, especially with respect to your Personal Information. By using our Site or our Services, you agree to allow us to share the Personal Information you provide to us in the ways described below. Your ability to make changes to what information is shared is described below in Section IV.

Personal Information

With All Site Visitors and Registered Users

If you are an Embryo Recipient or an Embryo Donor, in order to increase your chances of finding an appropriate match, we share with Site Visitors and Registered Users the information that is included in your profile, aside from your contact information, as well as the following registration information, which we may include in your profile: your first name, state, and profile picture. With certain exceptions, you choose how much detail you want to include in either your profile; the more information you share, however, the better chance you have of finding an Embryo Recipient or Embryo Donor. If you are an Embryo Recipient and have elected to verify certain information with NRFA, we may also disclose that information in your profile.

With other Registered Users

If you are an Embryo Recipient or an Embryo Donor, you will appear in search result listings if you match the search criteria used by an Embryo Donor or Embryo Recipient, as applicable. Similarly, you may appear in emails sent to Embryo Donors or Embryo Recipients when you contact them.

If you fill out a form to request information from a specific business, such as a specific law firm or IVF clinic, the contact information you submit on a form for the business will be forwarded to that business. Similarly, if you call a business directly or click to a business’s site from the NRFA site, any information you provide over the phone or on the business’s site, you will be providing directly to the business. If you provide information about someone other than yourself, you represent that you have authority to provide us the information and to authorize us to share the information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy. Once provided to a business, the information is subject to the privacy policies of the business.

If we terminate your registration for any reason, we reserve the right to send a notice of your termination to other Registered Users with whom we believe you have corresponded.

With vendors/service providers

We also share Personal Information with vendors who perform services on behalf of NRFA, LLC including without limitation vendors who provide email services, demographic information, or geo-location information, vendors who perform background checks or verification checks, vendors who process credit card payments, vendors who run classified advertising businesses, and vendors who send SMS messages to Registered Users’ mobile phone numbers, in each case to the extent applicable. NRFA has selected vendors who maintain high standards with respect to privacy and agree to use the Personal Information only to perform specific services on behalf of NRFA.

With listings in Google and other public search engines

In an effort to further facilitate the ability for Embryo Recipients or Embryo Donors to find matches, selected information contained in profiles, which may include photo, first name, and sate, may also be shared with third party search engines and other vendors who run classified advertising businesses, and thus may be listed in third party web site search results (e.g., Google), which would make that information available to the public and allow them to link to your NRFA posing.

As required by law or for reasons of safety

You acknowledge and agree that we may disclose information we’ve collected about you if required to do so by law or if we, in our sole discretion, believe that disclosure is reasonable to comply with the law, requests or orders from law enforcement, or any legal process (whether or not such disclosure is required by applicable law), or to protect or defend NRFA’s, or a third party’s, rights or property. We may also reserve the right to disclose information we’ve collected about you for purposes of protecting the health and safety of our community and Registered Users, such as in the case of risk of harm or violence against any person (including you).

With our affiliates

You acknowledge and agree that to the maximum extent permitted by law we may disclose any of the information we’ve collected about you to any of our affiliates or subsidiaries, for the purposes of providing you with the Services, operating the Site, and our other commercial purposes.

With Your Consent

We also may share your Personal Information with a third party if you consent to the sharing.

Non-Personal Information

This Privacy Policy does not limit our use or disclosure of any Non-Personal Information, such as information passively collected from your computer via cookies, web beacons, or standard logging of website activity. If you do not wish to share this information with NRFA, then you should take steps to limit the passive collection of data about your activities on our site, for example, by changing your browser settings to disable cookies. We reserve the right to use and disclose such Non-Personal Information, as well as any other Non-Personal Information we collect, with our advertisers and other third parties at our discretion.

Business transactions

In the event we go through a business transition such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your Personal Information may be among the assets transferred. You acknowledge and consent that such transfers may occur and are permitted by this Privacy Policy, and that any acquirer of ours or that acquirer’s affiliates may continue to process your Personal Information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

Your Choices Regarding the Sharing of your Personal Information

Registered Users have control over what optional Personal Information they choose to share with us when utilizing our Services (such as pictures, certain details in a profile, etc.). Users choose what information is shared by creating/updating their profile.

Your Communication Choices

Members may initiate contact with you directly using the messaging features of the NRFA Site. You have an option at any time to stop permitting Members from initiating contact with you by cancelling your membership.

Changing or Removing your Personal Information and Closing your Account

If the Personal Information you provided when you registered changes, you may update this information by logging into your account and accessing your account settings. If you would like to remove some of the Personal Information you have posed on the Site, such as information you posed in your profile, you may do so by editing or deleting that item in your My Profile area.

If you no longer wish to participate in our Services, you may close your account directly in the Membership Information portion of your account.

If you close your NRFA account, we will remove your name and other Personal Information from our publicly viewable database. If you close your account, we have no obligation to retain your information, and may delete any or all of your account information without liability. However, we may retain information related to you if we believe it may be necessary to prevent fraud or future abuse, or for legitimate business purposes, such as analysis of aggregated, Non Personal Information, account recovery, auditing our records, enforcing our rights and obligations under our agreements or if required by law. NRFA may also retain and use your information if necessary, to provide the Services to other Registered Users. For example, just as an email you may send to another person through an email service provider resides in that person’s inbox even after you delete it from your sent files or close your account, emails you send to others through NRFA to other Users, may remain visible to others after you have closed your account. Similarly, other information you have shared with others, or that others have copied, may also remain visible. NRFA disclaims any liability in relation to the deletion or retention (subject to the terms herein) of information or any obligation not to delete the information. NRFA does not control when search engines update their search index or cache, which may contain certain job pos, profile or other information that has since been removed from NRFA’s Site.

Collection of Information from Children

NRFA’s Site and Services are not intended for individuals under the age of 18. Accordingly, NRFA does not knowingly collect, either online or offline, personal information from individuals under the age of 14.

How We Protect Information

We have implemented industry-recognized safeguards to help protect your information from unauthorized access. These safeguards include:

NRFA uses SSL (Secure Socket Layer), the industry standard method for computers to communicate securely without risk of manipulation or recipient impersonation. We utilize SSL in the online registration process, in the login process, and in the account management section of the Site.
NRFA uses strong encryption technology to protect sensitive information.
NRFA employs firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and system monitoring to protect against unauthorized access of our systems.

Your user accounts are also protected by the password you use to access your online account with NRFA, and we urge you to take seps to keep your password safe. If you feel your password has been compromised, you should change it immediately by logging into your account and visiting the Settings section. After you have finished using our Site, you should log out of your NRFA account and exit your browser.

WE TAKE THESE PRECAUTIONS IN AN EFFORT TO PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION AGAINST SECURITY BREACHES. HOWEVER, THIS IS NOT A GUARANTEE THAT SUCH INFORMATION MAY NOT BE ACCESSED, DISCLOSED, ALTERED, OR DESTROYED BY BREACH OF SUCH FIREWALLS AND SECURE SERVER SOFTWARE. BY USING OUR SITE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE TO ASSUME THESE RISKS.

Links to Other Websites

NRFA may provide links to other web sites that we believe may be of interest to our users. However, we are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by those web sites, nor are we responsible for the information or content they contain. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by us through NRFA; thus, when you use a link to go from our web site to another third-party web site, this policy is no longer in effect. We encourage our users to read the privacy policies of these other web sites before proceeding to use them.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

NRFA reserves the right to change this policy and our Terms of Service at any time. Changes or clarifications will take effect immediately upon posing of the updated policy on our Site. You should periodically check www.nrfa.org/privacy-policy for updates. Your use of the Site or the Services after such effective date will constitute acceptance by you of such changes.

Contact Us

If you have any questions on our Privacy Policy, you can contact us via email at support@nrfa.org, send us a live chat message, or call us at 855-508-4510.