Privacy Policy

Legal Services of Eastern Missouri’s Privacy Policy

Last updated October 2025

Legal Services of Eastern Missouri takes your privacy seriously, and we want you to know how we collect, use, share, and protect your personal information when using our website and SMS/MMS texting system.

This privacy policy tells you what information is being collected, how it is used, and your choices regarding personal information. Personal information is information that could reasonably be used to identify you individually, such as your name, e-mail address, mailing and billing addresses, and telephone number. It may also include information you provide to obtain services or information.

 

What Information Is Being Collected and How It Is Used:

Information Automatically Collected and Stored for Our Website

When you browse our website, we automatically collect and temporarily store the following information about your visit:

• the domain name you use to access the internet
• the type of browser and operating system you used
• the date and time of your activity
• the pages you visited
• the web address you used to visit our website

We use this information for statistical purposes only, to help make our website more efficient and accessible to visitors to analyze trends, gather broad demographic information, and monitor site traffic patterns that can help us further develop and improve the design and functionality of our site. Unless specifically stated otherwise, no additional personal information will be collected, unless you choose to provide that information to us.

Personally Provided Information For Our Website and SMS/MMS Texting System

When you use our website or SMS/MMS texting system, you may provide personal information to us. This personal information may include your name, e-mail address, mailing and billing addresses, telephone number, IP address, order/donation  information, credit card information, or other information you may choose to provide us with. If you choose to provide personal information about yourself, we will use the information only to respond to your request, or to fulfill the stated purpose of the communication. For example, we may use this information to
provide products or services, process FOIA requests, process donations, process event registration, create profiles or applications, send marketing or promotional communications (unless you have told us you do not wish to receive such communications), troubleshoot website and texting system technical issues, prevent, discovery, and investigate violations of this policy or concerns of fraud, chargebacks, or other matters, or to comply with the law or protect the rights, property, or safety of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, our users, or others, including
for network and information security, fraud prevention, or reporting suspected criminal acts. To ensure compliance with federal law, we do not knowingly collect or maintain information provided online by children under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13, you are not permitted to use the website or texting system.

Disclosure of Personal Information to Third Parties

We may use third parties to help us provide services to you. These services may include operating the website or texting system, monitoring activity on the website or texting system, and processing requests through the website or texting system. These services may also include auditors, lawyers, consultants, or accountants needed for the business purpose of auditing compliance with policies or applicable laws. These contracted third parties will only have access to personal information to the extent necessary and will be required not to use any personal information for any purpose other than providing such services. We will not otherwise disclose, share, or sell any personal information to third parties, unless disclosure is required by law, and will not disclose, share, or sell any personal information (including mobile phone numbers provided through the texting system) to third parties for marketing purposes.

Protection and Retention of Personal Information Collected

We have taken appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to, or unauthorized alteration, disclosure, or destruction of, personal information. These include internal reviews of our data collection, storage and processing practices, and security measures, including appropriate encryption and physical security measures to guard against unauthorized access to systems where personal data is stored. Further, credit card data is encrypted, transmitted to us securely, and restricted to certain staff members, and other personal information collected is likewise restricted to staff members with a business purpose for access to such information. Please note that despite our reasonable efforts, no security measure is ever perfect or impenetrable, so we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.

We will retain your personal information for no longer than is needed for the purposes for collecting it, including retention for the time necessary to establish, pursue, or defend legal claims. The duration of the retention period will depend on several factors, including, for example, the following: (a) the nature and duration of your relationship with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri; (b) the nature of your interaction with us; and (c) the length of any applicable statutory, regulatory or contractual retention requirement.

 

Your Choices Regarding Your Personal Information

We may send you certain communications relating to Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, such as administrative messages, marketing messages, donation messages, or event or services promotion messages. Legal Services of Eastern Missouri gives users the option to decline future communications by removing themselves from the list of subscribers through the unsubscribe process, or by emailing info@lsem.org.

 

Privacy Policy Updates and Contact

We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time without prior notice. We will post any privacy policy changes on this page. Your continued use of this website or the texting system shall constitute your acceptance of this privacy policy. However, if we materially change this privacy policy in a way that affects how we use or disclose your personal information, we will provide notice of such changes and the effective date of the changes before making them.

If you have any questions about our privacy policy, have a disability and need an alternative format of this privacy policy, or would like more information on this topic, please contact Legal Services of Eastern Missouri at info@lsem.org.