Privacy Policy

Date Privacy Policy Last Modified/Reviewed: September 8, 2025

INTRODUCTION
This Policy will inform you of AIA California’s (“AIA California” or “We”) practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing your Personal Information when you visit our website https://architectshelp.org/architectconnect/ (our “Website”) or use any of our online services (for example, to register for webinars) (collectively, the Website and online services are referred to as the “Services”).

Please read this Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your Personal Information and how we will treat it. By accessing or using our Services, you agree to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Services because we will not be able to perform the services. 

1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION
PURPOSE OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY
This Privacy Policy aims to give you information on how AIA California collects and processes your Personal Information through your use of the Services. This Policy applies to Personal Information we collect on this Website.

CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY AND YOUR DUTY TO INFORM US OF CHANGES
We post any changes we make to our Privacy Policy on this page. If we make material changes to how we treat our users’ Personal Information, and you are an architecture firm, representative of an architecture firm, or an architecture firm employee, or a member of the general public providing us with an email address, we will notify you through a notice on the Website home page or by sending an email to the email address you provided to us. Your continued use of our Services following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes to our Privacy Policy.

If you are required to provide an email address in the process of setting up an architecture firm account OR a member of the public sharing your email address so that we can contact you further, you are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable e-mail address for you, and for periodically visiting our Services and this privacy policy to check for any changes. It is important that the Personal Information, and importantly, the contact information we hold about you is accurate and current.  Please keep us informed if your Personal Information changes during your relationship with us.

The date the Privacy Policy was last revised is identified at the top of this page. 

2. THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
“Personal Information” means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified, or that relates to, describes, references or is reasonably capable of being associated with the individual.  It does not include data where the person’s identity has been removed.

We collect several types of Personal Information from and about users of our Services, including the following to fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information:

  • Identity Data such as first name and last name
  • Contact Data such as email address and mailing address
  • Technical/Network Data such as internet protocol (IP) addresses, your login data, your internet connection, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser history, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and information about the equipment (computer or mobile device) you use to access our Services.
  • Profile Data such as details specific to the user’s profile/account.
  • Usage Data such as information about how you use our Services.
  • Marketing and Communications Data such as your preferences in receiving marketing from us and any third parties, and your communication preferences.
  • Geolocation Data such as physical location or movements.
  • Sensory Data such as audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information.
  • Professional/Employment-related Data such as current or past clients.


We also may collect, use, and share de-identified Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose.  Although Aggregated Data may be derived from your Personal Information, it is not considered Personal Information because it does not directly or indirectly identify you.  For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific Service.  However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your Personal Information so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we will treat the combined data as Personal Information which will be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We collect Technical/Network Data. As you navigate through and interact with our Services, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain Technical/Network Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. 

We do not maintain or associate the Technical/Network Data we collect with your Personal Information.  The Technical/Network Data helps us to improve our Services and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:

  • Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
  • Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Services according to your individual interests.
  • Speed up your searches.
  • Recognize you when you return to our Services.

3. THIRD-PARTY USE OF COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES.
Some content or applications, including advertisements and links (if any), on our Services are served by third parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers and application providers. These third parties may use cookies or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our Services. Clicking on third party links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you.  The information they collect may be associated with your Personal Information or they may collect information about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.  We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements/notices.  When you leave our Services (including the Website), we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit and every application you use.

4. SHARING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.  We may also disclose Personal Information that we collect or you provide as described in this Policy with the parties described below:

  • To contractors, service providers and other third parties we use to support our business activities and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep Personal Information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
  • To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution or other sale or transfer of some or all of AIA California’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation or similar proceeding, in which Personal Information held by AIA California about our Services’ users is among the assets transferred.
  • To third parties to market their products or services to you if you have consented to or not opted out of these communications.

5. CHILDREN AND PRIVACY
Our website and services are not directed at children under the age of 13.  If you believe that we have inadvertently collected information from a child under the age of 13, please contact AIA California at the Contact Information provided below.

6. YOUR CHOICES ABOUT HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION  
We strive to provide you with choices regarding the Personal Information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:

  • Cookies, Tracking Technologies and Advertising. A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this Website may then be inaccessible or not function properly. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website. 
  • Do Not Track (DNT) Signals. AIA California does not use automated technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services to provide targeted advertising and therefore does not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals.
  • Disclosure of Your Information for Third-Party Advertising. We do not share your Personal Information with any unaffiliated third parties for advertising purposes.
  • Updates and Promotional Offers from AIA California. If you do not wish to have your e-mail address used by AIA California to promote or provide updates about our own or third parties’ products or services, you can opt-out by sending us an e-mail stating your request to the e-mail address provided below in the Contact Information section. If we have sent you a marketing or promotional e-mail, you may send us a return e-mail asking to be omitted from future e-mail distributions. This opt out does not apply to communications with AIA California as a result of your usage of website services.

YOUR RIGHTS UNDER CALIFORNIA LAW
California Civil Code Section § 1798.83 permits users of our Services that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please e-mail us at the address listed in the Contact Information section below.

7. SECURITY
We use industry-standard methods of securing electronic databases of Personal Information designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of the data transmitted to or through our Services. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Services. To help protect yourself, please use a strong password, do not use the same password to access your account that you use with other accounts or services, and protect your usernames and passwords to help prevent others from accessing your accounts and services.

8. CONTACT INFORMATION
To ask questions or comment about this Policy and our privacy practices, please reach us by email us at: mail@aiacalifornia.org or by telephone: 916.448.9082