Privacy Policy
Last updated May 3, 2023
Supporting the embryo donation journey
EM•POWER Donation LLC (EM•POWER, “we,” “us,” “our,” etc.) is dedicated to increasing awareness, empowering choice, and fostering understanding for everyone involved in the embryo donation process. Our goal is to provide you with tools to make informed decisions to help your journey be as smooth and manageable as possible.
Allowing users of our website – such as donors and recipients – to participate in the educational offerings, community supports, and matching service (as desired) requires us to gather personal information. We want to assure you that we treat your privacy and personal information with the care and responsibility they deserve and strive to be transparent about our personal information management practices. This Privacy Notice is part of our effort to achieve that.
When you visit our websites (https://empowerwithmoxi.com/ and www.moximatching.com) or use our software application (collectively, our "Website") to learn more about embryo donation, find resources that can support your journey, or seek a suitable embryo donation match, you will share your personal information in various ways. Sometimes we collect it directly from you on a voluntary basis. Other times, we use technology to automatically collect personal information. We also share personal information with a limited number of third parties with whom we work to simplify your experience with EM•POWER and make it more effective. We also may receive personal information from third parties, including providers of software tools and background-check services we use to deliver our services. Finally, certain resources provided through the Website, including most of our education and matching resources, are provided through third-party platforms; your creation of an account and access to certain features on these platforms may require you to consent to their terms and conditions.
No matter how we receive your personal information, you can be confident that we will handle it lawfully and in keeping with protecting your rights. We will never sell your personal information. We also want to give you information on the tools and options you have to manage your personal information.
This Notice applies to our Website, any sites that display these terms, the collection of personal information we receive from you by phone, email, at in-person events and from third parties once it is in our possession. This Notice does not apply to any website, mobile app, service, or product that does not display or link to this Privacy Notice or that contains its own privacy statement. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our services. By accessing our Website, perusing our resources, or seeking an embryo match on our platform, you agree to this Notice and the Terms of Use applicable to the services you use.
How we collect personal information
We may collect personal information from you directly or indirectly. When you create an account on our Website, for example, you provide personal information directly to us. You will also provide personal information directly to us if you choose to submit a driver’s license or other photo ID for verification purposes. Other times, personal information is collected automatically as you use the Website. We also may receive personal information from third parties with whom we work.
We collect personal information when you provide it
Depending on which of our resources you use, you will provide us with different types of personal information. When you:
Register for an account to use our educational resources, you will provide your name and email address and create a profile that includes a username and password to simplify subsequent visits. Most of our educational resources are provided on a third-party platform (Teach:able); as explained below, creating an account and accessing such resources may require you to agree to Teach:able's terms and conditions.
Want to search for an embryo match, either as a donor or recipient, you will provide your name and email address. You will create a profile that includes not only a username and password but establishes whether you’re looking to donate embryos or seeking donated embryos. You may choose to include medical details relevant to your search for a strong match. You may post photos or videos, along with text, in your profile that will reveal your gender and age, ethnic background, and physical description, among other identifying details. Including this personal information makes it more likely that a meaningful match between donors and recipients will be created. As explained in more detail below, our community platform and matching resources are hosted by third parties (Circle, Egg Donor Connect, and EDC Nexus). Joining these communities may require you to agree to Circle, Egg Donor Connect, and EDC Nexus’s terms and conditions.
Want to search for an embryo match as a recipient, you may choose to submit a driver’s license or other photo ID directly to us to verify your identity. You may also choose to complete a background check through a third party (Background Check Central). We will use the information you provide, and the information we receive from our background check vendor, to determine whether you are “verified” as a recipient. Verification status will be determined in our sole and absolute discretion based on our internal policies, which may be updated from time to time.
Want to search for an embryo match as a donor, you may choose to submit medical records and other personal information to verify certain health information (including information regarding embryos you intend to donate). Embryology reports verifying embryos will be required for all potential donors. These medical records and embryology reports will be uploaded to our Moxi Matching site, hosted by Egg Donor Connect – so again, you may be required to agree to Egg Donor Connect’s terms and conditions.
Sign up to receive our newsletters via email you will provide your name and email address so that we can send you our newsletters.
Are interested in participating in any of the support groups we offer, you will provide your name, email address, gender, age, pregnancy status, and the state where you reside. Certain support groups may require additional information depending upon the type of group you join and support necessary.
Allow us to share your story of embryo donation, either as a donor or recipient, you will provide your name, contact information, and photos or videos of you that we will share on our platform. Sharing your journey this way supports our mission to foster healthy relationships that involve embryo donation. Media in which you appear will include not only your gender and likeness but possibly ethnicity, residence location (typically not more specific than the city where you live), and other details about your life.
You may provide similar types of information in person, by phone or at events we sponsor (or in which we participate).
We collect personal information from third-party sources
We may collect personal information about you from our third-party providers, such as Circle, Background Check Central, Egg Donor Connect, EDC Nexus, Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Teach:able, and Stripe. These third parties help us maintain and provide resources through the Website, analyze traffic on it, handle email communications, and process payments.
We also may collect personal information from online social networks if you take part in a public conversation, for example, on Facebook or Instagram. We may collect personal information when you click “Share This” or “Like” buttons or otherwise use social media buttons or plug-ins.
We collect personal information using automated technologies
Sometimes personal information is collected by automated technologies and shared with us when visitors navigate through our Website. We may track your browsing actions and log your IP address.
Other automated collection technologies – such as cookies, beacons, tags, and scripts – are used by us to analyze trends, administer the Website, and track users’ movements around them. A “cookie” is a small text file that is stored on an individual’s computer and downloaded to the computer or mobile device when they visit a website. Cookies then send information back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognizes that same cookie.
Cookies perform different jobs, such as allowing you to navigate between website pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving a user’s experience on a website or with an app. We use different types of cookies on our Website:
Essential and Required Cookies. These are cookies that are required to make our Website function properly and cannot be turned off in our systems. If you block these cookies, portions of our Website may not function properly.
Performance and Functional Cookies. Performance and functional cookies allow us to count visits and sources of traffic on our Website so we can measure and improve their performance and functionality. They help us know which pages of our Website are most and least popular and how visitors move around the Website.
Social Media Cookies. These cookies allow you to share information using social media sharing buttons (such as the Facebook “Like”) on social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter. This information may be used by the social media network to deliver targeted advertising to you.
If you wish to opt out of allowing certain cookies, you may do so by changing your browser settings so that cookies from our Website cannot be set. Please note that if you delete, block, or otherwise restrict cookies, or use a different computer or Internet browser, you will need to renew your cookie management choices. You have the choice to refuse cookies by turning them off in your Internet browser.
Also note that certain cookies are necessary for our Website to function properly. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of our Website may not work properly if you block them. These cookies do not store any information that identifies you directly but are based on identifying your browser and internet device.
We will not knowingly collect information from anyone younger than 18 years
Our services are not intended to be used by anyone younger than 18 years old, and we will never knowingly collect personal information from anyone that age without the consent of a parent or legal guardian. If we become aware that personal information of anyone younger than 18 has been provided to us without that consent, for any purpose, we will delete the information from our files.
When using our matching services, some donors and recipients may include personal information about their children who are younger than 18. This is never required. But when parents choose to post such information, we deem that submission consent to disseminate it on our platform with the service used.
Do-not-track requests
Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” privacy preference. Generally, when a user turns on the Do Not Track Signal, their browser sends a message to websites requesting that the user not be tracked. Our Website currently does not respond to “Do Not Track” signals.
How we use personal information
We recognize that your personal information is important to you, so we want to be transparent about how we use it. As mentioned above, we primarily use personal information to educate, support, and allow users to match as they proceed through the embryo donation process and build connections. The matching process may involve extensive information sharing between us, potential donors, and recipients. In fact, you should expect that information regarding your background and health that you provide to us or one of our third-party platforms will be shared with potential matches you select. For example, potential donors may receive results from potential recipient’s background checks (e.g., information regarding criminal convictions). And potential recipients may receive health and other identifying details regarding potential donors and their embryos. We may also use information you provide to indicate whether you have successfully completed a background check or other screenings.
We also collect and use this information to provide easier, quicker access to our Website and secure the information you have provided. As users navigate the Website, their movements will be tracked and analyzed. Doing so allows us to improve their experiences and provide relevant content. We also use personal information:
To send marketing communications and educational newsletters through email.
To improve our services and the way the Website functions by aggregating personal information to analyze how users navigate through the Website, determine which features and pages are most popular, and increase engagement with our matching services. This personal information will be stripped of most identifying details.
To respond to support requests.
To detect fraud and provide access to the Website, as well as maintain their security and integrity.
To provide updates regarding the Website and marketing information, such as special promotions or surveys, etc.
To comply with legal and regulatory requirements applicable to our business and internal policies for maintaining records.
To protect all parties in the event of disputes.
To comply with court orders and legal processes, and to enforce the applicable Terms of Use and this Privacy Notice.
For any other legal, business, or marketing purposes that comply with the practices described in this Notice.
When we share personal information
Once your personal information is collected, as detailed above, we may share it with third parties for various reasons, including but not limited to:
Google Analytics, to study how users interact with our Website and keep it operating. This allows us to see what areas of our Website are most engaging and provide relevant and useful information to our visitors.
Mailchimp, to manage and facilitate email communications and support requests.
Stripe, to collect and process payments made by you.
Hosting our community, education, and matching resources (currently hosted by Circle, Teach:able, Egg Donor Connect, and EDC Nexus).
Performing background checks, if you choose to submit information for that purpose (currently, our background-check vendor is Background Check Central).
The third parties with whom we share personal information are required to limit the disclosure and uses of that information to the services they have agreed to perform for us and not for their own business purposes.
Third-Party Platforms
As noted above, certain resources provided through the Website, including most background check, community, education, support, and matching resources, are provided through third-party platforms. For example, we currently use Background Check Central for background checks. Teach:able is used for education, and Circle is used for community supports. Egg Donor Connect and EDC Nexus are used for our matching platform and donor registry. To create an account or access our content on these platforms, these third parties may require you to consent to their terms of use and privacy policies. Please review those carefully before proceeding – their practices may differ significantly from ours – and keep in mind that we have no control over these (or any other third party) practices or procedures. Background Check Central’s current privacy policy and terms of use can be found here: https://www.backgroundcheckcentral.com/privacy-policy/. Teach:able's current privacy policy and terms of use can be found here: https://teachable.com/privacy-policy; https://teachable.com/terms-of-use. Circle's current privacy policy and terms of service can be found here: https://app.circle.so/privacy; https://app.circle.so/terms. Egg Donor Connect’s current privacy policy and terms of use for the matching platform can be found here: https://www.eggdonorconnect.com/PrivacyPolicy/; https://www.eggdonorconnect.com/TermsOfUse/. EDC Nexus’s current privacy policy and terms of use for its donor registry can be found here: https://www.edcnexus.com/PrivacyPolicy/; https://edcnexus.com/TermsOfUse/.
If you make a public post (or otherwise agree that we can use your content), other users may see it
Our Website offers our community members the opportunity to submit and interact with a variety of multimedia content – including without limitation social-media posts, blog posts, podcasts, and webinars – with the intention of covering the experiences of those involved in the process of embryo donation. This helps meet our goal of fostering understanding among our community of users, no matter which role they play in embryo donation. Information you provide in connection with that content may be read, collected, and used by us and others who access it.
If you create a post on a third-party social media site, such as Instagram or Facebook, and identify us in your social media feed by tagging us using a hashtag (#) or “at” (@), your personal information may be publicly available and is subject to the privacy policies of those third-party social media sites. As a reminder, this Notice describes how we will treat your personal information once it is in our possession.
We recommend that you review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit to understand the data collection and practices of that third party.
We may share feedback you provide to us
We are a small organization that welcomes feedback and uses donors’, recipients’, and professionals’ testimonials to get the word out about our organization. That may include not only their embryo stories but photographs and videos. Submitting a testimonial to EM•POWER is deemed your consent to use it on our Website.
We also want to hear how we’re doing in general. If you have suggestions for improving our services or educational content, we want those as well. Please be aware that any feedback relating to services on our Website or social media channels may be publicly shared.
Eventual successors may access information
In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or other sale of all or a portion of our assets, any user information, including personal information, owned or controlled by us may be among the assets transferred to third parties as successors in interest. As part of this type of transaction, we reserve the right to transfer or assign your personal information to third parties. Other than to the extent ordered by a bankruptcy or other court, or as otherwise agreed to by you, the use and disclosure of all transferred user information will be subject to this Notice.
We need to comply with legal requirements
We may disclose your information to government authorities or other third parties if any lawful circumstances arise, including when:
You have given us permission to share your information.
We are required to do so by law, or in response to a subpoena or court order.
We believe in our sole discretion that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect against fraud, or to protect our property or other rights or those of other users of the Website, third parties, or the public at large.
We believe that you have misused the Website by using it to attack or gain unauthorized access to a system or to engage in spamming or other conduct that violates applicable laws or our Terms of Use.
How we secure personal information
We have implemented industry-accepted administrative, physical, and technology-based security measures to protect against loss, misuse, unauthorized access, and alteration of personal information in our systems.
While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, no method of transmission over the Internet or form of electronic storage is 100 percent secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
Questions or concerns about security or privacy protocols
If you have received unwanted or unsolicited email from us or purporting to be sent by us, please forward a copy of that email with your comments to hello@empowerwithmoxi.com for our review. Put “Unwanted Email” in the subject line. If you feel that any of our privacy practices or security standards detailed in this Privacy Notice have been violated, you may contact us (see Contact Us at the end of this Notice for additional details).
Your rights
We understand that you want to protect and control your personal information. This section details how you may review, update, correct, or delete that information.
Viewing or updating your personal information
You may update your name, contact information, email preferences, and other personal details by accessing your account on the Website.
Deactivating your account
You may deactivate your account at any time. To deactivate your account, please send an email to hello@empowerwithmoxi.com with “Deactivate Account” in the subject line. Upon receiving your request, we will deactivate your account and – except as noted below – delete personal information where allowed or required by applicable law.
If you have created a profile on a separate platform accessible through the Website (e.g., community, education, or matching), you will need to log into that platform (e.g., Circle, Teach:able,Egg Donor Connect, or EDC Nexus) to update your information or deactivate your account on that platform.
In some circumstances, you may be given the option to deactivate or "hide" your publicly accessible account without deleting it or the personal information associated with that account; this option (when made available to you) allows you to reactivate your account at a later time without the need to repopulate your personal information.
Please keep in mind that if you provide information to be published or displayed on the Website or third-party platforms accessible to other users, such information may be shared by those users and we are unable to control that. Such information may also be subject to a license you grant to us in the Terms of Use.
Opting out of promotional emails
If you do not wish to receive promotional emails from us, you may follow the unsubscribe process at the bottom of the promotional email you received or by emailing us at hello@empowerwithmoxi.com and putting “Unsubscribe” in the subject line. You still may receive transactional emails from us (such as emails related to the completion of your registration, correction of user data, password reset requests, reminder emails you have requested, and other similar communications) that may be necessary for us to make the Website available to you, respond to your support requests, or answer your inquiries about our services.
Our services are designed for users in the United States only
We currently do not offer our services to anyone outside of the United States, including without limitation in Canada, the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom. If we begin to offer our services to people in those geographic areas, we will update these terms to ensure we reflect any additional rights available under applicable laws. Those updates will be made available within this Privacy Notice, in accordance with those regulations.
California Consumer Rights
The California Privacy Rights Act provides specific rights to California residents. If you are a California-based consumer, as that term is defined under California law, this section will apply, in addition to all other applicable rights and information contained in this Notice:
You have the right to request that we provide you with the categories of personal information and the specific pieces of personal information we have collected and store about you.
You have the right to request that we correct or delete personal information we, or our service providers, store about you.
You have the right to opt out of certain types of data processing.
We will not discriminate or retaliate against you if you elect to exercise any rights under this section of our Privacy Notice.
You have the right to designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf.
Please see the “Identity Verification Requirement” section below for more information on our process for verifying that we have received a legally valid request.
If you are a California consumer and have additional questions based on this section of our Privacy Notice, email us at hello@empowerwithmoxi.com with “Exercise my Rights Under CPRA” in the subject line, or go to our online form located here.
Be sure to check this Notice for updates, as we will review it at least every 12 months and make necessary changes.
Identity verification requirement
The law requires us to verify that any request submitted was made by someone with the legal right to access the information. Therefore, before accessing or divulging any information pursuant to a data access request, we may request that you provide additional information so we can verify your identity and legal authority, particularly when the information provided with the request is insufficient to confirm legal authority and/or identity.
To make a request, please contact us at hello@empowerwithmoxi.com with “Personal Information Request” in the subject line and provide full details about your request, including your contact information and anything you believe is relevant. We will provide a response to an access request within the timeframes required by law. If we cannot substantively respond in a timely manner, we will notify you and provide the reason for the delay.
Under certain circumstances, we may not fulfill your request, such as when doing so would interfere with our regulatory or legal obligations, when we cannot verify your identity, if your request involves disproportionate cost or effort, or when the law allows us to retain that information. But we will respond to your request within a reasonable time, as required by law, and provide an explanation.
Updates
This Privacy Notice will be updated to reflect our personal information handling practices. It will be reviewed at least once every 12 months. We reserve the right to amend this Notice at any time, for any reason, without additional notice to you, other than through posting the updated Privacy Notice on our Website. We invite you to return to this page to ensure you are informed of any updates we make about how we collect, use, and protect personal information. You can see when this Privacy Notice was last updated by checking the “last updated” date displayed at the beginning of this Notice.
Contact Us
If you have questions about the way we handle personal information, please contact us:
EM•POWER Donation LLC
hello@empowerwithmoxi.com