Terms, Conditions and Privacy Policy

This Site is jointly owned by Brahmananda Saraswati Trust and Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation (“BST/BSF,” “us,” “we”). Access to and use of vedicpandits.org (“Site,” “the Site,” and “this Site”) is subject to the following terms and conditions of use (“Terms and Conditions” and “these Terms and Conditions”) and all applicable laws. By accessing, using, or browsing the Site, applications and any of the features of this Site, including but not limited to Donations, API, software and other downloads (collectively “Services”), you (“you,” “User,” and “Users”) agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions and accept, without limitation or qualification, these Terms and Conditions and all terms, policies, guidelines, or other notices incorporated by reference, whether or not you are a member or donator to BST/BSF. If you do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, do not use or access this Site.
The term “Site” includes all websites and Web pages within vedicpandits.org as well as any equivalent, replacement, substitute, or backup websites or Web pages that are associated with the Site. These Terms and Conditions govern your use of this Site and do not alter in any way the terms or conditions of any other agreement you may have with BST/BSF. Any additional terms that govern certain products and services will be presented in conjunction with those products and services.
International Donors (as classified on the website) generally make donations to Stichting Brahmananda Saraswati Trust registered at Station 24, Vlodrop, 6063NP, The Netherlands; International and US donors make donations to Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation, 1100 North 4th Street, Suite 124, Fairfield, IA, 52556, USA, Phone + 1 641 209 5022. These Terms and Conditions apply regardless of which organization is the recipient of donations.

1. TERMS AND CONDITIONS
2. PRIVACY POLICY INTRODUCTION
3. WHY DO WE COLLECT YOUR DATA
4. DONATIONS – WHAT INFORMATION WE NEED
5. WHO SEES YOUR DATA?
6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
7. HOW LONG WE RETAIN THE DATA
8. DATA PROTECTION RIGHTS
9. HOW CAN YOU CHANGE OR ERASE YOUR DONATION INFORMATION?
10. DONATE TO A NON PROFIT
11. MAILINGS – TO STAY INFORMED
12. SIGNING UP FOR MAILINGS
13. MAILINGS FROM DR. HARRIS KAPLAN
14. JOINING A SOCIAL MEDIA GROUP IN YOUR COUNTRY
15. CHANGE YOUR CONTACT INFO OR UNSUBSCRIBE TO MAILINGS
16. OUR WEBSITES
17. GOOGLE ANALYTICS AND COOKIES
18. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
19. OUR CONTACT INFORMATION

1. Terms AND conditions

Use of this site is provided by BST/BSF and is subject to the following terms and conditions:

A. Your use constitutes acceptance of these terms and conditions as at the date of your first use of the site.

B. BST/BSF reserves the rights to change these terms and conditions at any time by posting changes online. Your continued use of this site after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of this agreement as modified.

C. There are no refunds on donations.

D. You agree to use this site only for lawful purposes, and in a manner which does not infringe the rights, or restrict, or inhibit the use and enjoyment of the site by any third party.

E. This site and the information, names, images, pictures, logos regarding or relating to BST/BSF are provided “as is” without any representation or endorsement made and without warranty of any kind whether express or implied. In no event will BST/BSF be liable for any damages including, without limitation, indirect or consequential damages, or any damages whatsoever arising from the use or in connection with such use or loss of use of the site, whether in contract or in negligence.

F. BST/BSF does not warrant that the functions contained in the material contained in this site will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that this site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or bugs or represents the full functionality, accuracy and reliability of the materials.

G. Copyright restrictions:

i. Commercial use or publication of all or any item displayed is strictly prohibited without prior authorization from BST/BSF.
Nothing contained herein shall be construed as conferring any license by BST/BSF to use any item displayed.
ii. Documents may be copied for personal use only on the condition that copyright and source indications are also copied, no modifications are made and the document is copied entirely. However, some documents and photos have been published on this site with the permission of the relevant copyright owners (who are not BST/BSF). All rights are reserved on these documents and permission to copy them must be requested from the copyright owners.
iii. By posting or submitting content on our site, you grant BST/BSF a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide licence to republish any material you submit to us, without limitation, in any format.

H. BST/BSF takes no responsibility for the content of external Internet sites. Other websites that we link to are owned and operated by third parties and BST/BSF has no control over them. The fact that we may include links to other websites does not mean that BST/BSF approves of or endorses any other third party website or the content of that website. We accept no liability for any statements, information, products or services that are published on or are accessible through any websites owned or operated by third parties.

I. Any organization or company profiled on personal or team fundraising pages are in support of individual participants or teams participating in BST/BSF. BST/BSF does not endorse any product or service by participant or team corporate associations unless specifically listed on the sponsorship page of our website.

J. Any communication or material that you transmit to, or post on, any public area of the site including any data, questions, comments, suggestions, or the like, is, and will be treated as, non-confidential and nonproprietary information.

K. BST/BSF accepts no liability in respect of any material publicly posted by users of this website, nor are we responsible for the content and accuracy of that material. Any views expressed in user-submitted content are not the views of BST/BSF.

L. BST/BSF reserves the right to terminate a user’s website account if we believe you are abusing the service in any way, or have breached these terms and conditions.

M. If there is any conflict between these terms and conditions and rules and/or specific terms of use appearing on this site relating to specific material then the latter shall prevail.

N. If these terms and conditions are not accepted in full, the use of this site must be terminated immediately.

2. Privacy Policy Introduction

Stichting Brahmananda Saraswati Trust (BST) and Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation (BSF) are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of our donors, website visitors and other individuals who communicate with BST/BSF.

The following Privacy Policy applies when you communicate with or donate to BST/BSF, either online or otherwise, as well as when you visit our sites, https://vedicpandits.org, http://material.vedicpandits.org and https://aro.vedicpandits.org/donate. This policy also applies when you request to receive our mailings and thus share your personal information with BST/BSF and its authorized agents, as discussed below.

The Ambassador Resource Office, of BST/BSF, located in the Netherlands, works with qualified, authorized representatives (called National Ambassadors) in each country.

If you have any questions please contact us at the email address, telephone number or postal address located at the bottom of this page.

3. WHY DO WE COLLECT YOUR DATA

We collect your personal data to process your donation; to communicate with you, including to respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests; to provide you with more relevant content in email newsletters to which you may be subscribed; to provide, maintain, personalize, optimize, and improve the Site, including research and analytics regarding use of the Site, or to remember you when you leave and return to the Site.

4. DONATIONS – WHAT INFORMATION WE NEED

When you donate to BST/BSF, we request certain personal data about you (such as your name, postal address, telephone number, email address.) If you want to donate by credit card then we will ask for credit card information. This information enables us to process your donation and communicate with you about it. For example, we will send you a receipt for your donation, and if you have an automatic monthly donation, we will notify you if your credit card charge does not go through.

5. WHO SEES YOUR DATA?

BST/BSF does not share your personal data without your consent with anyone else than mentioned in this Privacy Policy or if it is required to comply with a legal obligation

Donations Office personnel at BST/BSF can access your personal data so that they can generate accounting reports for BST/BSF management and your National Ambassador, and to respond to problems encountered by you at the donations websites.

After you donate, your country’s National Ambassador can see, in reports and at the Ambassador Resource Office website, only your name, email address, telephone number, postal address, amount of donation and transfer reference or comments if applicable. Your National Ambassador is trained to understand data protection and hence keep all your information confidential.

In case of a larger donation, and/or upon special request, your name and country of residence will be shared with Maharishi Ved Vigyan Vishwa Vidyapeetham in India who are performing the National Yagya for which you have donated. The employees of Maharishi Ved Vigyan Vishwa Vidyapeetham are trained to understand data protection and hence keep your information confidential.

6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER OF PERSONAL DATA

Personal data we collect from you may be collected, stored and processed jointly by BST and BSF. The General Data Protection Regulation of the EU (“GDPR”) provides that a transfer of personal data from an entity within the EU to an entity established in a non-EU country can take place through the provision of appropriate safeguards and on condition that enforceable rights and effective legal remedies are available for individuals. Such appropriate safeguards include contractual arrangements with the recipient of the personal data, using the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission.

For this purpose, such contractual arrangements as approved by the European Commission are in place between BST and BSF to ensure effective legal remedies to you in relation to the processing of Personal Information.

7. HOW LONG DO WE RETAIN THE DATA

We retain the personal data that we collect from you only as long as required. Your information is retained in electronic or paper format or both. When it is no longer required, it will be deleted or destroyed.

Should you wish to obtain information on the specific retention period of any personal data we hold on you, please contact us.

8. DATA PROTECTION RIGHTS

Related to the personal data we hold about you, you have the following rights:

• to request information which personal data we have collected about you
• to request rectification of inaccurate or incomplete personal data
• to request being removed from our systems, unless processing of your personal data is necessary, e.g. for compliance with our legal obligations (e.g. tax)
• to request restriction of the processing of your personal data
• to receive your personal data you provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format
• to revoke the consent you granted at any time
• to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

For further questions related to your Data Protection Rights feel free to contact us.
Please note that we may ask you to verify your identity before responding to any requests related to your personal rights mentioned above.

9. HOW CAN YOU CHANGE OR ERASE YOUR DONATION INFORMATION?

When you donate online to BST/BSF we create an account for you.

If you signed up for an automatic monthly donation, you may change or cancel it at any time. You can contact us via email at contact@vedicpandits.org and we will help you make those changes.

10. DONATE TO A NON-PROFIT IN YOUR COUNTRY?

BST/BSF work together with organisations affiliated with teaching the Transcendental Meditation technique in many countries. Some of those organisations are registered charities in their countries. When available, you may choose to donate to the programmes of BST/BSF through the organisation in your country. If you do so, your donation will be processed by that organisation and not by BST/BSF.

11. MAILINGS – TO STAY INFORMED

If you opt to receive mailings from the National Ambassador of your country those mailings may be sent from MailChimp, which is a service provider for newsletter management. Or the emails may come directly from the Ambassadors’ email programme. Communications from your National Ambassador will relate to the following topics:

• BST/BSF fund-raising campaigns for National Yagyas,
• Special Yagyas,
• Courses at the Brahmastan of India,
• Promotions for the Maharishi Veda App,
• Monthly Open Yagya Day and
• Conference calls directly relating to the support of the Global Peace Initiative and the Maharishi Vedic Pandit Programme

12. SIGNING UP FOR MAILINGS

You may directly contact your National Ambassador to request to be added to the mailing list.
Click here to find the name and email address of the National Ambassador in your country.

13. MAILINGS FROM DR. HARRIS KAPLAN

You may choose to sign up to receive regular newsletters from Dr. Harris Kaplan, the CEO of BST/BSF. Click here to go to the newsletter subscription page. The emails are sent using iContact, which is a service provider for newsletter management. Communications from Dr. Kaplan relate to the following topics:

• progress reports about the campus at the Brahmastan of India,
• links to eBooks, eCards and audio files with special Vedic recitations,
• invitations to attend courses at the Bijauri Campus at the Brahmastan of India,
• Promotions for the Maharishi Veda App,
• promotions to support the National Yagya and Special Yagya Programmes.

14. JOINING A SOCIAL MEDIA GROUP IN YOUR COUNTRY

If you opt to join your Ambassador’s WhatsApp group or Facebook group or any other means of social media tools, your WhatsApp name and Facebook name will be stored on the Ambassador’s database. You will receive messages about our National Yagya Programme, Special Yagya Programme, courses at the Brahmasthan of India, promotions for the Veda App and events including the monthly Ambassador Receptions and conference calls directly relating to the support of the Maharishi Vedic Pandit Programme

15. CHANGE YOUR CONTACT INFO OR UNSUBSCRIBE TO MAILINGS

You can unsubscribe from our emails at any time through the unsubscribe link at the end of most emails or by contacting your National Ambassador. You may stop seeing any social media advertising through your settings on those sites.

If you want to make any changes to how we keep in touch, please let us know by contacting your Ambassador or sending us an email: contact@vedicpandits.org. It may take a few days before your requested changes are updated on our lists.

Our Ambassadors will always respect your requests. If, at any time, you decide you want to hear from your Ambassador more, less, or in different ways please let them know. They will be happy to help.

16. OUR WEBSITES

BST/BSF uses industry-standard tools, such as firewalls and Secure Socket Layers (SSL), to safeguard the confidentiality of your personally identifiable information. We make every effort to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control.

In addition, we always use a secure connection when collecting personal financial information from you and conform to PCI standards. All forms which request credit card or bank details use the SSL protocol for encryption. Most web browsers (e.g. Microsoft Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, etc.) support SSL. The link between your web browser and the server is secure if your web browser displays a small padlock or key symbol somewhere in the frame, or the address bar shows a web address beginning https:// (rather than http://).

17. GOOGLE ANALYTICS AND COOKIES

Our websites use Google Analytics code to gather statistical information. Google Analytics sets cookies to help us accurately estimate the number of visitors to the websites and the volumes of usage of the websites. This is done to ensure that the websites are available when you want them and are fast.

a) We do not send your personal information to Google Analytics.
b) We anonymize the IP addresses that we send to Google Analytics. 
c) We will retain the data collected by Google Analytics for 12 months.

Strictly Necessary Cookies
These include session and load balancer cookies. A load balancer may be used by our websites to store an identifier on your browser to ensure that, where possible, you remain connected to the same web server throughout your visit to improve your experience. Session cookies enable our individual web servers to keep track of your progress throughout your visit. These cookies expire when you leave the website and contain no personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies
The cookies set by Google Analytics are used to help us gather information about how this website is used by its visitors. The information is not personally identifiable.

We use this information to help us improve services and to better understand your requirements. Google Analytics is a free service, provided by Google, and uses several cookies. More information on the cookies that are set through our use of Google Analytics can be found on Google’s Cookies & Google Analytics page. If you wish to disable these cookies then please use the opt-out browser add-on supplied by Google. You can also alternatively set your browser to reject all or certain cookies. Disabling cookies set by Google Analytics will provide no reduced service to you, but it will mean that we will not be able to capture detailed information about the experience of our users online, nor will we be able to track and improve the level of service our website is providing to users.

YouTube and Vimeo Cookies
Some of our web pages contain embedded video content from YouTube and Vimeo. When you visit a page with an embedded YouTube or Vimeo video, or click to view the video, you may be presented with cookies from YouTube. We do not control the setting of these cookies. To find out more please visit YouTube and Vimeo’ embedding videos information page.

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them please visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

For more information on how Google Analytics processes information, visit “www.google.com/analytics”.

18. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Thus, you are advised to review this page periodically for any changes. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. These changes are effective immediately after they are posted on this page.

19. OUR CONTACT INFORMATION

Marinela Lata
Data Protection Coordinator
Brahmananda Saraswati Trust registered at Station 24, Vlodrop, 6063NP, The Netherlands,
You can email Marinela. marinela.aro@gmail.com

Helen Scarff
Data Protection Coordinator
Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation, 1100 N 4th St Ste 124, Fairfield IA 52556, USA, Phone + 1 641 209 5022.
You can email Helen. helen@bsf-international.org