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Privacy Policy

Effective Date: October 1, 2025 | Last Updated: November 13, 2025

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The School of Urban and Regional Planning Alumni Association (SURPA) is committed to protecting the privacy of our website visitors, members, and the entire alumni community. This policy outlines how we collect, use, and protect information when you use our website, which is hosted on the Wix platform.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information primarily to manage our alumni relations, provide services, and administer the Association. The information collected falls into two categories:

 

A. Information You Voluntarily Provide (Personal Information)

 

This information is collected when you interact with us through forms on our Wix site, such as:

  • Membership & Registration Forms: Name, email address, phone number, mailing address, SURP graduation year, and degree(s).

  • Contact Forms: Name, email, and the content of your message.

  • Donation Pages: Your name, contact details, and donation amount. (Note: Financial data like credit card numbers are handled by third-party payment processors run by Toronto Metropolitan University [TMU], and are not stored by SURPA or on the Wix site.)

  • ​Event Ticket Pages: All purchases made on our Wix-business cart pages are disposed of immediately, and only the name/company name, email(s), address, ticket number(s), and ticket type is saved. 

  • SURPA Shop Page: All purchases made on our Wix-business cart pages are disposed of immediately, and only the name, email, address, sku number, size, and colour is saved. 

  • Newsletter Sign-ups: Your name and email address.

 

B. Automatically Collected Information (Non-Personal)

 

As our website is hosted on Wix, certain technical and usage data is automatically collected by Wix, and accessible to us, to help run and improve the site:

  • Log Data: IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, pages visited, time spent on pages, and referring URL.

  • Cookies and Tracking: Wix uses cookies (small data files stored on your browser) for essential functions, site analytics, and user experience. Please refer to Section 5 for more details on cookies.

2. How We Use Your Information

SURPA uses the information collected for the following purposes:​​

Communication:

To send you newsletters, event invitations, updates about the School and Association activities, and respond to your inquiries.

Administration:

To manage event registrations, purchases, and maintain an accurate alumni database.

Development:

To process and acknowledge donations and manage fundraising campaigns.

Website Improvement:

To analyze website traffic, identify popular content, journey-map and troubleshoot site issues to enhance the user experience.

Legal Compliance:

To comply with legal obligations and protect the rights and safety of SURPA and our members.

3. How Wix Handles Data

As our website host, Wix plays a role in data processing:

  • Wix Servers: Your personal data (submitted via forms) is stored on Wix’s secure servers.

  • Data Processing: Wix acts as a data processor, providing us with the tools to manage and access the data you submit through the site.

  • Wix Privacy Policy: We encourage you to review the Wix Privacy Policy for details on their data security and hosting practices.

4. Disclosure of Information (Sharing)

SURPA does not sell or rent your personal information. We only share information in the following limited circumstances:

  • Service Providers: We share necessary data with third parties that perform services on our behalf (e.g., email service providers, event management platforms). These providers are contractually required to protect your data.

  • Affiliated Institutions: Limited academic and contact data may be shared with the School of Urban and Regional Planning or the central University Alumni Office to coordinate alumni activities, consistent with institutional agreements.

  • Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required to do so by law, court order, or governmental authority.

5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our Wix website uses various cookies:

Essential (Strictly Necessary):

Functionality:

Required for the basic operation of the website (e.g., security, user login, site navigation).

Helps remember your preferences and settings (e.g., language, viewing preferences).

Analytics (Performance):

Allows us to collect data on how visitors use our site, which helps us improve performance.

You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings, including refusing or deleting cookies. However, note that disabling essential cookies may impact the website's functionality.

6. Data Security and Retention

  • Security: We take reasonable security measures, utilizing the protections offered by the Wix platform (including SSL encryption) and internal procedures, to guard your personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse.

  • Retention: We retain your personal information for as long as your membership is active, or as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy, or as required by law.

7. Your Privacy Rights and Choices

You have the following rights regarding your personal data:

  • Access and Correction: You may request access to the personal information we hold about you and request that we correct any inaccuracies, or dispose it.

  • Opt-Out of Communications: You may choose to stop receiving our marketing or promotional emails by clicking the "unsubscribe" link located at the bottom of our emails. This will not stop essential transactional emails (e.g., event confirmation receipts).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information in Section 8.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data handling practices, please contact us:

SURPA Privacy Contact Email: surpa@torontomu.ca

Mailing Address: 105 Bond Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5B 1Y3

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