Privacy Policy

Updated April 28, 2020: Publication of Privacy Policy w/ Cookie policy to comply with GDPR and eprivacy.

Your privacy is critically important to us. At Foundation, we have a few fundamental principles:

• We are thoughtful about the personal information we ask you to provide and the personal information that we collect about you through the operation of our services.
• We store personal information for only as long as we have a reason to keep it.
• We aim to make it as simple as possible for you to control what information on your website is shared publicly (or kept private), indexed by search engines, and permanently deleted.
• We aim for full transparency on how we gather, use, and share your personal information.

Who We Are and What This Policy Covers

Howdy! We are the folks behind a variety of products and services under the Foundation Marketing Services Inc brand.

This Privacy Policy applies to information that we collect about you when you use:

• Our websites (including rosssimmonds.com, foundationinc.com, hustleandgrind.co, getcrate.co);

Throughout this Privacy Policy we’ll refer to our websites collectively as “Services.”

Below we explain how we collect, use, and share information about you, along with the choices that you have with respect to that information. Please note that this Privacy Policy does not apply to any of our products or services that have a separate privacy policy. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us.

Information We Collect

We only collect information about you if we have a reason to do so–for example, to provide our Services, to communicate with you, or to make our Services better. We collect information in three ways: if and when you provide information to us, automatically through operating our services, and from outside sources. Let’s go over the information that we collect.

Information You Provide to Us

It’s probably no surprise that we collect information that you provide to us. The amount and type of information depends on the context and how we use the information. Here are some examples:

• Basic Account Information: We ask for basic information from you in order to access certain files or resources. For example, we require individuals who sign up for our newsletter to provide their name and email address. You may provide us with more information–but we don’t require that information to create your account.
• Public Profile Information: If you have an email with us, we collect the information that you provide for your public profile. For example, if you have a WordPress.com account, your username is part of that public profile, along with any other information you put into your public profile. Your public profile is just that–public–so please keep that in mind when deciding what information you would like to include.
• Transaction and Billing Information: If you buy something from us–a resource or ebook, for example–you will provide additional personal and payment information that is required to process the transaction and your payment, such as your name, credit card information, and contact information. We will also keep track of the date you purchased.
• Content Information: Depending on the Services you use, you may also provide us with information about you in comments or in response to an email. For example, if you write a comment that includes biographic information about you, we will have that information, and so will anyone with access to the Internet, if you choose to publish the comment publicly. This might be obvious to you…but it’s not to everyone!
  
• Communications with Us (Hi There!): You may also provide us information when you respond to forms, surveys, emails, communicate with our team about our content or post a question about your business in comments.

Information We Collect Automatically

We also collect some information automatically:

• Log Information: Like most online services, we use third parties to collect information surrounding your web browsers, mobile devices, and other information typically made available, such as the browser type, IP address, unique device identifiers, language preference, referring site, the date and time of access, operating system, and mobile network information. We have implemented reCAPTCHA on our website – this use of reCAPTCHA is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
• Usage Information: We collect information about your usage of our Services. For example, we collect information about the actions that are taken on our site and cross-reference with other data–in other words, who downloaded a resource, did what, when and to what thing on a site (e.g., [RossSimmonds.com buyer 1] visited “[title of post]” at [time/date]). We also collect information about what happens when you use our site (e.g., page views, resource downloads, button clicks) along with information about your device (e.g., mobile screen size, name of cellular network, and mobile device manufacturer). We use this information to, for example, provide our Services to you, as well as get insights on how people use our Services, so we can make our Services better.
• Location Information: We may determine the approximate location of your device from your IP address. We collect and use this information to, for example, calculate how many people visit our Services from certain geographic regions.
• Information from Cookies & Other Technologies: A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. Pixel tags (also called web beacons) are small blocks of code placed on websites and e-mails. Our services use cookies and other technologies like pixel tags to help us identify and track visitors, usage, and access preferences for our Services, as well as track and understand e-mail campaign effectiveness and to deliver targeted ads.

How We Use Information

We use information about you as mentioned above and as follows:

• To provide our Services–for example, to access content, receive regular emails or charge you for any of our paid Services;
• To further develop our Services–for example by adding new features that we think our users will enjoy or will help them to achieve their goals in business;
• To monitor and analyze trends and better understand how users interact with our Services, which helps us improve our Services and make them easier to use and better for you;
• To monitor and protect the security of our Services, detect and prevent fraudulent transactions and other illegal activities, fight spam, and protect the rights and property of Foundation Marketing Services Inc;
• To communicate with you about offers and promotions offered by our web properties and others we think will be of interest to you, solicit your feedback, or keep you up to date on our services and our products; and
• To personalize your experience using our Services, provide quality content and serve relevant advertisements.

Sharing Information

How We Share Information

We do not sell our users’ private personal information. We share information about you in the limited circumstances spelled out below and with appropriate safeguards on your privacy:

• Subsidiaries, Employees, and Independent Contractors: We may disclose information about you to our subsidiaries, our employees, and individuals who are our independent contractors that need to know the information in order to help us provide our Services or to process the information on our behalf. We require our subsidiaries, employees, and independent contractors to follow this Privacy Policy for personal information that we share with them.
• Third-Party Vendors: We may share information about you with third-party vendors who need to know information about you in order to provide their services to us. This group includes vendors that help us provide our Services to you (like payment providers that process your credit and debit card information) and those that help us understand and enhance our Services (like analytics providers). We require vendors to agree to privacy commitments in order to share information with them.
• As Required by Law: We may disclose information about you in response to a subpoena, court order, or other governmental requests.
• To Protect Rights and Property: We may disclose information about you when we believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Foundation Marketing Services Inc, third parties, or the public at large. For example, if we have a good faith belief that there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury, we may disclose information related to the emergency without delay.
• Business Transfers: In connection with any merger, sale of company assets, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company, or in the unlikely event that Automattic goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, user information would likely be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. If any of these events were to happen, this Privacy Policy would continue to apply to your information and the party receiving your information may continue to use your information, but only consistent with this Privacy Policy.
• With Your Consent: We may share and disclose information with your consent or at your direction. For example, we may share your information with third parties with which you authorize us to do so, such as the social media services that you connect to your site to comment on our blog feature.
• Aggregated and De-Identified Information: We may share information that has been aggregated or reasonably de-identified so that the information could not reasonably be used to identify you. For instance, we may publish aggregate statistics about the use of our Services.

Information Shared Publicly

Information that you choose to make public is–you guessed it–disclosed publicly. That means, of course, that information like your comments that you make public on our websites are all available to others.

Security

While no online service is 100% secure, we work very hard to protect information about you against unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction, and take reasonable measures to do so.

Privacy Policy Changes

Although most changes are likely to be minor, we may change our Privacy Policy from time to time, and to our own sole discretion. We encourage visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to our Privacy Policy.

About This Privacy Policy

Our appreciation to Automattic Inc. for making their privacy policy available under a Creative Commons Sharealike license. We have used their privacy policy as the basis for ours. Read the Automattic Inc. privacy policy.

Disclosure Policy

At Foundation Marketing, we prioritize transparency and integrity. To comply with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines, we want to ensure that you understand our relationships with third parties and how we may be compensated for the content and services we provide.

Advertising and Sponsorship

Some content on our website, emails, and social media channels may be sponsored or contain affiliate links. This means we may receive a commission or other compensation when you click on these links or make a purchase through them. Sponsored content will be clearly identified, and we will always provide our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on these topics or products, regardless of sponsorship or affiliate status.

Product Reviews and Recommendations

Our product or service reviews are based on our own experiences and research. We do not accept payments or incentives for writing positive reviews. If we receive a product or service for free or at a discount in exchange for a review, we will disclose this information clearly within the content.

Affiliate Links

Some links on our website and in our emails are affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. We only promote products or services that we believe will provide value to our audience. These affiliate links will be clearly disclosed.

Sponsored Content

We may partner with companies to create sponsored content. Sponsored content will always be clearly marked as such, and we will ensure it aligns with our values and the interests of our audience. We maintain editorial control over the content and ensure it reflects our honest opinions.