Privacy Policy

Last Updated: January 11, 2023 

Reel Works is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a charitable mission of mentoring and empowering underserved New York City youth to share their stories through filmmaking. MediaMKRS is the workforce development program within Reel Works, in partnership with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, the City University of New York, media companies, and unions, that trains and prepares talented New Yorkers for careers in media and entertainment. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, the terms “Reel Works” or “we” or “us” or “our” shall mean Reel Works or MediaMKRS.

We carry out our mission by facilitating and offering programs and services through (i) our websites at www.reelworks.org, www.mediamkrs.org, including the MediaMKRS talent portal at http://talent.mediamkrs.org/ (the “Websites”), (ii) an after-school program where we pair teens with professional filmmaker-mentors to create original short documentaries, narrative and experimental films, (iii) an in-school program, which brings the power of our award-winning workshops into the classrooms of New York City public schools, and (iv) a workforce development program (collectively our “Services”). We also welcome you to support our mission by making a donation to Reel Works (“Donations”). This privacy policy (this “Privacy Policy”) provides our general privacy terms and also specifically explains our information collection and use practices relating to the following: (i) the Websites, (ii) Services (as defined above), and (iii) any Donations you may make to us. This Privacy Policy covers our operations in the U.S. but does not cover information that we collect regarding our employees.

This Privacy Policy describes the information we collect, the purposes for which we use such information, the parties and circumstances in which we may share such information, and your choices with respect to such information. To the extent permitted by applicable law, your use of our Services constitutes your acknowledgment and/or consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy. 

I. Our Collection of Personal Information

In order to better provide you with the Services and the best possible experience, we may collect, process, and store “personal information” about you. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, “personal information” includes, but is not limited to, name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, profile information, and any other information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could be reasonably linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer, device or household. It does not include de-identified or aggregate information, or public information lawfully available from governmental records.

We do not collect identifying information about you (such as your name, address, or telephone number) unless you voluntarily submit that information to us by corresponding with us or interacting with our Services. You can always decline to provide personal information to us – it is your choice, and you are under no obligation to provide such information. However, if you decide not to provide such information, then you may not be able to access or use certain Services, or request or access certain information or materials from us.

Below is a list of the types of personal information we collect and how we collect such information.

a.From Participants in Our In-School Programs

If your school participates in our in-school program, we may provide certain courses or workshops in certain classrooms, which are taught by professional filmmakers. For our in-school program, we collect limited personal information about you. For instance, we may collect your name, school, and grade level. If you are also part of our workforce development program, we may collect information about your MediaMKRS Badges to track the completion of certain skills. For in-person programs, we may also collect and store copies of vaccination cards from our instructors to verify proof of vaccination.

b. From Participants in Our After-School Programs

We offer a wide array of after-school programs where we pair teens with professional filmmaker-mentors to create original short documentaries, narrative and experimental films. These programs include our Film School Fridays, the Documentary Lab, the Documentary Fellows, the Narrative Lab, the Narrative Fellows, the Summer Lab, the Supported Summer Lab, and the Career Lab. We collect limited personal information about you when you complete an interest survey in order to participate in our after school programs. For instance, we may collect your name, contact information, birthdate, grade level, and film interests. For in-person programs, we may also collect and store copies of vaccination cards from our filmmaker-mentors and/or instructors to verify proof of vaccination.

c. From Participants in Our Workforce Development Program

For our MediaMKRS workforce development program, we partner with various organizations (including the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, the City University of New York, media companies, and unions) to train, credential, and prepare talented New Yorkers for careers in media and entertainment. If you choose to participate, we may collect personal information about you when you complete various applications in order to participate in this program. This may include your name, contact information (such as your email address, phone number and home/office address), government identifiers (such as a copy of your state identification or driver’s license card or Social Security number), birthdate, education or work experience history, relevant certifications (e.g., OSHA), official pieces of mail to prove residency (e.g., redacted bank statements, utility bills), and if applicable, proof of work eligibility (e.g., visa, permanent resident card, passport). We may also collect personal information about you when you complete a profile for our alumni portal (available at talent.mediamkrs.org), including your profile picture, job history, contact information, personal website, and/or LinkedIn profile website. For in-person programs, we may also collect and store copies of vaccination cards from our participants to verify proof of vaccination.

d. From Our Mentors and Volunteers

When you apply to be a mentor or volunteer with us, we may collect personal information about you, including your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, your preferred method of contact, your age, gender pronouns, race or ethnicity, information about your volunteer interests, information about your educational and work background and skills, and additional information about your interests or which you may choose to provide. Please note that Reel Works requires that all prospective mentors get fingerprinted by the NYC Department of Education, with appointment scheduling facilitated by the Personnel Eligibility Tracking System (PETS) portal. Prior to being matched with a teen, prospective mentors are also required to consent to a background check.

e. From Job Applicants

When you apply for a job with us, we may collect personal information about you that you submit to us in your resume and cover letter, including your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, information about your career interests, information about your educational and work background and skills, and any additional information about your interests or which you may choose to provide.

f. From Our Donors

When you donate to us through our donation page either as an individual or on behalf of an institution, we may collect personal information about you, including your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, donation amount, gift frequency, and payment information. We may also collect tribute information, comments, and other information if you choose to provide such information. We may collect this information through third-party vendors (such as payment processors like Stripe). As described further below, the provided information will be subject to these vendors’ privacy policies.

g. From Our Mailing List Subscribers, Event Attendees, and Social Media Pages

When you subscribe to our mailing or outreach lists or register for an event (including our gala), we may collect personal information about you, including your name, email address, and telephone number. We will use this information to provide you with updates concerning our programs and events. We sometimes use videoconferencing platforms to record events and meetings. In such cases, we provide notice of the recording to event and meeting attendees and participants prior to recording. We may also obtain your personal information, including your social media identity, posted content, and other data relating to our official social media pages on the Internet (for example, if you post, Like, or otherwise interact with our Facebook page, we may process that information). 

h. From Visitors to Our Websites: Cookies and Automatic Data Collection

As you navigate, use, or otherwise interact with our Websites, we may use automatic data collection or tracking technologies to collect certain information about your equipment and browsing actions, including without limitation: (i) information about your computer or mobile device and Internet connection, including your IP address or other device address or ID, web browser and/or device type, hardware and software settings and configurations; (ii) details about your visit to the Websites, including resources you use on the Websites and other traffic data (i.e., the web pages or sites that you visit just before or just after visiting the Websites, the pages you view on the Websites, your actions on the Websites, and the dates and times that you visit, access, or use the Websites); and (iii) your location at the time of your visit (only to the city level). We may also use Cookies (as defined below) and other tracking technologies to collect information about your online activities.

“Cookies” are small text files that are stored on browsers or devices by websites, apps, online media, and advertisements. Cookies can be divided into two different types: session and persistent. Session cookies differ from persistent Cookies primarily in that session Cookies are temporary and expire and are typically deleted when you close your browser. Persistent Cookies, in contrast, remain stored on your computer after you close your browser until they are deleted either because they expire or you delete them. We use session Cookies and persistent Cookies on our Websites and may provide these in an anonymized form to our service providers.

We also use Cookies and other online tracking technologies for several purposes, including to remember user preferences and settings, determine the popularity of content, deliver and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, and to analyze and understand online visitor activity to help improve your experience while using our Websites. For instance, we use Google Analytics to monitor site statistics and provide data on usage of our online Services. You can read more about how Google collects and aggregates this information here: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy. You can also opt out of Google Analytics here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.

You may be able to instruct your browser, by changing its options, to stop accepting Cookies or to prompt you before accepting a Cookie from the websites you visit; however, this may interfere with your ability to use our Websites or certain features in our Websites. Moreover, certain mechanisms may allow you to send web browser signals, known as “Do Not Track” (“DNT”) signals, indicating your choice to disable tracking on the Websites. More information about DNT signals is available at https://allaboutdnt.com. We do not respond to DNT signals.

II. Our Uses of Personal Information

In general, we use the information we collect in connection with providing our Services to you, operating our Websites, or processing your Donations. We may use your personal information to:

  • operate, maintain, enhance, provide and tailor the features, performance, and support of the Services and Websites to you;

  • help us understand who uses the Services and Websites;

  • respond to your requests, resolve disputes, and/or troubleshoot problems;

  • communicate with you about the Services; 

  • tailor advertising based on your visit to our Websites;

  • process or contact you regarding your donation;

  • contact you regarding your application(s) as part of our efforts to help match you with program or mentor opportunities that may align with your skills, interests, and background;

  • provide you with our newsletters, updates, and information about upcoming events or programs;

  • detect security incidents and to protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity;

  • when necessary, to protect health and safety;

  • comply with U.S., state, local and non-U.S. laws, rules and regulations; 

  • investigate or address claims or disputes relating to use of our Services or pursuant to legal process or governmental request, including from law enforcement; and

  • fulfill any other purpose for which you provide such information.

We may combine your personal information with information we receive offline, such as when you interact with our personnel.

III. Our Disclosures of Personal Information

We may share your personal information with third parties in connection with providing our Services to you, operating our Websites, or processing your Donations. This may include disclosing your personal information: 

  • to trusted third-party vendors or service providers who help us provide the Services and Websites and perform certain tasks (such as payment processors for donations; e-communications platforms and application providers (e.g., Typeform and Mailchimp); providers of online forms and surveys (e.g., Survey Monkey and Google Forms); customer relationship management technology providers (e.g., Salesforce); Google Analytics to analyze use of our Websites; consultants, accountants and other professional service providers);

  • to third parties (such partners in our MediaMKRS workforce development program (e.g., NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, the City University of New York, media companies, and unions)) to whom you ask or authorize us to send personal information by opting in;

  • to an organization that merges with us, acquires us, or purchases substantially all of our assets, in which case such organization may continue to process your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy;

  • to governmental entities when we apply for state grants and funding to whom you ask or authorize us to send personal information by opting in;

  • to our donors for fundraising purposes (which may include sharing participants’ names, biographies, demographic information, gender and age);

  • to social media companies, such as Facebook and Instagram, in connection with our use of their platforms to communicate with our users; or

  • if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to: (1) resolve disputes, investigate problems, or enforce our agreements; (2) comply with relevant laws, comply with subpoena requests we reasonably believe are valid, or to respond to requests from law enforcement or other government officials relating to investigations or alleged illegal activity, in which case we can (and you authorize us to) disclose personal information without subpoenas or warrants served on us; or (3) protect and defend our rights or property or the rights and property of you or third parties.

We do not disclose and have not disclosed your personal information to any other third parties for any purpose other than those described in this Privacy Policy or unless the law requires such disclosure. We also will not sell and have not sold within the past 12 months your personal information without affirmative authorization.

Our Websites may contain links to other websites or may make available on our Websites certain applications operated by third parties over which we have no control. Should you click on a link to a third-party website, or use such an application, the privacy policy of that website or application will apply instead of this Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for the content or security of third-party services and sites.

IV. Information Security

We are committed to maintaining your confidence and trust and have taken reasonable security measures designed to help protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of your personal information. These security measures include administrative, physical, and technical controls. For example, we enforce technical and administrative access controls to limit access to personal information to our staff. The third-party platforms we use also require authentication and valid credentials to access any information that we store on third-party platforms.

However, please note that no organization can fully eliminate risks or guarantee the security of your personal information; unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of information about you at any time. Despite all of our security controls, the Internet is not a perfectly secure environment, and, for this reason, we do not guarantee the security of any information you provide to us through the Services. We therefore urge you to always use caution when transmitting information over the Internet. We also require you to maintain the security and confidentiality of your username and password for any of our      portals or systems.

V. Children’s Information

As a nonprofit organization exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, we are exempt from compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. However, we take children’s privacy seriously, and encourage users and their parents to review this Privacy Policy to understand our information collection and disclosure practices.

Our Websites (and most of our Services) are not directed to children and are intended for persons 13 years of age and older. Except in connection with collecting the names of children under the age of 13 if they participate in our in-school and after-school programs (described above), we do not knowingly nor willingly collect, retain, use or disclose any information or documents from anyone under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13, please do not use our Websites and provide us any personal information. If we learn that personal information of persons younger than 13 years of age has been collected through our Websites, we will take the appropriate steps to remove this information. If you are a parent or guardian and discover that your child or a minor under the age of 13 has posted, submitted or otherwise communicated personal information in connection with our Services without your consent, please contact us at privacy@reelworks.org so that we may take appropriate actions to remove the personal information of the minor under 13 years of age from our systems.

VI. Contact Us 

To submit a request relating to your personal information, or other inquiries regarding the information in this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email at privacy@reelworks.org. As explained above, we may use your email address or other personal information to send      you promotional materials. You can opt-out of receiving promotional communications by following links provided in the messages, by updating your account preferences through the Services, or by contacting us directly at privacy@reelworks.org. 

VII. Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may update or make other changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time. We recommend revisiting this page periodically to make sure that you have the most recent information regarding our collection and use of your personal information. To the extent permitted under applicable law, we will understand your use of our Websites or Services after an update to this Privacy Policy to reflect your consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.