Privacy Policy

Last Updated: July 29, 2025

Florida West Coast Public Broadcast, Inc. (“WEDU PBS,” “WEDU,” “we,” or “us”) is committed to protecting the private information of our web site visitors. This policy describes how we collect, process, store, and disclose personal data about you when providing services to you through our Site and services. This policy applies to information we collect: through our services or in communications, including email, text, chat, and other electronic messages between you and us.

Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we treat it. By interacting with our Services or providing us with your information, you agree to the collection, use, and sharing of your information as described in this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of the Services after we make changes as described here is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.

Which sites are covered by this policy?

This Privacy Policy applies to wedu.org (“Site”). Please note that our Site may contain links to sponsor organizations and PBS Member Stations. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those web sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any organization before interacting with them, their services, or their websites and before submitting your personal information to them.

What information do we gather?

WEDU collects two types of information from visitors to the Site: (A) Personally Identiﬁable Information (“Personally Identifiable Information” means information or data that can be used to identify, locate, or contact an individual, alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information or data. Personally Identifiable Information may include, but is not limited to, name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, and credit card information), and (B) Non-personally Identiﬁable Information (information such as IP Addresses and cookies, which allow for a better use of the Site).

We also collect:

Statistics or aggregated information. Statistical or aggregated data does not directly identify a specific person, but we may derive non-personal statistical or aggregated data from personal data. For example, we may aggregate personal data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific Services feature.
Technical information. Technical information includes information about your internet connection and usage details about your interactions with the Services, such as clickstream information to, through, and from our Services (including date and time), products that you view or search for; page response times, download errors, length of your visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), or methods used to browse away from a page.

If we combine or connect non-personal statistical or technical data with personal data so that it directly or indirectly identifies an individual, we treat the combined information as personal information.

Children’s and minor’s data

Our Site and services are not intended for, and we do not knowingly collect any personal data from, children under the age of 18. If we learn we have collected or received personal data from a child under 18 years old without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information.

How we collect your information and other data

WEDU may collect Personally Identiﬁable Information (“PII”) from you:

When you provide it to us voluntarily or in response to a request from us in order to provide this Site or other services to you, such as when you create an account, place an order, make a purchase or donation, subscribe, participate in surveys, sweepstakes, contests, or promotions, or create, upload, or post content including reviews or media posts.
Automatically as you navigate through and interact with our Site or services. We may use automatic data collection technologies to collect information that may include personal data. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, operating system, and browser type, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies including details of your interactions with our Site or services, such as traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data, and which resources features that you access and use.
From business partners or service providers, such as email platform providers, content delivery services, payment processors, promotions services, analytics, and security and anti-fraud services.

How do we use information gathered on the site?

Except as expressly set forth in our policies, we will not willfully disclose your personally identiﬁable information to any third party without ﬁrst receiving your permission. We will never sell, rent, or swap your personally identiﬁable information with non-afﬁliated third parties for their own purposes.

In terms of our own use of information, we may use your PII to/when:

Provide you with the services and any contents, features, information, products, or services that we make available through the our Site or services.
Fulfill and manage subscriptions, purchases, orders, deliveries, payments, returns, and exchanges. In some instances, we work with other companies to provide services on our behalf. These service providers may maintain customer databases which may hold Site users’ e-mail addresses, including: viewers, listeners, Site visitors who have provided them to WEDU by registering at our Site or signing up for a newsletter or listserv, audience members who e-mail questions about membership or programs, donors who submit online contributions, or online buyers who make a purchase.
Fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
You create a registration, which enables full access to the information and resources offered on our Site. Registration is free however, a unique email address must be supplied to register.
Provide you with notices about your account/subscription.
Improve our Services, including by analyzing your information and creating aggregated data derived from your information to develop, maintain, analyze, improve, optimize, measure, and report on our services and their features and how users interact with them.
Promote our services, business, and offerings by publishing advertising on our own services.
Offer sweepstakes, contests, or special offers.
Carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.
Notify you when services updates are available and about changes to any products or services we offer or provide through them.
In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
For any other purpose with your consent.

The usage information we collect, whether connected to your personal data or not, helps us improve our Services and deliver a better and more personalized experience by enabling us to:

Estimate our audience sizes and usage patterns.
Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize the Services according to your individual needs and interests.
Speed up your searches.
Recognize you when you return to our services.

We will typically explain the extent of use at the time you are asked to provide personal information. If you do not want this information to be collected or used by us for these purposes, you can simply “opt out.” Under certain circumstances, opting out may prevent your participation in activities for which personal information is needed, as in contests.

SMS/MMS

If you provide your telephone number to us, you expressly consent to receive text messages (including SMS and MMS) from us, including messages sent using an automatic telephone dialing system or other automated technology, for purposes such as transaction or account notifications, informational updates, customer service, promotions, and other informational or marketing communications. Message frequency may vary based on user engagement and preferences. Message and data rates may apply depending on your mobile carrier and plan. We are not responsible for any delays or failures in message delivery. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Consent is not a condition of using this Site or our services and you may opt out at any time. To opt out of future messages, text STOP at any time. You may also email your request to donorservices@wedu.org or call Donor Services at 813-254-9338 option 2.

Your submission of others’ Personally Identiﬁable Information

On some pages of the Site, you can submit information about other people. For example, you may submit a person’s name and email address to send an article. Additionally, you may purchase a gift online and submit the person’s name, address and telephone number for delivery. This information will only be used for the stated purpose. By providing this information to us, you take full responsibility for the disclosure and accuracy of the information and agree that the submission of any information of another person may fall under your Indemnification obligations as set forth in the Terms of Use.

How we disclose and share your information

We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction. We will not exchange donor information with any political candidate, party, or committee, or with a Section 501(c)(4) advocacy group.

We may also disclose personal data that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:

To our subsidiaries and affiliates.
To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our organization.
To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of the company’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal data held by us is among the assets transferred.
To third parties to market their products or services to you if you have consented to or not opted out of these disclosures. For more information, see Your Rights and Choices About Your Information.
To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it. For example, we occasionally exchange some of our donors’ names and postal addresses with carefully selected nonprofit educational, cultural, health, and social service organizations. When you make a contribution, your name and postal address will be included as eligible for an exchange. We may exchange donor mailing list names with other public broadcasting stations or production organizations for the purpose of promotion of national programs or other activities that will benefit WEDU donors, or for the purpose of enabling other stations to offer membership benefits to donors who move from WEDU’s service area to the other station’s service area. We may provide donor information to research organizations hired by and working on behalf of WEDU or other public broadcasting stations or organizations (such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, NPR) for the purpose of donor research, or for providing station member benefits, that will help support WEDU and/or the public broadcasting stations.
For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
With your consent.

We may also disclose your personal data:

To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
To enforce or apply our terms of use [INSERT AS LINK TO TERMS OF USE]; terms applicable to any donation or sale; and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes.
If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of our organization, our customers, donors, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

The categories of personal data we may disclose include: name, postal address, email address, credit card details, billing address, phone number, account username, IP address, records of products or services purchased or obtained, information regarding interaction with the Site, public comments, device location, or call recordings.

Your Rights and Choices About Your Information

This section describes mechanisms you can use to control certain uses and disclosures of your information and rights you may have under state law, depending on where you live.

Advertising, marketing, cookies, and other tracking technologies choices:

Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies or other tracking technology files, or to alert you when these files are being sent. You can choose whether or not to allow the Site to collect information through other tracking technologies by changing your settings in your browser. If you disable or refuse cookies or similar tracking files, some services features may be inaccessible or not function properly. Some browsers include a "Do Not Track" (DNT) setting that can send a signal to the online services you visit indicating you do not wish to be tracked.
Promotions by the Company. We offer several email newsletters and listservs. If you no longer wish to receive a specific newsletter, you may opt out by following the “unsubscribe” instructions located near the bottom of each newsletter. If you do not wish us to use your information to promote our own or third parties' products or services, you can opt out by emailing your request to donorservices@wedu.org or call Donor Services at 813-254-9338 option 2.
Targeted Advertising by the Company. If you do not want us to use information that we collect or that you provide to us to deliver advertisements according to our advertisers' target audience preferences, you can opt out by emailing your request to donorservices@wedu.org or call Donor Services at 813-254-9338 option 2.
Disclosure of Your Information for Third-Party Advertising. If you do not want us to share your personal data with unaffiliated or non-agent third parties for advertising and marketing purposes, you can opt out by emailing your request to donorservices@wedu.org or call Donor Services at 813-254-9338 option 2. We do not control third parties' collection or use of your information to serve interest-based advertising. However, these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way. You can opt out of receiving targeted ads from members of the Network Advertising Initiative ("NAI") on the NAI's website.
List exchanges with nonprofit organizations. If you wish to opt out of our list exchange program, you may email us at donorservices@wedu.org. This opt-out lasts for three years.

Your State Privacy Rights

Depending on your state of residency, you may have certain rights related to your personal data, including:

Access and Data Portability. You may confirm whether we process your personal data and access a copy of the personal data we process. To the extent feasible and required by state law, depending on your state, data will be provided in a portable format. Depending on your state, you may have the right to receive additional information and it will be included in the response to your access request.
Correction. You may request that we correct inaccuracies in your personal data that we maintain, taking into account the information's nature and processing purpose.
Deletion. You may request that we delete personal data about you that we maintain, subject to certain exception under applicable law.
Opt Out of Using Personal Data for Targeted Advertising, Profiling, and Sales. You may request that we do not use your personal data for these purposes.

Important: The exact scope of these rights vary by state and you are responsible for locating and checking the rules applicable in your state. There are also several exceptions where we may not have an obligation to fulfill your request.

How We Protect Your Personal Data

We use commercially reasonable administrative, physical, and technical measures designed to protect your personal data from accidental loss or destruction and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. However, no website, mobile application, system, electronic storage, or online service is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data transmitted to, through, using, or in connection with the Site and our services. In particular, email, texts, and chats sent to or from the Services may not be secure, and you should carefully decide what information you send to us via such communications channels. Any transmission of personal data is at your own risk.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. You are responsible for taking steps to protect your personal data against unauthorized use, disclosure, and access.

How We Retain Your Personal Data

We keep the categories of personal data described in this policy for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes described or for as otherwise legally permitted or required, such as maintaining the Services, operating our organization, complying with our legal obligations, resolving disputes, and for safety, security, and fraud prevention. This means that we consider our legal and business obligations, potential risks of harm, and nature of the information when deciding how long to retain personal data.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We may update this policy from time to time, and we will provide notice of any such changes to the policy as required by law. The date the privacy policy was last updated is identified at the top of the page. We will notify you of changes to this policy by updating the "last updated" date and posting the updated policy on the Site. We may email or otherwise communicate reminders about this policy, but you should check our Site periodically to see the current policy and any changes we have made to it.

Contact Information

To exercise your rights or ask questions or comment about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, contact us at:

1300 North Boulevard

Tampa, Florida 33607

Email: donorservices@wedu.org

Phone: 813-254-9338 (option 2)

Fax: 813-253-0826