Ark Encounter Privacy Policy

Ark Encounter is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Crosswater Canyon, which is a nonprofit subsidiary of Answers in Genesis.

The Answers in Genesis Privacy Policy (the Privacy Policy) outlines the information that Answers in Genesis gathers, how we use that information, and the options you have to access, correct, or delete such information. (The Privacy Policy relates to Answers in Genesis operations in the United States and in other countries through its various subsidiaries and affiliates. For specific regions and statutory references, see Privacy Act References herein.)

Our Commitment

Answers in Genesis is committed to respecting the privacy and rights of all parties who interact with the ministry, including our donors. We deeply appreciate that you’ve trusted us with your personal information, and we are committed to treating it confidentially.

The following outlines our Privacy Policy and details the measures we have taken to safeguard and protect your privacy. Here we describe the privacy practices for our applications, software, websites, APIs, products, and services (the Services). You will learn about the data we collect, how we use it, the controls we give you over your information, and the measures we take to keep it safe. Specifically, we’ll cover:

• Information We Collect
• How We Use Information We Collect
• How Information Is Shared
• Your Access to and Control of Personal Data
• Data Retention
• Analytics and Advertising Services Provided by Others
• Our Policy on Children
• Information Security
• International Information Transfers
• Changes to This Policy
• Who We Are and How to Contact Us

Information We Collect

On our websites, you can provide contact information for ministry-related purposes, to order resources, to receive updates and promotions by mail and email, or to make ministry contributions. When you use our Services, we collect the following types of information:

• Contact Information: Name, organization, complete address, phone, and email address
• Payment Information: Method of payment, credit card or service ID, and essential verification information
• Shipping Information: Name, organization, complete shipping address, and phone number
• Promotional Information: How you found us, what prompted your interest, and your areas of interest
• Survey Information: Contact information and demographics such as postal/zip code, age level, educational background, website preferences, etc.
• Correspondence Information: Suggestions, comments, messages, questions, and requests for further correspondence
• Usage Information: IP address, browser type, operating system, date stamps, etc. (see Logs below)
• Anonymous Browsing Data: We gather data on how you use and interact with our websites

We do not collect any Personally Identifiable Information through this process, and it explicitly does not record any sensitive information.

While individuals generally have a right to remain anonymous, in most circumstances, this right does not apply if it is impracticable for us to provide you with information or respond to your inquiry without knowing your true identity. If you choose not to give your privacy information to us, we may not be able to respond to your inquiry.

Information You Provide

Account Information

Some information is required to create an account on our Services, such as your name, email address, and password. This is the only information you have to provide to create an account with us. You may also choose to provide other types of information, such as country information, date of birth, gender, and phone number. If you contact us or participate in a survey, contest, or promotion, we collect the information you submit such as your name, contact information, and message.

Information from Third-Party Services

If you choose to connect your account on our Services to your account on another service, we may receive information from the other service. For example, if you connect to Meta or Google, we may receive information like your name, profile picture, age range, language, email address, and friend list. You may also choose to grant us access to your data from another service. You can stop sharing the information from the other service with us by removing our access to that other service.

Payment and Card Information

Answers in Genesis complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard that requires us to provide certain data security measures in order to, among other things:

• Protect cardholder data that is stored
• Have and maintain a firewall configuration
• Maintain industry standard password complexity requirements
• Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across public networks
• Restrict access to cardholder data by business need to know
• Track access to network resources
• Regularly test security systems and processes

If you purchase Answers in Genesis merchandise on our website, you provide your payment information, including your name, credit or debit card number, card expiration date, CVV code, and billing address. We do not store any sensitive payment information, but your name and billing address are stored to process your order. We also store your shipping address to fulfill your order. Note that third-party payment processors may retain this information in accordance with their own privacy policies and terms.

Information We Receive from Your Use of Our Services

When you access or use our Services, we receive certain usage data. This includes information about your interaction with the Services, for example, when you view or search content, install applications or software, create or log in to your account, or open or interact with an application on your device.

We also collect data about the devices and computers you use to access the Services, including IP addresses, browser type, language, operating system, or mobile device information (including device and application identifiers), the referring web page, pages visited, location (depending on the permissions you have granted us), and cookie information.

If we receive unsolicited personal information from you that we are unauthorized to collect (for example, misdirected mail and personal names and addresses of other unrelated individuals), Answers in Genesis will, as soon as practicable, but only if it is lawful, destroy the information or ensure that the information is de-identified.

Correction of Information

Answers in Genesis commits to ensuring that all reasonable procedures are followed to ensure your privacy information is accurate, complete, and up to date whenever we collect or use it. If we believe the information that we hold is inaccurate, out of date, irrelevant, incomplete, or misleading, we will take steps to correct the information.

If you suspect that any of your privacy information held by Answers in Genesis is inaccurate, out of date, irrelevant, incomplete, or misleading, please contact us immediately, and we will take all reasonable steps to correct any such information. If we cannot resolve the issue in a reasonable time, we will either give you an explanation as to why or discuss alternative courses of action.

Legal Basis for Collecting and Processing Personal Data of European Customers (GDPR)

If you are an individual from the European Economic Area (EEA) and your transaction is subject to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), your Services will generally be handled by Answers in Genesis–UK/Europe. In the event the US ministry receives Service requests from European residents, we will generally refer your Service request to the UK ministry for processing unless the particular Service requested is not available through the UK ministry or can only be provided or processed through the US ministry.

In the event the US ministry does receive the personal data of European customers, please note that our legal basis for collecting and using your personal information will depend on the personal information collected and the specific context in which we collect it. We normally will collect personal information from you only where: (a) we have your consent to do so, (b) where we need your personal information to perform a contract with you (e.g., to deliver the Services you have requested), or (c) where the processing is in our legitimate interests. Please note that in most cases, if you do not provide the requested information, Answers in Genesis will not be able to provide the requested Service to you.

In some cases, we may also have a legal obligation to collect personal information from you or may otherwise need the personal information to protect your vital interests or those of another person.

Where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw or decline consent at any time. Where we rely on our legitimate interests to process your personal data, you have the right to object.

If you have any questions about or need further information concerning the legal basis on which we collect and use your personal information, please contact us.

How We Use Information We Collect

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

Provide and Maintain the Services

By using the information we collect, we are able to deliver the Services and honor our contract with you, and we use your information to give you customer support.

Improve, Personalize, and Develop the Services

We use the information we collect to improve and personalize the Services and to develop new ones. For example, we use the information to troubleshoot and protect against errors, perform data analysis and testing, conduct research and surveys, and develop new features and Services. We also use your information to profile our users to show you more relevant content.

Communicate with You

We use your information when needed to send you Service notifications and respond to you when you contact us. We also use your information to send you relevant content, provide ministry updates, and promote resources and products you may be interested in. You can control marketing communications by using the “unsubscribe” or “manage preferences” links in our emails.

Promote Safety and Security

We use the information we collect to promote the safety and security of the Services, our users, and other parties. For example, we may use the information to authenticate users, facilitate secure payments, protect against fraud and abuse, respond to a legal request or claim, conduct audits, and enforce our terms and policies.

Logs

Answers in Genesis uses log files to track trends, activity, and improve the overall user experience. These log files contain information about what domain you are coming from (i.e., AOL.com, Google.com), what browser software and system software you use, and what pages were visited on our site. This information is shared among Answers in Genesis employees, leadership, and select vendors and is archived for analysis in the future. Some anonymous browsing data may be shared publicly for promotional purposes.

Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies to give you a better customer experience. Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and improve your experience by providing features for our Services, including our online stores.

The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to change how your browser handles cookies. However, cookies allow you to take full advantage of our website and the vast majority of others, and we recommend that you leave them turned on.

The Kids Answers section of AnswersInGenesis.org uses cookies and similar elements to give you and your kids a better experience.

We use Google Analytics to track visits to all of our web pages, including the Kids Answers section of AnswersInGenesis.org. This service provides us with anonymous user information that helps identify visitor trends so we can continue to improve our websites and Services.

Our Use of Information from European Subjects

For European customers whose personal data is received by us and is subject to the GDPR, we rely on several legal bases to process the data. These include when you have given your consent, which you may withdraw at any time by using the “manage preferences” or “unsubscribe” links in our emails or by contacting us; when the processing is necessary to perform a contract with you; and our legitimate business interests, such as assisting our affiliate in the UK with a Service request or in improving, personalizing, and developing the Services, delivering email and printed newsletters, marketing new features or products that may be of interest, profiling to better understand our users, and promoting safety and security, as described above.

How Information Is Shared

We do not share your personal information except in the limited circumstances described below.

For External Processing

We transfer information to our corporate affiliates, service providers, and other partners who process it for us based on our instructions and in compliance with this policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. These partners provide us with services globally, including for customer support, information technology, payments, sales, marketing, data analysis, research, and surveys. To facilitate our Services, we also share your information with our data processing partners, such as (but not limited to):

• Conquer Worldwide, LLC
• Constant Contact, Inc.
• Dunham + Company
• Faith Assistant by BibleChat.ai
• Five Q Innovations, LLC
• Google, LLC
• Hotjar Ltd.
• HubSpot, Inc.
• Joseph David Advertising, LLC
• LinkedIn Corp.
• Mailchimp (The Rocket Science Group, LLC)
• Meta Platforms, Inc.
• Pathlabs Inc.
• Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.
• Zeta Global Holdings Corp.

For donation-related Services, we may share information with HSP Direct, BBS & Associates, and iDonate.

Mailchimp Privacy

As outlined above, one of the data processing partners used by Answers in Genesis is Mailchimp. Specifically, Answers in Genesis uses Mailchimp in the distribution of newsletters and email communications.

For more information on how and what information Mailchimp will collect from you, please refer to Mailchimp’s Privacy Policy and the Mailchimp Terms of Use.

We bring to your attention that Mailchimp is based in the United States of America (USA) and is subject to the laws of the USA. Your information (including but not limited to your IP address) will be transmitted and stored by Mailchimp on servers that are located outside Australia.

By using the Answers in Genesis website and providing your personal information to Answers in Genesis, you do the following:

• Consent to your personal information being collected, used, and disclosed as set out in these terms and conditions and in Mailchimp’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use;
• Consent to your personal information being sent and stored overseas and acknowledge that your local data privacy laws may not apply to the use of the information;
• Acknowledge that Mailchimp may not be subject to your local data privacy laws and you may not be able to seek redress under your local jurisdiction against Mailchimp for any privacy breaches by Mailchimp but will need to seek redress as described in the Mailchimp Privacy Policy.

If you have any concerns related to Answers in Genesis’ use of Mailchimp, please contact us immediately.

HubSpot Privacy

As outlined above, Answers in Genesis uses HubSpot as a data processor for the distribution of newsletters and email communications. HubSpot will require access to some of your personal information to fulfill these services, but HubSpot is not controlled by Answers in Genesis.

Please refer to the HubSpot Privacy Policy and the HubSpot Terms of Use for more details on what information HubSpot collects, how it is collected, and how the collected information is used.

HubSpot is headquartered in the United States of America (USA) and is subject to the laws of the USA. Your information (including but not limited to your IP address) may be transmitted and stored by HubSpot on servers that are located in other countries.

By using the Answers in Genesis website and providing your personal information to Answers in Genesis, you:

• consent to your personal information being collected, used, and disclosed as set out in these terms and conditions and in HubSpot’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use;
• consent to your personal information being sent and stored overseas and acknowledge that your local data privacy laws may not apply to the use of the information;
• acknowledge that HubSpot may not be subject to your local data privacy laws and you may not be able to seek redress under your local jurisdiction against HubSpot for any privacy breaches by HubSpot but will need to seek redress as described in the HubSpot Privacy Policy.

If you have any concerns related to Answers in Genesis’ use of HubSpot, please contact us immediately.

For Legal or Security Reasons

We may preserve or disclose information about you to comply with a law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request; to assert legal rights or defend against legal claims; or to prevent, detect, or investigate illegal activity, fraud, abuse, violations of our terms, or threats to the security of the Services.

We may share nonpersonal information that is aggregated, anonymous, or de-identified so that it cannot reasonably be used to identify an individual. We may disclose such information publicly and to third parties, for example, in public reports about attendance at ministry venues or events, to partners under agreement with us, or as part of the community benchmarking information we provide to users of our subscription services.

Your Access to and Control of Personal Data

If you live in the European Economic Area (EU member countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway), in the United Kingdom, or in Switzerland, you have certain legal rights with respect to your personal information. This includes the right to access, correct, update, export, or delete your personal information.

If you need assistance regarding your rights, please contact us and we will consider your request in accordance with applicable laws.

If you request to delete your account and other subject data, please note that while most of your information will be deleted within 30 days, it may take up to 90 days to delete all of your information, like the data stored in our backup systems. This is due to the size and complexity of the systems we use to store data. We may also preserve data for legal security reasons, including as described in the How Information Is Shared section.

Data Retention

We keep your account information, like your name, email address, and password, for as long as your account is in existence because we need it to operate your account. In some cases, when you give us information for a feature of the Services, we delete the data after it is no longer needed for the feature. We keep other information indefinitely unless you request its removal because we use this data to provide you with information and updates on our Services. We also keep information about you and your use of the Services for as long as necessary for our legitimate business interests, for legal reasons, and to prevent harm, including as described in the How We Use Information and How Information Is Shared sections.

Analytics and Advertising Services Provided by Others

We work with partners who provide us with analytics and advertising services, including Google Analytics, Meta, and Joseph David Advertising. This includes helping us understand how users interact with the Services, serving ads on our behalf across the internet, and measuring the performance of those ads. These companies may use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about your interactions with the Services and other websites and applications. To learn more about your privacy choices, please read our Cookies statement.

Our Policy on Children

We appreciate the importance of taking additional measures to protect children’s privacy. Our Services at Answers in Genesis are not directed to children under the age of 13, with the exception of the Kids Answers section of AnswersInGenesis.org, which provides content and activities specifically for children. No personally identifiable data is collected from or about children using this section of the website intended for them. We offer a “Kids Mode” to allow younger children to safely use this section of our website with their parent’s or guardian’s help and supervision and without requiring any personal information from the children. In addition, to the extent that children participate in our vacation Bible school programs, parents may be requested to provide basic registration information for such purposes.

We do not knowingly collect any personal data from children or other individuals who are not legally able to use our Services, and persons under the age of 13 are not permitted to create accounts. If we learn that we have collected the personal information of a child under the age of 13, we will take steps to delete the information as soon as possible, unless we are legally obligated to retain such data. Parents who believe that their child has submitted personal information to us and would like to have it deleted may contact us.

Information Security

We work hard to keep your data safe. We use a combination of technical, administrative, and physical controls to maintain the security of your data. This includes using Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt, transmit, and securely store sensitive information. No method of transmitting or storing data is completely secure, so if you have a security-related concern, please contact us.

International Information Transfers

Answers in Genesis is a US-based company (the US ministry) with ministry affiliates in Canada (Canada ministry), the United Kingdom (the UK ministry), Australia (the Australia ministry), and Latin America (the Latin America ministry). We operate internationally through such ministry affiliates, which are responsible for controlling and processing information for Services on behalf of customers in those locations.

The US ministry primarily stores US customer information in the United States, and our ministry affiliates in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Latin America maintain their own customer account information in their respective locations. In order to facilitate our international operations, we may temporarily have access to information from customers in these other countries where our affiliates operate, for the purpose of facilitating Service requests, providing technical assistance, and for the purposes described in this Policy.

To the extent the US ministry receives personal data relating to customers in an affiliate location, we generally transfer such information to such affiliates in order for them to facilitate the Service requests of those customers, and we do not retain any records of personal data on those customers in the United States. To the extent the US ministry receives and temporarily holds such information, we rely on multiple legal bases to lawfully transfer personal data to our affiliates. These include your consent and approved model contractual clauses, which require certain privacy and security protections.

If you are accessing or using our websites or Services in the United States or otherwise providing information to us, you are agreeing to the transfer of your personal information to the United States and other jurisdictions in which we or our affiliates operate.

Answers in Genesis is subject to the oversight of the US Federal Trade Commission and remains responsible for personal information that we transfer to others who process it on our behalf as described in the How Information Is Shared section. Please note that the countries where we operate may have privacy and data protection laws that differ from, and are potentially less protective than, the laws of your country. You agree to this risk when you create an Answers in Genesis account, irrespective of which country you live in. If you later wish to withdraw your consent, you can contact us to request deletion of your account.

Changes to This Policy

If we make changes to this Policy that we believe materially impact the privacy of your personal data, you will have an opportunity to review the revised policy before deciding if you would like to continue to use the Services. We will also post the updated Policy on this website, noting the effective date of any changes.

Who We Are and How to Contact Us

If you reside in the United States, then Answers in Genesis, Inc. (Answers in Genesis), a US-based nonprofit corporation in Kentucky, provides you with the Services. Contact Answers in Genesis in the United States if you have any questions or concerns regarding your personal information or privacy rights.

If you reside in Canada, then Answers in Genesis–Canada, a ministry organization in Ontario, Canada, generally provides you with the Services. Contact Answers in Genesis–Canada if you have any questions or concerns regarding your personal information or privacy rights.

If you reside in Australia or New Zealand, then Answers in Genesis Ltd. (d/b/a Answers in Genesis–Australia), a ministry organization in Queensland, Australia, generally provides you with the Services. Contact Answers in Genesis–Australia if you wish to make a complaint or are of the view that Answers in Genesis has breached its obligations under the Australia Privacy Act. Contact Answers in Genesis–Australia if you have any questions or concerns regarding your personal information or privacy rights, wish to make a complaint, or are of the view that Answers in Genesis has breached its obligations under the Australia Privacy Act.

If you live in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, then Answers in Genesis–UK/Europe, a company organized in the United Kingdom, generally provides you with the Services. As a resident of the European Economic Area, you may exercise your legal rights under GDPR and similar data privacy laws by submitting a personal information inquiry to the Data Protection Officers of AiG–US or AiG–UK/Europe. For other matters, you may contact Answers in Genesis–UK/Europe through its website.

If you reside in Latin America, Peru, or other Spanish-speaking countries, then Answers in Genesis–Latin America, a ministry organization located in Mexico, generally provides you with the Services. Contact Answers in Genesis–Latin America if you have any questions or concerns regarding your personal information or privacy rights.

Privacy Act References:

United States customers: The Privacy Policy is subject to the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (collectively, the “United States Privacy Act”) as well as the laws of applicable states.

Canada customers: The Privacy Policy is subject to the Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act (the “Canada Privacy Act”).

Australia customers: The Privacy Policy is subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the “Australia Privacy Act”) and any subsequent amendments as well as the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in Schedule 1 to the Act. The information gathered by Answers in Genesis includes “personal information” as defined in the Australia Privacy Act.

United Kingdom customers: The Privacy Policy is subject to the Data Protection Act in the United Kingdom (the “U.K. Privacy Act”) and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

Latin America customers: The Privacy Policy is subject to the privacy and personal data security and protection laws of Mexico and similar laws established throughout Latin America and other Spanish-speaking countries.