Last Modified: March 7, 2022

This Cookie Policy explains how Common Ground Foundation, Inc. dba Civic Genius (Civic Genius) uses cookies (listed on this page) and similar technologies to recognize you when visiting ourcivicgenius.org. It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them.

What are cookies?
A cookie is a small file containing a string of characters sent to your computer when you visit a website. When you revisit the site, the cookie allows that site to recognize your browser. Cookies may store user preferences and other information.

Cookies provide a convenience feature to save you time or tell the Web server that you have returned to a specific page.

Cookies set by the website owner (in this case, Civic Genius) are called “first-party cookies.”

Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called “third-party cookies.” Third-party cookies enable third party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website (e.g., advertising, interactive content, and analytics). The parties that set these third-party cookies can recognize your computer both when it visits the website in question and when it visits certain other websites.

Why do we use cookies?
We use first-party and third-party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons for our Websites to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Websites. For example, Civic Genius keeps track of the Websites and pages you visit within Google Analytics to determine what portion of the Civic Genius Website is the most popular or most used.

What types of cookies do we use, and how do we use them?
The specific types of first and third-party cookies served through our Websites and the purposes they perform are listed below. For a list of the cookies used by Civic Genius, see this page. These cookies include:

• Essential website cookies: These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our Websites.
• Performance and functionality cookies: These cookies are used to enhance the performance and functionality of our Websites but are non-essential to their use. However, without these cookies, certain functionality may become unavailable.
• Analytics and customization cookies: These cookies collect information either in aggregate form to help us understand how our Websites are being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our Websites for you.
• Advertising cookies: These cookies are used to make advertising messages more personalized to you. They are used to prevent the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are correctly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases, selecting advertisements that are based on your interests and preferences.
• Doubleclick (Google): You can manage your preferences and opt-out of Google’s interest-based ads in your Google Ads Setting.
• Social networking cookies: These cookies are used to enable you to share pages and content that you wish on our Websites through third-party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes too.

How can I control cookies?
You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. You can exercise your cookie preferences by clicking on the appropriate opt-out links provided below.

You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our website though your access to some functionality and areas of our website may be restricted. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser to browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information.

Essential website cookies: Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the Websites to you, you cannot refuse them. You can block or delete them by changing your browser settings, however, as described above.

Click here to manage your Cookie Preferences for the Civic Genius website.

How often will you update this Cookie Policy?
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please, therefore, revisit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies.

The date at the top of this Cookie Policy indicates when it was last updated.

Where can I get further information?
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please email us at website@ourcivicgenius.org.