Privacy Policy

Effective Date: May 18, 2026

The Oregon Turkish American Association ("ORTA," "we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy of our members, volunteers, and community. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, protect, and handle your Personally Identifiable Information (PII) when you apply for membership, visit our website (ortapdx.org), or engage with our community events and communications.

As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, maintaining your trust is our highest priority.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information directly from you when you fill out our membership application, contact forms, or register for our communications. The personal information we collect includes:

  • Contact Information: First and last name, email address, physical address (including city, state, ZIP code, and country), and phone number.

  • Communication Preferences: Your choices regarding receiving newsletters, updates, and joining the ORTA WhatsApp Chat Group.

  • General Inquiries: Any messages, feedback, or additional information you voluntarily submit through our contact or membership forms.

  • Automatically Collected Information (Cookies): Like most websites, ortapdx.org automatically collects certain technical information when you visit, such as your IP address, browser type, and operating system. We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to ensure our website functions properly and to understand how visitors interact with our site.

Note: Membership requires residency in the State of Oregon or Washington State's Clark or Skamania Counties.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

  • Membership Administration: To process and maintain your active ORTA membership.

  • Governance and Voting: To determine total active membership counts, verify quorum for General Assembly meetings, and authenticate attendance, residency requirements, and proxy votes during board elections and other official organizational matters.

  • Communication: To send you newsletters, event invitations, community announcements, and other relevant updates regarding ORTA activities (if you have opted in).

  • Community Engagement: To add you to the ORTA WhatsApp Chat Group (only if you have explicitly selected "Yes").

  • Internal Operations: To improve our website, better understand our community demographics, and organize cross-cultural, educational, and recreational activities.

3. How We Protect Your Information

We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information. Your personal data is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of authorized ORTA personnel or board members who are required to keep the information confidential.

4. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell, trade, rent, or lease your personal information to outside parties. We may share your information only under the following limited circumstances:

  • Trusted Service Providers: We may share information with third-party platforms that assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing our members (e.g., email newsletter platforms, website hosting, payment platforms such as Zeffy). These parties are bound by confidentiality agreements to keep your information secure.

  • Legal Requirements: We may release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect our or others' rights, property, or safety.

  • WhatsApp Group Visibility: Please note that if you opt into the ORTA WhatsApp Chat Group, your phone number, profile name, and profile picture will be visible to all other members within the group. While we moderate the group, ORTA cannot control how other members use this visible information. You may leave the group at any time.

  • Event Sponsors: We do not share your individual contact information or membership lists with our corporate sponsors without your explicit consent. Sponsors only receive aggregated, anonymous data (such as total event attendance).

5. Your Choices and Rights

You have control over your personal data:

  • Opting Out of Communications: You can unsubscribe from our newsletters or promotional emails at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the emails.

  • WhatsApp Group: You may leave the ORTA WhatsApp Chat Group at any time through the app settings.

  • Updating or Deleting Information: If you wish to review, correct, update, or request the deletion of your personal information from our membership records, please contact us at the email address below.

6. Third-Party Links

Occasionally, we may include links to third-party websites or sponsor pages on our site. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We, therefore, have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites.

7. Children's Privacy

ORTA frequently hosts family-friendly events and operates the ORTA Kids Club. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under the age of 13. Any information regarding minors (such as names or ages for event registration) must be provided by a parent or legal guardian and is used exclusively for event administration, safety, and headcount purposes.

8. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal obligations. We will post any updates on this page and update the "Effective Date" at the top. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

9. Contact Us

If there are any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, or if you wish to exercise your rights regarding your data, you may contact us using the information below:

Oregon Turkish American Association (ORTA)

101 SW Madison #8186

Portland, OR 97207

Email: contact@ortapdx.org

Membership Inquiries: apply@ortapdx.org