Privacy Policy Guide at TNC
Applicant Privacy Policy at TNC
The Nature Conservancy (the “Conservancy”) takes your privacy very seriously and cares about how your information is collected, used, stored, and shared. We are providing this Applicant Privacy Notice to explain our practices and the choices that you can make about the way your information is used by the Conservancy when you apply for a job with us, reach out to us about a role at the Conservancy, interview with us, or otherwise participate in the Conservancy’s job recruitment activities (collectively referred to as “Recruitment Services”).
If you are looking for how the Conservancy processes your personal data in other contexts, such as when you make a donation, please refer to our Privacy Statement.
A sense of mutual respect and mindfulness permeates our culture-in fact, it’s the key to our success.
Last updated: June 25, 2025
This Applicant Privacy Notice is organized into the following sections:
1. UPDATES TO THIS APPLICANT PRIVACY NOTICE
2. PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
3. HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION
4. HOW WE DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION
5. YOUR PRIVACY CHOICES AND RIGHTS
6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
7. HOW WE SECURE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
8. RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
9. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
10. SUPPLEMENTAL NOTICE FOR EU/UK GDPR
11. CHILDREN’S PERSONAL INFORMATION
12. THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES/APPLICATIONS
13. CONTACT US
SUMMARY
For ease of reference, a summary of our practices with respect to personal information is set forth below.
- Personal Information Collected. We may collect personal information directly from you, automatically when you use our Recruitment Services, and from third parties. See the section “Personal Information We Collect” for more information.
- Uses of Personal Information. We may use your personal information for administrative, technical, and marketing purposes. See the section “How We Use Personal Information” for more information.
- Disclosures of Personal Information. We may disclose personal information to service providers, affiliates, and advertising partners. See the section “How We Disclose Personal Information” for more information.
- Retention of Personal Information. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we may consider factors such as applicable legal requirements, and the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information. See the section “Retention of Personal Information” for more information.
- Additional Information. For more information on our privacy practices, please review this Applicant Privacy Notice. Importantly, the section of our Applicant Privacy Notice titled “Your Privacy Choices and Rights” includes important details about how you can exercise some of the rights you may have under applicable laws.
1. UPDATES TO THIS APPLICANT PRIVACY NOTICE
We may update this Applicant Privacy Notice from time to time at our sole discretion. If we do, we’ll let you know by posting the updated Applicant Privacy Notice on our website, and/or we may also send other communications about such updates.
We may update this Applicant Privacy Notice from time to time at our sole discretion. If we do, we’ll let you know by posting the updated Applicant Privacy Notice on our website, and/or we may also send other communications about such updates.
We collect personal information that you provide to us, personal information we collect automatically when you visit a careers page on our website, and personal information from third-party sources, as described below.
A. Personal Information You Provide to Us Directly
We may collect personal information that you provide to us.- Job Applications. If you apply for a job with us, we will collect any personal information you provide in connection with your application, such as your name, contact information, education history, employment history, skills, references, and other information you choose to include in your application, resume, or cover letter. This may include sensitive information if you choose to disclose that information to us or include it in your application materials.
- Your Communications with Us. We may collect the information you communicate to us, such as through phone, email, chatbot on our Careers site, or during job interviews. Note that in addition to your communications content (e.g., messages), this may also include your audio, video, and image information, such as when you conduct an interview with us through a videoconferencing software or attend an interview in person at a TNC office that has security cameras.
- Interactive Features. We may collect personal information that you submit or make available through our interactive features (e.g., on a LinkedIn job post if you add a comment to the post). Any information you provide on a public job posting or related public post will be considered “public.”
B. Personal Information Collected Automatically
We may collect personal information automatically when you visit the careers pages on our website.
- Device Information. We may collect personal information about your device, such as your Internet protocol (IP) address, user settings, cookie identifiers, other unique identifiers, browser or device information, Internet service provider, and location information (including, as applicable, approximate location derived from IP address).
- Usage Information. We may collect personal information about your use of the Recruitment Services, such as the pages that you visit, items that you search for, the types of content you interact with, information about the links you click, the frequency and duration of your activities, and other information about how you use the Recruitment Services.
- Cookie Notice (and Other Technologies). We, as well as third parties, may use cookies, pixel tags, and other technologies (“Technologies”) to automatically collect personal information through your use of the Recruitment Services.
- Cookies. Cookies are small text files stored in device browsers.
- Pixel Tags. A pixel tag (also known as a web beacon) is a piece of code embedded in the Recruitment Services that collects personal information about use of or engagement with the Recruitment Services. The use of a pixel tag allows us to record, for example, that a user has visited a particular web page or clicked on a particular advertisement.
- Web Beacons. Web beacons are the result of a tag’s code firing. We may include web beacons in e-mails to understand whether messages have been opened, acted on, or forwarded.
C. Personal Information Collected from Third Parties
We may collect personal information about you from third parties.
For example, if you access the Recruitment Services using a Third-Party Service (such as a third-party job posting website), we may collect personal information about you from that Third-Party Service that you have made available via your privacy settings.
Additionally, the Conservancy sometimes engages third-party job recruiters to help find candidates for certain roles. Those job recruiters may provide us with your name, contact information, education history, employment history, and any other information you choose to include in your resume.
Similarly, if an employee at the Conservancy recommends you for a role, we will receive the information they send to us, such as your name, contact information, education history, and employment history. If you know a Conservancy employee is interested in referring you, please discuss what information you are comfortable with them sharing with the Conservancy.
If you reach a certain stage of the interview process, typically after the offer stage, we may require a background check to proceed for specific roles. We engage third-party background check organizations to conduct these checks on our behalf. In those situations, you provide your information directly to the third party. The Conservancy receives the background check results.
We may also collect information from the references you provide. For example, we may ask a prior employer to confirm your dates of employment.
3. HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION
We use personal information for a variety of purposes, including to provide the Recruitment Services and for administrative purposes, as described below.
A. Provide the Recruitment Services
We use personal information to fulfill our contract with you and provide the Recruitment Services, such as:- Providing access to certain areas, functionalities, and features of the Recruitment Services;
- Answering requests for support;
- Communicating with you, including in some cases to let you know about related roles to the one for which you applied;
- Sharing personal information with third parties as needed to provide the Recruitment Services;
- Processing applications; and
- Scheduling interviews with you.
EU/UK GDPR Lawful Bases: If the EU GDPR or the UK GDPR applies to our processing of personal information under this section, our lawful bases may include performance of a contract, legitimate interest, consent, and/or compliance with legal obligations.
B. Administrative Purposes
We use personal information for various administrative purposes, such as:- Pursuing our legitimate interests such as network and information security and fraud prevention;
- Detecting security incidents, protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activity, and prosecuting those responsible for that activity;
- Carrying out analytics;
- Measuring interest and engagement in the Recruitment Services;
- Improving, upgrading, or enhancing the Recruitment Services;
- Creating de-identified and/or aggregated information. If we create or receive de-identified information, we will not attempt to reidentify such information, unless permitted by, or required to comply with, applicable laws;
- Ensuring internal quality control and safety;
- Authenticating and verifying individual identities, including requests to exercise your rights under this Applicant Privacy Notice;
- Debugging to identify and repair errors with the Recruitment Services;
- Auditing, legal investigations, transactions, and other compliance activities;
- Enforcing our agreements and policies; and
- Carrying out activities that are required to comply with our legal obligations.
C. With Your Consent or Direction
We may use personal information for other purposes that are clearly disclosed to you at the time you provide personal information, with your consent, or as otherwise directed by you.EU/UK GDPR Lawful Bases: If the EU GDPR or the UK GDPR applies to our processing of personal information under this section, our lawful bases may include performance of a contract, legitimate interest, and/or consent.
4. HOW WE DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION
We disclose personal information to third parties for a variety of purposes, including to provide the Recruitment Services, to protect us or others, or in the event of a major transaction such as a merger, sale, or asset transfer, as described below.
A. Disclosures to Provide the Recruitment Services
We may disclose any of the personal information we collect to the categories of third parties described below.- Service Providers. We may disclose personal information to third-party service providers that assist us with the provision of the Recruitment Services. This may include, but is not limited to, service providers that provide us with hosting, customer service, analytics, IT support, and related services.
- Third-Party Services You Share or Interact With. The Recruitment Services may link to or allow you to interface, interact, share information with, direct us to share information with, access and/or use third-party websites, applications, services, products, and technology (each a “Third-Party Service”). Any personal information shared with a Third-Party Service will be subject to the Third-Party Service’s privacy policy. We are not responsible for the processing of personal information by Third-Party Services.
- Affiliates. We may share your personal information with our corporate affiliates.
- Advertising Partners. We may share your personal information with third-party advertising partners. These third-party advertising partners may set Technologies and other tracking tools on our Services to collect information regarding your activities and your device (e.g., your IP address, cookie identifiers, page(s) visited, location, time of day). These advertising partners may use this information (and similar information collected from other services) for purposes of delivering personalized advertisements to you when you visit digital properties within their networks. For example, you may see an advertisement for a job board where a Conservancy job is posted. This practice is commonly referred to as “interest-based advertising,” “personalized advertising,” or “targeted advertising.”
If you would like to opt out of these advertising Technologies, please follow the instructions in the “Your Privacy Choices” section of this Applicant Privacy Notice.
B. Disclosures to Protect Us or Others
We may access, preserve, and disclose any information we store associated with you to external parties if we, in good faith, believe doing so is required or appropriate to: comply with law enforcement or national security requests and legal process, such as a court order or subpoena; protect your, our, or others’ rights, property, or safety; enforce our policies or contracts; collect amounts owed to us; or assist with an investigation or prosecution of suspected or actual illegal activity. C. Disclosure in the Event of Merger, Sale, or Other Asset Transfers
If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, purchase or sale of assets, transition of service to another provider, or other similar corporate transaction, your personal information may be disclosed, sold, or transferred as part of such a transaction.5. YOUR PRIVACY CHOICES AND RIGHTS
Your Privacy Choices. The privacy choices you may have about your personal information are described below.
- Email Communications. If you no longer want to receive recruitment-related emails from us, you can opt out of receiving emails by following the opt out procedures at the bottom of our emails. Please allow ten (10) business days for us to respond to your request. Note that if you opt out of receiving these types of emails, you may not receive important recruiting information such as an update on your application status or an announcement about a related job opening.
- Text Messages. If you no longer want to receive text message from us, you may opt out of receiving future such text messages from us by following the instructions in the text message you have received from us or by otherwise contacting us as set forth in “Contact Us” below. To learn more about our text/SMS messaging, please review our Mobile Terms and Conditions.
- Mailings. You may, at any time, choose to opt out of receiving postal mail from us by calling us at (800) 628- 6860 or emailing us at member@tnc.org. Please allow 30-60 days for your address to be removed from any mailings that are currently underway.
- “Do Not Track.” Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a privacy preference that users can set in certain web browsers. Please note that we do not respond to or honor DNT signals or similar mechanisms transmitted by web browsers.
- Cookies. On the Conservancy’s Careers page, you may stop or restrict the placement of Technologies by taking the following steps:
1. Using your preferred browser, navigate to careers.tnc.org/.
2. Depending on how you have previously interacted with our sites, a cookie banner may or may not pop up.
a. At the bottom of the screen, you may see a banner at the bottom labeled “Your cookie preferences.” If you see this banner, click the green “Cookies Settings” button.
b. If you do not see this banner, click the green cookie icon at the bottom left of the screen to bring up the Cookie Settings.
3. In the Cookie Settings, click the green “Reject All” button.
a. Alternatively, you can toggle off specific cookie types using the toggles, and then clicking “Confirm My Choices.”
2. Depending on how you have previously interacted with our sites, a cookie banner may or may not pop up.
a. At the bottom of the screen, you may see a banner at the bottom labeled “Your cookie preferences.” If you see this banner, click the green “Cookies Settings” button.
b. If you do not see this banner, click the green cookie icon at the bottom left of the screen to bring up the Cookie Settings.
3. In the Cookie Settings, click the green “Reject All” button.
a. Alternatively, you can toggle off specific cookie types using the toggles, and then clicking “Confirm My Choices.”
Please note you would need to follow the above steps for any browser you use. For example, if you only use Google Chrome, then you can just take the steps above in Google Chrome. However, if you sometimes use Google Chrome and sometimes use Microsoft Edge, you would need to complete the steps above for each browser to opt out of all but necessary cookies.
You may also stop or restrict the placement of Technologies on your device or remove them by adjusting your preferences as your browser or device permits. Please note that depending on how you adjust your cookie preferences, certain Recruitment Services may not work properly.
Please note that cookie-based opt-outs are not effective on mobile applications. However, you may opt out of certain tracking on some mobile applications by following the instructions for Android, iOS, and others.
The online advertising industry also provides mechanisms that may allow you to opt out of receiving targeted ads from organizations that participate in self-regulatory programs. To learn more, visit the Network Advertising Initiative, the Digital Advertising Alliance, and the European Digital Advertising Alliance.
Please note you must separately opt out in each browser and on each device.
Your Privacy Rights. In accordance with applicable law, you may have the right to:
- Confirm Whether We Are Processing Your Personal Information;
- Request Access to or Portability of Your Personal Information;
- Request Correction of Your Personal Information;
- Request Deletion, Anonymization, or Blocking of Your Personal Information;
- Request Restriction of or Object to our Processing of Your Personal Information;
- Request to Opt-Out of Certain Processing Activities; and
- Be informd about third parties with which your information has been shared; and
- Withdraw Your Consent to our Processing of Your Personal Information. Please note that your withdrawal will only take effect for future processing and will not affect the lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us as set forth in “Contact Us” below. We will process such requests in accordance with applicable laws.
Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf in certain jurisdictions, may make a request to exercise the rights listed above regarding your personal information. If your personal information is subject to a law that allows an authorized agent to act on your behalf in exercising your privacy rights and you wish to designate an authorized agent, please provide written authorization signed by you and your designated agent using the information found in “Contact Us” below and ask us for additional instructions.
To protect your privacy, we will take steps to verify your identity before fulfilling requests submitted under applicable privacy laws. These steps may involve asking you to provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative. Examples of our verification process may include asking you to confirm the email address we have associated with you.
Some laws may allow you to appeal our decision if we decline to process your request. If applicable laws grant you an appeal right, and you would like to appeal our decision with respect to your request, you may do so by informing us of this and providing us with information supporting your appeal.
If your personal information is subject to the applicable data protection laws of Australia, Brazil, the European Economic Area, or the United Kingdom, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority if you believe our processing of your personal information violates applicable law.
6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
All personal information processed by us may be transferred, processed, and stored anywhere in the world, including, but not limited to, the United States or other countries, which may have data protection laws that are different from the laws where you live. These countries may or may not have adequate data protection laws as defined by the data protection authority in your country.
For example, if you live in Canada and apply to a job in the United States, Conservancy staff in the United States will review your application.
If we transfer personal information from the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and/or the United Kingdom to a country that does not provide an adequate level of protection under applicable data protection laws, one of the safeguards we may use to support such transfer is the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
For more information about the safeguards we use for international transfers of your personal information, please contact us as set forth below.
The Conservancy strives to maintain reasonable physical, technical, organizational, and procedural safeguards (e.g., password access, or encryption as necessary) to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, loss, modification, copying, or disclosure. For example, we put access controls in place so that only those employees with a need to know the information have access to your personal information. We also protect certain highly confidential or sensitive personal information through encryption in transfer and at rest.
The Conservancy has also put in place procedures to respond in the event of any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach of your personal data where we are legally required to do so.
8. RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We store the personal information we collect as described in this Applicant Privacy Notice for as long as you use the Recruitment Services, or as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, provide the Recruitment Services, resolve disputes, establish legal defenses, conduct audits, pursue legitimate purposes, enforce our agreements, and comply with applicable laws.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we may consider applicable legal requirements, the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, certain risk factors, the purposes for which we process your personal information, and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means.
Typically the Conservancy retains job applications, resumes, cover letters, responses to interview questions, and reference checks for six years from the date the document was received if not hired, or from the date recruitment was completed if hired. Typically the Conservancy retains background check results for five years from the date of the background check.
Please note that we may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to process your information for some limited purposes. For example, TNC may use AI for purposes including but not limited to the following: redacting names from resumes; suggesting skills for you to select and display on your candidate profile; suggesting jobs you might be interested in applying to, answering your questions about the Recruitment Services; surfacing suggestions to pre-fill forms; scheduling appointments; translating; transcribing and summarizing meetings. Please note that where the technology makes suggestions, those should be used for your convenience only. You should include any skills you wish to share on your profile and apply for any opportunities that you believe you are qualified for and you should not limit yourself based on the technology’s recommendations.
Note that TNC does not use AI to make automated decisions about hiring or employment. For example, TNC does not use AI to make automated, consequential employment decisions such as ranking, hiring, or rejecting candidates. Nor does TNC use AI to substantially assist or replace discretionary human decision making with respect to any of these employment decisions.
This Supplemental Notice for EU/UK GDPR only applies to our processing of personal information that is subject to the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation.
In some cases, providing personal information may be a requirement under applicable law, a contractual requirement, or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract. If you choose not to provide personal information in cases where it is required, we will inform you of the consequences at the time of your refusal to provide the personal information.
The Conservancy’s processing of your personal information may be supported by one or more of the following lawful bases:
| Applicant Privacy Notice Section | Lawful Basis: Performance of a Contract (i.e., to provide the Recruitment Services to you) | Lawful Basis: Legitimate Interest | Lawful Basis: Consent | Lawful Basis: For Compliance with Legal Obligations |
| Section 3A: Provide the Recruitment Services | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Section 3B: Administrative Purposes | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Section 3C: With Your Consent or Direction | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
11. CHILDREN’S PERSONAL INFORMATION
The Recruitment Services are not directed to children under 16 (or other age as required by local law outside the United States), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children without consent of a parent or guardian.
The Recruitment Services may contain links to other websites/applications and other websites/applications may reference or link to our Recruitment Services. These third-party services are not controlled by us. We encourage our users to read the privacy policies of each website and application with which they interact. We do not endorse, screen, or approve, and are not responsible for, the privacy practices or content of such other websites or applications. Providing personal information to third-party websites or applications is at your own risk.
13. THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES/APPLICATIONS
The Nature Conservancy is the controller of the personal information we process under this Applicant Privacy Notice.
If you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Applicant Privacy Notice, or to exercise your rights as detailed in this Applicant Privacy Notice, please contact us:
The Recruitment Services are not directed to children under 16 (or other age as required by local law outside the United States), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children without consent of a parent or guardian.
The Recruitment Services may contain links to other websites/applications and other websites/applications may reference or link to our Recruitment Services. These third-party services are not controlled by us. We encourage our users to read the privacy policies of each website and application with which they interact. We do not endorse, screen, or approve, and are not responsible for, the privacy practices or content of such other websites or applications. Providing personal information to third-party websites or applications is at your own risk.
13. THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES/APPLICATIONS
The Nature Conservancy is the controller of the personal information we process under this Applicant Privacy Notice.
If you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Applicant Privacy Notice, or to exercise your rights as detailed in this Applicant Privacy Notice, please contact us:
- Sending us an email at: member@tnc.org
- Calling our Member Care Team (M – F between 9 am and 5 pm Eastern Time): +1 (800) 628-6860
- Writing to us at: The Nature Conservancy
4245 N. Fairfax Drive
Suite 100
Arlington, VA 22203
Attn: Member Care Team
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