Privacy Policy

Last update: December 2021

The UN Global Compact is committed to protecting the privacy of our Participants, event attendees and website users. This privacy policy applies to all websites and mobile applications linking to or posting this privacy policy (each a “Site”).

1) Purpose of this privacy policy

This privacy policy describes how we use, store, disclose, and process personal information that we obtain through any of our Sites, including information that you may provide in connection with a letter of commitment and online application to become a Participant of the UN Global Compact (together, an “Application”), or that we obtain when you attend a UN Global Compact event, request content or otherwise through the course of our operations.

Our Sites are not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect personal information relating to children. If you are a parent or guardian and you learn that your children have provided us with personal information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under age 16 without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to remove that information from our servers.

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy policy or fair processing policy we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal information about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your information.

The term “personal information” as used in this privacy policy shall mean any information that enables us to identify an individual, directly or indirectly, by reference to an identifier such as name, identification number, location data, online identifier or one or more factors specific to the individual.

2) Who we are

This privacy policy is issued on behalf of the UN Global Compact and the Foundation for the Global Compact (from now on "we", "us" or "our"). Both these entities are the controller and responsible for the following websites (from now on “Sites”):

Some information may be shared with our Global Compact Local Networks (see “How we Share Information”). If you would like to know more about our Local Networks, please click here.

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our processing activities, please contact us at info@unglobalcompact.org.

3) Information we collect

a) Information you provide to us

We collect personal information that is provided to us by Participants, event attendees, event sponsors, Site users and others, which may include:

Contact data, such as your name, employer, job title, department or similar identifier, postal address, email address and telephone numbers. Contact data is provided when you register for or attend one of our events, when you request content from our Sites or when you otherwise communicate with us using the “Contact Us” page on our Sites or via email. Organizations also provide contact data when submitting Applications to become a Participant of the UN Global Compact.
Credentials, such as passwords, secret question and answer, or similar security information used for authentication and account access.
Marketing and subscription data, such as your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties, and your interests when you subscribe to email subscriptions on our Sites.
Event data, such as the contact data you provide when you register for an event, and a record of your participation in our events as an attendee, presenter or a member of the press.
Survey information, such as the contact data and content you provide when you respond to surveys or our requests for public comments, and a record of your participation in groups, forums or task forces that we organize or sponsor.
Invoicing information, such as invoice data and bank account details to process payments.
Candidate data, such as employment history, qualifications, academic qualifications and education records, and any other information that you provide to us when applying for a role, for example in your curriculum vitae, a covering letter, on an application form or during an interview, or that we have received from a recruitment agency or background check provider.
When you contact us directly via email, we use the personal information provided in your email to respond to your questions or comments. We may also store your comments for future reference.

b) Information we collect

By accessing the Sites certain information about the user, such as Internet protocol (IP) addresses, navigation through the Site, the software used and the time spent, along with other similar information, will be stored on our servers. These will not specifically identify the user. We also may collect any telephone number from which you contact us.

At this time, our Sites do not support “do not track” signals (“DNT”) that may be available in your browser for letting websites know that you do not want them collecting certain kinds of information. If you turn on the DNT setting on your browser, our Sites are not currently capable of following whatever DNT preferences you set. For more information about DNT, visit www.donottrack.us.

c) Cookies

We use “cookies” and similar technologies on our Sites. A cookie is a piece of data stored on your device to help us improve your access to our Sites and identify repeat visitors to our Sites. For instance, when we use a cookie to identify you, you would not have to provide a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our Sites. Cookies can also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Sites. For more information, please see our Cookie Notice.

4) How we use information

We process personal information for the purposes set out in this privacy policy only where we have a valid legal ground for doing so under applicable data protection law. The legal ground will depend on the purpose for which we process your personal information.

We use your personal information in the following ways as necessary in our legitimate business interests, including to meet our obligations to Participants:

To register you as the designated contact point for a Participant or Signatory or prospective Participant or Signatory of the UN Global Compact and/or joint initiatives,
To manage our relationship and status with your organization as a Participant or Signatory of the UN Global Compact and/or joint initiatives,
To administer or otherwise carry out our obligations in relation to any agreement to which we are a party,
To provide you with our resources and other content that you have requested,
To manage registration, payments and your attendance to our events, and
To respond to requests or inquiries.

We use your personal information in the following ways as necessary for certain legitimate interests, or where you have given your consent to such processing to the extent required by applicable law (such consent can be withdrawn at any time):

To notifying you about changes to our policies and/or asking you to take a survey,
To send you our bulletins and newsletters,
To share information on specific engagement opportunities (including events, webinars, participation in Action Platforms, etc.) available to Participants and Signatories of the UN Global Compact or other information on activities, resources and reports offered by our initiative and/or other joint initiatives and/or Global Compact Local Networks and/or partner organizations,
To send you communications concerning an individual role you undertake as part of the governance of the UN Global Compact and/or other joint initiatives,
Targeted outreach to flag high-level engagement opportunities,
To manage the implementation of our integrity processes with Participants and Signatories or prospective Participants and Signatories of the UN Global Compact, including through formal and informal engagement,
To respond to inquiries,
To share logistic notes about events, webinars and/or other programs,
To confirm and administer your participation in online trainings, self-assessment tools or hubs,
To deal with any enquiries or complaints you or others make,
To gather statistical information to make our research products more relevant to you,
To administer and protect our operations and our Sites (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data),
To deliver relevant content to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of that content, and
To use data analytics to improve our Sites.

If you apply to work for us on a permanent or temporary basis, including as a consultant or intern, we will use your personal information in the following ways as necessary in our legitimate interests, and to decide whether to enter into a contract with you:

to assess your skills, qualifications, and suitability for the role you have applied for,
to carry out background and reference checks, where applicable,
to communicate with you about the recruitment process,
to keep records related to our hiring processes, and
to comply with legal or regulatory requirements.

5) How we share information

Data provided in the Application is shared with the Global Compact Local Network in the country where you are located so that you can learn about engagement opportunities and activities available at the national/local level.

If you apply to be a participant to the PRME initiative, upon approval of your application we share your data with the PRME Chapter representatives.

We may share your personal information with trusted third parties that provide services to help us with our activities. These third parties include our payment processing providers, website analytics companies, email service providers, IT service providers, conference call providers, events management providers, website developers, consultants, accountants, lawyers and other professional advisers and others service providers.

We will only transfer your personal information to trusted third parties who provide sufficient guarantees in respect of the technical and organizational security measures governing the processing to be carried out and who can demonstrate a commitment to compliance with those measures.

We do not allow our third party service providers to use your personal information for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

We may disclose personal information in response to a court order, subpoena, law enforcement proceeding, regulatory inquiry or as otherwise legally required. Such disclosure of personal information will be limited (a) to the extent necessary to comply with national security, public interest, or law enforcement requirements or (b) by statute, government regulation or case law that creates conflicting obligations or explicit authorizations.

Also, we may share personal information in order to enforce or apply our terms and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Global Compact Networks, our Participants or Signatories, or others. This includes exchanging information with other organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

We may also share aggregated or anonymous information that cannot identify you with third parties. For example, we may disclose the number of visitors to our Sites, attendees to our events, or the number of people who have downloaded content from our Sites.

6) How long we keep information

We store personal information, in a form which permits us to identify individuals, for no longer than is necessary for the purpose for which the personal information is processed. We use your personal information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements and rights, or if it is not technically and reasonably feasible to remove it. Otherwise, we will seek to delete personal information within a reasonable timeframe upon request.

7) Security

We maintain commercially reasonable security measures to protect personal information against unauthorized access and disclosure and that are consistent with our operations and generally accepted industry standards. These measures include the implementation of technical, physical and administrative security safeguards. We cannot ensure or warrant the security of any personal information that you transmit to us and you agree that you provide this and engage in such transmissions at your own risk. Once we receive personal information from you, we will endeavor to maintain its security on our systems. We have established policies and procedures for securely managing personal information and protecting personal information against unauthorized access.

8) Third parties websites

Our Sites may contain links to other websites that are not covered by this privacy policy and where information practices may be different from ours. Our provision of a link to any other website or location is for your convenience and does not signify our endorsement of such other website or location or its contents. Please be aware that the terms of this privacy policy do not apply to these outside websites or content, or to any collection of data after you click on links to such outside websites.

9) International transfers of personal information

We are headquartered in the United States. By using any of our Sites from outside the United States, you acknowledge that your personal information may be accessed by us or transferred to us in the United States and to our affiliates, partners, and service providers who are located around the world; and that your personal information will be transferred to, and stored and processed in, the United States or elsewhere in the world where our servers are located.

10) European residents

If you are based in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we will only process your personal information for a purpose described in this privacy policy if (1) you have provided your consent (which can be withdrawn at any time), (2) the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you, (3) we are required by law, or (4) the processing is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate commercial interests (except where such interests are overridden by your rights and interests).

If you are based in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, in certain circumstances you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal information that we hold about you—specifically:

Request access to your personal information. You may have the right to request access to any personal information we hold about you as well as related information, including the purposes for processing the personal information, the recipients or categories of recipients with whom the personal information has been shared, where possible, the period for which the personal information will be stored, the source of the personal information, and the existence of any automated decision making.
Request correction of your personal information. You may have the right to obtain without undue delay the rectification of any inaccurate personal information we hold about you.
Request erasure of your personal information. You may have the right to request that personal information held about you be deleted.
Request restriction of processing your personal information. You may have the right to prevent or restrict processing of your personal information.
Request transfer of your personal information. You may have the right to request transfer of your personal information directly to a third party where this is technically feasible.

Also, where you believe that we have not complied with our obligation under this privacy policy or applicable data protection law, you have the right to make a complaint to a Data Protection Authority in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom.

You can exercise any of these rights by emailing us at info@unglobalcompact.org.

11) Changes to this privacy policy

We reserve the right to update or modify this privacy policy from time to time, with any such changes to be effective prospectively. Please visit this web page periodically so that you will be apprised of any such changes. Your continued use of any of our Sites after any modification to this privacy policy will constitute your acceptance of such modification.

12) Contact us

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this privacy notice, please contact us via email at: info@unglobalcompact.org.