Bowers' Books for Kids: Storytime in the Galleries with Guest Author Shannon Scharkey

BOWERS MUSEUM PRIVACY POLICY

Last Updated: January 29, 2026

The Bowers Museum ("we," "us," "our," or "the Museum") is strongly committed to protecting the privacy of its members, visitors, donors, customers, attendees of its events and programming, and guests (online and offline). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website www.bowers.org, purchase tickets, register for programs, or otherwise interact with us. The Museum does not collect personal information about individuals—such as names and postal and/or email addresses—except when it is knowingly provided by such individuals. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using our website, you consent to the practices described in this policy.

1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Information You Provide to Us

We collect information that you voluntarily provide to us when you:

      • Purchase tickets or make donations
      • Create an account on our website
      • Subscribe to our email newsletter or mailing list
      • Register for educational programs or events
      • Contact us with questions or feedback
      • Participate in surveys or promotions

Personal information may be provided to the Museum by you through various means, including museum membership applications or renewals, emails to the Museum, completion of Museum-generated surveys (digital and printed), purchases at the Museum store and ticket office, donations to the Museum, participation in Museum programming, requests to join the Museum's mailing lists, and other transactions that may occur between you and the Museum.

The types of personal information we may collect include:

      • Name and contact information (email address, phone number, mailing address)
      • Payment information (credit card details, billing address)
      • Account credentials (username and password)
      • Demographic information (age, interests, preferences)
      • Any other information you choose to provide

The Museum ensures that the collection, management, and storage of any personal information provided by you to the Museum will be completed in accordance with all applicable legal requirements.

1.2 Information Automatically Collected

When you visit our website, we automatically collect certain information about your device and browsing activity, including:

      • IP address and device identifiers
      • Browser type and operating system
      • Pages visited and time spent on our website
      • Referring website or source
      • Clickstream data and navigation patterns

We collect this information through cookies, web beacons, and similar tracking technologies to authenticate users, track usage patterns, traffic trends, and user behavior. For more information about cookies, please see Section 8 below.

2. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

      • To process ticket purchases, donations, and other transactions
      • To create and manage your account
      • To provide our services to visitors, members, donors, and other guests
      • To send you information about upcoming events, exhibitions, and programs
      • To send you email newsletters, text messages, and marketing communications (with your consent)
      • To contact you about Museum programming, events, activities, fundraising, and membership opportunities
      • To respond to your inquiries and provide customer support
      • To improve our website, programs, and services
      • To analyze website usage and visitor trends
      • To personalize your experience on our website and better suit the needs of our online guests
      • To enhance the Museum's information security and resolve reported issues
      • To protect against fraud and maintain security
      • To comply with applicable legal requirements

The Museum will retain your membership information for its records. We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

3. SHARING YOUR INFORMATION

We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We may share your information in the following limited circumstances:

3.1 Service Providers

We may share your information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our website, processing transactions, sending emails and text messages, or providing other services. These service providers are contractually obligated to protect your information and use it only for the purposes we specify. The third parties will only be permitted to use your personal information as instructed by the Museum.
The Museum will never share with third parties who are not service providers to the Museum any financial information you provide when purchasing a membership or making a donation.

3.2 Aggregated Information

The Museum may aggregate personal information so that such information is no longer identifiable with an individual. The Museum will use such aggregated information for any purposes in connection with its nonprofit mission, including analytics and improving our services. Such aggregated information will not be considered personal information. If you would prefer to not have your information shared in this way, please send an email message containing your name and postal address to privacy@bowers.org.

3.3 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or government agency).

3.4 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such change and any choices you may have regarding your information.

3.5 Protection of Rights

We may disclose your information when we believe it is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Bowers Museum, our visitors, or others.

4. EMAIL, TEXT MESSAGE, AND PHONE COMMUNICATION

With your consent, we regularly send emails, text messages, or make phone calls to our members and registered visitors to provide them with highlights of upcoming exhibitions, programs, events, activities, fundraising campaigns, and membership opportunities. You may opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by:

      • Clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any marketing email
      • Replying "STOP" to any text message
      • Contacting us directly at marketing@bowers.org with your name, email address, and phone number
      • Updating your communication preferences in your account settings

The Museum acknowledges that you may have initially consented to receiving communications from us, but you may no longer wish to receive such messages and phone calls. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at marketing@bowers.org. When unsubscribing or withdrawing your consent to receive communications from the Museum, please mention "Unsubscribe" or "Email Preferences" in the subject line of your email.
Occasionally, the Museum may email, text message, or call registered visitors, members, or donors to inform them of changes to our website or the Museum's policies. If you do not wish to receive any communication from the Museum, please send an email message containing your name, email address, phone number, and postal address to marketing@bowers.org.
Please note that even if you opt out of marketing communications, we may still send you transactional emails and messages related to your purchases, donations, or account.

5. PAYMENT PROCESSING AND TRANSACTION SECURITY

The Museum follows industry standards for information security. All credit card information submitted to the Museum will be encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, so it cannot be read as the information travels over the Internet.
The Museum engages third-party payment processors to handle all transactions conducted on our website and at Museum facilities. These third parties have represented to the Museum that they comply with current PCI (Payment Card Industry) data security standards and use security features including encryption and tokenization designed to prevent the unauthorized release of your personal financial data. All credit card information is tokenized and held on third-party sites, not on Museum servers.

We implement reasonable security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. These measures include:

      • Encryption of sensitive data during transmission
      • Secure storage of personal information
      • Regular security assessments and updates
      • Restricted access to personal information on a need-to-know basis

Assumption of Risk: Although the Museum endeavors to create secure and reliable websites, the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to or from the website over the Internet cannot be guaranteed. You assume the sole and complete risk of using the website, and you must make your own independent determination regarding the security of Internet communications. The Museum is only responsible for information after receipt and while in the Museum's custody.
However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

6. INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

Information collected by the Museum will be processed and stored where the Museum's service providers are located. Your information may be processed outside of your country and/or state of residence, including in the United States. Your information will be subject to the policies and procedures of these service providers and the privacy laws of the jurisdictions in which they operate.

7. CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

The Museum understands that it may collect personal information from minors under the age of 18 (name and optionally an email and/or phone number) in connection with its educational programming, activities, and events.

Children Under 13: Our website is not directed to children under the age of 13, and we will not knowingly collect any personal information from children under 13 without the express consent of that child's parent or legal guardian. If the Museum receives an email from a child under the age of 13, the Museum may respond to the email, but will not retain the child's information for any purposes without the consent of the child's parent or legal guardian. If we become aware that we have collected information from a child under 13 without parental consent, we will delete that information promptly.

Minors Ages 13-17: The Museum strongly encourages that any personal information provided by children under the age of 18 be provided directly by the parent or legal guardian, or with the parent or legal guardian's knowledge and approval. Any personal information collected from minors in connection with educational programs will be used solely for managing their participation in the program.

If you are a parent or legal guardian and believe we have collected information from your child, or if you would like to request that the Museum remove your child from our lists, please contact us at privacy@bowers.org with the child's name, email address, and phone number (if previously provided).

If participants in youth programs age out of such programs, the Museum may contact the participant to ask if they would like to opt-in to the Museum's general mailing lists.

8. COOKIES AND TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

Our website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience and analyze website usage. Cookies are small data files stored on your device when you visit our website. Cookies allow the Museum to save information locally so that users do not have to re-enter information the next time they visit the website.

Types of cookies we use:

      • Essential cookies: Required for the website to function properly (e.g., shopping cart, login). These cookies are strictly necessary for the website's functioning.
      • Analytics cookies: Help us understand how visitors use our website and track usage patterns, traffic trends, and user behavior
      • Preference cookies: Remember your settings and preferences

The information the Museum collects through cookies will only be used in the aggregate to make content adjustments and other customer service improvements.

Third-Party Analytics Tools:

The Museum may use Google Analytics as part of its operations. The Museum will not send Google any personally identifiable information, and will follow all applicable laws, policies, and regulations relating to the collection of information, including all applicable Google Analytics policies. The Museum contracts with third-party vendors for services that require the sharing of non-personally identifiable information collected with cookies. If you have any questions about how Google may use data that it collects, please review https://policies.google.com/privacy.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. However, disabling cookies may affect the functionality of our website. Most browsers allow you to refuse cookies or delete existing cookies.

9. THIRD-PARTY LINKS

The Museum's website may contain links to third-party websites or unaffiliated websites. Please be aware that the Museum does not control the content or privacy policies of these third parties, and your use of third-party websites may be subject to separate terms and conditions, policies, and data security practices. It is your sole responsibility to review the privacy policies of these third parties and independently determine that the privacy policies are appropriate before accessing any third-party website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these external sites.

10. YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS

Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information:

      • Access: Request access to the personal information we hold about you
      • Correction: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
      • Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information
      • Opt-out: Opt out of receiving marketing communications
      • Data portability: Request a copy of your information in a portable format

To exercise these rights, please contact us at privacy@bowers.org. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe as required by applicable law.

California Residents:

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA, also known as Proposition 24). This Privacy Policy is intended to conform to the requirements of the CCPA and CPRA. Your rights include the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to delete your information, and the right to opt out of the sale of your information. We do not sell your personal information.

European Union Citizens (GDPR):

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation under European law about data protection and privacy of EU citizens. Although the Bowers Museum is a California non-profit organization, the Museum may be subject to the requirements of GDPR for any EU citizens who provide personal information to us. The Museum collects, stores, retains, and destroys the information of any EU citizens in accordance with applicable GDPR requirements.
If you are an EU citizen, you have rights under GDPR that allow you to request certain actions in connection with your personal information shared with the Museum, including the right to request a copy of such information, details about the retention period, deletion of your personal information, and restriction of the Museum's ability to process your information.

If you would like to exercise any of your rights under GDPR, please contact us at privacy@bowers.org with your name, postal address, and request. All requests will be handled in accordance with the requirements of GDPR.

Non-US Citizens:

If you are a non-US citizen or non-US resident with questions regarding your rights under local privacy laws, please contact your local data protection authority.

11. DATA BREACH NOTIFICATION

If there is a data breach of the Museum's server or the server of any of our service providers that receive your personal information, and any of your personal information is disclosed, the Museum will follow the reporting requirements of your state of residence regarding the exposure.

States of the United States may define personal information differently, including requiring that sensitive information (e.g., password, account numbers, social security number, security questions, etc.) be disclosed along with your name, email address, or physical address for a data breach notification to arise. The Museum will comply with all applicable state and federal laws regarding data breach notifications and will notify affected individuals in a timely manner as required by law.

10. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal, operational, or regulatory reasons. The "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy indicates when it was last revised.
Occasionally, the Museum may email, text message, or call registered visitors, members, or donors to inform them of material changes to this Privacy Policy. Your continued use of our website after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

13. CONTACT US

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
Bowers Museum
2002 North Main Street
Santa Ana, California 92706
Website: www.bowers.org
Privacy Inquiries: privacy@bowers.org
Marketing/Communications: marketing@bowers.org
Membership Questions: membership@bowers.org

Your Privacy Matters to Us

The Bowers Museum is committed to maintaining your trust by protecting your personal information. We collect and use your data responsibly to enhance your experience, support our educational mission, and keep you informed about cultural events that enrich our community. Please feel free to contact us with any questions about your privacy rights or how we handle your information.