chapter hub join discord upcoming events donate

privacy policy

effective date: October 7, 2026

The College Diabetes Network, Inc., d/b/a The Diabetes Link, a nonprofit corporation organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (“The Link,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) is committed to protecting your personal information. The following privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes the way we handle information learned about you from your visits to our websites from which you are accessing this Privacy Policy, including https://www.thediabeteslink.org/, https://www.thediabeteslink.org/donate, https://support.thediabeteslink.org/campaign/800806/donate (collectively, the “Site”).

Please note that this Privacy Policy does not address our practices with respect to consumer health data (as defined under applicable laws) that we may collect and process, which is instead governed by our Consumer Health Data Privacy Notice.

PLEASE REVIEW THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY. When you provide us with your information, including when you visit our Site, you accept the terms of this Privacy Policy, and consent to our collection, use, disclosure, retention and other processing of your information as described in this Privacy Policy.

1. Information We Collect
a. Personal Information

We collect personal information about you when you visit our Site, which may include:

    • Name
    • Email address
    • Address
    • Telephone number
    • How you are connected to diabetes
    • School or university affiliation and matriculation date
    • Occupation and self-reported employment information
    • Self-reported pronouns, gender identification and ethnicity information
  • Payment information (e.g., credit/debit card number, billing and shipping address, card expiration date, security code)
  • Donation details (e.g., amounts donated)
  • If you post a photograph or video on social media and tag us or if you post a comment on our social media pages, we will collect the photograph, video or content of that message. Please note that if you choose to post photographs or videos on social media and tag us or post a comment on any of our social media pages, any information you post will be visible to any other visitors to that social media page. We are not responsible for any personal information you include in such posts or for any use of such information by any other visitor to the social media page
  • If you are a job applicant, your resume and other information you submit with respect to your job application
  • Any additional information you may provide when you contact us.

The information above is collected and stored electronically when you:

  • Access and/or use the Site;
  • Subscribe to our newsletter;
  • Register for our programs, events and/or local meetups;
  • Provide a donation;
  • Contact us.

Where permitted by applicable law, we may combine your personal information with other information we have collected from you. We may also combine your personal information with information we receive about you from other sources, such as our service providers, website analytics partners and other partners such as the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists (ADCES) when you attend the ADCES conference or other co-sponsored events or use co-sponsored services.

b. Information Collected Automatically

In addition, we collect information about your device’s hardware and software automatically when you access the Site. This information may include:

  • IP address
  • Language preference
  • Approximate geographic location, based on IP address
  • Session statistics
  • Browser information
  • Device information
  • Other technical information such as protocol status and substatus, bytes sent and received, and server information.

We may also collect information regarding traffic patterns and your interaction with our Site. This information is used by us for our business purposes, including for the operation and improvement of the Site, for technical troubleshooting, to maintain the quality and protect the security of the Site, and to provide general statistics regarding use of the Site.

c. Cookies and Other Information Collection Tools

Cookies

A cookie is a small file containing a string of characters that is sent to your computer when you visit a website or use an online service. When you visit the website or use the service again, the cookie allows that website or online service to recognize your browser or device. Cookies may store unique identifiers, user preferences and other information.

We may use “session cookies” or “persistent cookies.” Session cookies are temporary and expire once you close your browser or once your session ends. Persistent cookies remain on your device for much longer or until you or your browser erase them. Persistent cookies have varying durations that are dependent on their expiration date.

We may also use third-party cookies, like Google Analytics, which sets cookies on the Site to help analyze how visitors use the Site. Please note that information collected via third-party cookies may be shared with our website analytics partners. You can visit https://www.google.com/settings/ads to learn more about Google’s use of cookies. If you would like to opt-out from the use of your information by Google Analytics, you may use Google Analytics’ opt-out browser add-on designed for this purpose.

Cookies help us improve the Site by providing us with information about which parts of the Site are most popular, enabling us to analyze technical and navigational information about the Site, and helping us to detect and prevent fraud. We also use cookies and other data collection tools to help improve your experience with the Site and to enable us to create targeted advertisements and measure the effectiveness of our advertisements.

Web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to manage and delete cookies, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. Some web browsers provide settings that allow a user to reject cookies or to alert a user when a cookie is placed on the user’s computer, tablet or mobile device. Most mobile devices also offer settings to reject mobile device identifiers. Although users are not required to accept cookies or mobile device identifiers, blocking or rejecting them may prevent access to some features available through the Site. You may also manage your cookie preferences for the Site by clicking here.

2. How Information is Used

We may use the information we collect for any of the following purposes:

  • to provide the Site to you and to improve the Site;
  • to administer our various chapters and memberships;
  • to provide you with the services and resources we offer and/or the programs, events and local meetups for which you may register;
  • to enable you to register for and attend our events or local meetups and/or participate in our programs;
  • to operate, improve, and personalize the services we offer, and to give each user a more consistent and personalized experience when interacting with us;
  • to send you our newsletters and emails, and if you opt-in, send you text messages, about our services, resources, programs, events, local meetups and donation opportunities or other offers that we think might be of interest to you;
  • to complete and fulfill your donation, for example, to process your payments through our third-party payment processor and communicate with you regarding your donation;
  • if you are a job applicant, to enable you to apply for open positions with us and to evaluate your application;
  • for security, to detect fraud or illegal activities, and for archival and backup purposes in connection with the provision of the Site;
  • to respond to your inquiries and communicate with you;
  • for our other business purposes, such as data analytics, accounting, auditing and reporting, developing new or improving our services, resources, programs, events, and local meetups, identifying Site usage trends;
as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (i) under applicable law; (ii) to comply with legal process; (iii) to respond to requests from public and government authorities; (iv) to enforce this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use; (v) to protect our operations; (vi) to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of you or others; and (vii) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.
 
2. Disclosure of Information

We may disclose your information:

    • With Third Party Service Providers Performing Services on Our Behalf. We share your personal information with our service providers to perform the functions for which we engage them. For example, we may use third parties to host the Site or assist us in providing functionality on the Site, send out email updates about the Site and our services, resources, programs, events, local meetups, and process donations.
  • With Corporate Sponsors or Partners. Where we co-sponsor events or offer services in partnership with a corporate sponsor or other partner, we may disclose your personal information to such sponsor or partner to provide such event or service.
  • Through Tracking Technologies. We may share information collected through tracking technologies set on the Site with our website analytics partners, including but not limited to the cookies we may utilize on the Site as described above.
  • For Legal Purposes. We also may share information that we collect from users as needed to enforce our rights, protect our property or protect the rights, property or safety of others, or as needed to support external auditing, compliance and corporate governance functions. We will disclose personal information as we deem necessary to respond to a subpoena, regulation, binding order of a data protection agency, legal process, governmental or law enforcement request or other legal or regulatory process. We may also share personal information as required to pursue available remedies or limit damages we may sustain.
  • Changes of Control. We reserve the right to transfer or assign the information that we have collected from users in connection with a corporate transaction, such as a divestiture, merger, consolidation, or asset sale, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.
4. Links to External Websites and Online Services

Our Site may contain links to third-party websites and online services. Any access to and use of such third-party websites and online services is not governed by this Privacy Policy but is instead governed by the privacy policies of those third-party websites and online services, and we are not responsible for the information practices of such third-party websites and online services.

5. Social Media

Some aspects of the Site may allow you to interface with social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok and Discord. We will attempt to identify these aspects of the Site to you, for example, by identifying them with the applicable third-party logos or trade names. By using these interfaces, you will allow us to access information about you from those other online services, including information and other content that you submit to those online services. If you interface with the Site through your social media account, we may contact you or enable you to share your experience and content via your social media account, which information may be publicly viewed by other users of those services. For a description on how such social media services and other third-party platforms, plug-ins, integrations, and applications handle your information, please refer to their respective privacy policies and terms of use, which may permit you to modify your privacy settings with that service or platform.

6. Your Choices

a. Opt-out

You may choose to stop receiving our marketing emails and text messages by following the unsubscribe instructions included in such emails and/or text messages or by contacting us at privacy@thediabeteslink.org. Please see our SMS Terms and Privacy Policy for additional information about our practices with respect to text messages. You may also manage your preferences regarding the use of tracking technologies on the Site by clicking here.

7. Data Security

We use reasonable security measures designed to prevent unauthorized intrusion to the Site and the alteration, acquisition or misuse of personal information. However, please note that no data transmission over the Internet or data storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

8. Do Not Track

Our Site does not currently take any action when it receives a Do Not Track request. Do Not Track is a privacy preference that you can set in your web browser to indicate that you do not want certain information about your webpage visits collected across websites when you have not interacted with that service on the page. For details, including how to turn on Do Not Track, visit www.donottrack.us.

9. Children

We do not knowingly collect or maintain personal information directly from any person under the age of 13. No parts of our Site are directed to or designed to attract anyone under the age of 13.

10. Nevada Residents

Under Nevada law, we do not sell your personal information. However, if you are a Nevada resident, you may submit a request that we not sell any personal information we have collected about you by contacting us at privacy@thediabeteslink.org.

11. California Shine the Light

Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as California’s “Shine the Light” law, if you are a California resident, you have a right to prevent your personal information from being disclosed to third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes. If you would like to exercise this right, please opt out of the non-necessary cookies and tracking technologies on the Site by clicking here.

12. International Users

The Site is operated within, and intended for use by, persons located in the United States. Where you access the Site from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to, and processed and stored within, the United States. By using the Site, you consent to such transfer, processing, and storage.

13. Questions / Contact Us

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at privacy@thediabeteslink.org or The Diabetes Link, 50 Milk Street, 16th Floor, Boston, MA 02109, Attn: Privacy Policy.

14. Notification of Changes

Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be posted to this page so users are always aware of the information we collect and how we use it. Accordingly, please refer back to this Privacy Policy frequently as it may change.