Public & Private Information Policy

Public Information Policy 

This policy was approved by the College of DuPage Foundation Board of Directors on December 8, 2015.

I. Purpose 

The College of DuPage Foundation is an Illinois nonprofit corporation dedicated to raising and managing private gifts to assist College of DuPage. This policy sets out the practices of the foundation regarding disclosure of information held by it and the procedures for requesting information. The foundation believes that information held by it should be as open to public inspection as possible, while still respecting the privacy rights of donors, prospective donors, and foundation employees, and without compromising the foundation’s ability to secure and steward funds for the continued success of College of DuPage. 

II. Release of Information 

The records of the foundation are available for inspection in accordance with the procedures described in Section IV below, with the exception of “Confidential Information” as described in Section III below. All FOIA requests must be submitted through the proper channels outlined on the FOIA information page, found here.

Available Information 

Various records of the COD Foundation are available for public inspection. Records available include, but are not limited to: 

Policies and procedures documentation, including:

• • • • Gift Acceptance Policy
      • Investment Policies
      • Spending Guidelines
      • Organizational documents, including articles of incorporation and corporate bylaws
      • Audited financial statements 
      • Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax
      • 2015 Grand Jury Subpoena

III. Confidential Information 

Confidential information which is not available for public inspection includes the following: 

• Information relating to donors and prospective donors
  • Portions of records that disclose a donor’s information such as: personal, financial, estate planning, or gift planning matters 
  • Records received from a donor or prospective donor regarding such donor’s prospective gift or pledge 
  • Records containing information about a donor or a prospective donor in regard to the appropriateness of the solicitation and dollar amount of the gift or pledge
  • Portions of records that identify a prospective donor and that provide information on the appropriateness of the solicitation, the form of the gift or dollar amount requested by the solicitor, and the name of the solicitor
  • Portions of records disclosing the identity of a donor or prospective donor, including the specific form of gift or pledge that could identify a donor or prospective donor, directly or indirectly, when such donor has requested anonymity in connection with the gift or pledge. This does not apply to a gift or pledge from a publicly held business corporation.
  • Information relating to fundraising plans and strategies
  • Trade secret information and information relating to the business of any foundation subsidiary which, if released, could create a competitive disadvantage
  • Individual employee information other than name, title and salary
  • Individual student information
  • Information relating to trusts and annuities administered by the foundation, except as to actual gifts to the foundation from such a trust or annuity
  • Other information protected by law 

IV. Procedures for Requesting Public Information

The Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent it. Any individual, corporation, partnership, firm or organization, acting individually or as a group, has the right to inspect certain public records. Information on FOIA requests is available here. 

V. Protection of Privacy 

This policy sets forth the foundation’s practices with respect to public and confidential information; it is not and shall not be interpreted as inconsistent with the rights set out in the nationally recognized Donor Bill of Rights, which has been adopted by the foundation board of directors. This policy shall not be interpreted as violating any federal, state or local law governing the dissemination of information. 

VI. Periodic Reassessment of the Policy 

The foundation board of directors will periodically review this policy. This policy and future revisions shall be made publicly available on the foundation’s web page. 

---

Questions about our policies

If you have any questions please contact us at: foundation@codfound.org or (630) 942-2462.

Use of Text and Images
If you would like to publish information that you find on our Web site, please send your request to foundation@codfound.org. Where text or images are posted on our site with the permission of the original copyright holder, a copyright statement appears at the bottom of the page.

Accessibility
This Web site is designed to be accessible to visitors with disabilities, and to comply with federal guidelines concerning accessibility. We welcome your comments. If you have suggestions on how to make the site more accessible, please contact us at foundation@codfound.org.

Site Tracking
We collect and store only the following information about users to this site: the name of the ISP from which users access the Internet, the date and time our site is accessed, and the Internet address of the Web site from which you linked to our site.

We use the information we collect to measure the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, and to help us make our site more useful to visitors.

Online Profile Updates and Donations
Users may wish complete the Profile update form and share personally identifying information. This information will be used only to provide users with personalized content. We may use contact information to send further information about our organization or to contact users when necessary. User may opt-out of receiving future mailings at any time. For more information, see the “Opt Out” section below.

Opt-Out or Change Your Contact Information
Our site provides users the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from us through a special online form. Users may specify to receive limited communications or none at all. User may also update contact information through another online form. For recording purposes, users cannot be deleted from the database; however, users control all of their communication preferences.

Sending us an Email
You also may decide to send us personally identifying information, for example, in an electronic mail message containing a question or comment, or by filling out a Web form that provides us this information. We use personally identifying information from email primarily to respond to your requests. We may forward your email to other employees who are better able to answer you questions. We may also use your email to contact you in the future about our programs that may be of interest.

We want to be very clear: We will not obtain personally identifying information about you when you visit our site, unless you choose to provide such information to us. Providing such information is strictly voluntary. Except as might be required by law, we do not share any information we receive with any outside parties.

If you sign up for one of our email lists, we will only send you the kinds of information you have requested. We won’t share your name or email address with any outside parties.