Privacy Policy

How we collect, use, and protect your personal information.

Last updated: September 6, 2026

This website is operated by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers(“we” or “us”). This privacy policy (“Policy”) explains how personal information is collected, used, and disclosed by the Philadelphia Federation of Teacherswith respect to your use of our website (the “Site”), so you can make an informed decision about using the Site. This Policy also applies to personal information collected on other websites on our behalf by third-party vendors. We reserve the right to change the provisions of this Policy at any time. We will alert you that changes have been made by updating the date above. We encourage you to review this Policy from time to time so you understand how any personal information you provide will be used.

What is personal information?

As used here, “personal information” means information that specifically identifies an individual — such as a name, address, telephone number, mobile number, email address, or credit card number — and information about that individual or their activities that is directly linked to personally identifying information. Personal information does not include “aggregate” information, which is data we collect about the use of the Site or about a group or category of services or users, from which individual identities and other personal information have been removed. This Policy does not restrict or limit our collection and use of aggregate information.

What personal information do we collect?

Active collection

We collect certain information you voluntarily provide to us, such as information provided when you create an account or a profile, make a donation, make a purchase, send us an email, sign up to receive email or text message updates, fill out a form, connect through a social feed, sign up to be a volunteer or host an event, request information, apply for an internship, or use a registration form tool. Such information may include your name, mailing address, email address, phone number, geographic location, and credit card information.

On this Site specifically, the membership enrollment form collects the contact and employment details needed to process membership, including your name, home address, date of birth, phone number, email address, school or worksite, position, hire date, and employee ID. If you have a member portal account, we store your email address, the profile details you provide, your role in the portal, and authentication records such as sign-in timestamps. Administrative actions taken inside the portal are recorded in an internal audit log. We also record whether you have unsubscribed from union email, so that we can honor that choice, along with delivery results for messages we send you.

From time to time we also may collect demographic information you voluntarily provide, such as information provided in response to questionnaires and surveys, including gender, ethnicity, education, and interest information. If this information is tied to personally identifying information, it will be treated as personal information. Personal and demographic information also may be collected if you provide it in connection with creating a profile or group, leaving a comment, posting content, sending a message to another user, or participating in any interactive features on the Site, or in connection with surveys, contests, games, and promotions. We also may obtain information from other sources and combine it with information we collect on our Site.

In addition, the federal government may require us to collect personal information from those who donate to COPE or those who make dues payments online.

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers makes every effort to ensure the secure collection and transmission of your sensitive information using industry-accepted data collection and encryption methodologies, such as TLS/SSL.

Passive collection

When you use the Site, some information is collected automatically, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, your operating system, the browser type, the address of a referring website, and your activity on our Site. If you access the Site from a mobile device, we also may collect information about the type of device you use, its unique ID, the type of mobile browser you use, and the location of your device. We treat this information as personal information if we combine it with or link it to any of the identifying information above. Otherwise, it is used in the aggregate only.

We also may automatically collect certain information through the use of cookies, described below.

Service providers we use

We rely on the following providers to operate this Site. Each receives only the data needed for its function:

Vercel — website hosting and aggregate site analytics.
Supabase — database and authentication for form submissions and member portal accounts.
Resend — delivery of email we send, including form confirmations, portal invitations, and member communications.
Google reCAPTCHA — spam and abuse protection on our forms. Google’s use of the data it collects is governed by its own privacy policy.
JotForm — hosts the membership enrollment form linked from this Site.

Some pages embed YouTube videos. Those embeds load from YouTube’s servers and are subject to Google’s privacy policy.

How do we use the personal information we collect?

We use personal information collected through our Site for the purposes described in this Policy or elsewhere on the Site. For example, we may use personal information we collect:

to provide the services, products, or information you request, and to process and complete such requests and any related transactions;
to send you confirmations, receipts, updates, alerts, and support and administrative messages, and to otherwise facilitate your use, and our administration and operation, of the Site;
to notify you about important changes to the Site;
to send you newsletters and otherwise provide you with information or services you request or we think will be of interest to you, such as information about campaigns, candidates, issues, events, resources, promotions, contests, products, and services;
to contact you if other information is necessary under federal law;
to request feedback and to otherwise contact you about your use of the Site;
to respond to your emails, submissions, questions, comments, and requests, and to provide member service;
to monitor and analyze site usage and trends; to personalize and improve the Site and our users’ experiences; and to increase the Site’s functionality and make it more user-friendly;
to serve ads, on this Site or other websites or media, based on the information you provide and the actions you take;
to notify and contact contest or sweepstakes entrants; and
for any other purpose for which the information was collected.

We may store and process personal information in the United States and other countries.

What personal information do we share with third parties?

It is our policy not to share or sell the personal information we collect from you through our Site with third parties, except as described in this Policy or as otherwise disclosed on the Site. For example, we may share personal information:

with vendors, consultants, service providers, or volunteers who are engaged by or working with us and need access to such information to carry out their work for us;
with the AFT and other AFT-affiliated unions, as part of our affiliation as AFT Local 3;
when you give us your consent to do so, including if we notify you on the Site that the information you provide will be shared in a particular manner and you provide such information;
when we believe in good faith that we are lawfully authorized or required to do so, or that doing so is reasonably necessary or appropriate to comply with the law or legal processes, or to respond to lawful requests, claims, or legal authorities, including lawful subpoenas, warrants, or court orders;
when we believe in good faith that doing so is reasonably necessary or appropriate to respond to claims or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, our members, our employees, our volunteers, copyright owners, third parties, or the public — including protecting such parties from fraudulent, abusive, inappropriate, or unlawful activity or use of our Site;
to enforce or apply this Policy or our other policies or agreements; and
in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, reorganization, acquisition, asset sale, financing, or lending transaction, or in any other situation where personal information may be disclosed or transferred as one of the assets of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

We are not responsible for the actions of any service providers or other third parties, nor for any additional information you provide directly to them, and we encourage you to become familiar with their privacy practices before disclosing information to them. Nothing here restricts the sharing of aggregated or “anonymized” information, which may be shared with third parties without your consent.

Text messaging is excluded from information sharing. SMS opt-in data and phone numbers collected for SMS communication purposes will not be shared with any third party or affiliate for marketing purposes.

Cookies

A cookie is a small data file stored on your device at the request of a website. The Site uses cookies for measuring aggregate statistics — including number of monthly visitors, number of repeat visitors, and most popular webpages — and to facilitate your visit by retaining data you provide, so you do not need to resubmit certain information. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers does not use cookies to track what specific pages an individual site visitor views.

On this Site, the cookies we set are necessary for it to work — primarily to keep you signed in to the member portal and to keep your session secure. We do not use advertising cookies on this Site. Blocking cookies will prevent portal sign-in from working, but the public pages will still function. Information obtained from cookies and linked to personally identifying information is treated as personal information. If you wish to block, erase, or be warned of cookies, refer to your browser manufacturer to learn about these functions.

Online petitions

When you sign an online petition, you understand that the petition is public information and that we may make the petition — and your name, city, state, and any comments provided with it — publicly available. We may also provide such petitions or compilations of them, including your comments, name, city, and state, to national, state, or local leaders, or to the press.

Links to other websites

Our Site contains links to other websites, including the School District of Philadelphia, the PFT Health and Welfare Fund, the AFT, and third-party form and video providers. Any personal information you provide on a linked page is provided directly to that third party and is subject to that third party’s privacy policy. This Policy does not apply to linked sites, and we are not responsible for their content or their privacy and security practices. We encourage you to learn about their practices before providing them with personal information.

What steps do we take to protect your information online?

We take reasonable measures to protect your personal information in an effort to prevent loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. Access to member data is restricted to authorized staff, data is transmitted over encrypted connections, and administrative access is logged. Please be aware, however, that despite our efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and no method of data transmission can be guaranteed against interception or other misuse. To protect the confidentiality of personal information, you must keep any passwords confidential and not disclose them to any other person. You are responsible for all uses of our Site by any person using your password. Please advise us immediately if you believe your password has been misused.

What choices do you have regarding the use of your information?

Text messages.You can end the receipt of text messages at any time. Reply STOP to opt out. After you send “STOP” to us, we will send a message confirming that you have been unsubscribed, after which you will no longer receive text messages from us. If you want to join again, sign up as you did the first time and we will resume sending text messages to you.

Email. You may opt out of email updates and newsletters by following the instructions in those emails; every union email includes an unsubscribe link. Please note that we may still send you other types of email, such as email about your use of the Site or your membership, even if you opt out of updates and newsletters. Changes to information in your account do not affect information already provided to others as set out in this Policy, including in connection with petitions or donations.

Access and correction. Portal members can update their own profile details at any time.

Corrections and updating personal information

If your personal information changes, or you wish to have your information removed from our database, contact us and we will endeavor to provide a way to correct, update, or remove that personal data.

Age

This Site is intended for PFT members, prospective members, and the general public, and use of the Site is subject to the age requirement in our Terms of Use. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this Policy, or about the information we hold, call or email us directly.

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