Cookie Policy

The Foundation in support of the World Health Organization (the Foundation), also known as the WHO Foundation, is a Swiss foundation with a vision of a world in which all people attain the highest level of health. To achieve its vision the Foundation works with individuals around the world to mobilize resources, build partnerships and invest in programs. In all the Foundation’s work, it profoundly values privacy and personal data protection for everyone, this includes how information is handled and gathered during your visits to the Foundation’s website and associated campaign pages. For any questions relating to personal data, you can view our Privacy Notice on our website which explains: how we collect and process your personal data, your rights and how to get in touch with the WHO Foundation.

1. What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that is sent from a website and saved on your device when you view a website.

2. What different categories of cookies does the Foundation use?

The Foundation uses three different categories of cookies:

  1. Strictly necessary cookies: these cookies help ensure security, maintain core functionalities, prevent fraudulent activities and detect potentially harmful or illegal use of services, for example, in relation to payment authentication.

    By contrast to functionality and analytical cookies, strictly necessary cookies are exempt from consent. You can in certain instances set your browser to block these strictly necessary cookies, this may have a negative impact on your use of the website.

  2. Analytical cookies: these cookies help collect and analyze data to improve the overall user experience, troubleshoot any issues, and understand how visitors interact with the Foundation’s website. They include pixel tags and third-party analytics such as Google Analytics, for example, counting visitors and page visits.

    Using these analytical cookies requires your prior consent.

  3. Targeting and Advertising: targeting cookies are also called advertising cookies since they are mainly used for advertising. They include pixel tags and third-party analytics such LinkedIn, X (ex. Twitter) and Meta pixels, for example, counting visitors and page visits. Using these Targeting and Advertising cookies requires your prior consent.

3. Why does the Foundation use cookies?

The Foundation uses each of the categories of cookies for different reasons:

  1. Strictly necessary cookies: strictly necessary cookies are used when you make a donation on the Foundation’s website.

    These cookies are important to process online donations securely, authenticate and process online transactions information without storing any credit card details. Without these cookies, some parts of the website may not function properly. You may not be able to make a donation and the security of the transaction may be compromised.

  2. Analytical cookies: The Foundation uses analytical cookies to collect information as to how users browse and use the Foundation’s website, to gather quality insights and performance data in relation to the Foundation’s marketing and fundraising activities, such as which countries website visitors are browsing from.

    The Foundation reviews and analyzes this data to identify users habits and areas of improvement for the Foundation’s activities, such as, for donation campaigns and related activities and services in support of the Foundation’s goal and vision to mobilize resources, build partnerships and invest in programs to build a world in which all people attain the highest level of health.

  3. Targeting and Advertising cookies: These cookies are set by our advertising partners to provide behavioral advertising and re-marketing analytical data. They collect any type of browsing information necessary to create profiles and to understand user habits in order to develop an individual and specific advertising routine. All this helps us better understand our users and tailor our advertising activities.

4. What information does the Foundation collect with the Functionality and Analytical cookies?

Functionality and analytical cookies used on the Foundation’s websites enable the Foundation to collect the following information about visitors, which is used to prepare aggregated, anonymous statistics reports of visitors’ activity.

  • Internet protocol (IP) address (anonymised)
  • Geolocation data – country, region, city
  • Date and time of the request (visit to the site)
  • Title of the page being viewed (page title)
  • URL of the page being viewed (page URL)
  • URL of the page that was viewed prior to the current page (referrer URL)
  • Files that were clicked and downloaded
  • Links to an outside domain that were clicked (outlink)
  • Page generation time: the time it takes for webpages to be generated by the webserver and then downloaded by the visitor (page speed)
  • Browser, version, operating system version, device identifier
  • Sources and Channels driving traffic to the website
  • Site search – keywords used
  • Events – such as how many times the donation form was opened, closed, and donations completed

5. Examples of Cookies on the Foundation’s websites

Strictly Necessary

Name Provider Expiration Description
fundraiseup_cid Fundraise Up 10 years This cookie is set by Fundraise Up, and is used to identify a user’s browser. This cookie is necessary for the platform to function properly and securely, as it helps us detect and prevent fraud.
fundraiseup_func Fundraise Up Session This cookie required to ensure that the Fundraise Up service works properly on your site. This cookie collects and stores data that allows our platform to provide a better and more personalized donation experience for visitors. The information stored in this file helps us optimize a visitor’s interaction with various elements on site, adjusting to their needs and preferences. This ensures that the Fundraise Up service works more effectively, helping to increase engagement and improve the giving experience for your visitors.
Fundraiseup_stat Fundraise Up Session This cookie is used to determine whether the user has given us permission to track their actions. If permission is granted, we will collect and analyze anonymous statistics about how visitors use the site. This data helps us optimize site functionality and provide a higher quality user experience.
__stripe_sid Stripe 1 year This cookie is necessary for making credit card transactions on the website. Which allows Stripe (the payment processor) to process online transactions information without storing any credit card details.
__stripe_mid Stripe 1 year This cookie is necessary for making online donations securely on our website and without storing credit card information.
wordpress_test_cookie *.who.foundation Session Tests if cookie can be set. WordPress also sets wordpress_test_cookie cookie to check if the cookies are enabled on the browser to provide appropriate user experience to the users. This cookie is used on the front-end, even if you are not logged in.
cc_cookie *.who.foundation 180 days Remembers the state of visitor acceptance to the use of cookies.

Performance & Analytics

Name Provider Expiration Description
_ga Google Analytics 2 years The main cookie used by Google Analytics, enables a service to distinguish one visitor from another and lasts for 2 years. Any site that implements Google Analytics, including Google services, uses this cookie.
_gid Google Analytics 24 hours Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.
_gat Google Analytics 1 minute Used by Google Analytics to throttle request rate, which means that it limits the collection of data on high traffic sites.
AMP_TOKEN Google Analytics 30 seconds to 1 year Contains a token that can be used to retrieve a Client ID from AMP Client ID service. Other possible values indicate opt-out, inflight request or an error retrieving a Client ID from AMP Client ID service.
_gac_{property-id} Google Analytics 90 days Contains campaign related information for the user. If you have linked your Google Analytics and Google Ads accounts, Google Ads website conversion tags will read this cookie unless you opt-out.
utm_cookie *.who.foundation 1 week Tracks UTM tags from URLs params to determine the source of the visit
im_youtube *.who.foundation 180 days Used to remember if the user accepted the youtube service.

Targeting and Advertising

Name Provider Expiration Description
_fbp Meta 3 months Facebook tracking pixel used to identify visitors for personalized advertising.
_twclid X 30 days X (ex. Twitter) tracking pixel used to identify visitors for personalized advertising.
_lipt LinkedIn 30 days LinkedIn tracking pixel used to identify visitors for personalized advertising.

6. Does the Foundation share information collected with the cookies with third parties?

The only third parties that have access to the information are the service providers who support the creation of the Foundation’s webpages. The Foundation does not share information with third parties for marketing, market research or commercial purposes.

7. How long does the Foundation save the information for?

The information is saved for as long as needed in accordance with the purpose it was collected. This varies by category of cookie, from during the length of the session, to prevent fraud when a donation is made, for up to 10 years when there is a legal requirement to keep financial records for this length of time. More details are included in the table in 4. above.

8. How can I opt out of using cookies?

The Foundation’s website and associated campaign pages are set to use cookies for the purposes described in the sections above.

When you start browsing the Foundation’s website, you’ll be prompted to decide whether to accept all cookies or to reject cookies. If you reject cookies, the “Strictly Necessary” cookies will remain in use.

If you accept cookies and then wish to change your mind, or if you wish to reject all cookies, including the “Strictly Necessary” ones, most modern web browsers allow users to switch off some or even all the cookies from the browser settings. This “Do Not Track” technology enables visitors to opt-out from being tracked by websites for whatever purpose. Visit your browser vendor’s website for more information about how to enable the “do not track”, delete and manage cookies in your browser

Alternatively, you can use your browsers’ private browsing mode. Common browsers like Google Chrome and Safari have this functionality

9. Any questions?

If you have any questions or concerns please contact the Foundation at dataprotection@whofoundation.org.