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Cliffwater LLC (“Cliffwater,” “us,” “we” or “our”) is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of the Personal Information (as defined below) of our clients, employees, and website visitors. This Privacy Policy (together with our Terms of Use and any other policies we refer to in this Privacy Policy) identifies how we will collect and handle any Personal Information that we collect from you, or that you provide to us.
If you are a California resident, our privacy practices comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (together, the “CCPA”). An explanation of your rights under the CCPA can be found here.
If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (“EEA”), the United Kingdom (“UK”) or Switzerland, this Privacy Policy also outlines additional policies applicable to our collection and processing of your Personal Information, which can be found here. Non-EEA countries generally do not have the same data protection laws as the United Kingdom, Switzerland and EEA.
As our services evolve and we perceive the need or desirability of using the Personal Information we collect from you in ways that are not described in this Privacy Policy, we may from time to time amend this Privacy Policy. The effective date appears at the end of this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to check our Website frequently to review the current Privacy Policy in effect and any changes that may have been made to it.
This Privacy Policy describes how Cliffwater collects, uses, and shares Personal Information of our clients, prospective employees, visitors to our websites at www.cliffwater.com, www.cliffwaterfunds.com, www.bdcs.com, and www.cliffwaterdirectlendingindex.com (individually and collectively, “Website”), and individuals who contact us to request information. The Website and our other programs and services are referred to in this Privacy Policy as the “Services.” This Policy describes how we collect and use Personal Information (information which can be used to identify a specific individual) and anonymous data (which cannot be used to identify a specific individual).
Region specific provisions. Certain provisions of this Policy, which are clearly labelled, apply only to users who are citizens or residents of particular regions (e.g., the EU or California). Otherwise, this Policy applies to all users of our Services, regardless of location.
Children. Our Services are not directed to children. See Protecting children’s privacy below.
For purposes of this Policy, “Personal Information” means information (whether stored electronically or in paper based filing systems) relating to a living individual who can be identified from that data (or from that data and other information in our possession). The table below describes the categories of Personal Information we may collect.
Category | Description |
---|---|
Identifiers | Name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, Social Security number, driver’s license number or state identification card number, passport number, or other similar identifiers. |
Protected Classes | Race, age, gender, religion, citizenship, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information (including familial genetic information |
Commercial Information | Records of personal property, purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies |
Biometric Information | Genetic, physiological, behavioral, and biological characteristics, or activity patterns used to extract a template or other identifier or identifying information, such as, fingerprints, face prints, and voiceprints, iris or retina scans, keystroke, gait, or other physical patterns, and sleep, health, or exercise data. |
Internet Activity | Browsing history, search history, IP address, website interactions |
Geolocation Data | GPS coordinates, location history or movements |
Sensory Data | Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information |
Professional Data | Current or past job history or performance evaluations |
Education Data | Educational background, grades, scores |
Other Data | Financial information, medical information, health insurance information |
Inferences | Profiles drawn from other Personal Information reflecting a person’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes. |
The examples given in this table are not meant to provide an exhaustive list, but are examples of the kinds of data included in each category. Sections 2.1 through 2.4 below specify the categories of information we do collect.
Cliffwater collects only that Personal Information that is relevant for the purposes for which the data is requested. Cliffwater does not use your Personal Information in any way that is incompatible with the purposes for which it was collected or for which you have consented.
Some of the categories of Personal Information include “Sensitive Personal Information,” and Cliffwater may collect and maintain your Sensitive Personal Information, which includes the following (if the information is not publicly available):
In order to provide our clients with individualized services, we collect certain non-public, Personal Information about you, from your advisers or from entities in which you invest, in documents provided to us, such as corporate and legal documents, subscription documents, tax forms and filings, contracts, and bank and investment account statements. In addition to receiving Personal Information directly from you, we may also receive information from your attorneys, other sources. We will only obtain such information from third parties with your express consent and as permitted by law.
We may collect Personal Information from visitors to our website and others who contact us to request information. In addition, our web server automatically collects and stores the following information from visitors to our Website:
We do not collect any other categories of information from our website visitors or individuals who contact us to request information.
We collect Personal Information from representatives of our vendors and business partners in the course of our business when the representative or the company they work for is a customer or vendor of Cliffwater. We collect this information from:
When you or the company you work for interacts with Cliffwater (for example, when providing technical services to us), we may collect the following types of Personal Information:
We will use this information:
We will use this information:
We will use this information:
Cliffwater does not sell your Personal Information to any third parties, or share your Personal Information to facilitate advertising goods or services by others.
Cliffwater may share your information with service providers and contractors to provide the Services. The Personal Information we share with service providers and contractors can include all of the categories of Personal Information that we collect. When we do, we enter into a written agreement requiring that party to comply with all applicable laws, such as the CCPA, and restricting that party from: selling or sharing Personal Information; using the Personal Information for any purpose other than the purpose specified the agreement; using, retaining or disclosing the Personal Information other than as specified in the Agreement; or combining the Personal Information with Personal Information the service provider or contractor receives or collects in other contexts. There are times when a service provider or contractor may engage another party to assists in providing the Services; in those cases, the service provider or contractor must notify us in advance, and must have an agreement restricting the use, sale and sharing of the Personal Information that is similar to our agreement with our Service Provider or Contractor. Cliffwater does not share Personal Information of any person who is less than 16 years old without their explicit consent.
By using our Services and providing your Personal Information, you agree that we have the right to disclose the categories of Personal Information we collect, as identified in Section 2, with our service providers for the business purposes identified in Section 4.
There are other circumstances when we may share your Personal Information:
We do not disclose to any third parties Personal Information collected from website visitors or callers seeking additional information about our Services.
Cliffwater uses reasonable and appropriate measures to protect your Personal Information from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction, taking into due account the risks involved in processing the Personal Information and the nature of the Personal Information we collect.
We will keep your Personal Information for as long as we need it, or as otherwise prescribed by law, for the purposes set out above. This period will vary depending on your interactions with us. We may also keep a record of correspondence with you (for example if you have made a complaint about our Services) for as long as is necessary for us to defend a legal claim.
Our Website may include links to and from other websites of affiliates or other unaffiliated third parties. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites are not covered by this Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of any third parties or the content of linked sites, and we encourage you to read the applicable privacy policies and terms and conditions of such parties or websites. This Privacy Policy only applies to how Cliffwater collects and uses your Personal Information, and it does not apply to any other company or any other company’s websites even if you access them from our Website. Please check those websites’ policies before you submit any Personal Information to them.
Our Website is not designed nor is it intended to be used by children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information online from children under 13.
The CCPA affords California consumers the rights with respect to their Personal Information set forth in this section.
Subject to certain exceptions, you have the following rights with respect to your Personal Information:
All of these rights are subject to certain conditions and exemptions. For example, Cliffwater will not be obligated to delete your Personal Information if we need to retain it to protect ourselves in the event of a legal claim.
We will not deny you any Services or charge you a different price, level or quality of Services because you exercise any of your rights under the CCPA; however, we may not be able to provide the Services if you refuse to provide us the Personal Information that is necessary for us to provide the Services, or if you ask us to delete your Personal Information.
To submit a request to Cliffwater regarding your Personal Information as described in this section, please contact us by calling this toll free number 800-278-8125, emailing us at compliance@cliffwater.com, or completing our online form.
Cliffwater is required to verify the identity of the individual requesting access to a consumer’s data or requesting deletion of a consumer’s data. To verify your identity, we will rely upon information we have previously collected about you, such as phone calls received from a known phone number or emails received from a known email. We will also rely upon our personal relationship with our clients to verify the identity of a requester.
If you submit a request and you are not a Cliffwater client (which may be the case if you requested information through our website or a phone call to our “contact us” number but did not become a client or employee), then we will verify your identity by confirmation using the information we collected, such as phone number of email address.
You may designate an authorized agent to exercise a CCPA right on your behalf. If you use an authorized agent to exercise your rights under the CCPA, we will need the following proof that you have authorized the agent to act on your behalf:
Personal Information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA) are not subject to the CCPA. You do not have the rights described in this section with respect to that information.
Privacy regulations in the United States, such as the laws of California and Delaware, require a company to indicate whether it honors your browser’s “Do Not Track” settings concerning targeted advertising. We adhere to the standards set out in this Privacy Policy and do not monitor or respond to Do Not Track browser requests.
In addition to the other policies described in this Privacy Policy, residents of the EEA, the UK and Switzerland have the following additional rights and protections as required by the European Union General Data Privacy Regulation (“GDPR”), and UK and Swiss data protection laws. The additional rights and protections set forth in this section of this Policy apply only to residents of the EEA, the UK and Switzerland. For ease of reference, when we refer to GDPR in this section, we are referring to the UK and Swiss data protection laws, as well as the GDPR. For the purposes of this the GDPR, Cliffwater is a “Controller” which means Cliffwater determines the purposes for which, and the manner in which, any Personal Information is Processed and used in its business.
The following additional definitions apply to this section of our Privacy Policy:
“Processor” means any Person Processing Personal Information.
“Person” means a natural person, corporation, association, organization, partnership, or other legal entity.
“Process” or “Processing” is any activity that involves use of the Personal Information. It includes, without limitation, obtaining, recording or holding the Personal Information, or carrying out any operation or set of operations on the Personal Information including organizing, amending, retrieving, using, disclosing, erasing or destroying it. Processing also includes transferring Personal Information to third parties.
In order to comply with the GDPR, we are required to set out the legal basis for the Processing of your Personal Information. The legal basis for Processing your Personal Information will be one of the following:
The data that we collect from you is stored on our servers or on servers provided by cloud service providers. By submitting your Personal Information, you agree to this transfer, storing, and Processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
The transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we take reasonable steps to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our Website; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorized access.
In some cases, there is a legal requirement to keep Personal Information for a minimum period of time. Except in those circumstances, we do not keep your Personal Information for any longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the Personal Information was collected or for which it is to be further Processed.
Subject to certain exceptions, you have the following rights with respect to your Personal Information:
All of these rights are subject to certain conditions and exemptions. For example, Cliffwater will not be obligated to erase your Personal Information if we need to retain it to protect ourselves in the event of a legal claim.
To exercise any of these rights, please submit a written request to us using the contact information set forth in Section 12 below. Cliffwater reserves the right to charge a fee in dealing with such a request as permitted by applicable law and regulations. You may also opt out of receiving additional marketing information by using the unsubscribe feature in any marketing email we send you.
If you choose to receive our Services or visit our Website, any dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, including limitations on damages, resolution of disputes, and application of the law of the State of California. If you have any concern about our privacy practices, please contact us with a thorough description, and we will try to resolve it. As our business changes, our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use may change also. We may e-mail periodic reminders of our notices and conditions, but you should check our Website frequently to see recent changes. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Policy applies to all information that we have about you and your account.
This Website is owned and operated by Cliffwater. If you have any questions or suggestions with respect to this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please e-mail us at compliance@cliffwater.com or you can contact us by mail or telephone at:
4640 Admiralty Way, 11th Floor
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
800-278-8125
Please submit CCPA-specific data requests through the procedures set forth in Section 9.3.
For residents of the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, please e-mail us at compliance@cliffwater.com or contact us by mail or telephone at:
4640 Admiralty Way, 11th Floor
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
800-278-8125
Updated July 2023