Website Privacy Policy

Effective Date: April 19, 2024

This Website Privacy Policy describes how Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois (“TRS”, “we”, or “our”) collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information when you visit or interact with our website (www.trsil.org). 

For questions, please contact us at webmaster@trsil.org or write to us at:

Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois
Attn: Communications Department
2815 West Washington Street
Springfield, Illinois 62702

When This Privacy Policy Applies

This Website Privacy Policy applies to personal information TRS collects when you visit or interact with our general website (www.trsil.org). This Website Privacy Policy does not apply to personal information collected from members of our retirement plans, including information collected through the TRS member portal. If you participate in one of our retirement plans, please see our Member Privacy Policy.

Personal Information We Collect

Depending on the nature of your interaction with TRS, we may collect the following personal information:

  • Contact information, such as your name, email address, telephone number, and any other information you choose to include when you communicate with us.
  • Device information and online user activity when you utilize or interact with our website, as described in the next section. 
  • Survey information in response to questions we may send you, including for feedback and research purposes.

Online User Activity, Cookies and Information Collected by Other Automated Means

When you interact with our website, certain information about your use of our website is automatically collected. This includes:

  • Usage details about your interaction with our website, such as the date, time, length of visits, specific pages or content accessed during the visits, and referring website addresses; 
  • Device information including the IP address and other details of the device you use to connect to our website, such as device type and unique device identifier, operating system, and browser type; and 
  • Location information where you choose to provide access to information about your device’s location.

Much of this information is collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies (collectively, “cookies”), which may be operated by our partners who assist us in collecting information about usage of the website, security, and fraud prevention. For example, we use Google Analytics to collect usage details. You can learn more about privacy and Google Analytics by visiting https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245, and opt out of collection of your data by using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. 

We may use other third-party cookies on the website. You may modify your browser setting to disable or reject cookies across the internet; but if you do so, some features of our website may not function properly or be available. While your browser or device may include “Do Not Track” functionality, please note that we do not respond to such signals. 

How We Use Your Personal Information

We use the personal information we collect from you to:

  • Provide our website and informational resources, respond to your requests, questions and comments, and provide support. 
  • Send you information and resources we feel may be of interest to you, such as our newsletter. If at any time you no longer wish to receive promotional email communications from us, you can click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email.
  • Manage, operate, and improve the website, diagnose and fix technology problems, and monitor the performance of our website. 
  • Comply with legal requirements and industry standards, detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our policies or be fraudulent or illegal, and protect the rights of TRS, you, or others.
  • We may use and share information in an aggregated or de-identified manner at our discretion, including for research, analysis, and improvement of our website.

How We Share Your Personal Information

We share personal information we collect:

  • With service providers that we believe need the information to perform a technology, business, or other professional function for us such as IT services, maintenance and hosting of our website, email providers, and other professional services.  
  • With analytics partners who collect information via cookies on our website to assist us with measuring visits and traffic on our website so we can measure and improve the performance of the website.
  • For legal purposes where necessary to comply with applicable law, to respond to requests from law enforcement agencies or other government authorities or third parties, as permitted by law and without your consent when it is necessary to protect you, TRS, or our property, in emergency situations, or to enforce our rights.
  • In the event of dissolution or consolidation of TRS, your personal information may be shared in the manner specified by applicable law.
  • As required under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140.

How We Protect Your Personal Information

We use a combination of physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to protect the information we collect through the website. While we use these precautions to safeguard your information, we cannot guarantee the security of the networks, systems, servers, devices, and databases we operate or that are operated on our behalf.

This website is the official site of the Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. We are an agency of the State of Illinois subject to all the protections afforded agencies of the state. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on the website, tampering with or modification of this system, including supporting hardware or software, are strictly prohibited and may be subject to criminal prosecution under federal and state law, including without limitation, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Illinois Computer Crime Prevention Law.

Updates to This Privacy Policy

We may make changes to this Website Privacy Policy from time to time. The “Effective Date” at the top of this page indicates when this Website Privacy Policy was last revised. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information described in this Website Privacy Policy.