Privacy Policy

The Sisters of Charity Foundation (SoCF) aims to protect the privacy of the personal information that we collect and hold while carrying out our activities. Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, or recorded in a material form or not.

This policy applies to personal information collected from and about donors, people on our mailing list, staff, customers, suppliers and any other person whose personal information SoCF may lawfully collect from time to time.

SoCF is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (Principles) established under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Act). This policy has been developed as part of SoCF’s efforts to comply with our obligations under that legislation.

This policy explains:

  • what types of personal information we collect;
  • how we will use personal information;
  • when we will disclose personal information to others;
  • how we manage and secure personal information;
  • how you can access and seek to correct personal information that we hold about you; and
  • how you may make a complaint if you think that we have breached the Principles.

This policy does not form part of any contract.

From time to time, we may review and update this policy – for example, to reflect changes to the law, technology or our organisation. You can check this policy on our website periodically to read about any changes, modifications, or revisions.

The Principles do not apply to employee records. As a result, this policy does not apply to SoCF’s treatment of employee records, where the treatment is directly related to a current or former employment relationship between SoCF and an employee.

What types of personal information do we collect?

SoCF only collects personal information (as defined under the Act) that is reasonably necessary for our activities. The types of personal information that we collect will depend on the nature of the interaction between you and SoCF, and where and how we collect the information.

Personal information collected by SoCF includes:

  • information about SoCF donors, supporters or other individuals or businesses who have requested to be included on SoCF’s mailing list, including their names, work and/or home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, date of birth, organisations, job titles, assistants’ names, partners’ names or other related information;
  • any information voluntarily provided to SoCF; and
  • details of other people who come into contact with SoCF such as other charities or organisations which SoCF deals with, including service providers.

How do we collect your personal information?

We usually collect personal information directly from you. For example, when you send us correspondence by email or in writing, deal with us over the phone or in person or through our website, or otherwise contact us.

Sometimes, someone else may provide us with personal information about you, with or without your direct involvement. For example, we might collect your personal information from:

  • another donor or supporter; or
  • commercially available mailing and marketing lists.

How do we use your personal information?

The purposes for which SoCF uses personal information include:

  • to process an individual or organisation’s donation and to provide a tax-deductible receipt;
  • to send information, including SoCF’s campaign literature, newsletters and annual review;
  • to communicate with individuals and businesses;
  • for internal research purposes; and
  • to record if you have requested not to received further communications from us.

If we collect your personal information for any other purpose, we will generally let you know that purpose at the time we collect the information.

When will we disclose your personal information to others?

SoCF aims to confine its disclosure of personal information to the primary purpose for which it has been collected, or for a related purpose. This means SoCF will usually only disclose personal information in connection with its charitable and administrative functions, including when disclosure is necessary to process your donation, send you information, respond to your request, help us with the running of our organisation or for security reasons.

Personal information obtained by SoCF may be disclosed to third parties who assist SoCF in conducting its activities including third parties who distribute communications on behalf of SoCF.

Consent

You consent to us disclosing your personal information to the third parties for the purposes listed above. You can withdraw your consent at any time by informing us in writing that you withdraw that consent.

If you do not permit the disclosure of some personal information as SoCF requests, SoCF may not be able to process your donation or supply you with information. If this is the case, we will let you know.

SoCF website

We do not collect personal information from visitors on our website other than what is supplied to us on a voluntary basis. If you contact us through our website or email us, SoCF will only use your personal information to respond to your request or answer your queries. We will not add your email address to our mailing list without your consent.

To the extent that our website contains links to sites operated by third parties, including other organisations, those linked websites are not controlled by us and we are not responsible for the privacy practices of the site operators. Before you disclose your personal information to any linked websites, we advise you to examine their privacy policies and terms and conditions of use.

Please view our website terms of use for more information.

How we manage and secure personal information

We have appointed a Privacy Officer to be responsible for the management of personal information that we collect. SoCF staff are required to respect the confidentiality of all personal information and the privacy of individuals, and we have directed our staff that personal information must be dealt with in accordance with this policy.

SoCF has security systems in place which are intended to protect your personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by the use of various methods including locked storage of paper records and passworded access rights to computerised records.

If SoCF receives personal information about you which it did not request and which it does not reasonably require, SoCF may destroy or de-identify this information where appropriate.

If you reasonably believe that there has been an unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information, please let us know by contacting us at the mail or email addresses or telephone number set out below:

Mail: Privacy Officer
Sisters of Charity Foundation
Level 7/35 Grafton Street
Bondi Junction NSW 2022
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 02 9367 1211

We may have some further questions once you have contacted us.

Updating personal information that we hold about you

SoCF aims to keep all personal information that we hold accurate, complete and up to date. We encourage you to tell us if you change your contact details. If you believe that the information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or out of date, please contact us.

SoCF is required by law to keep some types of information for certain periods of time. If we no longer require your personal information, we will generally destroy or de-identify that information. SoCF reserves the right to retain information for a period longer than that for which it is required to retain the information if SoCF considers that it is necessary, and as long as it is in accordance with the Principles.

How you can access personal information that we hold about you

Under the Act, an individual generally has the right to obtain access to any personal information which SoCF holds about them and to advise SoCF of any perceived inaccuracy in that information. There are some exceptions to this right.

In some circumstances, the Act entitles SoCF to deny access, for example if providing access would impact unreasonably on the privacy of others or prejudice negotiations in which we are involved. If we do refuse access, we will generally let you know the reasons for our refusal.

If you make a request for access to your personal information, we may ask you to verify your identity and specify what information you require. SoCF may charge a fee to cover our costs of locating, retrieving, reviewing and copying any material requested. If the information sought is extensive, SoCF will generally advise the likely cost in advance.

To make a request to access any information that SoCF holds about you, please contact us.

Questions or complaints

If you have any questions or would like to make a complaint about SoCF’s compliance with the Principles, please contact us.

Privacy Policy updated April 2021.