Privacy Policy

Beyond The Orphanage (BTO) is committed to protecting your privacy. We collect, use, disclose and store your personal information to assist us with our work of helping those in need. We are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth).

This Privacy Policy is provided to help you understand why and how we collect and use your personal information and what to do if you have any questions or complaints.

The personal information we collect

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, and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

The kind of personal information we collect will depend on the type of BTO initiatives you support or enquire about. Personal information collected by BTO may include:

• Your contact information – name, address, email address and telephone number
• Your date of birth, gender, income and occupation
• Your bank account or credit card details for donations
• A history of your donations
• Certain details about your personal interests

You may choose to remain anonymous, use a pseudonym or not to provide certain personal information, but if you choose not to provide us with certain personal information, we may not be able to process a tax receipt for your donation or provide information or other products or services you request.

How we collect personal information

There are a number of ways we collect information from you, including:

• Directly from you when you provide information by telephone, in person, via our website, or on forms
• Information collected automatically when you visit our website
• From fundraising events
• From a third party known to you who makes a donation or nominates you as the recipient of communication regarding that donation
• From publicly available sources of information

Use and disclosure of your personal information

To carry out our work of providing aid to children and families in Ethiopia, your personal information may be used to:

• Process your donation and provide tax receipts
• Provide you with information on how your donation is used
• Confirm your identity when you make enquiries about your donation
• Communicate with you about the work that BTO is undertaking
• Address any feedback or complaints you may have
• Assist us with carrying out any other work related to the above purposes

We will send you email newsletters and other email regarding BTO’s work where you elect to opt in. You can opt in via our website, email or other request and you can unsubscribe from our newsletters and emails at any time in the same way (and via links in the newsletter). Sometimes we share your personal information with external service providers whose functions may include:

• Mailing operations
• Email services
• Information technology services
• Telecommunication services
• Marketing analysis services
• Market research
• Website usage analysis
• Call centre operations
• Payment of donations or products and services

We take reasonable steps to ensure these external organisations are contractually bound to privacy and confidentiality obligations in relation to your personal information and that it is only used for the specific purpose for which we provide it.

Sometimes we may have to disclose your personal information for a specific purpose to third parties such as:

• Credit providers
• Credit reporting and fraud checking organisations
• Authorised legal representatives nominated by you
• Our accountants, auditors and lawyers
• Law enforcement, government or other organisations, as required by law, particularly in relation to protecting the privacy and protection of children

Generally we do not disclose personal information to overseas recipients.

Under no circumstance will we rent, sell or give your information to other organisations without your express consent.

Storage and security of your personal information

We hold personal information in a number of different formats including (but not limited to) software programs (located both onsite and offsite, including in the cloud), databases, filing systems and in offsite backup storage.

BTO takes all reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, modification, disclosure or other misuse, including the operation of secure data networks designed to protect your privacy and security. How long we hold and use the information after you have ceased donating or interacting with us will depend on the type of interaction you had with BTO and any requirements under law.

We will de-identify or destroy your information when we no longer need to keep it.

Sensitive personal information

We do not generally collect any sensitive information. However, we may sometimes need to collect sensitive information, for example we would need to collect information about your criminal record if you were planning to visit the children we assist. We would only do this with your express consent.

Privacy and the internet

Online surveys

Our online surveys may ask for contact information as well as some demographic information to find out what we can do to better meet your needs.

Tracking and cookies

We collect statistics on visitor traffic to our website such as length of visit and pages viewed. The information is anonymous and does not identify specific visitors.

We may track your visit to our website by using ‘cookies’. A cookie is a text-only string of information that a website transfers to the cookie file of the browser on the hard disk of your computer to enhance your experience when visiting our website. If you prefer not to allow the use of ‘cookies’, you may be able to adjust your browser to turn them off or notify you when ‘cookies’ are being used. However, if you disable cookies, you may not be able to access certain areas or take advantage of certain features or services on our website.

Links with other sites

BTO’s website contains links to other sites and other sites may also have links to our website. This policy does not apply to linked websites.

BTO has taken care to simplify the actions needed to secure any information you give to us via our website, however as a general rule, you need to take measures to protect yourself and your computer to prevent others from gaining access to your computer and the information contained within it. When you make a donation or use our website to send us any personal information, you are responsible for your own computer, anti-virus and anti-spyware measures and security precautions.

giving you control

Opting out, access and correction of your personal information

At any time, if you want to opt out of future communications, access the personal information that BTO holds about you or update or correct your personal information please contact us at the details shown below. We will process your request within a reasonable time.

In some circumstances we may deny access to or refuse to change your personal information to the extent this is permitted under the Australian Privacy Principles. In such circumstances, we will let you know the reasons for doing so.

Requests and complaints about privacy

Please notify us at the details shown below if you have any queries, requests or complaints relating to BTO’s handling of your personal information.

contacting us

If you have any questions or comments about this privacy policy or if you have a complaint about a breach of your privacy, you can contact us by calling 1300 673 651 or +61 412 762 974, sending an email to [email protected] or posting a letter to:

Attention:
Information Officer
Beyond the Orphanage
Level 10, 179 Elizabeth Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia

Changes to this privacy policy

We may make changes to this policy from time to time without notice. Any changes will be reflected on this page.

Further information

For further information about privacy issues, see the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website at www.oaic.gov.au.