Privacy Statement
Privacy Policy of The Benevolent Society
The Benevolent Society is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy outlines how we use the personal and organisational information you provide to us in order for us to provide you with our services, establish and maintain donor relationships or that you otherwise provide to us through our website. This policy may be updated from time to time.
What is the Privacy Legislation?
In Australia, the main piece of legislation governing privacy is the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). The Privacy Act requires organisations to comply with 10 National Privacy Principles ("NPPs") which regulate the way in which private sector organisations collect, use, keep secure and disclose personal information. The NPPs also give individuals the right to know what information an organisation holds about them and to correct that information if it is out of date or otherwise inaccurate.
Further, States and Territories have in place privacy legislation, such as the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2001 (NSW) which contain requirements that are similar to those under the Federal legislation.
The Benevolent Society's Commitment
The Benevolent Society is committed to protecting your privacy. This includes ensuring that:
- all information collected from you is required for the purpose of providing a service;
- your personal information will not be passed on to other unrelated third parties without your consent; and
- your personal information is securely and accurately stored and accessible for your review.
Why does The Benevolent Society collect personal information and how is such information used?
The Benevolent Society will only collect personal information about you that we need to provide our services or that you have provided in connection with making a donation, applying for volunteering opportunities or otherwise. For example, we collect personal information from you in order to:
- process applications for service or assistance;
- correct billing for the services we provide;
- establish and maintain donor relationships;
- ensure the effectiveness and appropriateness of our services and assist with research and development of new programs and services; and
- meet Government funding, professional and legal requirements.
The Benevolent Society will use your personal information for the purpose for which it was collected except where you consent to us using the information for other purposes.
Mailing houses and other service providers
The Benevolent Society occasionally uses mailing houses or other service providers to maximise the quality and efficiency of its services. To the extent that these service providers may get access to personal information held by The Benevolent Society and are authorised to use such information on behalf of The Benevolent Society, we require such service providers to comply with applicable privacy legislation.
Data sharing with Like-Organisations (applicable to donors only)
The Benevolent Society may occasionally share your personal information with like-organisations, in order to help us find similar supporters. We require such organisations to comply with applicable privacy legislation in relation to your personal information. By becoming a donor of The Benevolent Society, you consent to The Benevolent Society potentially sharing certain aspects of your personal information, such as name and address, with such organisations. However, you are able to opt out of this arrangement at any time. Please contact us at the contact details below if you do not wish for your personal information to be shared with such organisations. Please allow 28 days for this request to be processed.
What personal information does The Benevolent Society collect?
The personal information that we may ask for will depend on the type of relationship you have with The Benevolent Society, for example, whether you are a client, volunteer or donor. Examples of the types of information collected include:
your contact information such as name, address, e-mail address and phone number;
your financial details for payment of services; and
specific information, directly relating to a service we provide. How do we protect and store your information?
The Benevolent Society will endeavour to take all reasonable measures to securely store your personal information either in an electronic or physical form and to keep this information accurate, complete and up to date.
Your information is stored in secured premises or in electronic databases that require passwords and logins. This protects your information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We require our employees and data processors to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by The Benevolent Society.
All personal information that is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected or that you ask us to delete is destroyed unless we need to keep it for legal reasons.
Will your information be disclosed to others?
Our purpose in collecting information about you is to provide you with services that you request. The Benevolent Society does not routinely disclose personal information. The Benevolent Society will not disclose any information about you for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was collected without your consent, unless:
we are required to do so by law;
we believe the disclosure is necessary to provide you with a service which you have requested;
to protect the rights, property or personal safety of you, another client, any member of the public or The Benevolent Society;
the disclosure is required in order to assess your application for volunteering opportunities, to accept your donations, or to reply to a specific request that you might have;
the assets and operations of the business of The Benevolent Society are transferred to another party as a going concern;
the disclosure is required for the management of health services;
the disclosure is required for training or research purposes;
the disclosure is required for compassionate reasons; or
the disclosure is required for law enforcement or investigation purposes.
In all of the above circumstances, The Benevolent Society will only disclose your personal information in accordance with applicable legislative requirements.
What happens if you refuse to provide the information requested?
The Benevolent Society will only ask for information that is necessary for the purposes outlined in this privacy policy.
You do not have to give us any of the information that we request from you, but not giving us the information requested may affect our ability to provide you with a service.
How do you request access to the personal information The Benevolent Society holds about you?
At any time, you can request access to the personal information we have about you by writing, faxing or e-mailing us directly at the contact details below. We will give you access to the personal information we hold about you as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving your request.
If at any time you wish us to change your personal information that we hold on record as it is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, please contact us at the contact details below.
We will not 'spam' you
We may contact you at the email or other address which you provide to us in order to provide you with updated information about our services.
Information collection on our website
For statistical purposes, The Benevolent Society collects and stores the following information about visitors to its website:
server address;
the date and time of visit;
the web pages accessed and documents downloaded;
previous sites visited; and
type of browser used.
No attempts are made to identify anyone browsing our website. The data collected is only used to measure the number of visitors to the different parts of the site and to help us make the site more useful to you. You are able to browse our website without entering any personal information and therefore remain anonymous during your visit. We do not use cookies that can identify you when you are in the public section of our website. If you use the secure section of our website then we use cookies to assist in identification. If your browser is configured to reject all cookies, you will be unable to use the secure section of our website.
We only record your e-mail address if you subscribe to our E-News, if you join our community or if you send us a message. This message could be:
to give us feedback on our site - we use this to administer and improve our website;
to subscribe to our e-newsletter - we and our internet development company only use the information provided to administer the delivery of our e-newsletter to those requesting it; or
to make an inquiry to any of the e-mail addresses of The Benevolent Society's programs which are listed on our website - any information provided will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it or otherwise in accordance with your consent.
The Benevolent Society is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of any site that is linked to its website. Your activity on those sites is covered by the privacy policies of those sites.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any queries or feedback regarding our privacy policy.
For more information contact:
General Counsel
The Benevolent Society
PO Box 171
Paddington NSW 2021
t 02 9339 8000
f 02 9360 2319
www.bensoc.org,au
mailben@bensoc.org.au
ABN 95 084 695 045
