Privacy Policy 

Sydney Community Foundation – including Sydney Women’s Fund (a sub-fund of Sydney Community Foundation) and Be Kind Sydney (a subsidiary of Sydney Community Foundation) – is committed to protecting the privacy of our donors, supporters, grant applicants, staff and other individuals who deal with us. This Privacy Policy sets out more about your rights and our policy on the handling of your personal information.

This policy is based on the following principles, which seek to ensure that ‘personal information’ (as that term is defined in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)) is:

• Used fairly and lawfully
• Accurate
• Handled according to the Australian Privacy Principles, and
• Safe and secure

Through this Privacy Policy we have aimed to be as clear, open and transparent as possible about these matters, but if you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at enquiries@sydneycommunityfoundation.org.au.

Collecting personal information

We only collect personal information that is necessary for our functions or activities and we do so only by lawful and fair means, and in an unobtrusive way. When we collect personal information about someone we take steps to ensure that you are aware why we are doing so, of the types of organisations to which the information may be disclosed and the other matters specified in the regulation. If we cannot tell you at the time we collect the information, we endeavour to do so as soon as practicable afterwards. We also generally only collect information directly from individuals, but if we collect information from third parties (because it is not reasonable or practicable to collect it directly), we still take steps to ensure that the individual is made aware of the matters as required.

Personal information collected

The types of personal information we collect may include a donor’s name, email and mailing addresses and contact numbers.

Purposes

Our main purpose for collecting this information is to process and receipt donations to the Sydney Community Foundation, Sydney Women’s Fund, Be Kind Sydney or any of our registered sub-funds. 

We generally only use and disclose information for the purpose for which it was collected, or for related purposes which are likely to be expected. We may also use and disclose the information in the special circumstances described in NPP 2.1. If we want to use information in other ways, we would generally seek consent.

Our website

We may also collect information that tells us about visitors to our website. The information collected may relate to date, time, duration of the visit, number of visitors, and the web pages that generate the most hits. The information will not generally be linked to the identity of the visitors.

Like many other websites, our website may use ‘cookies’ from time to time. A cookie is a piece of information that allows our system to identify and interact more effectively with your device. The cookie helps us to maintain the continuity of your browsing session and remember your details and preferences when you return. You can configure your web browser software to reject cookies however some parts of our website may not have full functionality in that case.

In some cases third parties may use cookies and other technologies such as web beacons on our website in connection with online services like banner advertising, website analytics and surveys.

This may allow them to collect information about your use of our website (including your computer’s IP address) which they may store in the United States or other countries. The use of these technologies allows them to deliver customised advertising content, measure the effectiveness of their advertising, evaluate users’ use of our website and other websites and provide other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Those third parties may also transfer the information they collect to others where required to do so by law, or where those others process the information on their behalf. [The services we may use from time to time include Google Analytics, Adobe and Microsoft]. You can find more details in the privacy policies for those services, including information on how to opt-out of certain conduct.

Links to other websites

This Privacy Policy applies only to our Website, and not to websites owned by third parties. We may provide links to other websites which we believe may be of interest to our visitors. We aim to ensure that such websites are of the highest standard. However, due to the nature of the internet, we cannot guarantee the privacy standards of other websites or be responsible for the contents of websites other than our own. This Privacy Policy is not intended to be applicable to any linked website.

Disclosures

We may disclose your personal information where we engage other service providers including organisations that assist us to provide, or provide on our behalf, certain products or services or as required by law (for example audit administrative services). We may also disclose some personal information (such as the name of a major donor) to a recipient charity (unless you request otherwise).

Exemptions

Personal information we hold in employee records is exempted from the coverage of the Act in certain circumstances.

Security of Personal Information

In our business, Personal Information may be stored both electronically and in hardcopy form. We are committed to keeping your Personal Information secure regardless of the format in which we hold it and we take all reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. However, your use of the Website is at your own risk and we accept no responsibility, whether we are deemed to have been negligent or not, in the event of a breach of your privacy. In the event that Personal Information is compromised as a breach of security, we will promptly notify those affected in compliance with applicable law.

Note that no information transmitted over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. However, we will endeavour to protect your Personal Information as best as possible but we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us, or receive from us. The transmission and exchange of information is carried out at your own risk.

The protective steps we take from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure of your Personal Information include:

• confidentiality requirements of our employees;
• document storage security policies;
• security measures for access to our systems; and
• only providing access to Personal Information to a person who is verified to be able to receive that information.

We use an outside platform, and a third party credit card processing company, to bill you if you purchase services, products or make a donation. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any purposes other than billing.

Access to personal information

If you wish to request access to personal information that the Sydney Community Foundation holds about you, please contact us using the contact details set out below. Please provide as much information about the information you see in order to help us retrieve it.

More information

If you would like more information about the way in which we manage personal information please contact the Executive Officer of the Sydney Community Foundation, Sydney Women’s Fund and Be Kind Sydney on 02 8030 7050 or by email on enquiries@sydneycommunityfoundation.org.au, or by writing to Sydney Community Foundation, 52 Victoria Street Paddington NSW 2021.

Refund Policy 

This refund policy outlines the procedure and process of issuing a refund from Sydney Community Foundation or Be Kind Sydney.

Should an error be made in the amount of a tax deductible donation, the donor may notify Sydney Community Foundation( DGR2) or Be Kind Sydney(DGR1) that an error has occurred. 

Please make any request for a refund in writing.

Please email to enquiries@sydneycommunityfoundation.org.au or by post to CEO, Sydney Community Foundation, 52 Victoria Street Paddington NSW 2021.

The request should provide the following  details:

• Amount of intended donation and amount receipted.
• Date of donation
• Correct amount of Donation
• Full name of Donor
• Receipt number
• Nature of the error

If the error is in relation to a tax receipt that was issued, the incorrect receipt immediately becomes void and invalid and should be securely destroyed. Once the donation has been accurately confirmed and received to our bank a new tax receipt will be issued for the amount of the donation.

Please note it is your responsibility to submit correct receipts for tax deductible donations to the Australian Tax Office.

Should an error be made by Sydney Community Foundation or Be Kind Sydney or its financial institution(s) in relation to an EFT or regular donation, a full refund will be made upon notification of the error. Costs will be borne Sydney Community Foundation or Be Kind Sydney.

Further information on refunds:

• Refunds cannot be made because you have changed your mind.
• We ask that you make your choice to donate carefully. 
• We will refund if there was an error with the donation processing.
• We will refund if the donor entered the wrong amount.
• We will refund if the recurring donation did not cancel correctly when requested 
• Refunds for tickets purchased from Sydney Community Foundation, Sydney Women’s Fund or Be Kind Sydney that are non tax deductible donations, will be given at the discretion of our management.
• Merchandise purchased from Sydney Community Foundation, Sydney Women’s Fund or Be Kind Sydney will not be refunded if you change your mind.
• Damaged items may be returned or exchanged with proof of purchase i.e. receipt