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Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important

Habitat for Humanity Australia (HFHA) is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and the Australian Privacy Principles and the ACFID Code of Conduct. We are also bound by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

This statement outlines the HFHA’s policy on how HFHA uses and manages personal information provided to or collected by it. This Privacy Statement does not apply to employees and contractors.

By visiting our website, signing up to our newsletter, signing a petition, making a donation, or otherwise providing us with your personal information, you consent to your personal information being collected, used and disclosed as set out in this Privacy Statement.

Changes to this Privacy Statement

From time to time, HFHA may review and update this Privacy Statement to take into account changes in legislation and in the operations and procedures of HFHA to ensure it remains relevant to the changing legal environment. If we make material changes to this Privacy Statement, we will notify you by email or put a notice on our website.

What information does Habitat for Humanity Australia collect and how is it collected?

HFHA collects information that is related to our functions and activities. The kind of personal information we collect and store will depend on the type of HFHA initiatives you support or enquire about. Where directly provided by you with your consent, personal information collected by HFHA may include:

Your contact name, address, email address, phone number, mobile phone number
Your date of birth and gender
Your employer details, if you participate in work place giving
Your HFHA supporter number
Your HFHA web site username and password and activities performed when you login to a HFHA related web site
Your payment card details
A history of your donations, correspondences and other interactions with HFHA
Certain details about your personal interests
You have the right to deal with us anonymously or use a pseudonym, but in almost every circumstance it will not be practical for us to deal with you to process your donation or provide information or other products or services you request, unless you identify yourself.

How does Habitat for Humanity Australia collect information?

There are a number of ways we collect information from you. These include but are not limited to:

Directly from you when you provide information by phone, in person, via our website, on coupons or response forms
From third parties who organise fundraising activities or workplace giving on our behalf
From our own records of your donor history or your level of interaction with our services
From publicly available sources of information such as telephone directories
When we are legally required to do so, such as security and police checks if you wish to visit a Habitat project site in an overseas country.

How will Habitat for Humanity Australia use the information you provide?

HFHA will use the personal information it collects from you for the primary purpose of collection and for such other secondary purposes that are related to the primary purpose and reasonably expected, or to which you have consented.

Typically, the information may be used to:

Process your donation or purchase and provide receipts
Provide you with confirmation of your donation and advise you of any changes to its status
Confirm your identity when you make enquiries about your donation
Send you information about the work HFHA is undertaking, including newsletters, updates, and information on appeals and how donations are used
Address any feedback or complaints you may have
Develop, improve and market our range of causes, events, products and services, which we believe may be of interest to you.

If you do not want HFHA to communicate with you about activities other than the one you engaged in, please call our Privacy Officer on (02) 9919 7000 or email [email protected].

We take special care with your payment card details as we must under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

If you choose to give us your email address, we will try to communicate with you via email for administrative purposes directly related to a donation or purchase of a product or service.

We will send you email newsletters and other email regarding HFHA’s other causes, products and services where you elect to opt-in, which may be via our website. You can unsubscribe via links in the newsletter.

Marketing and Fundraising

HFHA treats marketing and the seeking of donations for the future growth and development of the organisation as important. In relation to direct marketing, HFHA will use your personal information for direct marketing where you have provided that information, and you can reasonably expect direct marketing. If you are sent direct marketing, it will also contain an opt-out. If we use your personal information obtained from elsewhere we will still send you direct marketing where you have consented and which will also contain an opt-out. We will always obtain your consent to use sensitive information as the basis for any of our direct marketing.

By electing not to opt-out, we will assume we have your implied consent to receive similar information and communications in the future. We make every effort to ensure that our opt-out notices are clear and easy to follow.

If you do not wish to receive direct marketing communications from us, please contact our Privacy Officer on (02) 9919 7000 or email [email protected].

In order to communicate with you in relation to the activities of HFHA, we may disclose your personal information to external organisations who are also bound by the Australian Privacy Principles. The functions of such external organisations include:

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

We take all 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 supply it.

Who may Habitat for Humanity Australia disclose your information to?

We may disclose your personal information to:

Credit reporting and fraud checking organisations
An authorised legal representative nominated by you
Our accountants, auditors and lawyers
People providing services to HFHA;
Law enforcement, government or other organisations, as required by law.
Anyone you authorise HFHA to disclose information to.

Sending information overseas

HFHA will not send information about an individual outside Australia without first obtaining the consent of the person (in some cases consent may be implied) or otherwise complying with the Australian Privacy Principles or other privacy legislation.

How does Habitat for Humanity Australia treat sensitive information?

Sensitive information means information relating to a person’s racial, ethnic origin, political opinions, religion, trade union or other professional or trade association membership, sexual preferences or criminal record that is also personal information; and health information about an individual.

Sensitive information will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided or a directly related secondary purpose, unless you agree otherwise, or the use or disclosure of the sensitive information is allowed by law.

Management and Security of personal information

HFHA staff are required to respect the confidentiality of personal information and the privacy of individuals. HFHA has in place steps to protect the personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by the use of various methods including locked storage and password access rights to computer records.

GDPR Compliance for HFHA in line with HFH International’s Requirements

HFHA complies with data protection regulations, including, but not limited to, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Given the increased risk of data breaches and increased data protection regulations, all private information from our supporters will be sent and received only through secure channels such as Dropbox or paid version of Google drive, and not by email. We currently use Google Drive and Dropbox to store information and nothing is stored on staff drives. This information may include supporter names, birthdays, passport data, volunteer health, medical, and dietary information. The information will be deleted when it is no longer needed, or saved into a secure data base

While using personal information, HFHA will:

Share the information only with people who have a business reason to access it.
Retain such data only as long as there is a business need.
Destroy all sensitive data within 30 days after completion of a GV trip.
Store all relevant documents in an online data base and secure server
Ensure Team Leaders and volunteers acting on our behalf are trained in data security and know to destroy any sensitive information following a campaign or build

Passport Data – HFHA is required to collect passport information for the visa process when a build is being held in Vietnam, thus all HFHA staff must follow safety protocols to ensure that personal data is properly collected, transmitted, and stored.  Passport data includes passport information in the team list and passport scanned copies.

Passport data will be collected and transmitted through a Dropbox account, and only shared with a Habitat email address and the intended recipient

Passport data (hard copy) will only be printed where absolutely necessaryand destroyed using an approved secure document destruction facility when no longer required

HFHA will not collect such data for any purposes other than what is necessary for their Global Village build.

Request to be forgotten – If a supporter requests to be forgotten, HFHA will delete all reference to the supporter within 30 days and inform the Hosting Country or partner when relevant.

Privacy and the Internet

Online surveys and tracking

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. HFHA collects statistics on visitor traffic to our websites. All such statistics are anonymous and do not identify specific visitors.

Cookies and anonymous tracking

A “cookie” is a term used to describe a function of a website which records and stores information about a user’s visits. We may anonymously track your visit to our website by using cookies which are provided by a third party. This enables us to compile statistical information about the use of 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 of our website. The information we collect is anonymous and not personally identifiable. It does not contain your name, address, telephone number or email address.

Protecting information provided via the Internet

Our site uses security encrypted response forms when personal and financial details are requested. We obtain privacy policy and procedures and assurances from third party providers including our bankers.

Links with other sites

HFHA’s website contains links to other sites. Other sites may also have links to our website. In either case, we are not responsible for the content, privacy practices or business practices of any website or company except our own.

How long we keep your information

HFHA will destroy or re-identify your personal information when we no longer need it for the purpose for which it was collected, unless the law requires otherwise.

Data quality

We aim to ensure any data collected will be accurate, complete and current, recognising that data accuracy is also dependent on your communication to us.

Enquiries and privacy complaints

If you would like further information about the way HFHA manages personal information or if you have any concerns, complaints or you think there has been a breach of privacy, please contact our Privacy Officer by calling (02) 9919 7000 or emailing [email protected]. We will do our best to resolve any privacy concerns within 30 days from the date of your contact with us.

Access to your information

You have a right of access to the personal information HFHA holds about you. All requests for right of access should be addressed to our Privacy Officer by email, post or phone as detailed below. HFHA may require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require. Although no fee will be charged for accessing your personal information or making a correction, HFHA may charge a fee to retrieve and copy any material if the information sought is extensive.

Opting out or modifying your information

If you want to change any information you have previously given us, or if you want to opt out of future communications or not to be included in a direct marketing activity, you can either:

Email your request to [email protected]
Phone Habitat between office hours of 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday on (02) 9919 7000
Fax your request to (02) 9919 7088
Or mail your request to:
CEO, HFHA Australia, PO Box 1048, North Sydney NSW 2059.

When contacting us to change your details, please include the following information:

Contact details (name, postal address, telephone number);
HFHA supporter number (if you have one).