Privacy Policy

Introduction

The Australian Himalayan Foundation (ABN 81099510255) respects and upholds supporters’ rights to privacy protection, and is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of our supporters. The Australian Himalayan Foundation complies with the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 and the associated thirteen Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) that set out standards, rights and obligations for the handling, holding, use, accessing and correction of personal information. We are committed to regularly updating our practices to accommodate changes in technology, the organisation's function and/or legislation.

Purpose of the Policy

This Privacy Policy sets out the way in which we collect, use and disclose your personal information. ‘Personal information’ is defined for the purposes of this policy as any information or opinion about an identified individual, or any information that could reasonably be used to identify an individual. This Privacy Policy also helps you understand why and how we collect and use personal information, and what to do if you have questions, concerns or complaints.

Information Collected

The Australian Himalayan Foundation regularly asks for information that helps us to engage with you. We collect personal information about individuals such as supporters (including event attendees and participants), volunteers, contractors and job applicants.

We will normally collect information directly from you. This may be in person (e.g. at an event), on the telephone, via mail or online. We only collect information legally.

At all times it is your choice as to how much information you would like to provide in your support of the Australian Himalayan Foundation, and you can change or request access to those details at any time.

If required, you may deal with us on an anonymous basis by using a pseudonym when you make enquiries through our website, social channels, email or telephone but we may not be able to adequately process or follow-up the matter if required. If a response is required, we will require certain contact details. Similarly personal information is required should you wish to be issued a tax invoice for a donation.

We collect personal information such as your name, address, telephone numbers, email address, your communication preferences, information about previous interactions with the Foundation, and payment information for donations.

By visiting our website at www.australianhimalayanfoundation.org.au, signing up to our newsletter (Yakety Yak), applying for employment with us, making a donation or otherwise providing us with your personal information, you acknowledge that your personal information is being collected, used and disclosed as set out in this Privacy Policy.

Sensitive Information

AHF will not generally collect sensitive information about supporters but may collect sensitive information about volunteers or prospective employees, such as police checks and health information. Under the Privacy Act, sensitive information includes the following types of information:

  • Membership of a professional or trade association

  • Membership of a trade union

  • Criminal record

  • Health information

AHF will only collect sensitive information about you if you have consented to our collection of such information and the collection is necessary for AHF’s functions or activities, or as permitted under the Privacy Act. AHF will only use or disclose sensitive information that it collects for the purpose for which it was collected or where legally required to do so.

Use and Disclosure of Information

The information is used to facilitate the support of the Australian Himalayan Foundation programs and work with activities including:

  • Processing of donations and providing receipts

  • Communicating with you and promoting our activities, events and campaigns

  • Providing updates on our work and how your donations are helping

We may use your personal information to send you direct marketing materials. Where you no longer wish to receive direct marketing materials from us in future, you may contact us at any time (contact details are published on our website and all published direct marketing materials).

Personal information is sometimes supplied to, or collected by, contractors or volunteers who perform tasks on our behalf (for example, volunteers assisting at events). We do not disclose information to any overseas recipients, other than limited information to project partners to which donations have been specifically directed, and only for the purpose of providing project updates back to donors or supporting field visits by the donor, with consent.

Security

The Australian Himalayan Foundation takes the security and confidentiality of your personal information seriously. We take all reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access. Electronic information is stored on cloud-based and secure servers that are protected in controlled facilities.

Hard copy information is limited, and is generally stored in our offices, which are secured to prevent entry by unauthorised people, and our personnel with access to personal information have been instructed in its correct handling and protection. Where personal information is held that is no longer needed, we will take reasonable steps to ensure the information is safely destroyed or de-identified.

We use a third-party financial institution to process credit card transactions. It receives the credit card number and other personal information of our donors only to verify credit card numbers and to process credit card transactions in a secure environment (with data encrypted). AHF does not collect or store any credit card information digitally (including on our servers). When you provide your credit card details via telephone or in writing, AHF safely destroys that information after processing the transaction online via our third-party financial institution.

Accessing or Correcting Your Personal Information

The Australian Himalayan Foundation takes reasonable steps to ensure that personal details are accurate, complete and up-to-date when we use or collect such details. You may contact our office at any time if you wish to change or correct your information, request access to the information we hold about you, or to cancel any of the communications we provide. Before providing access to or correcting your personal information, we may require you to verify your identity.

Cookies and Other Web Tracking Systems

The AHF tracks web traffic patterns and activity on our website www.australianhimalayanfoundation.org.au. We use "cookies" on our website. A "cookie" is a small amount of information which is transferred to the hard drive of your computer and which can identify your web browser, but not you. If you want, you can disable your web browser from accepting cookies. If you do so, you can still access our website, but not all services may be available.

We may automatically collect general statistical information on our website about visitors to our website, such as IP addresses, browsers used, dates visited, pages visited and number of visitors. However, such information does not refer to individuals by name or their contact details. We use this data in aggregate to improve our website. We may provide such aggregated data to third parties, but in so doing, we do not provide personal information.

How Can You Opt-Out of Communications?

Where we use your personal information to send you marketing materials by post or email we will provide you with the opportunity to opt-out of receiving such information. By electing not to opt-out we will assume we have your implied consent to receive similar communications in the future.

  • Unsubscribing from email lists – Every time we send emails for marketing or promotional purposes, our emails will contain instructions on how you may unsubscribe from the relevant email list in respect of direct marketing.

  • Unsubscribing from hard copy materials – AHF very rarely sends hard copy materials to our supporters. If we send you hard copy promotional materials, and you do not want to receive any further communication by hard copy you may contact the office to unsubscribe or change your communications preferences.

Questions and Complaints

If you have a query or complaint about how we manage your personal information, or would like to know more, please contact our office and we will respond to you as soon as possible. For any enquiries relating to our Privacy Policy, please contact us:

  • Telephone: (02) 9438 1822

  • Email: info@ahf.org.au

  • Mail: The Australian Himalayan Foundation, PO Box 553, Crows Nest, NSW 1585

AHF’s Complaints Policy is available on our website.

Review of Policy

AHF’s Privacy Policy will be formally reviewed every five years, or sooner should any issues arise or if there are relevant changes to Privacy Legislation and Standards.

Drafted and approved by Board: May 2020 (including review by Intelligent Risks Pty Ltd). Next review: May 2025.