We understand that your privacy is important.
This Privacy Policy summarises how we protect your privacy and manage your personal information. It applies to all people who deal with us, other than our employees.
We may change or update our Privacy Policy from time to time. If we do, we will post the changed or updated version on our website. We encourage you to visit our website regularly so that you are familiar with the most recent version. Any updates or changes will apply from the time they are posted on our website.
Some useful definitions
In this Privacy Policy:
- personal Information means information about you, where your identity is clear or identifiable from the information (for example, your name, address, phone number, date of birth). It does not include de-identified information (for example, information about the number of people using a service that you use, where your identity is not disclosed or otherwise identifiable).
- we or us means L’Arche Australia Limited and each L’Arche affiliated organisation in Australia, including L’Arche Beni-Abbes (Hobart), L’Arche Brisbane, L’Arche Genesaret (Canberra), L’Arche Melbourne, L’Arche NSW, L’Arche Adelaide & Friends of L’Arche Perth.
- Sensitive Information includes information about your race, ethnicity, political opinion, memberships of political associations, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs, membership of trade unions, sexual preference or practices, criminal record (unless the information has been de-identified) and your health / medical information.
What kind of personal information do we collect and hold?
The sort of information we collect and hold about you depends on how you deal with our organisation.
If you are a member of a L’Arche community or a family member of a community member, we may hold general personal information such as your name, date of birth, gender, contact information, and financial information. We may also hold sensitive information about you including health information.
If you are connected with our operations and activities in other ways – for example, as a volunteer or fundraising donor – the information we hold about you will generally be limited to your name, date of birth, contact information and credit/debit card information.
How do we collect personal information?
Where possible, we will collect your personal information directly from you, or from people you have authorised us to deal with on your behalf (for example, family members or health professionals).
We may also obtain personal information about you from third parties such as our volunteers, fundraising partners, supporter organisations and social and community workers. If we collect personal information about you from a third party and it is unclear that you have consented to the disclosure of your personal information to us, we will take reasonable steps to contact you and ensure that you are aware of the circumstances surrounding the collection and purposes for which we have collected your personal information.
When do we ask for personal information and how do we use it
We collect information from you when you fill out a form, register on our website, make a donation or register for an event. We also collect information within L’Arche communities.
The sort of information we ask you for, and the purposes that we use it for, depend on how you deal with our organisation.
It may include:
- Our communities: where you or a family member is part of a L’Arche community, for purposes relating to community life, including to communicate with you about community activities and events, the services we provide to you or your family member, funding arrangements, and the health and support needs of you or your family member
- Marketing: to communicate with you about donations, products, services, campaigns, causes and events
- Training services: to provide you with information and training services, and to evaluate and report on these services
- Volunteering and other support: to enable you to assist us with volunteering, community fundraising, advocacy and other activities where we seek the community’s assistance
- Other issues: communicating with you in relation to our operations, activities and objectives, to verify your identity, to improve and evaluate our programs and services, and to comply with relevant laws.
If we want to collect your personal information for another purpose, we will explain this to you at the time we collect the information from you.
We may use your personal information for the purposes we collect it for. We may also use it for purposes related to (or in the case of sensitive information, directly related to) the purpose of collection where you would reasonably expect us to. For example, if we have collected your personal information in connection with one fundraising appeal, we may use that information to contact you about future appeals or other opportunities to support.
Do you collect health information and other sensitive information?
We understand that protecting your privacy in relation to health and sensitive information is particularly important.
In some of our functions, we may collect health information and other sensitive information. For example, we may collect medical history information from you or a family member if you are a member of a L’Arche community or are interested in joining one of our communities. We will limit the collection of sensitive information to the minimum amount required in the circumstances.
When, and to whom, will you disclose my personal information?
We may need to disclose your personal information to third parties to carry out our activities and to use your personal information for the purposes we collected it for (see above). This may include:
- External agencies: to government and regulatory authorities
- External support services: to health care professionals, lawyers, other professionals, counsellors, co-ordinators, volunteers, service providers, agencies and not-for-profits that provide support services in or relating to the disability sector
- Third parties for marketing purposes: we may provide your contact details to other like-minded organisations to contact you with information that may be of interest to you. From time to time, we participate in data collectives where we share your personal information (other than sensitive information) with other organisations.
- Contractors and service providers who perform services on our behalf, such as mailing houses, printers, information technology services providers (including offshore cloud computing service providers), database contractors and telemarketing agencies.
- L’Arche Australia affiliate organisations, including (in Australia) L’Arche communities and Friends of L’Arche organisations and (offshore) L’Arche International and other members and affiliates of the L’Arche Federation
We take reasonable steps to make sure that these organisations will protect the privacy of your personal information, in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
We will not sell your personal information.
What happens if I don’t give you the information you ask me for?
If you do not provide some or all of the personal information requested, we may not be able to offer you services or provide you with information about our events, programs and projects.
Can I opt out of receiving direct marketing communications?
Where we use your personal information to send you marketing and promotional information by post, email or telephone, we will provide you with an opportunity to opt-out of receiving such information. By electing not to opt-out, we will assume we have your consent to receive similar information and communications in the future. We will always ensure that our opt-out notices are clear, conspicuous and easy to activate.
If you do not wish to receive direct marketing communications from us, please contact us at fundraising@larche.org.au or use the Unsubscribe functionality on our electronic communications.
Will my personal information be transferred offshore?
We may use cloud computing services to store personal information, which may be based offshore. We may also provide personal information (for example, information about our core members or volunteers) to L’Arche International and its affiliates.
Apart from this, we do not typically transfer personal information offshore.
If we transfer information offshore, we will only do so with your consent or otherwise in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles.
How do I keep my personal information up to date?
We depend largely on you to provide us with accurate personal information. If changes to your information are required, please let us know by contacting us at region@larche.org.au
How do I find out what personal information you hold?
You can contact us at region@larche.org.au to request access to the personal information we hold about you. For security reasons, we may ask you to put your request in writing.
We will not typically charge you for access your personal information.
Generally (but subject to the Australian Privacy Principles), we will give you full access to your personal information. However, there may be some circumstances when this is not possible (including for legal or administrative reasons). If we do not provide you with access to all of your Personal Information, we will tell you the reason why we have not done so.
Is my personal information stored securely?
Yes – we have put in place reasonable security measures to prevent loss, misuse, or unauthorised access and alterations of the personal information under our control.
Unfortunately, we cannot and do not guarantee that unauthorised access to your personal information will not occur.
If personal information we hold is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or alter that information so that it no longer identifies you.
Contact us
If you have any questions in relation to privacy, please contact us at region@larche.org.au