Last updated: September 2024

 

A Start in Life (“we”, “our”, “us”) respects and is committed to protecting your privacy and your personal information. This Privacy Policy outlines the way we manage, collect, use and disclose your personal information including in relation to our website www.astartinlife.org.au. It also identifies how you can access and/or correct your details. We may, from time to time, amend this Privacy Policy. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Privacy Policy on our website.

 

What information do we collect?

A Start in Life will only ask for, and collect, information that is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of the charity’s functions or activities.

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We collect information from our students, their families, and our supporters. The types of information we collect include:

 

Students and families

• Name

• Address and other contact details

• Details of family circumstances

• Sensitive information (e.g. relevant identification documents or financial details including documentary evidence of financial hardship)

• Information that you provide from third parties such as the employer, financial institutions, government/semi-government institutions and utilities, medical service providers, welfare agencies, schools and tertiary institutions

• Student updates, feedback from parent/legal guardian and any interactions with us

• School, TAFE and university results

 

We may take photos, or audio recordings of the student to demonstrate the assistance A Start in Life provides.

 

Supporters

• Name

• Address and other contact details

• Organisation name and role (if applicable)

• Payment details of donations

• Affiliations

 

Most of the information collected by us is personal information, which you have provided directly to us when either filling in an application form for student assistance or making a donation to A Start in Life.

 

When you visit our website, we may collect information through cookies that store information about the services you use, and how you use them.

 

If you do not wish to provide us with your personal information, you may contact us anonymously, or by using a pseudonym. By remaining anonymous, or by using pseudonym, we may be limited in our ability to assist you.

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If you are applying for student assistance and not all mandatory information is provided, we will not be able to consider your application for assistance.

 

Use and disclosure of personal information

We use and disclose the personal information we collect to provide the students with A Start in Life’s programs of assistance and for marketing and fundraising purposes.

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We use the personal information we collect to:

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Students and families

• Understand and assess your requirement for support

• Interact with you, your family or other persons you have provided permission for us to contact

• Make assistance payments to you or on your behalf

• Determine your educational progress or adjustment of your support

• Provide follow-up information about our education assistance programs

 

We may use photos, videos or audio recordings of the student for the primary purpose of fund raising and marketing of the charity and its activities. We will advise you how we propose to use these and seek your prior consent. You will have an option of using pseudonym.

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We may share information about students with associated service providers (e.g. tutors, workshop facilitators, schools) for the purpose of verifying information and to discuss the progress of the student.

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Supporters

• Process donations, bequests, pledges, sponsorships and issue receipts

• Respond to your comments or questions

• Seek your ongoing support

• Collate information for research and marketing purposes

 

We may disclose personal information to third parties such as contractors who perform services directly on our behalf (i.e. mailing houses that send our appeals). All third parties that receive your personal details from us are located in Australia and therefore bound to keep your information confidential and not use it for unauthorised purposes.

 

We may also disclose personal information if we are authorised or required to do so by law.

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Marketing and communications

We may use your personal information (but never sensitive information) in connection with marketing and fundraising initiatives including to ask for support and provide information about assistance programs. We may contact you by phone, mail, email, SMS or other messaging system or social media.

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You can contact us at any time to opt out of receiving such materials or information by:

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• Selecting “unsubscribe” function in the email, SMS or other messaging system

• Sending an email to: communications@astartinlife.org.au

• Calling us on (02) 9264 2017

 

Security and storage of your personal information

A Start in Life takes all reasonable steps to safeguard your personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, including where the information is held in electronic or physical form.

 

We have physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your information, which is held by us. For example, your personal information is stored in secured office premises, electronic databases are secured by a firewall and require logins and passwords for access that is restricted to staff whose job purpose requires access.

 

If we hold personal information about you that is no longer needed for any purpose for which we are permitted to use or disclose it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify that personal information.

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Donations made to A Start in Life using our online donation form are secured through Ezidebit. Our donation page is encrypted, which means your personal information, including credit card details cannot be viewed by another party.

 

Should credit card details be provided either in writing or by phone, A Start in Life will take all reasonable steps to ensure the security of your personal information, including entering this information directly into systems where this information is encrypted.

 

Where your credit card is used for donation or sponsorship purposes, A Start in Life complies with the ‘Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards’ (PCI DSS). These standards regulate the way in which we are able to manage, use and store your credit card information, and require:

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• Information to be stored securely

• A secure network to be maintained

• Cardholder data to be protected and encrypted

• Up to date anti-virus software

• Limited and restricted access to credit card data

• Regular testing of networks

 

Accessing and correcting your personal information

If you feel your personal information is not accurate, complete or up to date, please notify us by emailing us at communications@astartinlife.org.au or call us on (02) 9264 2017.

 

You may also request access to personal information we hold about you (subject to certain legal exceptions). If a legal exception applies, we will advise you of the reasons for our decision.

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A fee may be charged for providing access to your personal information we hold about you. We will advise you of any likely cost in advance.