We are committed to handling your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth). We are required to comply with this law to the extent that it is not inconsistent with our law enforcement functions under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW) and Regulations made under that Act (see specific statement in this respect below). We respect your right to privacy and have outlined our commitment to protecting your personal details and privacy below.
1. About us
We are an animal welfare charity that works with the people of NSW to rescue, rehome and rehabilitate animals in need. We investigate complaints of animal cruelty and/or breaches of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. We offer education services and information online and via workshops and special projects, and also conduct programs to assist pet owners whose personal circumstances limit their ability to properly care for their pets. As we receive less than two per cent of our funding from the government, we rely almost entirely on the generosity of our supporters to maintain our vital community services.
2. Protection of your privacy and personal information
3. What personal information does the RSPCA NSW collect?
'Personal Information' is information about an identifiable individual, and may include information such as the individual’s name, email address, telephone number, bank account details, taxation details, and accounting and financial information. The personal information we collect is that which is necessary to provide by law, or is used to market our organisation and services to you. This information may also be used to solicit donations.
The nature of personal information that we collect and maintain includes information pertaining to:
- Inspectorate cruelty complaints
- legal records
- bequest records, including wills
- customer contact details
- volunteer contact details
- member contact details
- student enrolment information
- records of purchases
- credit card information
Personal information held by us may include your name, date of birth, current and previous addresses, telephone or mobile phone number, email address, bank account or credit card details, occupation, driver's licence number and history with the RSPCA NSW, as well as certain details about your personal interests.
We also want to present information that is tailored to your needs. For this reason, we may ask you to provide personal information when filling out a survey, official paper work (such as adoption information) or an online form. We will use this information to try to ensure that the content and/or services that we provide are tailored to your current and future needs.
4. How the RSPCA NSW collects personal information
Generally, we collect personal information directly from you, for example when you deal directly with us in person, over the telephone, by completing RSPCA NSW standard forms, via appeal letters or online via websites, social media or email.
We sometimes collect personal information from a third party or from a publicly available source, but only if:
- you have consented to such collection or would reasonably expect us to collect their personal information in this way
- it is necessary for a specific purpose, such as the investigation of a cruelty complaint
We may collect website visitors' contact information (such as their email addresses). This information may be shared with the national and other state and territory RSPCAs and may be used to:
- send news, information about our activities and services, and general promotional material which we believe may be of interest to you
- monitor who is accessing the RSPCA website or using services offered on the website
- profile the type of people accessing websites controlled or managed by RSPCA NSW.
If you do not wish to have your personal information used in this manner or for any other specific purpose, please advise us by writing to the Website Administrator at RSPCA NSW, PO Box 34, Yagoona, NSW 2199, Australia or sending an email to firstname.lastname@example.org.
If you choose not to provide personal information, you will still be granted access to most of our websites. However, you may not have access to areas that require personal identification.
5. Use of personal data
We use personal information you provide us for the purpose for which it was provided to us, other related purposes or as permitted or required by law. Such purposes include:
- processing donations, memberships and Animal Advocate pledges
- issuing receipts
- adoption and veterinary hospital paperwork and forms
- the gathering of evidence for the purpose of investigation and/or prosecution in regards to alleged breaches of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979
- responding to your comments or questions
- providing follow-up information about RSPCA NSW activities
- supporter research, for example asking you to participate in a survey about your involvement with RSPCA NSW
- requesting financial or animal welfare support
- providing clinic, hospital, consult room and shelter follow ups, including post-adoption surveys and calls, and scheduled health check reminders
- improving our website
- ensuring compliance with RTO regulations on student enrolment data
- measuring the level of support received and the effectiveness of our campaigns
- providing you with marketing material such as our newsletter (if you opt-in to receive such information)
- any other purposes identified at the time of collecting your information
If we also obtain your sensitive information, we will only use your sensitive information (such as your racial or ethnic origin or health information) for the purposes listed above, or other directly related purposes or purposes to which you otherwise consent.
Also, your personal information is collected so that we can promote and market services to you, including by way of direct mail, telemarketing, website, social media, email, SMS and MMS messages. This is to keep you informed of products, services and donation appeals and may continue after you cease acquiring services from us. If you do not wish us to contact you to promote and market products, services and special offers to you, please contact us at email@example.com.
6. Direct marketing
RSPCA NSW may use your personal information to identify products and services which may be of interest to you and keep you informed and up to date about our latest products and services. Our direct marketing may include the following:
- appeal emails, direct mail, websites and social media mentions
- communications from branches if you have consented to such communications
- clinic, hospital, consult room and shelter follow ups, including post adoption surveys and calls, and scheduled health check reminders
- event emails, direct mail, websites and social media mentions
- marketing materials including newsletters, magazines emails, direct mail, websites, social media mentions
If you would prefer that your information is not used in this way, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.org.
7. Disclosing and sharing of personal data
Your informed consent is important to us. As such, we will endeavour not to use or disclose your personal information in any way that is contrary to your expectations. However, you should be aware that if you do not consent to certain uses and disclosures of your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with our products and services.
We will make reasonable endeavours to prevent the disclosure your personal information except to the extent:
- indicated at the time you supply information to us
- expressly permitted under any agreement with you
- required for us to provide you with the goods and services requested from us
- required under compulsion of law or provided in cooperation with any government authority
- where it is already publicly available or it is disclosed by us in a manner that does not readily permit identification of information relating to you
- where it is used in the context of the investigation and prosecution is respect of offences under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW) or associated Regulations
- required by us to comply with our constitution
Your personal information may be disclosed on a confidential basis to organisations/agencies including, but not limited to:
- the course of normal business practice, including our solicitors, accountants, recruiting consultancies and collection agencies
- work cover
- the Australian Taxation Office
- superannuation providers
- the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA)
- the NSW Police and/or other authorised bodies and persons under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW)
- municipal councils
- microchip animal registries
- charity-appointed street and telephone marketers. RSPCA NSW undertakes not to sell, rent or trade your personal information to any individual or entity.
8. Data security
We take commercially reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected from misuse, loss, interference and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. For example, whenever we ask for your financial details online, we use security-encrypted response forms.
However, data protection and security measures are never completely secure (particularly for information sent online) and, despite the measures we have put in place, we cannot guarantee the security of your information. You must take care to ensure you protect your personal information (for example, by protecting any usernames and passwords, etc.) and you should notify us as soon as possible after you become aware of any security breaches. If you don’t wish to make your financial contribution online, please contact us to receive a hard copy form.
When you visit our website, we will collect and store your computer’s assigned IP address, the date and time of your visit, the information accessed and the referring page. We will also collect other non-identifying data for statistical purposes. This information is not linked to your personal information unless required by law.
10. Email monitoring
If you send us an email, the message content may be monitored by our Internet Service Provider or RSPCA NSW employees if email abuse is suspected, or for troubleshooting and maintenance purposes. Email is an unsecure communications medium; it should not be used for confidential correspondence.
11. Third party links
12. Accuracy, access and correction
We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information that we collect and hold is accurate, complete and up to date. However, we rely on you to advise us of any changes to your personal information to help us maintain accurate, complete and up-to-date information.
We will, on request, provide you with access to the personal information we hold about you unless we are otherwise required or permitted by law not to disclose such information. We will notify you of the basis for any denial of access to your personal information.
To request access to your personal information or, if you wish to update or correct your personal information, please contact us via the contact details provided below.
We will investigate the issue and determine anysteps that we may undertake to resolve your complaint. We will contact you if we require any additional information from you and will notify you in writing of the outcome of the investigation. If you are not satisfied with our determination, you can contact us to discuss your concerns or complain to the Australian Information Commissioner via www.oaic.gov.au.
14. Specific Information regarding Privacy and the RSPCA NSW Inspectorate
The RSPCA NSW Inspectorate is an enforcement body under the Privacy Actin so far as its activities relate to the investigation of breaches of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW) and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Regulation 2012 (NSW). The RSPCA NSW Inspectorate will collect and disclose personal information about individuals in connection with its enforcement related activities, and may disclose information to the NSW Police and/or other authorised bodies under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW). In most cases, access to personal information collected by the Inspectorate in the course of enforcement related activities will not be granted as providing access may have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals and/or may prejudice one or more of the enforcement activities undertaken by the Inspectorate and/or would be contrary to law. To the extent of any inconsistency with another part of this Privacy Statement the provisions of this Clause apply.
15. RSPCA NSW contacting people via the phone
RSPCA NSW may contact supporters and members of the public via telephone for the following reasons:
- To return telephone enquiries left on our voicemail systems
- To undertake information follow up calls in relation to donations, merchandise purchases, bequests, cruelty complaints and animal adoptions
From time to time, our external customer service provider will contact supporters and members of the public on behalf of the RSPCA NSW in order to offer raffle tickets and RSPCA NSW products for RSPCA NSW fundraising purposes.
RSPCA NSW, through a third party supplier, may also call supporters or members of the public to ask for donations over the phone.
If you receive a telephone call and are concerned that the caller is not an official RSPCA NSW representative, or is not officially calling on behalf of the RSPCA NSW, please do not proceed with the call and do not provide any personal or credit card payment details. Instead, ask for the representative's name and a contact number, and then call the RSPCA NSW on 02 9770 7555. You will then be able to verify the telephone number and contact details with our staff.
If you have made a transaction over the phone and believe that you have been the victim of fraud, please report details to the NSW Department of Fair Trading for investigation on 13 32 20.
16. Contacting us
Enquiries about this Online Privacy Statement and complaints or concerns about your privacy from the use of this website may be addressed in the first instance to:
The Privacy Officer
PO Box 34
Yagoona NSW 2199
Fax: (02) 9782 4445
Phone: 1300 278 358
Email: email@example.com marked to the attention of the Privacy Officer.
How You Can Help
How you can help
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