Privacy statement

Our privacy commitment

Your privacy is very important to Crohn’s & Colitis Australia. This Privacy Policy sets outs out how we collect, use, store and disclose your personal information.

In this Privacy Policy, us, we or our means the Australian Crohn’s and Colitis Association, trading as Crohn’s & Colitis Australia (ABN 42 082 747 135).

Crohn’s & Colitis Australia is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) as well as other applicable laws protecting privacy.

By providing personal information to us, you acknowledge that we will collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and any other arrangements that apply between us. We may modify our Privacy Policy, from time to time, by publishing changes to it on our website. We encourage you to check the Crohn’s & Colitis Australia website periodically to ensure that you are aware of our current Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy should be read in conjunction with any other collection notice/s that Crohn’s & Colitis Australia may provide to you when we collect your personal information or provide a particular service.

What information do we collect?

We collect personal information from you that is necessary to provide our services and meet regulatory requirements for our non-profit business operations. Personal information includes information or an opinion about an individual that is reasonably identifiable. If you choose not to provide the information we request from you, we may not be able to provide you with services.

We may collect the following types of personal information:

• name;
• mailing and/or street address;
• email address;
• telephone number and other contact details;
• age or date of birth;
• health information;
• credit card information;
• documents required to undertake national police checks eg passport, drivers licence, Medicare card or credit card (note: once a police check is completed all of the collected documents are deleted);
• your device ID, device type, geo-location information, computer and connection information, statistics on page views, traffic to and from the sites, ad data, IP address and standard web log information;
• details of the products or services we have provided to you or that you have enquired about, including any additional information necessary to deliver those products and services and respond to your enquiries;
• any additional information relating to you that you provide to us directly through our website or online forum or indirectly through your use of our website or online presence or through other websites or accounts from which you permit us to collect information; and
• any other personal information that may be required in order to facilitate your dealings with us.

In addition, when you apply for a job or position (paid or voluntary) with us we may collect certain information from you (including your name, contact details, working history and relevant records checks) from any recruitment consultant, your previous employers and others who may be able to provide information to us to assist in our decision on whether or not to make you an offer of employment or engage you under a contract.

How do we collect your information?

We may collect personal information either directly from you, or from third parties.

We may collect this information when you:

• interact with our services, sites, content and advertising;
• participate in our health programs;
• register to become a user of our online user forums and submit any posts;
• communicate with us through correspondence, chats, email and telephone;
• share information with us from other social media platforms, services or websites;
• apply for a membership with Crohn’s & Colitis Australia; and
• make a donation to us.

Why do we collect, use and disclose personal information?

We may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:

To collect donations or supply products and services

When we collect donations or sell products or services through our website, we may collect any personal information needed to process donations or supply those goods or services to you.

To conduct training programs

We may collect personal information (including health information) about our members, their family members and other carers for the purposes of providing our training programs.

To facilitate health programs and medical research

We may collect personal for the purpose of facilitating health related programs. With the consent of the relevant person, this information may include health information.

We may share this information with select funding and research partners, who may use your anonymised data for health and medical research.

To distribute publications

Crohn’s & Colitis Australia distributes newsletters and other communications in print and electronic form from time to time. Recipients may choose to have their names and addresses removed from the distribution of one, several or all of these publications.

In accordance with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and the Privacy Act, you may opt-out of receiving marketing materials from us by contacting us using the details set out below or by using the opt-out facilities provided (such as an unsubscribe link).

To conduct events

We may collect personal information about members who wish to join or participate in events and programs we conduct. The information may include other personal information and information about family members and other carers, as well as photographs and videos. This information is used to administer these events and to promote and seek support for such events and for the activities of Crohn’s & Colitis Australia. With the consent of the relevant person, this information may include health information.

To communicate with our donors and supporters

We may collect personal information about our current and potential donors and supporters so that we can encourage, record and acknowledge their support and communicate with them about Crohn’s & Colitis Australia and our activities.

To operate our website

When you use the Crohn’s & Colitis Australia website you may choose to provide your name, email address or other personal details in order for us to respond to queries or receive further information from CCA submitted through the website.

By using our website and online services, you may be supplying us with personal information. Any personal information which you supply to us when registering as a user will be used in connection with the administration of your user account and may be displayed to other users to identify you or your posts. We may, but are not required to, provide functionality which allows you to limit the extent to which that personal information is displayed to other users.

To assist with your queries

You may also choose to provide us with your name or other contact details when you call us by phone or write to us so that we can respond to your requests for information about Crohn’s & Colitis Australia.

As part of our general operations

Crohn’s & Colitis Australia also collects personal information about individuals who are, or are employed by, our suppliers (including service and content providers), contractors, agents and partners. Generally, if appropriate, we will state why we are collecting personal information when we collect it and how we plan to use it or these things will be obvious when we collect the information.

Employees and contractors

When you apply for a job or contract with us we may collect certain information from you, from any recruitment consultant and from your previous employers and others who may be able to provide information to us to assist us in our decision on whether or not to make you an offer of employment or engage you under a contract. This Privacy Policy does not apply to acts and practices in relation to employee records of our current and former employees which are exempt from the Privacy Act.

Information about third parties

Please note that when we collect personal information about third parties from you (for example, if we collect information from you about your family members or other carers) we ask that you inform them and let them know about this Privacy Policy.

Disclosing personal information

For the purposes we have described, we may disclose your personal information:

• to our suppliers (including service providers), contractors, agents, and partners who help us deliver our services and programs;
• (with consent) to select funding and research partners who may use your data for medical research purposes;
• to members of our regional volunteer teams and support group facilitators;
• to our staff, consultants and advisers;
• to anyone to whom our assets or business (or any part of it) may be transferred;
• to the extent indicated above, to users of our website;
• where you have otherwise consented eg to a media contact for an interview; or
• as otherwise required or authorised by law.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the persons and organisations to whom we disclose personal information are bound to protect the privacy of that personal information.

We will not give your personal information to any outside organisations for the purpose of allowing them to market their goods or services to you unless you permit us to do so.

Disclosure of personal information outside Australia

Some of the persons to whom we disclose personal information may be situated outside Australia. For example, our promotional material may include photographs and other personal information about staff, students and visitors and may be made available to the public, including on the internet and outside Australia. When you post personal information on the forum, it will also be made available to other users of the forum, which may include some overseas users.

Using our website

When you visit our website, we may record anonymous information about your visit and log the following information for statistical purposes and to allow us to develop better online services:

• your internet protocol (IP) address;
• your operating system (for example Windows, Mac etc);
• your top-level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc);
• the date and time of your visit to the site;
• the pages accessed and the documents downloaded;
• the previous site visited; and
• the type of browser used.

This information is not specific to an individual and is used for system administration purposes, as well as statistical analysis. While anonymous information does not tell us anything about you specifically, it tells us about how you use our site.

Google Analytics

Our website uses Google Analytics to track and measure visitation numbers using clickstream data, cookies and web beacons.

Google Analytics uses a first-party cookie and JavaScript code to collect information about visitors to our website. Google Analytics anonymously tracks how our visitors interact with the website, including where they came from, what they did on the site, and whether they completed any transactions on the site such as newsletter registration.

We do not and will not match any data collected by Google Analytics with any personal information.

For more information visit www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy

Facebook Pixel

Our website may, from time to time, use a Facebook Pixel. We use this tool only on specific marketing landing pages. This tool allows us to assess the effectiveness of public health campaigns advertised on Facebook.

The collected data is anonymous and we cannot see the personal data of any individual user.

However, the collected data is saved and processed by Facebook. Facebook may be able to connect the data with your Facebook account and use the data for their own advertising purposes (in accordance with Facebook’s Data Use Policy found under: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/). Facebook has ultimate control of the information gathered through Facebook Advertising. You can opt-out of Facebook’s use of cookies and Facebook Pixel through settings on your Facebook Account.

Zoho PageSense

This website uses Zoho PageSense to track and measure visitation numbers, display surveys and lightboxes using, cookies.

For more information visit https://www.zoho.com/pagesense/cookie-policy.html

Third party links

Our website includes links to other websites operated by third parties. Those links are provided for convenience and may not remain current or be maintained. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of, or any content on, those linked websites, and have no control over or rights in those linked websites. Linked websites are not covered by this privacy policy. You will need to refer to linked sites for information about their privacy policies.

Storage and security

We may hold your personal information in either electronic form on our secure databases and/or in hard copy on our premises.

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference and loss, as well as unauthorised access, modification or disclosure and we use a number of physical, administrative, personnel and technical measures to protect your personal information.

All transactions completed on our website are encrypted (securely coded) during the process of being entered into our website by a visitor and transmitted to Crohn’s & Colitis Australia or the website database. Crohn’s & Colitis Australia does not store any credit card information on any internet server.

Information that we collect about you is only held as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it is collected, or until any applicable legal obligation to hold the information ends. We are legally required to keep records of all transactions that involve payment to us for seven years. We store such records securely, and it can be accessed only by authorised staff. Electronic records of transactions can only be accessed by authorised staff.

While Crohn’s & Colitis Australia endeavours to provide a secure Internet environment, users should note that there are inherent risks associated with transmission of information via the Internet.

Accessing and correcting your personal information

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is accurate, up to date and complete. If you think that any personal information we hold about you is not accurate, complete or up-to-date, you may request us to correct that information. We will take reasonable steps to correct such personal information unless we disagree with you about whether the information is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

We will provide you with access to most personal information (including health information) that we have about you however there may be certain circumstances where we may not be able to provide you with access to personal information, these may include:

• access would pose a serious threat to the life, safety or health of any individual or to public health or public safety;  
• access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals;  
• the request is frivolous or vexatious;  
• denying access is required or authorised by a law or a court or tribunal order;  
• access would be unlawful, or 
• access may prejudice commercial negotiations, legal proceedings, enforcement activities or appropriate action being taken in respect of a suspected unlawful activity or serious misconduct. 

If we refuse to grant you access to your personal information, we will provide you with reasons for that decision (unless it is unreasonable to do so) and the avenues available for you to complain about the refusal. 

If you would like to access your information or to find out what information we have about you please contact our Privacy Officer at the contact details given below.

When you request access, we may need to take measures to verify your identity.

Making a complaint

If you think we have breached the Privacy Act, or you wish to make a complaint about the way we have handled your personal information, you can contact us using the details set out below. Please include your name, email address and/or telephone number and clearly describe your complaint. We will acknowledge your complaint and respond to you regarding your complaint within a reasonable period of time. If you think that we have failed to resolve the complaint satisfactorily, you may refer the matter to the Australian Information (Privacy) Commissioner (see www.oaic.gov.au).

Contact Us

If you have a complaint, enquiry or would like further information about our Privacy Policy or practices, please contact our Privacy Officer, Leanne Raven, by phoning 03 9815 1266, emailing [email protected] or by writing to:

Leanne Raven
Crohn’s & Colitis Australia
PO Box 777
Camberwell South 3124