Your Privacy

We ask for and collect information that helps us engage with you. For example, to process your donation and provide a receipt, or to record your support of a petition or letter to a politician as part of our advocacy work. We could not send you information about your sponsored child or communicate with you about the work we do if we had no way of contacting you. You decide how much information you provide (however we may not be able to answer your enquiry or fulfill your request if you do not provide the information requested).

The personal information we typically collect includes:

- Personal details like name, date of birth, gender and age.

- Contact details such as postal addresses, email address and phone numbers.

- Information related to areas of our work you might be interested in supporting, have supported in the past or are interested in now.

- Payment card details (including transaction details/payment history).

- Records of your communication and interactions with us and details/history of preferences.

- Conversations by phone, email, social media, webchat, post or in person, with our staff and volunteers:

• This might include additional information if you tell us about your family or information related to your circumstances or interests during a call – it all helps us to provide you with relevant and useful information. 

- Information you provide to us when you:

• Fill out a form online, at one of our stands or which is sent to you in the mail.
• Complete a survey, pledge or petition.
•  Send us photos or recordings.
•  Donate online, over the phone or at one of our stands.
• Go on a field trip with us (eg. visiting your sponsored child or a project you support).
• Register for services, including services provided by our partners.
• Use our digital services or those of our advertising partners like Facebook. 

If you apply to work with us (including as a volunteer) we will collect information (such as your work experience and references) so that we can decide if you are suitable for the position. 

Collecting from people other than you

We typically collect information directly from you. But in some circumstances, we use publicly available information from professional research organisations, such as financial and demographic information, to improve the way we engage with you as a supporter. This helps to ensure we provide you with relevant opportunities to support our work, including invitations to events that may interest you. This information may include:

• membership of clubs or associations;
• family and professional connections; and
• things that interest you and their location, eg. an interest in faith-based events, or events in Sydney.

We might also collect information about you from someone else, such as:

• your parent or guardian if you are under 18; and
• where we buy a marketing list you have agreed to be on.

Sensitive information

Sometimes we might collect or ask you for sensitive information because:

• we are very careful about who visits children in the communities we partner with, so will ask you for a criminal record check;
• you are attending a field visit so we may be required to collect health information;
• we need to keep everyone in the World Vision Australia community safe so where required we may record information about supporters who pose a risk to World Vision Australia staff or the children we support or information about a supporter who requires special provisions, eg. power of attorney; and
• we want to know what makes you passionate about poverty and justice issues, like your faith, values or opinions, as this helps us better communicate with you.

In some circumstances you may be able to opt out of the collection of personal or sensitive information. Call us on 13 32 40 (Monday to Friday 9am–5pm AEST/AEDT) to discuss your options.

World Vision Australia may collect information about how you use our digital services to tailor our services to you and ensure we are providing you with the best experience. For example, we may do this when you click on links in our emails or on our website, visit another website which displays one of our advertisements, or engage with us online via social media platforms like Facebook. Usually, the information we collect in this way is only general information, such as user statistics. However some information may be able to identify you.

We also use advertising companies (eg. Google and Facebook) to place ads on third party websites. When you view a World Vision Australia advertisement on a third-party website, the advertising company uses cookies and, in some cases, “web beacons” to collect information about:

• the server your device is logged onto;
• your browser type;
• the date and time of your visit; and
• the performance of our marketing efforts.

When you visit and interact with a third-party website, we suggest you read that third party’s privacy policy as any of the personal information provided and your interactions with that page are outside our control.

If we do associate information about your use of our website or digital services with personal information, we hold about you (eg. if you have been logged into your My World Vision online account or followed a link sent to you by email), any use or disclosure of that information will be in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You can find out more about cookies by looking at our website terms of use.

Social media

You can also engage with us via social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. You can always control how you receive content through each platform’s settings. Any information you post to social media will be managed in accordance with the platform’s specific policies.

Occasionally, we may contact you via social media if you are not a World Vision Australia follower by using the details on your supporter record, such as the email address and phone number matched to your social media account.

We may also use your email address and phone/SMS to link to Facebook or other social media sites so we can identify other users of these platforms who we think might be interested in supporting us, and we may then show them our content. If you prefer this does not occur, you can update your preferences or change them on the relevant social media platform.

We will use your personal information for the purpose it was collected, to help you make a difference, and to tell you about how your support is helping vulnerable children, families and communities.

Common situations in which we use or disclose your personal information include:

- To provide, administer, improve and personalise our communications to you (including direct and digital marketing).

- To engage, and manage our relationship, with you. For example, to:

• process your donations or payments, manage promotions and provide refunds;
• send you newsletters that you have subscribed to;
• fulfill requests to change your details;
• tell you about our work including via email, post, phone, SMS, Facebook message or other social media platforms;
• verify your identity;
• maintain and update our records;
• address your service enquiries and work with our service providers; and
• record the personal experiences you share with us to better serve you next time.

- To help you and others to learn more about poverty and justice issues and opportunities to partner with us – so you can make a difference for vulnerable children.

- To conduct market research and analysis, including by sharing limited information (such as your name and address, not financial information) with third party specialists acting on our behalf. These activities improve the way in which we engage with you as a supporter and help to provide you and others with relevant opportunities to support our work.

- When recording your communications with us for security, dispute resolution and training purposes.

- To give to a third party for a specific purpose, eg. when you need a criminal record check so you can visit a World Vision-supported community, or when third parties act on behalf of World Vision Australia to provide a specialist service which helps us to operate more efficiently.

- If you have indicated that you intend to leave us a bequest or have requested information or otherwise enquired into how you can support World Vision Australia through your Will, we will use your information to ensure your wishes can be honoured.

- World Vision Australia takes the protection of vulnerable children and adults seriously. If you engage with children via child sponsorship or participate in field visits, we will use your information in keeping with community expectations and best practices relating to child protection.

- To other third parties as required or authorised by law.

Where we tell you about opportunities with partner organisations, we will not give your information to them; it will be up to you to contact them directly.

You can set your own preferences for how you want to hear from us by contacting our Supporter Experience Team or through your My World Vision online account.

Importantly, we never rent, sell, or exchange your personal information without your consent.

World Vision Australia engages third parties, including digital services, research and analytics services, and other specialists to help us provide the best possible services, operate with efficiency and better serve the communities we support. These partners may be located or have data centres outside Australia. We may also use, and/or store your information overseas, or use cloud service providers if any of our technical systems are located or need to process data overseas (for example, social media platforms).

We may also share your information with other parts of World Vision’s global network. For example, we may share your name and address with the World Vision office in the country where your sponsored child lives so they can write to you. This information is sent to World Vision International (which stores its information in Malaysia) and is accessed by the World Vision office in the relevant country. If you go on a field trip with us, we also share personal (including sensitive) information with World Vision entities overseas so they can prepare appropriately for the trip.

In all cases, this does not change our commitment to safeguarding your privacy.

We require our external service providers to handle your personal information carefully, lawfully, and, where possible, in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

The countries and territories in which we may use, disclose and/or store supporter information include but are not limited to:

• Malaysia
• United States
• Singapore
• The European Union
• Hong Kong
• Other countries in which World Vision Australia or World Vision International operate.

When you agree to our Privacy Policy, you consent to us disclosing your personal information, including sensitive information, outside Australia. You understand that by giving us this consent, you may not be able to seek redress in the overseas jurisdiction if the overseas recipient handles information in breach of the Australian Privacy Principles. Your consent does not in any way lessen our commitment and the measures we take to safeguard your privacy, but it may exclude us from liability under Australian Privacy Principle 8.1 for any breach of the Australian Privacy Principles by such overseas recipients.

We store and manage your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles. We take the security of your information seriously and take all reasonable steps to ensure we have safe systems, processes, and training in place to protect your information, including by:

• Using secure response forms when we ask for your personal and payment card details on our website.
• Taking reasonable steps to preserve the security of cookie and personal information in accordance with our website terms of use and Privacy Policy.
  • If your browser is suitably configured, it will advise you whether the information you are sending us will be secure (encrypted) or not secure (unencrypted). If secure transmission is indicated, World Vision Australia currently uses 256-bit TLS encryption as a minimum.
• Complying with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) to ensure all sponsor and donor credit card information is securely transmitted, processed and stored.
• Keeping abreast of developments in security and encryption technologies.

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed as secure. Accordingly, although we strive to protect your information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or from our online products or services and you do so at your own risk. However, once we receive your transmission, we will take all reasonable steps to preserve the security of the information in our own systems.

We will keep your personal information for as long as you continue to engage with us, unless you advise otherwise, in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles and all other laws and regulations that govern us, including the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth).

Personal information that is no longer required for a lawful purpose, is not related to child sponsorship, engagement or field visits, and belongs to a supporter who has not engaged with us for more than seven years will be deleted or archived in accordance with the law.

If you request us to delete your personal information, we will investigate your enquiry and, where possible, action it, subject to any legal or safeguarding requirements we may have to keep your information. If information cannot be deleted, we will respect your wishes not to be contacted and archive your information in a secure manner until requirements to store this information are met.

We value the contributions our supporters make. If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about this Privacy Policy or our handling of your personal information, please: 

• call us on 13 32 40 (Mon to Fri 9am-5pm AEST/AEDT, excluding national public holidays);
• email us at service@worldvision.com.au;  
• submit an enquiry  and choose “Other” as the nature of your enquiry; or
• submit a privacy related complaint by selecting "other" via our online Make a Complaint form.

If you make a Complaint, a relevant staff member will provide confirmation of its receipt and provide updates on its progress until a decision is made. We will communicate our decision to you as soon as is practicable. Our Data Privacy Manager will oversee the management of any Privacy-related Complaints.

If you are not satisfied with our decision, we will be prepared to consider any additional information you may wish to provide and review our decision.

In cases where your Complaint is unable to be addressed to your satisfaction, we will advise you that the Complaint may be referred to the Code of Conduct Committee | ACFID and offer to assist in the referral.

You may also wish to submit your Complaint, or any additional concerns, to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

You can learn more about our Complaints Policy via the following link: World Vision Australia Complaints Policy.

You can view and update your personal information by logging in to your My World Vision online account. If you are visiting for the first time, you can easily register using your email address or by contacting our Supporter Experience Team on 13 32 40 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm AEST/AEDT). Once you have an account and are logged in you can change your personal details, view your Annual Tax Statements, and exchange messages with your sponsored child.

You can also request to access the personal information we hold about you, update or correct the information we have collected, or let us know your communications preferences by calling our Supporter Experience Team.

Under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) you have the right to access your personal information. Please contact the Supporter Experience Team via the contact details above and state your request. In some circumstances authorised by law, we may be unable to provide you with access to all your personal information and where this occurs, we will explain the reasons why. 

If you are 15 or over, we will make every effort to include you in any decisions related to your privacy. However in compliance with our Safeguarding Policy where consent is required, parents or guardians will need to provide consent for individuals under 18.

We also expect you to take special care with images of children from communities we work with, just as we do. Please honour the consent given by parents or community leaders by sharing these images only as directed. Our terms of use provide  guidance on how you can use images from our website and our Child Protection Standards include further guidance on the use of child images.

By using this website and providing your personal information when engaging with World Vision Australia you agree to and accept the website terms of use and this Privacy Policy. This Policy may be changed from time to time, so we encourage you to check back regularly to see if any changes have been made.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 2 September 2022. Any changes to this Policy will be updated on this site.

The above statement is intended as notice of these changes. This version and any future amendment replace previous privacy policies, effective from the date the new version is published online.