Make A Wish Australia, Children's Charity

Our Privacy Policy

Make-A-Wish Foundation Of Australia Ltd (Make-A-Wish) is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals. This policy outlines how we manage personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles.

Wish children, their families, partners, supporters, volunteers and donors can have full confidence that when dealing with Make-A-Wish, their personal information will be kept private and that the data will be held securely.

Make-A-Wish is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and will only collect, use, disclose, and store personal information in accordance with these principles, and other relevant laws including those relating to the management of health information.

Make-A-Wish is required under the Privacy Act to have a clearly expressed and up-to-date privacy policy about how Make-A-Wish manages personal information. This policy outlines how Make-A-Wish will comply with its obligations under the Privacy Act.

For information about using our website, please refer to our Terms of Use.

Definitions

Personal information means information or an opinion relating to an individual that can be used to identify that individual:

  1. whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
  2. whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

Sensitive information is a special category of personal information. Sensitive information includes:

  1. information or an opinion about an individual’s (i) racial or ethnic origin, (ii) political opinions, (iii) membership of a political association, (iv) religious beliefs or affiliations, (v) philosophical beliefs, (vi) membership of a professional or trade association, (vii) membership of a trade union, (viii) sexual orientation or practices, (ix) criminal record, that is also personal information;
  2. information about an individuals' health or genetics; and
  3. biometric information.

What type of personal information does Make-A-Wish collect?

The personal information that Make-A-Wish collects and holds will depend on the nature of a person’s involvement with Make-A-Wish.

Make-A-Wish may collect personal information about individuals such as Wish Children or their parents and/or guardians, donors and people who have expressed interest in donating to Make-A-Wish (Prospective Donors), contractors, and suppliers.

Generally, the personal information collected by Make-A-Wish may include (but is not limited to) a person’s name, contact details, employment information, date of birth and bank account details. Make-A-Wish only collects personal information reasonably necessary for the purpose. Make-A-Wish may also collect sensitive information including information about a person's health, or racial and ethnic origin. We do not collect sensitive information unless the person has consented, it is required by law or in other special circumstances.

Make-A-Wish does not give individuals the option of dealing with it anonymously, or under a pseudonym. This is because Make-A-Wish is unable to provide its services to individuals who are not identified and may contravene other laws. A person may choose not to provide personal information we request, in which case Make-A-Wish may not be able to service the person’s needs. For instance, it will not be possible for Make-A-Wish to accept an electronic transfer for a donation without collecting and holding some personal information about the donor, including bank details. However, if the person simply wishes the donation to remain anonymous, Make-A-Wish can ensure that the person's details are not disclosed for any other purpose.

In circumstances where Make-A-Wish receives unsolicited personal information (meaning, personal information received where Make-A-Wish has taken no active steps to collect the information), Make-A-Wish will make every effort to destroy or de-identify the information as soon as practicable if it is lawful and reasonable to do so unless the unsolicited personal information is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, the Make-A-Wish functions or activities.

How does Make-A-Wish collect personal information?

Make-A-Wish will wherever practicable collect personal information directly from the individual. Make-A-Wish may do this using methods including the use of hard copy forms, on-line applications and uploading documents online, obtaining assessment reports, medical forms and certificates, and engaging in email correspondence, use of social media, questionnaires, face to face meetings and telephone calls.

Make-A-Wish may collect personal information from a third party. For example, the personal information of a Wish Child may be provided to Make-A-Wish by a Make-A-Wish staff member, a parent or guardian, or a treating medical professional or health professional.

In these cases, Make-A-Wish will generally obtain consent from the person to which the personal information relates, or a parent or legal guardian, before collecting any personal information. Consent will usually be requested in writing however sometimes it may be provided orally or may be implied through a person’s conduct.

Consistent with the APPs, Make-A-Wish recognises that some Wish Children under the age of 18 years have capacity to provide consent. Capacity to provide consent in relation to privacy is not determined by age alone, rather Make-A-Wish will consider a range of factors on a case-by-case basis including the person’s maturity and understanding.

How will Make-A-Wish use personal information?

Make-A-Wish may collect, hold, use or disclose a person’s personal information for the following general purposes:

  1. to deliver our mission of bringing people together to grant inspirational life-changing wishes for children with a critical illness including making wishes come true, and to facilitate the donation of funds;
  2. to enter into and administer contracts with contractors, vendors, service providers or other third parties to deliver our mission;
  3. to assess applications by or for Wish Children to provide them with our services;
  4. to inform interested persons about our news, events, campaigns, advertising and other activities and invite them to support the work of Make-A-Wish;
  5. to comply with our legal obligations; and
  6. to help us manage and enhance our services.

More specifically, Make-A-Wish may collect, hold, use or disclose a person’s personal information for the following purposes.

Donors and Prospective Donors

In relation to the personal information of donors and Prospective Donors, Make-A-Wish’s primary purpose of collecting the personal information is to enable Make-A-Wish to accept donations from members of the public and to notify donors and anticipated donors of current or upcoming donation opportunities.

Certain information may be collected directly by or disclosed to third party financial institutions or service providers for the purpose of processing financial transactions.

Wish Children

In relation to the personal and sensitive information of Wish Children, Make-A-Wish’s primary purpose of collecting the personal and sensitive information is to enable Make-A-Wish to deliver the wishes of the Wish Children and protecting the health and safety of the Wish Child. This often includes liaising with the parents or guardians, medical practitioners and health professionals of the Wish Children and suppliers and partners in relation to the planning and fulfilment of the wish.

Information may also be cross checked with Starlight Children's Foundation Australia to ensure the Wish Child has not already received a wish and is eligible for acceptance into Make-A-Wish’s program.

Staff members, contractors and Volunteers

In relation to the personal information of prospective and current staff members, contractors and volunteers, Make-A-Wish uses the personal information for purposes including:

  1. to enable Make-A-Wish to carry out its recruitment functions;
  2. correspond with the person, provide training and professional development;
  3. fulfil the terms of any contractual relationship; and
  4. ensure that the person can perform their duties pursuant to their engagement with Make-A-Wish.

Make-A-Wish may publish the images of staff, contractors and volunteers in publications, on social media, or in marketing and advertising.

Sending information overseas

Make-A-Wish is likely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients (for example where Make-A-Wish has outsourced a business activity to an overseas provider). These include recipients located in Japan and the United Kingdom.

From time to time, Make-A-Wish may disclose personal or sensitive information to other Make-A-Wish affiliate organisations for the purpose of performing the mission, for example in NZ, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, USA, and the Netherlands.

Make-A-Wish Affiliate organisations locations: https://www.worldwish.org/arou...

Make-A-Wish will not send personal or sensitive information to an overseas recipient unless the foreign country is subject to an information privacy scheme similar to the Privacy Act or the consent of the individual is obtained.

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Questions or concerns

If you'd like to know more or would like to speak to someone about our Privacy Policy, email privacyofficer@makeawish.org.au

Cookies

A cookie is a small data file that a website sends your computer when you visit a particular website. It records information necessary for certain website functions, such as remembering your preferences or settings.

We do not use cookies to collect personal information.

How we use cookies

Make-A-Wish uses cookies to help us to provide you with a good experience when you use our website. We may also use third party providers, including Google Analytics, to assist us in relation to our online activities, including advertising. For example, if you visit our website, you may see advertisements relating to Make-A-Wish as you browse the internet.

Opting out

You can adjust your computer settings to prevent cookies from being downloaded to your computer. If you don't want to accept cookies, you can set your browser and/or firewall to block them. You will still be able to access most Make-A-Wish content, but some interactive features will be unavailable.

You may also opt out of Google Analytics by adjusting your Google Ad Settings, adjusting your browser settings or using Google Analytics’ opt-out facilities. Information to help you with that process is available on Google’s website (Search for “opt out Google ads”).

Direct marketing

From time to time, and in support of Make-A-Wish’s future development and growth, Make-A-Wish will communicate information to donors, Prospective Donors and other people who have consented to receive such information.

Make-A-Wish does not disclose personal information collected from individuals to others for the purpose of allowing them to communicate with those persons about their products and services, unless:

  • the personal information does not include sensitive information; and
  • the person would reasonably expect Make-A-Wish to use or disclose the information for the purpose;
  • Make-A-Wish also provides a simple way of opting out of this disclosure and use; and
  • the individual has not requested to opt out of receiving news and information from Make-A-Wish or others.

Although Make-A-Wish treats marketing and seeking donations for the future growth and development of its ability to support Wish Children as an important part of ensuring that Make-A-Wish continues to make the wishes of the Wish Children come true, we understand that people do not always wish to receive this information and any requests for support.

In every situation where Make-A-Wish is permitted to use or disclose personal information for direct marketing, Make-A-Wish will allow the individual to 'opt out' and will act on the individual's request to “opt out”. Individual requests can also be made directly by email to privacyofficer@makeawish.org.au

From time to time, Make-A-Wish may participate in data collectives where we share personal information (other than sensitive information) with other like-minded organisations who may contact you with information that may be of interest to you. You can “opt out” from this data sharing use of your personal information at the time we collect it from you.

How does Make-A-Wish store personal information?

Make-A-Wish takes all reasonable steps to protect personal information under its control from misuse, interference and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Make-A-Wish may hold a person's personal information in paper or electronic form including Cloud-based storage. All personal information is held securely in accordance with good market practice for records management and cyber security.

Make-A-Wish protects personal information in a number of ways including:

  1. securely storing paper records;
  2. firewalls;
  3. password restricted access to computerised records;
  4. routine security risk assessments;
  5. internal policies in relation to access to personal information and data retention and disposal; and
  6. cyber resilience and security education training for staff and volunteers.

How a person can update their personal information?

Make-A-Wish is committed to holding accurate and up-to-date personal information. To ensure the quality and accuracy of the personal information held by Make-A-Wish, donors are asked to confirm their personal details upon each donation.

A person may contact Make-A-Wish at any time to update their personal information held by Make-A-Wish by writing to the Privacy Officer by email: privacyofficer@makeawish.org.au or post.

Make-A-Wish will destroy or de-identify any personal information which is no longer required by Make-A-Wish for any purpose for which Make-A-Wish may use or disclose it, unless Make-A-Wish is required by law or under an Australian law or a court order to retain it.

Make-A-Wish may consider providing a person access to their personal information through the use of a mutually agreed intermediary if appropriate. For instance, if Make-A-Wish refuse a person access on the reasonable belief that access may lead the person to self-harm, Make-A-Wish may consider it safe to provide access through an intermediary.

How a person can access personal information?

If a person wishes to access personal information held about themselves or about a Wish Child for which they are a parent or guardian in order to seek correction of such information they may do so by contacting the Privacy Officer in writing via email, on privacyofficer@makeawish.org.au

In accordance with the Privacy Act, Make-A-Wish may refuse access to personal information in a number of circumstances including where giving access to the information would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of a person, giving access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of a person, the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings and would not be available under the discovery process, or denying access is required or authorised by an Australian law or court order.

Make-A-Wish will seek to handle all requests for access to personal information as quickly as possible.

Complaints

Complaints about a breach of our Privacy Policy must be made in writing to the Privacy Officer by email: privacyofficer@makeawish.org.au or post.

Make-A-Wish will investigate any complaint and notify the complainant, in writing, of any decision in relation to the complaint as soon as practicable.

Data breaches will be handled in accordance with Make-A-Wish’s data breach response plan and notifications will be made as required by law.

If a complainant is not satisfied with the response they can refer the complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Icon of a pencil and paper in black

Questions or concerns

If you'd like to know more or would like to speak to someone about our Privacy Policy, email privacyofficer@makeawish.org.au