Our privacy policy outlines the way BirdLife Australia collects, stores and uses supporters information and data.

1. Overview

BirdLife Australia ACN 149 124 774 (BirdLife Australia, we, us or our) is bound by the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth), including the Australian Privacy Principles. This Privacy Policy explains how and why we collect, use, hold and disclose your personal information.

This Privacy Policy forms part of the terms and conditions of use for the BirdLife Australia website and affiliated websites or apps owned by BirdLife Australia and should be read in conjunction with those Terms.

Personal information is information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database) and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion.

2. Collection

BirdLife Australia collects personal information about members, volunteers, supporters, donors, beneficiaries, employees, members of the public, candidates for volunteer work and prospective employees.

The types of personal information which BirdLife Australia collects include names, email address, residential address, phone number, credit card or other payment details, usernames and passwords for access to BirdLife services, and activity and event participation with relevance to your involvement with the organisation.

BirdLife Australia collects personal information in a number of ways, including when you:

• visit our website or download one of the BirdLife Australia apps;
• register to create a Birdata account or otherwise submit Birdata surveys;
• sign up to receive newsletters and other information from us;
• purchase merchandise from us;
• make a donation or express interest in making a bequest;
• become a BirdLife or Special Interest Group member;
• register to become a volunteer with us;
• apply to become an employee of ours; and
• otherwise contact us or sign-up to receive further information from us.

BirdLife collects personal information directly from you when you interact with us. If BirdLife Australia collects personal information about you from someone else, such as via an estore gift purchase, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are or have been made aware of the matters in this Privacy Policy.

If you do not provide us with your personal information we may not be able to provide you with information, communicate with you or respond to your enquiries. Wherever it is lawful and practicable, individuals will have the option of not identifying themselves when dealing with BirdLife Australia. For example, donations made to BirdLife Australia can be made anonymously.

[We use cookies on the website. A cookie is a small text file that the website may place on your device to store information. We may use persistent cookies (which remain on your computer even after you close your browser) to store information that may speed up your use of our website for any of your future visits to the website. We may also use session cookies (which no longer remain after you end your browsing session) to help manage the display and presentation of information on the website. You may refuse to use cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of the website.]

3. Use and disclosure

BirdLife Australia uses and discloses personal information for the following purposes:

• fulfilling BirdLife Australia’s role in educating the community about issues affecting Australasian birds and their habitats, including participating in relevant civic and political debates;
• providing you with access to the Birdata and Salesforce Supporter Community portals;
• responding to your enquiries;
• notifying you of BirdLife Australia’s activities;
• processing your donations;
• forging corporate, government and professional alliances to achieve environmental outcomes;
• seeking new members and processing, renewing and maintaining BirdLife Australia’s membership and subscription services;
• considering your request to volunteer with BirdLife Australia;
• considering applications for employment;
• providing you with information about BirdLife Australia;
• completing transactions with you; and
• increasing BirdLife Australia’s financial support, through various fundraising activities, in order to maintain and enhance BirdLife Australia’s effectiveness.

BirdLife Australia may disclose personal information to BirdLife Australia network groups, including special interest groups, when planning and coordinating projects and communications, as well as our service providers and suppliers (including providers of ICT services) who help us to fulfil our objectives and provide services to you.

BirdLife Australia creates reports for partnering organisations using the bird data collected by individuals. This data does not disclose personal information of users, but may include latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of species detected, number of individuals detected per species, reporting rate for species and distribution maps.

We may disclose your personal information to contractors and service providers which are located outside Australia in order to provide BirdLife Australia services to you, for example access to the journal EMU Austral Ornithology.

4. Direct Marketing

BirdLife Australia may use personal information to promote BirdLife Australia products, activities, materials, educational resources and competitions and to inform individuals of issues of significance generally (direct marketing). BirdLife Australia may also engage third party service providers to assist us in conducting these direct marketing activities.

Where you receive direct marketing communications from us, you may opt out of receiving further marketing communications by following the opt out instructions provided in the communication.

5. Data security

BirdLife Australia takes all reasonable steps to ensure the security of the personal information and sensitive information we hold and to protect it from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

BirdLife Australia’s IT systems are password protected and comply with relevant security standards. Personal information held on paper files is stored in locked files and only authorised personnel are permitted to access these details.

6. Data retention

BirdLife Australia will take all reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information if it is no longer needed for any purpose for which the information may be used or disclosed.

7. Access and correction

BirdLife Australia will take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

You may request access to, and/or request the correction of, personal information held by BirdLife Australia by contacting us using the details set out below. We will endeavour to respond to your request as quickly as possible however please note there are some circumstances in which we are not required to comply with your request.

8. Complaints

If you have a complaint about the way in which we have handled any privacy issue, including your request for access to or correction of your personal information, you should contact us and provide details of your complaint. Our contact details are set out below.

We will consider your complaint and determine whether it requires further investigation. We will notify you of the outcome of this investigation and any subsequent internal investigation.

You may also approach an independent advisor or contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (www.oaic.gov.au) for guidance on alternative courses of action which may be available.

9. Contacting us

If you would like to contact us in respect of any of the issues raised in this Privacy Policy, including any requests for access to or correction of, personal information or any privacy related complaints please contact us at support@birdlife.org.au with the subject line, “Privacy”.

10. Changes to this policy

From time to time, we may change this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in the ways in which we handle personal information. Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be published on our website.

You may also obtain a copy of our current Privacy Policy by contacting us using the contact details above. BirdLife Australia will send out a hardcopy of this Privacy Policy on request.