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Introduction
Thank you for reviewing our Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy applies to all personal information collected by Special Olympics Australia, ABN 28 050 738 728 ("SOA", "we", "us"). You may contact us at info@specialolympics.com.au .

We recognize that individuals may be concerned about the information they provide to us and how we treat that information. This Privacy Policy addresses those concerns.

Special Olympics Australia will only handle your personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise permitted or required by law.

What is Personal Information?
"Personal information" is information or an opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.

The types of information SOA may collect about you will depend on the circumstances in which that information is collected. The main types of information that SOA collects are listed below under the heading "How we collect personal information".

Collection of your personal information
We do our best to respect and protect your privacy. As part of this, we handle any personal information you provide in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the Australian Privacy Principles ("APPs") contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

How we collect personal information
The main ways in which we may collect personal information are as follows:

when you register an athlete, we typically collect contact information for the athlete and the athlete's parent/carers and other contacts (such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses), payment card details for the person who pays the athlete's registration fees (where these are paid by card), details of the athlete's date of birth and information regarding the athlete's disability, basic employment or education details, communications and media preferences, and any relevant medical conditions and other information about the athlete's needs;

when you register as a volunteer, we typically collect your contact information (such as your name, address, phone number, and email address), your date of birth, and details of the results of your working with children / police checks and basic information in relation to language skills, how you heard about SOA and media preferences.

when you make an online or telephone donation to SOA, we typically collect your contact information (usually either your physical or email address), and details of any preference for the use of your donation (e.g. a specific sports event or a specific program);

when you sign up to receive our newsletters, we collect your name and contact information and whether you are interested in National/State/Regional news;

when you participate in an externally run campaign for the benefit of SOA, (e.g., the sale of lottery tickets, sale of gift voucher books), we collect any personal information you provide to the person or organisation responsible for running the campaign;

when you participate in an SOA fundraising event, we may collect personal information you provide to us in the course of registering for or participating in that event (e.g. your name, company name and contact details, any personal information contained on business cards which you provide to us for future contact purposes);

when you take part in or attend an SOA event or activity, we may collect personal information from you (e.g. we keep records of athletes' performance at our events and activities. We also take videos and photos at our events and activities, and you may occasionally be identifiable from those videos or photos):

when you apply for a role at SOA or take part in our recruitment process, we collect personal information which you provide as part of your application or that recruitment process (e.g. your name, date of birth, contact details, qualifications); and

when you supply goods or services to SOA, we may collect personal information you provide to us in the course of providing those goods or services (e.g. your name, company name and contact details).

We also collect any other personal information which you may submit to us in connection with our activities.

We also obtain personal information from third party mailing list providers to allow us to contact individuals who have consented to being contacted by third parties for marketing or promotional purposes.

If you do not provide personal information when requested, this may limit the services we can offer you and/or your ability to support Special Olympics Australia. For example, you may not able to participate in our events or we may not be able to provide you with updates on our activities.

How we use personal information
We use your personal information in a number of ways in connection with our charitable activities, including:

to administer and run events (e.g. national and international sporting events), including managing athlete and volunteer registration and event coordination;
to communicate with you about Special Olympics Australia (e.g., to keep you informed about matters related to Special Olympics Australia activities or provide information or services you requested);
to facilitate online and offline donations;
to distribute email surveys regarding resources and information accessible on our website;
to enable you to participate in particular initiatives being run by Special Olympics Australia and its partners;
for any other purposes and in any other manner communicated to you at or about the time we collect your personal information.

We may also use your personal information as required or authorised by law.

We will obtain your consent if we wish to use or disclose your personal information for a purpose other than those described in this Privacy Policy.

How we disclose your personal information
We may share, transfer or disclose personal information we collect about you, including email addresses, with our local Special Olympics Australia offices for the above purposes.

We may outsource to an external third party provider a function or service (including insurance, marketing and fundraising functions) relating to the purpose for which you provide personal information. This may include use of services outside of Australia (e.g. hosted services) which may involve the transfer or disclosure of your personal information to recipients in countries other than Australia, including the United States of America. Where we do so, we may give the third party recipient access to your personal information, but only for the purpose of enabling them to fulfil their responsibilities to provide the service or function for which they have been engaged. Any disclosure of your personal information to a third party service provider will be subject to appropriate restrictions and security to protect your data in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We may also share your personal information with volunteers and other persons to the extent required to conduct our charitable activities (e.g. for event coordination purposes.

We may also disclose personal information we collect about you to third parties to comply with our mandatory reporting requirements, for example we may disclose certain information regarding our athletes to Special Olympics International (our accrediting body) and the Australian Sports Commission (our major funder).

Website visitor information is used for Special Olympics Australia purposes only and will not be sold to third parties.

Sensitive information
Due to the nature of Special Olympics Australia's charitable activities, Special Olympics Australia collects personal information, such as health information or details of criminal convictions, that is designated as "sensitive information" under Australian privacy laws.

Special Olympics Australia collects sensitive information directly from the individuals to which it relates or, in the case of athletes, from parents / carers on behalf of those athletes (e.g. on athlete registration forms), unless direct collection of such information is impracticable or unreasonable.

Special Olympics Australia will only collect your sensitive information where:

such collection is required or authorised by law,
Special Olympics Australia has obtained your consent to do so (or, in the case of athletes, the consent of your parent, responsible carer or guardian); or
the person providing the sensitive information to Special Olympics Australia has confirmed that he or she has obtained your consent.

In providing any consents to the collection or handling of personal information (including sensitive information), you consent to Special Olympics Australia collecting, transferring, disclosing, storing, using, and processing the information you provide in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the terms of those consents.

Special Olympics Australia may use and/or disclose health information about athletes for the purposes of verifying an athlete's eligibility to participate in Special Olympics Australia events, ensuring individual athletes are appropriately placed in particular events and minimising risks associated with running events and activities.

Special Olympics Australia may use and/or disclose sensitive information regarding an individual's criminal convictions as part of its volunteer registration process, as required by applicable legislation regarding working with children and vulnerable people.

We may disclose sensitive information to persons who have a legitimate need to know it (such as coaches, medical professionals or volunteers) in connection with our activities and consistent with the purpose for which such information was provided. Occasionally we may need to disclose sensitive information to recipients outside Australia. For example, if an athlete is to travel overseas in connection with Special Olympics Australia and/or Special Olympics, Inc. activities, we may share relevant health information with the overseas organisers of those activities.

In addition, we may also use or disclose sensitive information as required or authorised by law, and/or in accordance with any consents given in relation to that sensitive information.

Media
Videos and/or photos ("Images") are taken at Special Olympics Australia events and activities. Individuals who attend those events and activities may be incidentally included in and may occasionally be identifiable from those Images. Except in the case of an athlete who selects "No" in the "Media" section of the athlete registration form, Special Olympics Australia may use and disclose Images for the purpose of publicising, promoting or communicating (in any medium) the purposes and activities of Special Olympics Australia.

Opt-out
If you supply us with your contact details, you may receive periodic communications from us with information on upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, requests for financial support, or new products or services. If you do not wish to receive such communications, please let us know by contacting us using the address or telephone number provided below, or email us at info@specialolympics.com.au .

Our online donation form provides donors the opportunity to opt-out of receiving e-communications from us. We offer the options below for you to access or correct your records with us.

Contacting us regarding your personal information
If you have questions or complaints about our privacy practices or procedures or if you would like to request to access or correct personal information we hold about you, please contact us using one of the following options:

1. Email us at: info@specialolympics.com.au
2. Send mail to the following postal address:

Special Olympics Australia
Attn: Office Manager
PO Box 110
Concord West
NSW, 2138

Please include your full name and address, and full details of your request in your message. To change or modify your address, please provide both the old and new address in your correspondence.

We will do our best to respond to all reasonable requests in a timely manner. If you do not receive a response to your request in thirty (30) days or are otherwise unsatisfied with our handling of your request, you may lodge a complaint with The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Details of how to make a complaint are located at www.oaic.gov.au.

Security of Information
We care about the security of your information. We take reasonable steps to protect personal information we hold about you from misuse, interference and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps may include storing your data stored in a secure environment only accessible by authorised personnel and requiring third parties who have access to or who use your personal information in order to provide services to Special Olympics Australia (including volunteers) to take reasonable steps to keep personal information secure.

We also use secure server technology for our online donation process. We use services that utilise high-grade encryption software and the https security protocol to communicate with your browser software.

Changes to this Privacy Policy
Special Olympics Australia reserves the right to update or modify this Privacy Policy at any time. We will notify you of such changes by posting an updated version of the Privacy Policy on the Special Olympics Australia website. Personal information you submit to us will be held in accordance with the version of this Privacy Policy posted on the Special Olympics Australia website from time to time. Please check this website regularly for changes. Where updates or modifications affect how we handle your sensitive information, we will seek your consent as required by law.

Last updated: 17th December 2015


Whistleblower Policy

Please note, this is not Special Olympic Australia’s complaints handling process.

For all National Integrity Framework policies, rules, and making a report, please visit our Integrity and Complaints page by clicking here.

Special Olympics Australia is committed to the highest standards of conduct and ethical behaviour and to promoting and supporting a culture of honest and ethical behaviour, corporate compliance and good corporate governance.

People who have a working relationship with Special Olympics Australia are often the first to realise that there may be something seriously wrong. However, they may not wish to speak up for fear of appearing disloyal or may be concerned about being victimised or subject to reprisals for reporting wrongdoing.

Special Olympics Australia encourages the reporting of any instances of suspected unethical, illegal, fraudulent or undesirable conduct involving Special Olympics Australia and provides protections and measures so that those persons who make a report may do so confidentially and without fear of intimidation, disadvantage or reprisal.

When a person makes a disclosure:

  • Their identity must remain confidential according to their wishes
  • They will be protected from reprisal, discrimination, harassment or victimisation for making the disclosure
  • An independent internal inquiry or investigation will be conducted
  • Issues identified from the inquiry/investigation will be resolved and/or rectified
  • They will be informed about the outcome
  • Any retaliation for having made the disclosure will be treated as serious wrongdoing under this Policy