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Privacy Policy

PETER MACCALLUM CANCER FOUNDATION PRIVACY POLICY

Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation Ltd 
(ATF the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation) (ABN 14 786 237 480)

Purpose  

The Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation Privacy Policy (Policy) sets out how the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation (Foundation/we/us) will handle (collect, use, store and disclose) personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

In addition, this Policy describes how we handle personal information in light of our mission to enable a community of passionate supporters to contribute to better health outcomes for all people affected by cancer, through their support of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac).

You can find out more about the Australian Privacy Principles by calling the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on 1300 363 992 or through their website at www.oaic.gov.au

Unless you give us consent to do otherwise, we will only collect and use your personal information as set out in this Policy.  

Data collection

Examples of personal and sensitive information we collect and store

The Foundation only collects information that is reasonably necessary to perform our functions and activities. The Foundation collects personal information and sensitive information about our donors and supporters.

Personal information refers to information that reasonably identifies an individual. The kind of personal information we collect and store depends on the type of initiatives you support or enquire about. Throughout this policy, when referring to personal information, we also include sensitive information.

Personal information collected by the Foundation includes: 

  • Name
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Home address
  • Email address
  • Home or mobile phone number
  • Occupation
  • Income
  • Donation and payment details 
  • Where relevant, your employer details (for example, if you support through workplace giving) 
  • A history of your transactions, correspondences and interactions with the Foundation 
  • If relevant, details about your personal interests. For example, your interest in running should you register for a running challenge event, or in donating to charity generally.

Sensitive information collected by the Foundation includes:

  • Health related information
  • Biometric information (voice recordings of donation consents)

You can choose to interact with us without providing some or all personal information (anonymously or pseudonymously) however if you choose not to provide us with certain personal information, we may not be able to process your donation or provide information you request.

You retain the right to request the Foundation to remove your details from our database or reduce the correspondence you receive from the Foundation.

How we collect information

There are several ways we collect information from you. These include: 

  • Directly from you when you provide information by phone, in person, via our website, via social media or response forms  

  • From our own records of your transactions and interactions with the Foundation   

  • From publicly available sources of information   

  • From third parties who organise fundraising activities on our behalf. We ensure that these parties are also bound by the Australian Privacy Principles 

  • From a third party known to you who makes a donation and nominates you to receive communication regarding that donation   

  • From a third party known to you, who may refer you to us as a philanthropic interest or potential supporter

From third parties such as contractors (including fundraising service providers), list vendors, charitable and other like-minded organisations.

  • In voice or image recordings, with your consent

Patient information

The Foundation collects personal information such as contact details (name, address, email address, phone numbers, date of birth, gender) from Peter Mac patients who provide their consent through individual patient admission forms. 

Peter Mac has strict policies in place to protect the privacy of patient information in accordance with its obligations under the Health Services Act 1988 (Vic) and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic). It does not share health information with the Foundation without the consent of the patient or otherwise in accordance with privacy legislation. 

However, the Foundation may collect personal stories from people who have experienced or are experiencing cancer and use them in promotional materials. This information is only used with direct consent from the individual, and this consent can be withdrawn at any time.

Children’s personal information

We recognise the particular importance of protecting privacy when collecting the personal information of children. For the purposes of this policy, children are defined as people under the age of 18. The Foundation does not knowingly solicit donations from children without the consent of the child’s parent or guardian.

How we use your information

Your personal information may be used: 

  • For the immediate reason for which you have given it: for example, to enable us to process your request (e.g. gift, payment, registration, subscription, change of details) including issuing you with a donation receipt
  • To maintain contact with you about our work: report back to you about our work in cancer research, encourage you to learn about and act on supporting Peter Mac, or let you know about other opportunities to give financially or what our partner organisations are doing (unless you have specifically asked us not to)
  • To confirm your identity when you make enquiries about your donation
  • To address any feedback or complaints you may have and to answer your queries
  • For any other purpose related to our work

It may also be used for: 

  • Any purposes for which the information was requested 
  • Purposes directly related to the above purposes

Although your information can be used for purposes directly related to the purpose for which it was collected, it will not be used for any other purpose which you would not reasonably expect, unless required by law.

We do not disclose your personal information to other organisations except for our core business purposes or as required by law; and most importantly, we do not rent or sell your personal information.

However, to help reach more generous supporters like yourself, occasionally we collaborate with other charitable organisations on mailings with information that we believe may be of interest to you. These organisations usually allow us to do the same, and by collaborating like this we can reach more people with vital charitable information. We always ensure that these third parties are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles. 

In addition, we provide a simple means to opt out of direct marketing communication. If you wish to reduce such mailings, please call, email or write to us at the address listed at the end of this Policy.

When we disclose Personal Information

In order to communicate with you in relation to our activities, we may disclose your personal information to external organisations to help facilitate our correspondence and fundraising activities with you. 

We care for and value the security of your personal information. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure any external organisations we use are contractually bound to privacy and confidentiality obligations in relation to your personal information and that the information is only used for the specific purpose for which we disclose it. These organisations are also bound to adhere to the privacy requirements under the Australian Privacy Principles and applicable legislation and are bound to destroy or de-identify information after using it for a specific activity.

To whom we disclose your information

In addition to the external organisations that help facilitate our correspondence and fundraising activities with you, we may disclose your personal information to:

  • Your authorised legal representative (subject to your consent)
  • Our accountants, auditors and lawyers
  • Government authorities if legally required to do so
  • Peter Mac staff in very limited circumstances with your consent

If legally permissible, we will take reasonable steps to de-identify your personal information if we are required to disclose your information. 

How long do we keep your information?

We will keep and use your information after you have provided a donation or interacted in some other way with the Foundation. How long we hold and use the information after you have ceased donating or interacting with us will depend on the type of interaction you had with the Foundation and any requirements under law.

It is also our policy to:

  • Permanently de-identify personal information where reasonable and possible
  • Destroy personal information once there is no longer a legal or business need for us to retain it

Disclosing your personal and/or sensitive information overseas

To reduce operating and administrative costs we securely transfer data to organisations located outside of Australia. 

Currently, the Foundation transfers some donor data to organisations located in China to produce printed materials on our behalf. These organisations comply with the Australian Privacy Principles to ensure that your data is protected. The data that is included in this transfer is limited to:

  • Full name
  • Full address details
  • Phone (if present)
  • Email (if present)

Any organisations located outside Australia with which we share personal or sensitive information must comply with, and not breach, the Australian Privacy Principles and are bound by strict agreements that protect your privacy. 

However, any disclosure of your personal and/or sensitive information overseas does not change our commitment to safeguarding your privacy.

We will take reasonable steps to:

  • ensure that overseas service providers are subject to privacy laws that impose obligations substantially similar to those contained in the Privacy Act; and 

  • ensure the security of personal and sensitive information that is disclosed overseas, and to protect it against loss, misuse or unauthorised access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure. 

Storage and security of your personal information

The Foundation will take all reasonable steps to keep secure, and prevent unauthorised access to, modification or disclosure of any information which we hold about you (whether electronic or in hard copy), and to keep this information accurate and up to date. 

This includes:

  • Storing your information on secure servers that are protected in controlled facilities located within Australia
  • Requiring employees to undergo privacy training annually
  • Contractual arrangements with external data processors and data collection suppliers regarding their adherence to and compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)
  • Complying with PCI-DSS which covers security of payment card information 

Privacy and the internet

Protecting information provided via the Internet

Our site uses security encrypted response forms when personal and financial details are requested. These forms are subject to compliance requirements with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) as well as the Australian Privacy Principles.

However, it should be noted that no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot give an absolute assurance that the information you provide to us over the internet will be secure at all times until it is received into our database. The Foundation cannot be held responsible for events arising from unauthorised access to your personal information via the internet.  

Links to other websites

We may provide links to websites outside of the Foundation service.  These linked sites are not under the control of the Foundation, and we are not responsible for the conduct of companies linked to our website. Before disclosing your personal information on any other website, we advise you to examine the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy of those websites.

Online advertising

We use third-party tracking cookies and similar technologies to collect and use data about user activities on our sites. The third-party vendors, such as Meta and Google whose services we use, place these cookies and similar technologies on web browsers to help us tailor advertising that may be of interest to users based on past visits to our sites. 

As always, we respect your privacy and are not collecting any identifiable information through these services.

To no longer have your visits to our site tracked for advertising purposes, you can opt out of ad customisation through the use of cookies and similar technologies using the Digital Advertising Alliance Consumer Choice opt-out tool.

Right of access to your information 

If at any time you want to know exactly what personal information we hold about you, you are welcome to access your record by contacting us at the address below.  

Requests for right of access should be addressed to the Foundation Privacy Officer. Please note that a $20 fee may apply on the delivery of your information to cover administrative costs. 

Our file of your personal information will be made available to you within 30 days, unless an exception applies under the Privacy Act, for example if providing the access would be contrary to law.

Enquiries, feedback or complaints

We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold is accurate, complete and up to date.

If you believe that information we hold about you is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, or if you have concerns about how we are handling your personal information (including requesting to reduce or opt out of future communications), please contact us and we will seek to resolve those concerns. If you make a request, we will endeavour to respond to the request within 30 days of the request being made. 

If you wish to have your personal information deleted, please contact us and we will take reasonable steps to delete it unless we are required to retain it for legal, auditing or internal risk management reasons.

If we become aware of any ongoing concerns or problems concerning our privacy practices, we will take these issues seriously and work to address these concerns. If you have any further queries relating to our Privacy Policy, or you have a problem or complaint, please contact us, addressing your question or concern to the Foundation Privacy Officer. We will respond to any query or complaint within 5 business days with confirmation of any actions we have taken, or with an explanation as to why an action cannot be completed.

  • Email a request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Call our Team on 1800 111 440  
  • Fill in our online Contact Us form: https://foundation.petermac.org/about/contact-us
  • Mail a request to: 

Privacy Officer 
Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation 
Locked Bag 5 
A’Beckett Street VIC 8006

If you require a copy of this Privacy Policy in a different format, please contact us and we will supply it within 5 business days.

You may also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) via their website: OAIC Privacy Complaint

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may make changes to this policy from time to time without notice. Any changes will be reflected on this page.

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