Privacy Policy
Privacy and The Food Bank of Waterloo Region
The Food Bank of Waterloo Region is committed to protecting the privacy and the personal information of its donors, member agencies and community food programs, volunteers and employees, and other interest-holders. We value the trust of those we deal with, and of the public, and recognize that maintaining this trust requires that we be transparent and accountable in how we treat the information that you choose to share with us.
During the course of our various projects and initiatives The Food Bank of Waterloo Region frequently gathers and uses personal information. Anyone from whom we collect such information should expect that it will be carefully protected and that any use of, or other dealing with, this information is subject to consent. The Food Bank of Waterloo Region’s privacy practices are designed to achieve this.
Defining Personal Information
Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual, such as information that can be used to distinguish, identify, or contact a specific individual. This information can include an individual’s opinions or beliefs, as well as facts about, or related to, the individual (e.g., name, address, phone number, and e-mail address).
Privacy Practices and Protection of Information
The Food Bank of Waterloo Region observes the following ten (10) privacy principles when collecting, maintaining, and using personal information:
1. Accountability
An organization is responsible for personal information under its control and shall designate an individual or individuals who are accountable for the organization’s compliance with the following principles.
2. Identifying Purposes
The purposes for which personal information is collected shall be identified by the organization at or before the time the information is collected.
3. Consent
The knowledge and consent of the individual are required for the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information, except where inappropriate.
4. Limiting Collection
The collection of personal information shall be limited to that which is necessary for the purposes identified by the organization. Information shall be collected by fair and lawful means.
5. Limiting Use, Disclosure, and Retention
Unless the individual consents otherwise or it is required by law, personal information shall only be used or disclosed for the purposes for which it was collected. Personal information shall be retained only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.
6. Accuracy
Personal information shall be as accurate, complete, and up to date as possible in order to properly satisfy for the purposes for which it is to be used.
7. Safeguards
Personal information shall be protected by appropriate security relative to the sensitivity of the information.
8. Openness
An organization shall make detailed information about its policies and practices relating to the management of personal information publicly and readily available.
9. Individual Access
Upon request, an individual shall be informed of the existence, use, and disclosure of his or her personal information and shall be given access to that information. An individual shall be able to challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and have it amended as appropriate.
10. Challenging Compliance
An individual shall be able to challenge an organization’s compliance with the above principles. Their challenge should be addressed to the designated individual or individuals accountable for the organization’s compliance with PIPEDA.
Information collection
We collect only the domain names not the email address of visitors to our website. Our site uses ‘cookies’—small files containing information that track a visit to a website—in a session limited way. These temporary files follow the flow through the site in order to improve service to visitors, do not remain on our computer at the end of your visit, and cannot be used to obtain any personally identifiable details.
Your browser can be set to notify you before receipt of cookie, so that you can decide whether or not to accept it. You can also set your browser to turn off cookies, but if you do so, some areas of our site may not function properly.
How personal information is used and disclosed
The personal information we collect may be used for the purpose for which it was collected, as provided in this Privacy Policy, or for other purposes that are disclosed to you and to which you consent.
We may use your personal information to:
- Process your donation and issue tax receipts;
- Respond to your questions or inquiries;
- To send you informational, fundraising, or promotional communications;
- To recognize you as a donor ;
- To carry out other purposes that are disclosed to you and to which you consent; or
- To carry out any other purpose permitted or required by law.
We will obtain your consent if we wish to use your information for any other purpose. Information shared that is related to an individual whom donors wish to honour or celebrate will not be retained for purposes other than gift notification.
The Food Bank of Waterloo Region complies with Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL). To that end, we will ensure that electronic messages (e.g., e-mail, texts) that are sent in connection with a ‘commercial activity’ (certified electronic messages or CEM) have received consent from the recipients before sending such messages. In accordance with CASL, consent may be explicit or implicit (if an existing business or non-business relationship exists, or if recipients conspicuously publish their electronic contact information or voluntarily disclose it without indicating they don’t want to receive communications). Note, under CASL, as a registered charity, CEMs sent with the primary purpose to raise funds are exempt.
We will respect your request to remain anonymous.
The Food Bank of Waterloo Region is committed to protecting the privacy of children. We do not use personally identifiable information from any individual known to be under the age of eighteen (18) for the purpose of solicitation without receiving consent from their legal guardians.
We will not share your information with any other party. The Food Bank of Waterloo Region does not sell or share its mailing lists with any other businesses or organizations. Whenever we require the support services of other organizations, we will require them to conform to our privacy standards.
Certain information submitted through electronic donation is shared with other parties necessary to complete credit card transactions, including, without limitation, credit card companies, credit card clearing houses and processors, and financial institutions. The parties mentioned in the above sentence are responsible for their own privacy policies and for maintaining privacy and confidentiality for all information provided to them. If a user has any questions or concerns about the privacy policies of those parties, it must contact such parties.
Retention
The Food Bank of Waterloo Region is committed to data loss prevention. To that end, we will comply with the Canada Revenue Agency’s requirement for retention of data and loss prevention.
Security
The Food Bank of Waterloo Region uses advanced security to help protect your personal information. Our electronic donation service is secured with SSL encryption. All sensitive online information collected is secured via SSL encryption and protected by a firewall.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100 per cent secure. As a result, while we are committed to protecting your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us.
The Food Bank of Waterloo Region’s computer and network systems are secured by passwords. Only authorized individuals who require personal information to perform their job duties may access secure systems and databases.
When we destroy personal information, we will use safeguards to prevent unauthorized parties from gaining access to the information during the process.
Links to other websites
The Food Bank of Waterloo Region website may contain links to other websites that are independently owned and operated by third parties. These links are provided to you as a convenience only. These other websites may have their own privacy policies and are not governed by this Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any website(s) owned and operated by any such third parties. Other websites may collect and treat information collected differently, so we encourage you to carefully read and review the privacy policy for each website you visit.
Updating of Privacy Policy
We review our privacy practices for our various activities, and reserve the right to modify or update our policy. Please check this website on an ongoing basis for information on our most up-to-date practices. We will indicate at the bottom of this page the date this Privacy Policy was last revised. Your continued access or use of this website after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the Privacy Policy as revised.
Contact information
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns relating to The Food Bank of Waterloo Region’s Privacy Policy and how this organization treats the personal information collected, please contact our Privacy Officer, Katie McDevitt, Director of People, Culture and Administration at The Food Bank of Waterloo Region at 519.743.5576 extension 210 or by email (katiem@thefoodbank.ca).
Revised September 2023