CWA Privacy Policy
The Association’s Policy
Not for profit organisations have obligations under the Privacy Act and Australian Privacy Principles when collecting and handling personal information.
The Country Women’s Association’s Privacy Policy outlines what kinds of personal information we collect, why we collect this information, and how we handle it.
Principles
The Association’s privacy policy seeks to achieve the following objectives:
The Association will only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of our functions or activities of the Association
The Association will store that information securely, and
The Association will delete the information when no longer required.
Why we collect information
We collect personal information about you where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of our functions or activities.
The information is collected so that we can identify who are members of the Association and whether or not members are financial members.
The information that we collect allows us to communicate with members through written communications to postal addresses, electronic communications to emails, and phone calls.
The information also enables us to generate lists of financial members and lists of branch members are provided to relevant branch secretaries.
The information enables invoices to be sent by email or post for membership renewal.
What information we collect
When you join the Association as a member, we collect your title, first and last name, postal address, email address, home and mobile phone numbers, date of birth, details about the type of membership (associate, branch, junior or individual), information about your interests and skills, and the membership fee.
On joining as a member of the Association, each member is assigned a unique Member ID and a BPay Code.
Each year, an invoice is sent to each person who was a member for the previous year. The invoice contains each member’s ID, their BPay Code, postal address and email address.
Financial status is determined by matching information from payment information provided through various payment channels with a unique member ID.
Information is maintained about member’s office bearer roles within the organisation. Lists of office bearers for branch roles, State Executive roles and other committee roles is circulated to State Executive, branch and committee executive members.
How we collect information
The information is collected on the membership application form and from payment information through various payment channels (cash, cheque, credit or debit card payments, BPay or direct deposits).
How we store personal information
The information is stored in a Microsoft Access Database held at the State Office and is password protected.
Information about suppliers and debtors is kept in the Xero financial software for accounting purposes. This information will include office bearers where there is a financial relationship with that person. For example, a branch secretary or treasurer may send payments from their branch or committee or may purchase merchandise.
Who has access to the information
The information in the membership database is accessible only to the State Executive Officer and the database is password protected.
Lists of branch and committee members is provided to the office bearers of each branch or committee.
Persons who are involved in the administration of the States finances, for example, the State Executive Officer, the Treasurer and the State Auditor will have access to financial information held in the accounting software.
Third Parties
Emails to members are distributed in bulk through a cloud-based program call Mailchimp. The names and email addresses of members is uploaded to this software. The software is password protected and only accessible by the State Executive Officer.
Mailchimp is a large international company and has a privacy policy. As required by law, there is provision for individual members to unsubscribe from this service. There is also provision with Mailchimp for communication by text. Members can unsubscribe from this service by reply texting STOP.
To improve our services
We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information against misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include:
only accessing personal information on a need-to-know basis and by authorised personnel
ensuring our buildings are secure
regularly updating and auditing our storage and data security systems.
When no longer required, we destroy or archive personal information in a secure manner.
How to access and correct information about you
You have the right to ask:
for access to personal information that we hold about you, and
that we correct personal information we hold about you.
If you ask, we must give you access to your personal information and take reasonable steps to correct it if we consider it is incorrect.
Data for non-financial members
Information about past members has been kept for purposes of historical research and may be provided to State Archives. This information is no longer used for any immediate operational purpose. Prior to July 2023, membership information was stored in paper form but has since been stored in electronic form. A former member may on written request choose to have their information deleted from any electronic record.
How to make a complaint about privacy
If you wish to complain about how we’ve handled your personal information, please contact the State Executive Officer. If you are not satisfied with the response, you should contact the State Executive.
How we deal with your complaint
We will always investigate and resolve individual issues.