World Vision Canada (“we, “us” or “our”, as appropriate) is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the personal information entrusted to us by its donors, supporters, employees and other stakeholders (“you” or “your”, as appropriate). 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 personal information that you choose to share with us.
Depending on where you live, World Vision Canada may not be under any statutory obligations with respect to the protection of the information that you provide to us. Even where this is the case, World Vision Canada’s privacy practices are guided by and based on globally accepted privacy principles, as further outlined in this Privacy and Security Policy (“Privacy Policy”).
The Terms & Conditions form part of this Privacy Policy.
What is Personal Information?
For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, the term “Personal Information” means any information about an identifiable individual. This typically includes any information that can be used to distinguish, identify or contact a specific individual, such as name, birth date, address and other information pertaining to such individual’s identity, as well as financial information, which may be presented in any form. An individual’s opinions or beliefs, as well as facts about, or related to, the individual or the individual’s behaviour may also be considered Personal Information. Anonymous or aggregate information that cannot be tracked back to you personally, or business contact information and certain publicly available information, such as names, addresses and telephone numbers as published in telephone directories, are not typically considered to be Personal Information and therefore may not be treated as such by World Vision Canada.
What Personal Information Do We Collect?
Personal Information collected by World Vision Canada may include your name, address and other contact information to verify your identify, credit card or bank account or other payment information for donation purposes or for purchasing online products, information related to the countries or programs that you may wish to support, language preferences, demographic information such as age and gender, communication preferences for marketing purposes, giving, engagement and donation history, details about your engagement experience, behavioural activity and other Personal and non-Personal Information which has been provided by you through your engagement with us, use of our website, or by third parties.
How do we Collect, Use, Store, and Disclose your Personal Information?
We may collect Personal Information directly from you or from third parties that have the right to disclose such Personal Information to us. Anyone from whom we collect such Personal Information should expect that it will be carefully protected. Consent to collect your Personal Information can be obtained in person, via telephone, mail, through the Internet, through third parties that World Vision Canada contracts with and through various activities and engagement with World Vision Canada. By engaging with World Vision Canada (or the third parties contracted by World Vision Canada) you agree to our collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with these terms, please do not provide us your Personal Information or contact Customer Service at 1.866.595.5550 to opt- out.
We collect, use and disclose Personal Information for a variety of different purposes, such as to process your donations and legacy gifts, service your account and needs, better understand your activity and giving preferences, identify you in our system, establish, manage and maintain a relationship with you, understand your past engagement with us, track behavioural activity, authenticate you when you sign into our systems, manage our business and operations, respond to your questions regarding your account and past donation history, provide you with relevant communications, fundraising and marketing materials, share important information and notices with you, improve your experience, issue tax receipts, for analysis, research and market segmentation purposes, as otherwise permitted or required by law.
World Vision Canada uses technology features such as log-in registration, cookies, and click through tracking software. For more information, please see Cookie & Web Technologies Notice. World Vision Canada also logs information such as the IP addresses and the types of web browsers used by visitors to our website. This type of information may be used for research and analysis purposes, to provide a better service to website visitors or for marketing purposes. For more information see our Terms & Conditions and our Cookie & Web Technologies Notice. World Vision Canada does not rent or sell Personal Information to any other organization, however, we may share this information with World Vision Canada employees, other World Vision offices internationally and/or third-party service providers for the purposes of marketing, research, analysis, verifying an individual’s identity, to provide support for and communicate information about World Vision programs and initiatives, complete a financial transaction and to service your account. When this occurs, we supply only the information that is required to provide the services, and strict terms of confidentiality are established. We may also share Personal Information where required by law or under any regulatory requirement that may be imposed on us, from time to time.
In certain circumstances, Personal Information collected or acquired by World Vision Canada may be stored and/or processed outside of Canada and is therefore subject to the legal jurisdiction of those countries.
How to Update, Access, Amend, or Correct your Personal Information?
Subject to certain exceptions, World Vision Canada believes that you should be able to know what personal information we hold about you and to whom we may have disclosed that information. You should also have the ability to correct such information if you believe that any Personal Information we hold about you may be inaccurate, or, request the deletion of your Personal Information, unless the retention is otherwise required by law. To find out more, you may contact World Vision Canada’s Privacy Officer.
How do we Protect your Personal Information?
We do our best to maintain technical, contractual, administrative and physical security measures to protect your Personal Information in a manner that is reasonable and appropriate to the nature of the Personal Information you provide to us. For example, we use password protocols and encryption software to protect personal and other information we receive when a donation is made and/or a product is purchased on-line. Our software is routinely updated to maximize protection of such information.
Personal Information gathered by us is kept in strict confidence. World Vision employees are authorized to access Personal Information based only on their need to deal with it for the reason(s) for which it was obtained. Safeguards are in place to ensure that Personal Information is not disclosed or shared more widely than is necessary to achieve the purposes described above and we use commercially reasonable efforts to contractually require any person or organization providing services to World Vision Canada to comply with federal and provincial privacy legislation.
Your Personal Information is kept for as long as deemed necessary for purposes set out in this Policy. This period may extend beyond your relationship with us. When removed from our systems, your Personal Information is securely erased, destroyed or appropriately anonymized.
Sponsor Communications and Social Media
Technology has created many new opportunities for connecting with those we love and care about. We recognize that you may be wondering why we discourage contacting your sponsored child using technology like social media sites. While we are fully committed to making communicating with your sponsored child as enjoyable and efficient as possible, our priority is to ensure their safety and privacy, as well as yours.
World Vision Canada understands that we cannot prevent sponsors from connecting with their sponsored child through various social media sites; however, we do ask that you consider the following before you engage in such communication:
- Understand, identify, and manage potential risks of social media engagement;
- Understand and recognize acceptable and inappropriate behaviour and communications; and
- Understand reporting mechanisms if you feel uncomfortable as well as potential consequences of unacceptable behaviour.
To ensure your sponsored child’s safety is not compromised when posting information and communicating on social networking sites, here are some posting guidelines that should always be followed:
- Only use the first name of your sponsored child;
- Do not post your sponsored child’s ID number;
- Ensure that the photos you post are appropriate and that your sponsored child is adequately clothed. Photos should not be geotagged and wherever possible, measures should be taken to prevent electronic copying of photographs;
- Do not publish identifying or private information about the child (e.g. the name of the location where she or he lives).
We appreciate your support and understanding in protecting the privacy and safety of your sponsored child.
Mailing Lists and Newsletters
World Vision Canada provides regular communications to its donors through both postal mail and electronic mail. Any Personal Information provided by you will be used for delivering these communications. You may choose to opt-out of these communications at any time by contacting Customer Service at 1.866.595.5550.
Updates to this Policy
This Privacy Policy is regularly reviewed. World Vision Canada reserves the right to update this Privacy Policy without prior notice to you and such modifications will be effective immediately, unless otherwise stated. We recommend that you read this Privacy Policy carefully and check this website regularly for information on our most up-to-date practices. You are deemed to have accepted any modifications made to this Privacy Policy and our practices if you continue to provide Personal Information to us after publication of such modifications.
Contacting World Vision Canada’s Privacy Officer
Questions related to World Vision Canada’s Privacy Policy, should be directed to:
Attention: Privacy Officer
1 World Drive
Mississauga, Ontario
L5T 2Y4
1.800.329.6176
Further information on privacy, and your rights regarding your personal information, may be found on the website of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Contacting Website Operations
If you have any questions about the practices of this website, or your dealings with this website, please contact us or see our site Terms & Conditions.
Updated: June 2024