Volunteer & Information Kingston - Volunteer & Information Kingston Protecting Your Privacy

Introduction

Volunteer & Information Kingston is a not-for-profit service organization whose mission is to promote and encourage volunteerism to strengthen our community by acting as a central resource and support to individuals and organizations involved with volunteerism. In pursuing this goal, Volunteer & Information Kingston may collect, use and disclose personal information concerning current or potential employees, donors and volunteers.

At Volunteer & Information Kingston, respecting and protecting this personal information is a priority. For this reason, Volunteer & Information Kingston has taken steps to ensure that personal information collected by the organization is handled with care and integrity in order to protect the privacy interests of all our partners.

What is personal information?

Personal information is any information that can be linked to a specific individual. Some examples include: home address, home telephone number, race, age, marital status, religion, employment history, credit history, email address and assets.
At Volunteer & Information Kingston, we may collect personal information to establish eligibility for membership, to obtain donor information for tax reporting purposes and create and maintain personnel files for staff and volunteers.

What is NOT considered personal information?

Personal information does not include the name, title, business address and business telephone number of an individual.

How Do We Safeguard Personal Information?

Accountability

Volunteer & Information Kingston is responsible for the personal information under its control. Electronic information is password protected. Paper information containing any personal information is stored in locked filing cabinets and drawers to protect privacy. Access to this information will be monitored and/or restricted consistent with specific sensitivity and need.
In order to ensure this accountability, Volunteer & Information Kingston has appointed the Executive Director as Chief Privacy Officer, responsible for monitoring and implementing this Privacy Policy.

Identify Purposes

When we collect personal information from an individual, we advise the person of reasons why we require the information and the purpose for which it will be collected and used.
For example, when collecting information from a donor, we will advise the person of the information required (first and last name, street address, city, province, postal code, telephone number, email address etc.) and that the information will be used to process the donation and issue a tax receipt. We will provide similar information concerning the purpose for collecting personal information from employees and volunteers.

Consent

Volunteer & Information Kingston will obtain individuals' consent to the collection, use or disclosure of their personal information. Depending on the nature of the information collected, consent can be written, oral, express or implied.
Volunteer & Information Kingston will not use personal information for a new purpose without first obtaining consent from the individual.
For example, Volunteer & Information Kingston will not send workshop registratants information about other training opportunities unless they have agreed to this information being sent.

Limiting Collection

Volunteer & Information Kingston will not collect more personal information than is required for achieving the purpose for which the information is collected.
For example, we will not ask for detailed personal information of donors except as required for tax reporting purposes. If we wish to obtain additional demographic information of donors or volunteers for research purposes, we will advise individuals of the reasons why we wish to collect this information and provide them with an opportunity to opt out of providing such information. We will also ensure that such information is used on an anonymous basis.

Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention of Personal Information

Volunteer & Information Kingston will not use personal information for reasons other than those for which it was originally collected, unless it has obtained the consent from individual to use the information for an additional purpose.
Volunteer & Information Kingston will not disclose personal information to any third party without the consent of the individual, except as required by law. In some circumstances, Volunteer & Information Kingston may be required by law to disclose personal information to regulatory authorities, whether or not consent has been obtained.
Volunteer & Information Kingston will implement a document retention program to ensure that personal information is retained only as long as is required to fulfill the purpose of its collection.

Accuracy

Volunteer & Information Kingston will strive to keep personal information in its possession accurate, complete and up to date so that we can continue to service our partners to the best of our ability.

Safeguards

Volunteer & Information Kingston will take steps to protect personal information against loss or theft as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification.
The level of security and level of access will be appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.
People who work/volunteer at Volunteer & Information Kingston will be required to sign confidentiality agreements and will be trained in the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of personal information.

Openness

Volunteer & Information Kingston's Privacy Policy will be made available to any employee, donor or volunteer upon request. It will also be posted on Volunteer & Information Kingston's website and available to users at our satellite offices.

When asked to do so, Volunteer & Information Kingston will explain the reason(s) why we are collecting, using or disclosing an individual's personal information, how we are storing that information and the ways in which we are protecting the confidentiality and integrity of that information.

Individual Access

Individuals have the right to know what personal information about them is being collected, used or maintained by Volunteer & Information Kingston.
They also have the right to access the personal information maintained about them by Volunteer & Information Kingston. They can do this by writing to Volunteer & Information Kingston's Chief Privacy Officer.
If the information maintained at Volunteer & Information Kingston is out of date or otherwise inaccurate, the individual may ask to have that information amended.

Challenging Compliance

Individuals are able to challenge how we handle privacy issues through the Chief Privacy officer.

To contact the Chief Privacy Officer please write to 1440 Princess St., Kingston, ON K7M 3E5 or send an email to apinkney@volunteerkingston.ca

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