Introduction
Our Donor Promise
The Carmelites are committed to the highest levels of donor acknowledgement and recognition. You can expect:
- To be informed of the way The Carmelites intend to use your gift, and of its capacity to use gifts effectively for their intended purposes.
- That the Carmelites and our staff will actively and positively provide relevant information on the project or area you have supported, and the use of, and progress with, your gift.
- To be informed of the key personnel involved in managing your gift.
- That the behaviour of individuals representing The Carmelites will be professional in nature.
- Your details will be treated confidentially and not be shared with any organisation outside The Carmelites without your explicit permission.
Our privacy statement explains how we manage your personal information.
Protecting your privacy and information - Our Donor & Fundraising Privacy Statement
This Donor Privacy Statement explains how The Carmelite Fathers Inc (Vic) ABN 98 004 769 528 ('The Carmelites') manages personal information collected from donors and financial supporters.
The Carmelites are committed to protecting your privacy and the personal information we collect. We are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘Privacy Act’) and required to handle your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles.
These principles govern how The Carmelites can collect, use, hold and disclose your personal information. The Carmelites are also bound by relevant state laws in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.
What is personal information?
Personal information is defined as any information which identifies an individual or information from which an individual’s identity can be reasonably ascertained. It includes information or an opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not.
Personal information can also include "sensitive information", which means information or an opinion about an individual's religious affiliation or beliefs, ethnic origin, membership of a political association or trade union, sexuality or criminal record. Health information is also sensitive information and its handling in Victoria is also regulated by the Health Records Act.
What kinds of personal information do The Carmelites collect and hold?
The Carmelites collect, hold and maintain personal and sensitive information from donors and financial supporters. Some examples of personal information that may be held includes:
- your name
- address
- home or work phone and mobile number
- email address
- other contact information
- date of birth, gender, marital status and occupation
- financial information such as credit or debit card details as provided by you to facilitate debits for donations, purchases, fees etc, when you provide such details directly to The Carmelites or via a collection method at your Parish or an online donation form
- photographs, videos and news stories in respect of The Carmelites related events and activities.
How do The Carmelites collect personal information?
The Carmelites collect personal information directly from individuals, in writing, by telephone, email and via our website. Some examples of collection points include donation forms, events, fundraising calls and from our parishes, schools and other affiliated organisations.
The Carmelites may also receive personal information from a variety of other sources, including publicly available sources, such as public registers.
In addition to collecting personal information from you, sometimes The Carmelites collect personal information from a third part if it is unreasonable or impracticable to collect the information from you directly, for example where the information is provided to The Carmelites from parishes, schools and other affiliated Carmelite entities.
The Carmelites do not share your personal information with any other organisation.
You can request to deal with us anonymously, however this may not be possible as personal information is required in order for us to fulfil a number of services.
For what purpose do The Carmelites collect, hold, and use personal information?
The Carmelites collect, hold and use personal information for various reasons (which we generally notify to you at the time of collection), including the following primary purposes:
- to seek, receive and administer offerings and donations from you;
- to record, process and receipt donations;
- to update you about how your support is making a difference (including via direct marketing);
- to place your contact details on mailing lists and in our fundraising database in order to provide you with information about The Carmelites’ related activities, services, seminars, retreats, events, issues and initiatives;
- to provide spiritual and pastoral care;
- to provide services or goods to you or a person nominated by you;
- to enable The Carmelites to provide services;
- to assess your employment and volunteer application;
- to manage our volunteers;
- and to comply with legislative or regulatory requirements.
You can opt out of receiving communications from The Carmelites by contacting our Fundraising Development team by phoning 03 9690 8822 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
How do The Carmelites hold personal information?
Personal information is held securely, either electronically or in hard copy files.
The Carmelites take measures to ensure your personal information is accurate, up-to-date, complete and relevant, and is protected from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, disclosure or alteration.
The Carmelites use a variety of physical, electronic and procedural security measures to protect the security of personal information held.
For example:
- access to information systems is controlled through identity and access management;
- employees are bound by internal information security procedures and are required to keep information secure;
- all employees are required to complete training about information security and are required to sign a code-of-conduct as part of their employment contract;
- The Carmelites regularly monitor and review our compliance with internal policies and industry best practice.
All reasonable care is taken to archive, destroy or de-identify your personal information in a timely manner when it is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected.
Who do The Carmelites disclose your personal information to, and why?
The Carmelites may disclose your personal information if:
- you have expressly consented to the disclosure or your consent may be reasonably inferred from the circumstances (by way of example, in providing us with your contact details, you may have consented to The Carmelites providing those details to an affiliated Carmelite entity);
- required or authorised by law, or where there is a public duty to do so; or
- The Carmelites are otherwise permitted to disclose the information under the Privacy Act.
The Carmelites disclose personal information of donors and financial supporters to the following third parties in specific circumstances:
- consultants, contractors or external agencies that we engage to provide specific services (for example mailing houses or technology service providers);or
- regulatory bodies, government agencies or where required or authorised by law (for instance, in response to a subpoena or other court order) in which The Carmelites operate;
Your personal information is disclosed with the understanding that all parties comply with the Privacy Act. If you do not wish for your personal information to be disclosed in the ways outlined above, please contact our Fundraising Development team by phoning 03 9690 8822 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Do The Carmelites disclose information overseas?
No, we do not. However, if you are concerned please contact our Fundraising Development team by phoning 03 9690 8822 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Do The Carmelites use or disclose personal information for marketing?
The Carmelites do use personal information for direct marketing about our events and initiatives.
If you do not wish to receive marketing material, or wish to restrict the material you receive, please contact our Fundraising Development team by phoning 03 9690 8822 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Use of cookies
The Carmelites’ website may record non-identifiable information about an individual for statistical reporting, administration and maintenance purposes. This information is often called a 'cookie'.
Information collected may include:
- date and time of visit(s)
- pages viewed
- user’s navigation through the site and interaction with pages (including fields completed in forms, information downloaded, and applications completed)
- location information about users
- information about the device used to visit our website, and
- IP address.
Cookies are small pieces of information stored on your hard drive or memory. They can record information about your visit to the site, allowing it to remember you the next time you visit and provide a more meaningful experience.
The Carmelites use these cookies to advertise online through third-party vendors, including Google, who show ads on sites across the Internet. These third-party vendors use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to our website.
Visitors can opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ads Settings.
No warranty
The Carmelites cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information sent to us or received online or via email. The Carmelites take all reasonable steps to protect personal information once it has been received.
Access to and correction of personal information
The Carmelites take all reasonable steps to ensure that personal information held is accurate and as up-to-date as is possible.
You can request access to your personal information and can ask for corrections to be made if you believe the information held is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date. Before The Carmelites provide access to personal information you will be required to provide proof of identity.
The Carmelites will respond to all requests for access within a reasonable period and usually within 30 days. The Carmelites will generally provide access unless an exception in the Privacy Act or the Health Records Act applies.
There are some circumstances in which The Carmelites are not required to give you access to your personal information, including where giving access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals, or access would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual, or to public health or safety.
If The Carmelites refuse your request for access, we will provide you with a reason for this in writing and how to complain if you are not satisfied with the decision, except where it is unreasonable to do so. In these circumstances, you have the right to request that a statement be associated with your personal information noting that you disagree with its accuracy.
Resolving your privacy concerns and complaints – your rights
If you have any questions or are concerned about how personal information is being handled or have a complaint about a breach by us of the Australian Privacy Principles, please contact the Fundraising Development team.
Links to other websites
This Site may contain links or references to other websites. Please be aware that The Carmelites do not control other websites and that The Carmelites’ Privacy Policy does not apply to those websites.
Changes to our Privacy Statement
This Privacy Statement was last updated in July 2018. The Carmelites may change the way it handles personal information from time to time. In these instances our Privacy Statement will be amended and the updated version will be uploaded to www.carmelites.org.au.
Further information
If you wish to gain access to your personal information, or have a complaint about a breach of privacy or any other query about our collection, use or handling of personal information, you can:
Contact our Fundraising Development team
The Carmelites – Australia & Timor-Leste
75 Wright Street
Middle Park VIC 3206
Phone: 03 9690 8822
Fax: 03 9699 1944
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For more information on privacy, visit the following websites:
Federal Privacy Commissioner
New South Wales Privacy Commissioner
Victorian Privacy Commissioner
Queensland Privacy Commissioner