The VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation (The Foundation) is
committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of your
personal information.
We value your trust 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 activities, we
frequently gather and use personal information. Your information
will be carefully protected with the utmost confidentiality and
respect.
DEFINING PERSONAL INFORMATION
Personal information is any information that can be used to
distinguish, identify or contact a specific individual. This
includes an individual's opinions, beliefs and facts about, or
related to, an individual. Exceptions are: business contact
information and certain publicly available information, such as
names, mailing addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers as
published in telephone directories, are not considered personal
information.
Where an individual uses his or her home contact information as
business contact information as well, we consider that the contact
information provided is business contact information, and is not
therefore subject to protection as personal information.
PRIVACY PRACTICES
Protecting your privacy is fundamental to us.
The Foundation complies with all applicable federal and provincial
statutes regarding your personal information. Any collection, use,
disclosure and retention of your personal information is subject to
consent. Our privacy practices are designed to achieve this.
The Foundation will never sell, rent or share your personal
information to outside organizations or individuals without your
consent. Any and all information of a personal nature about our
donors always remains confidential.
We will strive to keep your personal information as accurate and
up-to-date as is necessary for the purposes for which it is to be
used.
From time to time, the Foundation may use outside contractors to
assist with the operational activities of the Foundation. These
outside contractors are bound by contract to the Foundation's
privacy policies and procedures.
Why does the Foundation collect your personal information?
If you make a donation, become a volunteer or become an e-friend of
the Foundation, we collect some basic information about you. We
understand that some of this information is private, which is why
we collect personal information for the following reasons:
- To process your donation and send out your Charitable Tax
Receipt, if applicable.
- To communicate with you through periodic contact in print,
verbally or electronically, information about our programs,
services, special events, funding needs, opportunities to volunteer
or give and more.
- To build a relationship with you, understand your
needs and tailor our approach to serve you better.
We may also use the information you provide us with to generate
statistics and aggregate reports for internal use. These statistics
and aggregate reports do not contain any personally identifiable
information, and any donor identity is anonymous.
How do we protect your personal information?
We protect your information from error, loss and unauthorized
access. Personal information gathered by the Foundation is kept in
strictest confidence. We will not collect, use or disclose your
personal information for any purpose other than those identified
above, except with your consent.
Our staff are authorized to access personal information based only
on their need to deal with the information for the reason(s) for
which it was obtained. Each employee and volunteer must sign an
agreement stating that maintaining confidentiality is a condition
of their employment or volunteer status with the Foundation.
Safeguards are in place to ensure that the information is not
disclosed or shared more widely than is necessary to achieve the
purpose for which it was collected. Measures are taken to ensure
that the integrity of this information is maintained to prevent it
being lost or destroyed.
You have choices.
You can see and verify the accuracy of your personal information.
You have the option, to write, call or email us to request access
to your personal information in order for us to verify its
accuracy, completeness and to have any obsolete information
removed. We will respond to your request promptly. We will deal
with your request to see your information, and will always respond
to you within 30 days. If we need to extend the time, or we have to
refuse your request, we'll tell you why, subject to any legal
restrictions, and we'll notify you of the new deadline, the reasons
for the extension, and your rights under applicable legislation
respecting the extension.
Your consent can be expressed, deemed or implied. Expressed consent
is given explicitly and can be verbal, electronic or written.
Deemed consent is when the purpose for collection, use or
disclosure, would be considered obvious to a reasonable person and
you voluntarily provide personal information to us for that
purpose. You imply consent when we can reasonably conclude that
you've given consent by some action you've taken, or when you
decide not to take an action. For example, if we give you an
opportunity to tell us you don't want direct marketing material and
you don't tell us that you don't want us to send it, we can
conclude that you have no objection.
You can withdraw your consent after you have given it, provided
there are no legal requirements to prevent this. To withdraw your
consent, please phone, fax, email or write to us. Provide us proper
means for us to identify you by, and we will cease communications
with you.
The Foundation routinely offers our donors the opportunity to opt
not to have their information shared for purposes beyond those for
which it was explicitly collected.
WEBSITE AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
Does the Foundation use cookies when I access their website?
Cookies are small text files containing information about a user's
personal preferences when visiting a website. We currently use
server side cookies, which means, the cookies are not stored on the
viewer's computer. They reside on our server and remain on our
server for approximately nine days. After that the cookies are
cleared off from our server. We use cookies to track pages viewers
are visiting, and keep temporary information when viewers are
processing information on our website.
Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. Viewers can
reset their browser to refuse all cookies or indicate when a cookie
is being sent.
How is my online donation protected?
The Foundation uses 128-bit encryption and industry standard SSL
(Secure Socket Layer) protocol in sending information to a secure
server.
This ensures the security of personal information transferred when
you are making a donation online or signing on to become an
e-friend. During those processes when you make a donation with a
credit card, your personal information and card number are
transmitted in an encrypted format via SSL protocol.
HOW CAN YOU STAY CURRENT?
The Foundation will regularly review and update our policies. If
changes are made to our Privacy Policy, you will find those changes
posted on this page so that you are always up-to-date with our
current practices.
CONTACT US
If you have any questions or concerns relating to the Foundation's
Privacy Policy, or if you do not wish to receive any communications
from the Foundation in electronic, printed or verbal format, please
contact us:
Privacy Coordinator
E-mail:
[email protected]
Phone: 604.875.4676
Fax: 604.875.5433
