Privacy policy

We only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary for our activities. Depending on how you interact with us, this may include:

• Contact details you submit through forms, such as your name, email address, phone number and postal address.
• Message content you provide in enquiry, contact, prayer request or subscription forms.
• Donation details, such as your name, the amount and the payment status (see Section 8).
• Event registration details, such as dietary, medical or accessibility needs and emergency contacts (see Section 7).
• Church records, if you are a member, worker or volunteer, such as membership, ChurchSafe and officer records (see Sections 4 to 6).
• Technical information collected automatically, such as your IP address, browser type and version, device type, operating system, referring page, pages visited and time spent on the Site.
• Cookies and similar technologies used to keep the Site working and to understand how it is used (see Section 11).

You do not need to identify yourself to browse the Site.

Sensitive information

Some information, such as health details or criminal record checks, is “sensitive information” under the Privacy Act. We only collect it with your consent and where it is reasonably necessary for our activities, or where we are required or authorised by law to collect it.

We collect personal information:

• directly from you, when you complete a form, register for an event, make a donation, subscribe to updates, or contact us by email or phone;
• automatically, through server logs, cookies and analytics when you visit the Site;
• from your local church, conference or mission, as part of church and ChurchSafe records;
• from someone who raises a safety concern (see Section 4);
• from other third parties, only where you have consented or where the law permits.

We use personal information to:

• respond to your enquiries and provide the information or services you have requested;
• process donations and issue receipts;
• run church programs and events safely;
• keep our church and community safe, in line with our ChurchSafe Policy;
• maintain membership and church records;
• send you newsletters, updates or other communications you have opted in to receive;
• operate, maintain, secure and improve the Site;
• keep internal records and meet our legal and regulatory obligations.

We will not use your personal information for a purpose unrelated to the one it was collected for unless you would reasonably expect it, you have consented, or the law requires it.

If you work or volunteer with us, paid or unpaid, member or not, we collect the information required by law and by our ChurchSafe Policy. This may include your name, date of birth, Working With Children Check or Blue Card details, police and other checks, training records and certificates, contact details, and officer or employee records. If you choose not to provide it, it may limit how you can serve.

We may also hold information that helps keep our church and community safe. It may come from you or from someone who raises a concern. This information is confidential. It is shared only with those who need to know, with the Union and its conferences and missions as required, or with authorities where the law requires.

Our ChurchSafe Manual, forms and procedures are at my.sdarm.org.au/ChurchSafe.

Our churches keep membership and contact records in mySDARM (my.sdarm.org.au). It holds contact and subscription details, secretarial records such as membership transfers between churches, treasury records including event payments, and ChurchSafe records. This information is held in trust and is never made public. Church officers and staff may use it only for their church role, never for personal purposes.

If someone asks us for another person’s address or phone number, we do not give it out just because we hold it. We only share contact details where there is a legitimate reason connected with church work.

During church elections, some details from ChurchSafe and membership records are shared in confidence with leaders, ministers and nominating committees. The names and positions of elected officers are published, including on this Site, so everyone knows whom to contact.

When you register for a camp, conference or other program, we collect what we need to run it safely and to suit participants’ needs: contact details, special needs such as dietary, medical or accessibility needs, accommodation and seating, and emergency contacts. We collect medical details only with your consent. For children and young people, we collect these details from a parent or guardian.

Registrations and payments are recorded in mySDARM. We use these details only to run the program and for our records, and we keep them only as long as they are needed (see Section 14).

For online events, the meeting link is emailed to registered attendees and is not published on the Site.

Donations, offerings and tithe given on this Site are processed by PayPal. We do not see or store your full card or bank details; PayPal handles them under its own privacy and security terms, including its PCI DSS obligations. We receive only limited transaction information, such as your name, email address, the amount, the date and the payment status, which we use to record your gift and issue a receipt.

If you have opted in, we may send you newsletters and updates by email. Every email includes an unsubscribe link. You can also opt out at any time by contacting us using the details in Section 19. We do not sell or rent your contact details to anyone.

We may disclose personal information to:

• Our conferences, missions and local churches, where needed for church work, membership records or ChurchSafe;
• Service providers who help us run the Site and our operations, including our web hosting provider, email delivery and newsletter services, payment processing (PayPal), analytics providers, online meeting software, and our forms and contact management software;
• Professional advisers, such as accountants, insurers and lawyers, where necessary;
• Government bodies, regulators or law enforcement, where required or authorised by law.

We require our service providers to handle personal information consistently with this policy and applicable privacy law.

Overseas disclosure

Some of our service providers store or process information outside Australia, including in the United States. They include PayPal, Mailchimp (for some newsletters), Microsoft 365 (church email), Zoom (online meetings), and analytics providers such as Google and Microsoft. Before disclosing personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient handles it in a manner consistent with the APPs.

The Site uses cookies. Some are strictly necessary for the Site to work, such as session and security cookies.

We may also use analytics services, such as Google Analytics or Microsoft Clarity, to understand how the Site is used and to improve it. These services set cookies and collect information such as the pages you visit, how long you stay, the site that referred you, your device and browser, and your approximate location. Microsoft Clarity also records how you click, scroll and move around a page. They do not give us your name or contact details. The information is processed by Google or Microsoft under their own privacy policies.

You can set your browser to refuse some or all cookies, or to alert you when a cookie is set. Blocking cookies may affect parts of the Site. You can also opt out of Google Analytics with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

The Site may contain links to external websites, social media pages or embedded content such as videos and maps. Our maps are provided by OpenStreetMap, whose servers receive your IP address when a map loads. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third parties. We recommend you review their privacy policies before providing them with personal information.

We store personal information in secure hosted systems and take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect it from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include encrypted connections (HTTPS), access controls, software updates, and restricting access to authorised people who need it for their role.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If we suspect a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm, we will respond in line with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, including notifying affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) where required.

Church email

Emails sent to an sdarm.org.au address are stored in Microsoft 365. No one other than the mailbox holder may open a church mailbox without the holder’s written consent or the prior written approval of the AUC Executive Committee.

We keep personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purposes described in this policy, or for as long as we are required to keep it by law, for example ChurchSafe and financial records. When it is no longer needed, we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.

You may request access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. Contact us using the details in Section 19.

We will respond within a reasonable period, normally 30 days. We may need to verify your identity first. If we refuse a request, we will explain why in writing and tell you how to complain.

If you believe we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles or mishandled your personal information, please contact us first using the details below. We will acknowledge your complaint and aim to resolve it within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

The Site is not directed at children under 15, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children through the Site without the consent of a parent or guardian. Where children take part in our programs, we collect their details from a parent or guardian (see Section 7). If you believe we hold a child’s information without that consent, please contact us.

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you may have additional rights under the GDPR, including rights to erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and objection to processing. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time. Contact us to exercise these rights.

For privacy enquiries, requests and complaints, contact the Secretary:

Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement (Australasian Union Conference) Limited
Email: secretary@sdarm.org.au
Phone: (02) 9627 7553
Post: PO Box 132, Riverstone NSW 2765

We may update this policy from time to time, for example when the Union’s Privacy Policy is revised. The current version will always be available at sdarm.org.au/privacy-policy and the “Last updated” date at the top will reflect the most recent change. Material changes will be communicated on the Site.