Bridging the Edge Inc. (“BTE,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy outlines how we manage the personal information we collect from you, in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

1. Who We Are

Our registered name is Bridging the Edge Inc. Our website address is: http://bte.org.au. We are a charity registered by the ACNC and a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) based in Australia.

2. Collection and Use of Personal Information

We collect personal information to effectively run our operations, process donations, communicate with our community, and comply with our legal obligations (especially regarding DGR status).

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help with spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media (Images and Files)

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Data Collected for Donations

When you make a donation, we collect necessary information for processing and tax compliance, including your name, email address, postal address, and payment details. This data is required for issuing tax-deductible receipts and providing donor feedback reports.

3. Cookies

We use cookies to enhance your experience, and some are necessary for our website’s functionality.

• Comment Cookies: If you leave a comment on our site, you may opt-in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies. These cookies will last for one year.
• System Cookies: If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
• Login Cookies: When you log in, we also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year.
• Editing Cookies: If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie is saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

4. Embedded Content from Other Websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles from YouTube, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These external websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

5. Who We Share Your Data With (Disclosure)

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We only share data when necessary for service delivery or legal compliance:

• Payment Processors: Donor data is shared with secure third-party payment gateways to process financial transactions.
• Legal/Security: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email. Visitor comments may also be checked through an automated spam detection service.
• Required Disclosure: We may disclose personal information if required by the ATO or other Australian legal authorities for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

6. How Long We Retain Your Data

• Comments: If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely.
• User Accounts: For users that register on our website (if any), we store the personal information they provide in their user profile.
• Donor Data: Donation records (for tax and audit purposes) are retained as required by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), typically for a period of seven years.

7. Your Rights Over Your Data

Under Australian law, you have rights regarding the personal data we hold:

• Right to Access: You can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to Correction/Deletion: You can request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes (such as ATO donor records).
• Data Control: All registered users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username).

8. Contacting Bridging the Edge Inc.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to make a request regarding your personal data, please contact us at:

Email: donate@bte.org.au