Privacy Policy

Community First Foundation

Last updated: October 2026

1. About this policy

Community First Foundation (“Community First”, “we”, “us” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal information responsibly.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and disclose personal information when you visit our website, make a donation, subscribe to our newsletter, contact us, apply for funding, participate in our initiatives or otherwise interact with us.

We aim to manage personal information in accordance with applicable Australian privacy laws and good privacy practices.

2. Information we collect

The personal information we collect depends on how you interact with us. This may include:

Contact information: your name, email address, phone number, postal address and organisation or business details.
Donations: information required to process and acknowledge donations, maintain financial records and communicate with donors.
Newsletter subscriptions: your name, email address and communication preferences.
Enquiries and correspondence: information you provide when contacting us or requesting information about our work.
Grants and funding: information provided in grant applications, expressions of interest, funding enquiries, reports and related correspondence.
Community initiatives: information provided when participating in our programs, events, activities or other initiatives.
Website usage: technical information such as your IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited and interactions with our website.

We only seek to collect information that is reasonably necessary for our activities and the purposes outlined in this policy.

Where practicable, you may choose not to provide certain information. However, this may limit our ability to respond to your enquiry, process a donation or assess a funding application.

3. How we collect personal information

We may collect personal information directly from you when you:

Complete a contact form or send us an email.
Subscribe to our newsletter or other communications.
Make a donation through our donation platform.
Apply for a grant or funding opportunity.
Register for or participate in a community initiative or event.
Communicate with us by phone, post or other means.
Visit or interact with our website.

We may also receive information from third parties where appropriate and lawful, including donation processing providers, organisations involved in funding or community initiatives, and publicly available sources.

Our website may automatically collect certain technical information through cookies, analytics tools and similar technologies.

4. How we use personal information

We may use personal information to:

Process, acknowledge and administer donations.
Send newsletters, updates and information about our work, initiatives and funding opportunities where permitted.
Respond to enquiries and communicate with individuals and organisations.
Receive, assess and administer grant applications and funding requests.
Deliver, coordinate and evaluate community initiatives and programs.
Maintain organisational, financial and administrative records.
Meet applicable legal, regulatory, reporting and record-keeping requirements.
Monitor website performance, improve user experience and understand how visitors use our website.
Protect our organisation, website, supporters and community from fraud, misuse or security risks.
Carry out other purposes explained to you when information is collected or otherwise permitted by law.

We will not use personal information for an unrelated purpose unless we have your consent or another lawful basis to do so.

5. Donations and payment information

Donations to Community First Foundation are intended to be processed through Raisely, a third-party fundraising and donation platform.

When you make a donation, Raisely and any payment processors involved may collect information needed to process your payment and administer the donation. This may include your name, contact details, donation amount, transaction details and payment information.

Community First Foundation may receive relevant donor and transaction information to acknowledge donations, maintain financial records, communicate with donors and meet applicable reporting requirements.

Payment information is handled through the relevant platform and payment processor, subject to their processes, security arrangements and privacy policies. We do not intend to store full payment card details on our website.

Please review Raisely's privacy information and the information provided during the donation process before submitting your details.

6. Newsletters and email communications

Community First Foundation uses Mailchimp to manage email newsletters and communications.

If you subscribe to our newsletter or choose to receive updates, we may use your contact information to send news, community stories, funding announcements, event information and updates about our work. Mailchimp may process your information on our behalf to manage subscriptions, deliver emails and provide engagement reporting.

You can unsubscribe from newsletters at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in our emails or contacting us directly.

We will respect your communication preferences and process unsubscribe requests in accordance with applicable requirements.

Unsubscribing from newsletters will not necessarily stop essential administrative communications, such as donation acknowledgements or correspondence about an application you have submitted.

7. When we share personal information

We do not sell personal information.

We may disclose personal information where reasonably necessary for our activities to:

Service providers who support our website, email communications, donation processing, information storage, analytics and administration.
Raisely and relevant payment processors involved in donation transactions.
Mailchimp for newsletter subscriptions and email delivery.
Organisations or individuals involved in assessing, delivering or administering grants, funding arrangements and community initiatives, where appropriate.
Professional advisers, auditors, insurers or other service providers who assist us in carrying out our responsibilities.
Government agencies, regulators or other parties where required or authorised by law.
Other parties where you have consented to the disclosure or where disclosure is otherwise permitted by law.

We aim to limit the information disclosed to what is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose and take reasonable steps to ensure that third parties handling personal information on our behalf are appropriate for the services they provide.

8. Third-party services and overseas disclosures

Our website and activities rely on third-party services, including Squarespace for our website, Raisely for donations, Mailchimp for newsletters and Google Analytics for website analytics.

These providers may store or process personal information on servers located in Australia or overseas. The location and handling of information depend on the services used and their arrangements.

We encourage you to review the privacy policies of these providers when using their services.

Where applicable privacy laws require particular steps before personal information is disclosed overseas, we will take the steps required by those laws.

9. Cookies and website analytics

Our website uses Google Analytics to help us understand how visitors interact with the site, measure website performance and improve our content and services.

Google Analytics may collect information such as pages visited, referral sources, approximate location derived from technical information, device and browser details, and interactions with website content. Cookies and similar technologies may be used for these purposes.

Google processes information in accordance with its own privacy policies and settings.

You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. Some website features may not function as intended if certain cookies are disabled.

Where required, we will provide appropriate information or obtain consent for the use of cookies and similar technologies.

10. How we store and protect information

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

These measures may include access controls, password protection, secure digital platforms, restricted access to records and appropriate procedures for handling information.

However, no method of electronic storage or internet transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

We review the information we hold and retain it only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including applicable legal, financial and record-keeping requirements. When information is no longer required, we take reasonable steps to securely destroy or de-identify it, where appropriate and lawful.

11. Accessing and correcting your information

You may contact us to request access to personal information we hold about you or to ask us to correct information that is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.

We will respond to requests in accordance with applicable privacy laws. In some circumstances, we may be unable to provide access to particular information, in which case we will explain the reasons where we are able to do so.

To make a request, please contact us using the details in the Contact Us section below.

12. Privacy complaints

If you have a question, concern or complaint about how we have collected, used, stored or disclosed your personal information, please contact us.

We will review your complaint, make reasonable enquiries and respond within a reasonable timeframe.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may be able to raise your concern with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), where the matter falls within its jurisdiction.

Website: https://www.oaic.gov.au

13. Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to external websites, platforms or services operated by third parties.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content or security of those external websites. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing personal information.

14. Children's privacy

Where information about a child is required for a program, application or community initiative, we will handle that information with appropriate care and in accordance with applicable requirements.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that information about children is collected and handled appropriately for the relevant purpose.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our activities, website, services or applicable requirements.

The latest version will be published on our website with the updated date shown at the beginning of the policy.

We encourage you to review this page periodically.

16. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to access or correct your personal information, or would like to make a privacy complaint, please contact: