Formerly Volunteer Markham

Privacy Policy

General Privacy Statement

Volunteer Markham, a service of the Information Markham and Volunteer Centre (IMVC), respects the privacy of our staff, members, clients, volunteers, supporters and public stakeholders who provide personal information to us. We value the trust of our stakeholders and we commit to being clear, transparent and accountable when dealing with the information that you share with us.

In delivering our programs and services, we often gather and use personal information and will carefully protect this information and will obtain consent to utilize the information for any other purpose. If at any time you wish to access, modify or remove your personal information please contact us by phone at 905-415-7500 or CLICK HERE to contact us by email (select “General Information”) and we will gladly accommodate your request.

What is Personal Information?

Personal information is any information that can be used to distinguish, identify or contact a specific individual. This information can include an individual’s opinions or beliefs, as well as facts about, or related to, that individual.

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) outlines some exceptions. These include business contact information and certain publicly available information, such as names, addresses and telephone numbers that are published in directories (i.e. information on a business card).

Where a person uses his or her home contact information as business contact information, we consider that the contact information provided is business contact information and is not subject to protection as personal information.

Our Privacy Practices

Volunteer Markham adheres to the following privacy practices:

    • Personal information gathered by Volunteer Markham is held in the strictest confidence and carefully protected.
    • Volunteer Markham collects data for specifically identified purposes. 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 gathered.
    • Volunteer Markham staff and volunteers of Volunteer Markham 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.
    • No more than the minimum amount of personal information will be collected in the course of providing any service.
    • Individuals, members and others have the right to opt out of providing certain information recognizing that in doing so, the purpose may then not be fulfilled, or Volunteer Markham may not be able to provide some services to the individual, the member or non-member.
    • Individuals, members and others have the right to access their own information. Measures are taken to ensure the integrity of this information is maintained and to prevent it from being lost or destroyed.
    • Volunteer Markham staff and volunteers of Volunteer Markham receive appropriate training in the protection of personal information.
    • Volunteer Markham will advise all individuals (those using our volunteer referral/matching service) of our Privacy Policy:
      • at the time they complete a volunteer registration form or fill out an on-line profile.
      • on the website in the form of an online privacy statement.
      • at the time when major activities are undertaken to gather information (e.g. volunteer fairs, presentations, surveys, etc.).
    • Volunteer Markham will advise all members and non-members accessing our programs and services of our Privacy Policy:
      • at the time they register, purchase or access a program or service as appropriate.
      • on the website in the form of an online privacy statement.
      • at the time when major activities are undertaken to gather information (e.g. workshops, surveys, etc.).
    • Volunteer Markham will not sell or rent any personally identifiable information to third parties.

Information Collection and Use

We collect, use and disclose personal information about you only for purposes that would be considered appropriate. For example, if you decide to complete an on-line profile, a volunteer registration form, or a survey that you receive from us requesting your feedback, you may be asked to provide certain information such as your contact information (name, e-mail address and mailing address), gender, birth date, age group and other pertinent information which would aid us in being able to service you better.

When you submit your personally identifiable information to Volunteer Markham, you are giving your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you would prefer that we not collect any personally identifiable information from you, you can choose either to not provide this information to us or you can opt not to have this information used for any purpose other than the sole purpose for which it was explicitly collected (i.e. workshop registration or for delivery of our volunteer matching/referral service).

The information you provide may be used by us to create and deliver to you our e-mails, e-newsletters, volunteer opportunities, or member-only communications.

Cookies and Log Files

We may place a “cookie” on your computer’s hard drive so we can recognize you as a return user and personalize your experience. A cookie is a piece of data that enables us to track and target your preferences. The cookie will be stored on your computer’s hard drive until you remove it. You can have your browser notify you of, or automatically reject, cookies. If you reject our cookie, you may still use our website, but you may be limited in the use of some of the features. Some of our partners, supporters, or members may also use cookies on our website. However, we have no access to, or control over, these cookies and do not accept any responsibility for such use.

When you visit the Volunteer Markham website or view one of our e-mails and/or e-newsletters we may use tags, tracking links and/or similar technology to note some of the pages you visit on our website and to personalize your experience. We may also use tags to determine what types of e-mail your browser supports. Note that we may use the information collected through tags, tracking links and similar technology in combination with your personally identifiable information for internal business purposes, such as to analyze trends, administer our website, track traffic patterns, and gather demographic information for aggregate use. In addition, this information may be used to help develop strategic marketing plans to guide us in the advancement for the use of Volunteer Markham’s website and our on-line volunteer referral/matching service.

We may collect, store or accumulate certain non-personally identifiable information concerning your use of this website, such as information regarding which of our pages are most popular. We may share or transfer such non-personally identifiable information with or to our affiliates, supporters and partners for the sole purpose of demonstrating our service delivery and in making requests for on-going financial support for the delivery of our programs and services. We may disclose any information, including personally identifiable information, we deem necessary, in our sole discretion, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request.

External Links

The Volunteer Markham website may contain links to or from other websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites. This Privacy Policy applies only to the information we collect on the Volunteer Markham website (www.volunteerconnect.ca) or our on-line volunteer referral/matching system (https://infomarkham.cioc.ca/volunteer/) or our on-line community service database (https://infomarkham.cioc.ca/). We encourage you to read the Privacy Policies of other websites you link to from our website or otherwise visit.

Notification of Changes

We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post the revised policy on our main website (www.volunteerconnect.ca). As we may make changes at any time without notifying you, we suggest that you periodically consult the most current version of our Privacy Policy. Please note that our rights to use your personally identifiable information will be based on the Privacy Policy in effect at the time the information is used.

Further Information

We have taken great measures to ensure that your visit to our website is an excellent one and that your privacy is constantly respected. If you have any questions, comments or concerns about our privacy practices, please contact us by phone at 905-415-7500 or CLICK HERE to contact us by email (select “General Information”).

For more information on privacy and your rights regarding your personal information visit the website of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at www.priv.gc.ca.

Revised: March 2019