Privacy Policy

Who we are

Our website address is: https://www.carecommunity.org.za.

Comments

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

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be sent to the Gravatar service to check if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture will be visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

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

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site, you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience, so you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we 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.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and screen display preferences. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for one year. If you select "Remember Me", your login will persist for two weeks. When you log out, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be 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 one day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (such as videos, images or articles). Embedded content from other websites behaves in exactly the same way as if the visitor had visited the other website directly.

These 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 if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Donations and payments

When you make a donation or purchase (for example, event items) through our website, we collect the information necessary to process the payment, including your name, email address, billing details and payment method.

We do not store your full card details on our servers. Payments are processed securely by our payment providers (for example, Paystack, PayFast or other gateways we may enable). Please refer to your chosen provider’s privacy policy for information on how they handle your data.

For record-keeping and regulatory reasons, we retain basic transaction information (such as amount, date, and reference) as required by law and for financial reporting.

How we protect your data

Our website uses SSL (secure socket layer) encryption to protect data transmitted between your browser and our servers. We follow industry-standard practices to safeguard personal data, including restricting access to authorised personnel only and maintaining up-to-date software.

Where third-party services process your data (for example, payment gateways and email services), we ensure they apply appropriate security measures and process data only for the specified purpose.

Third-party services

To process donations, event payments and communications, we may share limited data (such as name, email address and transaction details) with trusted third-party providers. These providers are only permitted to use your data to deliver their services to us and must keep your data secure.

Who we share your data with

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email. For payment processing, necessary billing and transaction details are shared with the relevant payment gateway to complete your donation or purchase.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This allows us to recognise and approve follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users who register on our website (if any), we store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

Basic donation and payment records are retained for as long as necessary to meet legal, accounting and reporting obligations.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal or security purposes.

Your contact information

If you provide your email address when donating, registering or contacting us, we may use it to send confirmations, receipts and information about community activities. You can opt out of non-essential communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link in our emails or by contacting us.

Where your data is sent

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. Payment information is transmitted to our chosen payment gateway solely for the purpose of processing your donation or purchase.