Privacy Policy

(Last updated: March 2022)

Acts of Kindness (care of DogEar Inc.) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal information when you visit our website at aokgifts.com (the “Website”), regardless of where you visit it from, and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

By submitting personal information to Acts of Kindness or its service providers and agents (collectively referred to as Acts of Kindness, “we”, “us” or “our” in this Privacy Policy), you agree that we may collect, use and disclose such personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and as permitted or required by law. Subject to legal and contractual requirements, you may refuse or withdraw your consent to certain of the identified purposes at any time by contacting our privacy manager. If you refuse or withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you or continue to provide you with certain services or information which may be of value to you.

1. Who we are and what we do.

Acts of Kindness is a business name of the registered Canadian corporation, DogEar Inc. Our website offers a user-friendly way to find Canadian and International charitable organizations.

If registered charities on Acts of Kindness directly contact you, or you contact them directly, you are no longer involved with Acts of Kindness. When you communicate directly with any registered charity you should be sure to read their privacy policies and terms of use.

2. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU?

Personal information means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include personal information where all references to the identity of the relevant individual have been removed (anonymous personal information).

Acts of Kindness collects and processes personal information through the following areas of operations:

  • Acts of Kindness collects and processes the donor’s personal information submitted through the Website. At the donor’s express request, Acts of Kindness may also disclose personal information about its individual donors to the charities they support.

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal information about you which we have grouped together as follows:

  • Technical Personal information includes your login personal information, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.

  • Usage Personal information includes information about how you use our website and our Services.

  • Marketing and Communications Personal information includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

We aggregate website personal information for statistical or demographic information. Aggregated Personal information is not considered personal information in law as this information will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Personal information to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature.

If you provide Acts of Kindness with personal information of another individual, you represent that you have obtained all necessary consents from such person to enable us to collect, use and disclose such personal information for the purposes set forth in this Privacy Policy.

This website is not intended for children under the age of 18 and we do not knowingly collect personal information relating to children.

3. How is your personal information collected?

We use different methods to collect personal information from and about you including through:

  1. Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact, Transaction and Financial Personal information by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal information you provide when you:

    1. Subscribe to our educational services or publications or to contact us or provide feedback;

    2. Request marketing to be sent to you; or

    3. Give us feedback or contact us.

  2. Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Personal information about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal information by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical Personal information about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies.

  3. Third parties or publicly available sources. We will receive personal information about you from various third parties as set out below:

    1. Technical Personal information from:

      1. analytics providers such as Google Analytics;

      2. digital marketing service platforms such as MailChimp, and Later;

      3. advertising networks such as Google Adwords, Facebook and Twitter. We use unique tracking codes in our emails and pixels on our website to allow us to share your technical information with such providers to track use of our site (including the performance of our ads) and to retarget ads.

    2. Contact, Financial and Transaction Personal information from providers of technical, payment processing and delivery services.

4. Why do we collect your personal information?

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:

  • Where you consent to such collection and use, such as by consenting to this Privacy Policy.

  • Where needed to perform the service you are requesting.

  • Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

With your consent, your name and address will be shared with the receiving charity when you donate in order to make sure that you are allocated a receipt for tax deduction, when applicable.

  1. Marketing
    We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal information uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.
    We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Personal information to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which Services may be relevant for you.


    Where Canada’s Antispam Legislation (CASL) applies to Acts of Kindness’ communications with users, donors or volunteers, Acts of Kindness is committed to complying with CASL and, in particular, the provisions setting out the requirements for sending commercial electronic messages.

    You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or made a donation to us and you have not opted out of receiving that marketing. We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal information with any third party for marketing purposes. You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time. If you are receiving marketing messages from another charity to which you made a donation through our Website and you no longer wish to receive such messages, then you should contact that charity to make this request. Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, we may continue to use your personal information in order to provide you with the services you have requested from us.

    Where our use of your personal information requires your consent, you can provide such consent:

    • at the time we collect your personal information following the instructions provided; or

    • by informing us by e-mail, post or phone using the contact details set out in this Privacy Policy; or

    • by registration through our website

  2. Cookies
    You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.

  3. Change of Purpose
    We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
    If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.


    Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

5. To whom do we disclose your personal information?

We may share your personal information with the parties set out above for the purposes set out in the table Purposes for which we will use your personal information in this Privacy Policy.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal information and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal information for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

6. How do we protect the confidentiality and security of your personal information?

We are committed to keeping the personal information provided to us secure and we will take reasonable precautions to protect personal information from loss, misuse or alteration.

We have implemented information security policies, rules and technical measures that are intended to protect the personal information that we have under our control from:

  • unauthorised access;

  • improper use or disclosure;

  • unauthorised modification; and

  • unlawful destruction or accidental loss.

All of our members, employees, workers and personal information processors (i.e. those who process your personal information on our behalf, for the purposes listed above), who have access to, and are associated with, the processing of personal information, are obliged to respect the confidentiality of the personal information of all visitors to the Site and all users of our Services.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal information breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

7. How long will we retain your personal information?

We will only retain your Personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your Personal information for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your personal information: see your legal rights Section below for further information.

In some circumstances we will anonymize your Personal information (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

9. Your legal rights.

The vast majority of our donors and website users are Canadians and so our privacy policy has been drafted to help ensure compliance with applicable Canadian law. However, we have noted that (although we do not target our services to EU data subjects) some of our individual donors are from outside of Canada, including from the European Economic Area (“EEA”). For the benefit of such users, we also endeavor to provide adequate protection for the personal data of EU data subjects in accordance with applicable EU data protection laws and regulations, including the EU GDPR. Subject to certain exemptions, you have the following rights in relation to the Personal information we hold about you:

  1. Your right of access
    If you ask us, we’ll confirm whether we’re processing your Personal information and, subject to any applicable exemptions, provide you with a copy of that Personal information within the timescales provided for by law. We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated. If you require additional copies, we may need to charge a reasonable fee.

  2. Your right to rectification
    If the Personal information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you’re entitled to have it rectified. If you are entitled to rectification and if we’ve shared your Personal information with others, we’ll let them know about the rectification where possible and where this would not involve disproportionate effort. If you ask us, where possible and lawful to do so, we’ll also tell you who we’ve shared your Personal information with so that you can contact them directly.

  3. Your right to erasure
    You can ask us to delete or remove your Personal information in some circumstances such as where we no longer need it or if you withdraw your consent (where applicable because that was the legal basis on which we were processing your Personal information). If you are entitled to erasure and if we’ve shared your Personal information with others, we’ll take reasonable steps to inform those others where possible and where this would not involve disproportionate effort. If you ask us, where it is possible and lawful for us to do so, we’ll also tell you who we’ve shared your Personal information with so that you can contact them directly.

  4. Your right to restrict processing
    You can ask us to “block” or suppress the processing of your Personal information in certain circumstances such as where you contest the accuracy of that Personal information or you object to us. If you are entitled to restriction and if we’ve shared your Personal information with others, we’ll let them know about the restriction where it is possible for us to do so. If you ask us, where it is possible and lawful for us to do so, we’ll also tell you who we’ve shared your Personal information with so that you can contact them directly.

  5. Your right to personal information portability
    You have the right, in certain circumstances, to obtain Personal information you’ve provided us with (in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format) and to reuse it elsewhere or to ask us to transfer this to a third party of your choice.

  6. Your right to object
    You can ask us to stop processing your Personal information, and we will do so, if we are:

    • relying on our own or someone else’s legitimate interests to process your Personal information, except if we can demonstrate compelling legal grounds for the processing; or

    • processing your Personal information for direct marketing.

  7. Your rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling
    You have the right not to be subject to a decision when it’s based on automatic processing, including profiling, if it produces a legal effect or similarly significantly affects you, unless such profiling is necessary for entering into, or the performance of, a contract between you and us.

  8. Your right to withdraw consent
    If we rely on your consent (or explicit consent) as our legal basis for processing your Personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

  9. Your right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority
    If you have a concern about any aspect of Acts of Kindness’ privacy practices, including the way we’ve handled your Personal information, you can report it to the relevant supervisory authority.

10. Contacting us:

For the benefit of EU data subjects, Acts of Kindness is the “data controller” and is responsible for your personal information.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact our privacy manager using the details set out below.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact our privacy manager in the following ways:

Acts of Kindness (Att. Chief Privacy Officer)

hello@aokgifts.com

Telephone number: 1-416-409-2909

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the relevant supervisory authority for personal information protection issues. In Canada, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (“OPC”), see: https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/contact-the-opc/. EU data subjects can contact their relevant data protection supervisory authority. We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the supervisory authority so please contact us in the first instance.

Links to Other Websites

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins, and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share personal information about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the Privacy Policy of every website you visit.

Changes

Acts of Kindness reserves the right to modify or supplement this Privacy Policy at any time. If any changes are made to this Privacy Policy, a copy of the Privacy Policy as amended will be posted on our Website as soon as practicable following that update. Your continued use of the Website following such posting will signify your consent to its revised terms.