Our privacy commitment

North York General Foundation has created this privacy and confidentiality section in order to demonstrate our commitment to our supporters.

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At North York General Foundation, we respect your privacy. We have a long-standing practice of protecting the privacy of our donors in all aspects of fundraising. The success of our fundraising efforts depends upon obtaining and maintaining your trust. This is why we want to assure you that the information you provide us will be maintained in the strictest confidence.

The proper safeguarding of all personal, business and financial information acquired in the course of the Foundation’s day-to-day activities is a cornerstone of this commitment. In addition, the Hospital adheres to the Canadian Standards Association’s model for the protection of Personal Information – Canada’s standard for fair information practice – to ensure that all information is properly acquired, used only for the purposes for which it was collected, and disposed of in a safe and timely manner when no longer needed.

North York General Foundation is committed to meeting the privacy standards established by the Federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and internationally recognized privacy principles listed below.

Privacy statement

North York General and the Foundation are committed to protecting the privacy of all information you share with us. The information collected is used to process donations, keep you informed about the Hospital and Foundation, and to ask for support of our mission.

• We do not rent or sell our donor lists.
• Periodic mailings and emails on the Hospital or Foundation, including quarterly newsletters, direct mail appeals, upcoming events, annual reports, etc. may be sent to you when you provide us your mailing address or your email address. If you do not wish to receive all or some of these mailings, please let us know by emailing foundation@nygh.on.ca.
• If you have provided your telephone number, you may receive telephone contact from us. If you do not wish to have phone contact, please let us know by emailing foundation@nygh.on.ca.
• The Foundation collects information about visits to our website for statistical analysis. The personal information you provide when making an online donation or request is not recorded in this tracking system nor will your personal information be linked to the tracking data. Information collected will be used to improve the content of our website and is not shared to outside organizations or personnel. The Foundation’s web page contains order forms that allow visitors to request information, make donations or order products from the Foundation. The personal and credit card information provided on these order forms is used only to fulfill these requests or to process these donations or orders for products. Online donations to the Foundation are processed through a third party. The security and privacy policies of this third party are available by clicking on the “Security and Privacy Policy” icon on the online donation form.
• We publish the names of our donors in our Annual Reports and display donor names on our Donor Wall to demonstrate our appreciation. Should you wish to remain anonymous, please email foundation@nygh.on.ca.
• The Hospital’s website contains links to other sites. Once you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy and security policies of the linked site.

We offer our donors several privacy options, including the option to limit or opt-out of future contact. To change or modify any personal information that you have previously provided to the Foundation, please email foundation@nygh.on.ca or call us at 416-756-6944.

Privacy standards and principles

North York General Foundation is committed to meeting the privacy standards established by the Federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and internationally recognized privacy principles listed below.

Accountability

• North York General Foundation is responsible for maintaining and protecting any individual’s personal, business and financial information under its control.
• Personal Information includes name, address and credit card information.
• The Foundation has appointed a Chief Privacy Officer responsible for ensuring the Foundation’s compliance with the Federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and these 10 Privacy Principles.
• Only authorized employees and volunteers have access to your information.

Identifying purposes

• North York General Foundation will identify the purposes for which personal information is collected before or at the time of collection.
• North York General Foundation collects information to process donations, keep you informed about the Hospital and Foundation, and to ask for support of our mission.

Consent for collection

• The Foundation will not collect, use or disclose any personal information beyond that required to generate a gift and issue a charitable tax receipt in accordance with the Canada Revenue Agency.
• An individual may withdraw consent at any time. Individuals may contact the Foundation for more information regarding implications of withdrawing consent. The Foundation will comply with requests immediately.

Limiting collection

• The collection of personal information by the Foundation will be limited to that which is necessary for the purposes identified. The Foundation will collect information by fair and lawful means only.
• The Foundation may receive patient contact information only from North York General Hospital.
• The Foundation will gather as much personal information as possible directly from the individual, but may from time to time collect information from other public sources.

Limiting use, disclosure and retention of personal information

• Personal information will not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as authorized by law.
• The Foundation will retain personal information only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.

Accuracy

• Personal information will be as accurate, complete and up-to-date as is necessary for the identified purposes for which it is to be used.

Safeguards

• Personal information is protected by security safeguards appropriate to the nature and sensitivity of the information.
• Each employee and volunteer who deals with personal information is required to sign a confidentially agreement prior to being granted access to information.Security safeguards are in place to protect personal information from theft as well as unauthorized access.

Openness

• The Foundation will make readily available to individuals specific information about its policies and practices relating to personal information.

Individual access

• The Foundation shall inform an individual of the existence, use and disclosure of their personal information upon request and shall give the individual access to that information.
• An individual shall be able to challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and may request to have it amended.

Challenging compliance

• The Foundation shall maintain procedures for addressing and responding to all inquiries or complaints about the Foundation’s handling of personal information.
• Any individual will be able to address a challenge concerning compliance with the above principles to the Chief Privacy Officer.
• If a complaint is justified, appropriate measures will be taken and the individual will be informed of the outcome.

Policy violations

Any staff or volunteers who fail to comply with the policy of the Foundation and Hospital will be subject to disciplinary actions, which may include termination. Staff and volunteers will not access information that is not required by them to perform their job; misuse information or disclose without proper authorization.

Confidentiality warning

Absent of the use of encryption, the Internet is not a secure medium and privacy cannot be ensured. Internet email is vulnerable to interception and forging. North York General and the North York General Foundation will not be responsible for any damages you or any third party may suffer as a result of the transmission of confidential information that you make to the hospital or the Foundation through the Internet, or that you expressly or implicitly authorize either the Hospital or the Foundation to make, or for any errors or any changes made to any transmittances.

Privacy officer

North York General Foundation has appointed a Chief Privacy Officer to implement and oversee this privacy policy. If you have questions, concerns or complaints relating to your privacy or our privacy policy, please contact foundation@nygh.on.ca or write to us at:

North York General Foundation
Attn: Chief Privacy Officer
4001 Leslie Street
Toronto Ontario M2K 1E1