Privacy policy

Last updated: September 2026

Health Volunteers International Pty Ltd (HVI, ABN 56 620 271 276) is an Australian registered charity. We respect your privacy and handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles. This page explains what we collect, why we collect it, and how you can contact us about it.

What we collect

We only collect the information we need. This may include your name and contact details; your donation history, if you give to HVI; and, if you volunteer with us or apply for a Fellowship or sponsorship, your professional details, qualifications, registration and passport details and, where needed for travel or a placement, limited health information such as vaccination records. We collect health information only with your consent.

When you visit our website, our website provider, Squarespace, collects standard technical information (such as your browser type and the pages you visit) and uses cookies.

How we use it

We use your information to respond to you; to organise volunteer teams, Fellowships and sponsorships, including registration, visas, travel and insurance; to process and receipt donations; to send you news about our work if you have asked for it; and to meet our legal and reporting obligations. We never sell or trade personal information.

Who we share it with

We share personal information only when it is needed for the purpose you gave it to us, or when the law requires it. For volunteers, this includes host hospitals, health ministries, health professions councils and immigration authorities in the countries where we work, such as Namibia and Kenya, so that you can be registered and can travel and work lawfully.

We also use trusted service providers, including Squarespace (our website and forms), Donorbox and PayPal (online donations), Square (card payments at events) and TryBooking (event tickets). Some of these providers store information outside Australia, including in the United States. Card payments are processed by these providers, and HVI does not receive your full card details.

How we protect it

We store personal information securely, limit access to the people who need it, and keep it only for as long as we need it or the law requires. After that, we securely delete or destroy it.

Your choices

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to stop sending you updates. Every email update from us includes a way to unsubscribe.

Questions and complaints

If you have a question or concern about your privacy, please email admin@healthvolunteers.org with “Privacy - for the Chair” in the subject line. We will acknowledge your message and aim to respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may be able to take your concern to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (www.oaic.gov.au).

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be on this page.