Privacy Policy

1. About Us

Foundera is a youth movement and platform based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, dedicated to supporting young Australians aged 17 to 25 through events, mentoring, workshops and community programs. References to "Foundera", "we", "us" or "our" in this policy refer to Foundera and its operators.

We are committed to protecting the privacy of all individuals who interact with our platform, attend our events, or join our community.

2. What Personal Information We Collect

We may collect the following categories of personal information:

Information you provide directly

• Full name
• Email address
• Phone number (where provided)
• Organisation or school name
• Your role or area of study
• Information submitted through partner or speaker application forms
• Social media profile links (where voluntarily provided)
• Any other information you choose to share with us in correspondence

Information collected automatically

• IP address and approximate geographic location
• Browser type and operating system
• Pages visited on our website and duration of visits
• Referring URLs
• Device identifiers

We do not collect sensitive information (as defined under the Privacy Act) such as health information, religious beliefs or biometric data unless specifically required and with your explicit consent.

3. How We Collect Personal Information

We collect personal information through:

• Registration or sign-up forms on our website
• Email newsletter subscriptions
• Partner and speaker application forms
• Community platform registrations (including Skool)
• Event registrations and attendance
• Direct correspondence by email, phone or social media
• Cookies and similar tracking technologies on our website

We only collect personal information by lawful and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive way (APP 3).

4. Why We Collect and Use Your Information

We collect and use personal information for the following purposes:

• To register you for events and manage event attendance
• To send you newsletters, updates, and information about upcoming events and opportunities
• To process partner or speaker applications
• To provide access to our community platform
• To improve our website, services and programs
• To respond to your enquiries and requests
• To comply with our legal obligations
• To detect and prevent fraud or unlawful activity

We will only use or disclose your personal information for a purpose you would reasonably expect (APP 6).

5. Direct Marketing

We may use your email address to send you marketing communications about Foundera events, programs, and opportunities. All marketing emails comply with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), meaning:

• We will only send marketing emails with your consent (express or inferred)
• Every marketing email will include a clear and functional unsubscribe mechanism
• We will honour all unsubscribe requests promptly (within 5 business days)
• We will identify ourselves clearly as the sender in all communications

You may opt out of marketing communications at any time by clicking "unsubscribe" in any email, or by contacting us at team@founderaa.com.au.

6. Disclosure of Personal Information

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

We may share your personal information with:

• Service providers who assist us in operating our website and delivering our services (e.g., email platforms, event management tools, community platforms such as Skool), subject to appropriate confidentiality obligations
• Partner organisations where you have applied to a partnership program and consent to your information being shared
• Law enforcement or government agencies where required or authorised by law

Where we disclose your information to third parties, we take reasonable steps to ensure those parties comply with applicable privacy laws (APP 8).

Overseas disclosure

Some of our service providers (e.g., email platforms, cloud hosting) may store or process data outside of Australia. Where this occurs, we take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients handle your information in a manner consistent with the APPs.

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to enhance your browsing experience and collect analytics data. Cookies are small files stored on your device.

We use cookies to:

• Remember your preferences
• Understand how visitors use our website (analytics)
• Improve website performance and content

You may disable cookies through your browser settings; however, some features of our website may not function correctly if cookies are disabled.

8. Data Security

We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure (APP 11).

Our security measures include:

• Secure HTTPS encryption on our website
• Access controls limiting who within Foundera can access personal information
• Use of reputable third-party service providers with appropriate security practices
• Regular review of our data handling practices

No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

When personal information is no longer required for any purpose, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it (APP 11.2).

9. Accessing and Correcting Your Information

Under APP 12 and APP 13, you have the right to:

• Request access to the personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of any inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date information

To make an access or correction request, please contact us at team@founderaa.com.au. We will respond within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

There is no fee for making an access request. If we decline to provide access or make a correction, we will give you reasons in writing and advise you of your options.

10. Complaints

If you believe we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles or the Privacy Act 1988, you may lodge a complaint with us by emailing team@founderaa.com.au. Please include your name, contact details and a description of your complaint.

We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 business days and aim to resolve it within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

• Website: www.oaic.gov.au
• Phone: 1300 363 992
• Mail: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable law. We will post the updated policy on our website with a revised "Last updated" date. Where changes are material, we will notify you by email where possible.

Your continued use of our platform after any update constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

12. Contact Us

For any privacy-related questions, requests or concerns, please contact: