How we look after your information

Bridges - Kingston is a registered charity (no. 764761904 RR 0001) serving vulnerable adults in Kingston, Ontario. The people we serve, our volunteers and our donors trust us with personal information. We take that seriously. This page explains what we collect, why, who sees it, how we protect it, and the choices you have.

Who is responsible

Our privacy contact is Pastor Cory Dyck, Missions and Ministry Director. You can reach him at director@bridges-kingston.com or 343-580-1100, or by mail at Bridges - Kingston, 540 Palace Road, Kingston, ON K7L 4T7.

What we collect, and why

• Volunteers. When you apply to serve, we collect your name, address, phone, email, work and volunteer history, references and the other information on our application form. Every volunteer completes a vulnerable sector check. Pastor Cory Dyck is the first point of contact for each check and application. If anything raises a concern, it is brought to our board leadership, who decide the next steps. We use this information to screen and place volunteers and to protect the vulnerable people we serve.
• Bridges Friends. This is what we call the people who use our programs. We keep sign-in sheets, shift reports, outreach records and consent forms, both internal and external. Bridges Friends who use our help beyond the drop-in also complete a registration form. We use these records to care for people safely and to follow up on the help they ask for.
• Donors. To issue tax receipts we need your name, address, phone and email. We keep a record of each gift.
• Prayer team and supporters. If you ask to join our prayer team or to hear from us, we keep your name and contact details so we can reach you.
• Anyone who contacts us. If you call or email, we keep what you tell us so we can respond.

We use your information only for the reasons you gave it to us. We do not sell it, rent it or trade it.

Who we share it with

• CanadaHelps. If you give online through CanadaHelps, your payment and contact details go to them, under their own privacy policy. CanadaHelps passes the donor details on to us so we can issue your receipt.
• Our bookkeeper (finance@bridges-kingston.com), who looks after our financial records and sees the donation and payment information needed to keep them.
• Our bank, for e-transfers, cheques and card payments.
• The Canada Revenue Agency. As a registered charity we report to the CRA, and we may be required to share information when the law requires it.

Beyond that, we share personal information only with your consent, or where the law requires it or to protect someone from serious harm.

Photos, stories and testimonies

We use a Photo/Video Consent Form. We do not publish a photo, video, name or story of a Bridges Friend or a volunteer without their written consent. You may withdraw your consent at any time, in writing, by emailing director@bridges-kingston.com or by mailing a letter to Bridges - Kingston, 540 Palace Road, Kingston, ON K7L 4T7. We will then stop using the photo, video or story and take it down from our website.

This website

Our website does not use advertising, tracking or analytics cookies. It has no contact form and no newsletter sign-up. When you email us, call us or click “Give”, you are using your own email, phone or CanadaHelps, not our website. If we ever add a contact form, a newsletter sign-up or an analytics tool, we will update this policy. Two outside services are used on some pages:

• Google Fonts supplies the typefaces. Your browser contacts Google to load them, which can share your IP address with Google.
• Google Maps displays our location on the Contact page, and Google may set its own cookies when it loads.

How we protect it, and how long we keep it

Paper records are kept in a locked cabinet, in a locked office, in a secure building. Digital copies are kept on a locked computer that is offline and not accessible from the internet. Only the people who need these records can see them.

• Records about Bridges Friends are kept permanently.
• Volunteer applications are not destroyed. We are required to keep these documents because of our responsibility to protect the vulnerable community we serve.
• Donation records are kept for at least six years, as the Canada Revenue Agency requires.

Your choices and rights

You may ask us at any time to show you the personal information we hold about you, to correct it, or to stop using it for a purpose you no longer agree to. You may also withdraw your consent, for example for photos and videos. Some records, such as donation records and volunteer and safeguarding records, we must keep. We will answer within 30 days. If you are not satisfied, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca.

If we change this policy

We will post any changes on this page and update the date above.

Questions

Please contact Pastor Cory Dyck at director@bridges-kingston.com or 343-580-1100.