Our Policy

World Vision Canada is committed to protecting the privacy of its donors, supporters, employees and other stakeholders. We value the trust of those we deal with, and of the public, and recognize that maintaining this trust requires that we be transparent and accountable in how we treat the personal information that you choose to share with us. During various activities, we gather and use personal information. This information may be obtained directly from you or collected from third parties that have the right to disclose this information to us. Anyone from whom we collect such personal information should expect that it will be carefully protected and that any use of or other dealing with this personal information is subject to express or implied consent. Our privacy practices are designed to achieve this.

Depending on where you live, World Vision Canada may not be under any statutory obligations with respect to the protection of the information that you provide to us. Notwithstanding this, World Vision Canada has voluntarily decided to adhere to best practices for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information as outlined in this policy.

Defining Personal Information

Personal information is information about an identifiable individual as defined, from time to time, in applicable Canadian (including federal, provincial and territorial) privacy legislation. This includes any information that can be used to distinguish, identify or contact a specific individual. An individual’s opinions or beliefs, as well as facts about, or related to, the individual may also be considered personal information. Business contact information and certain publicly available information, such as names, addresses and telephone numbers as published in telephone directories, may not be considered personal information.

Where an individual uses his or her home contact information as business contact information as well, we consider the contact information provided to be business contact information, and therefore may not be subject to the same level of protection as personal information.

What Personal Information Do We Collect?

Personal information collected by World Vision Canada may include: name, address, and other contact information, credit card or bank account information for donation purposes, the countries or programs that an individual may wish to support, language preferences, demographic information such as age and gender, and communication preferences for marketing purposes.

How Do We Use and Disclose Your Personal Information?

World Vision Canada collects personal information to service your account, understand your giving preferences and provide you with relevant communications and marketing materials.

We may share this information with World Vision employees and/or a third-party service provider for the purposes of marketing, research and analysis or for the servicing of your account. When this occurs, we supply only the information that is required to provide the services, and strict terms of confidentiality are established. In certain limited circumstances, personal information collected by World Vision Canada may be stored and/or processed outside of Canada and is therefore subject to the legal jurisdiction of those countries.

Access to Personal Information

Subject to certain exceptions, which are provided for by applicable privacy legislation and/or by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, you have a right to be told what personal information we hold about you and to whom we may have disclosed that information. You also have a right to provide us with a correction if you believe that any personal information we hold about you may be inaccurate. To find out more, you may contact World Vision Canada’s Privacy Officer.

Privacy Practices

Personal information gathered by our organization is kept in confidence. Our employees are authorized to access personal information based only on their need to deal with it for the reason(s) for which it was obtained. Safeguards are in place to ensure that personal information is not disclosed or shared more widely than is necessary to achieve the purposes described above and we use commercially best efforts to contractually require any person or organization providing services to World Vision Canada to comply with federal and provincial privacy legislation. We also take measures to ensure that the integrity of personal information is maintained and retained only as long as it is required. We collect, use and disclose personal information only for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate considering the circumstances. We do not rent or sell personal information to any other organization.

Website and Electronic Commerce

We use password protocols and encryption software to protect personal and other information we receive when a donation is made and/or a product is purchased on-line. Our software is routinely updated to maximize protection of such information. The World Vision Canada website (the “Site”) uses or may in the future use, technology features such as log-in registration, cookies, or click through tracking software. The Site also logs information such as the IP addresses and the types of web browsers used by visitors to the Site. This type of information may be used for analysis purposes, to provide a better service to Site visitors or for marketing purposes. For more information see Terms & Conditions.

Sponsor Communications and Social Media

Technology has created so many new opportunities for connecting with those we love and care about. We recognize that you may be wondering why we discourage contacting your sponsored child using technology like social media sites. While we are fully committed to making communicating with your sponsored child as enjoyable and efficient as possible, our priority is to ensure their safety and privacy, as well as yours.

World Vision Canada understands that we cannot prevent sponsors from connecting with their sponsored child through various social media sites; however, we do ask that you consider the following before you engage in such communication:

  • Understand, identify, and manage potential risks of social media engagement;
  • Understand and recognize acceptable and inappropriate behaviour and communications; and
  • Understand reporting mechanisms if you feel uncomfortable as well as potential consequences of unacceptable behaviour.

In addition, we would like to share with​ you some posting guidelines so that you can make sure that your sponsored child’s safety is not compromised when posting information and communicating on social networking sites:

  • Please only use the first name of your sponsored child;
  • Please do not post your sponsored child’s ID number;
  • Please ensure that the photos you post are appropriate and that your sponsored child is adequately clothed. Photos should not be geotagged and wherever possible, measures should be taken to prevent electronic copying of photographs;
  • Please do not publish identifying or private information about the child (e.g. the name of the location where he or she lives).

We appreciate your support and understanding in protecting the safety of your sponsored child.

Mailing Lists and Newsletters

World Vision Canada provides regular communications to its donors through both postal mail and electronic mail. Any personally identifiable information provided by you will be used for delivering the mailing item, renewing your subscription, providing details on your sponsored child or the sponsorship program, research and/or marketing. You may choose to opt-out of these communications at any time by contacting Customer Service at 1-866-595-5550.

Updates to this Policy

We regularly review our privacy practices for our various activities, and update our policy. Please check this website on an ongoing basis for information on our most up-to-date practices.

Contacting World Vision Canada’s Privacy Officer

Questions or concerns related to World Vision Canada’s Privacy and Security Policy, and/or World Vision Canada’s treatment of personal information, should be directed to:

Attention: Privacy Officer 1 World Drive Mississauga, Ontario L5T 2Y4 1-800-329-6176 Further information on privacy, and your rights regarding your personal information, may be found on the website of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Contacting Website Operations

If you have any questions about the practices of this Site, or your dealings with this Site, please contact us