Privacy policy

1. What we collect

The kinds of personal information we collect depend on how you deal with us. We may collect:

• Identity and contact details: your name, business name, role, industry, email address, mobile or phone number and postal address.
• Application details: what you tell us when you book and attend your application interview, including your business, role, industry, annual turnover or headcount, golf handicap, how you heard about us and who you might bring as a guest. For partners, the position you are interested in.
• Membership and billing details: your membership start date, attendance, the substitutes and guests you nominate, polo size and personalisation, and payment records. Card and bank account details are collected and held by our direct debit or payment provider, not by us, except for the limited details needed to reconcile payments.
• Event information: dietary requirements and accessibility needs you choose to share, scores or groupings for the day, and photographs and video taken at events.
• Technical information when you use our website: IP address, device and browser type, pages viewed and the date and time of visits, collected through our hosting provider's server logs.
• Communications: emails, messages and notes of calls and interviews with you.

We do not ask for sensitive information (such as health information) unless you choose to give it to us, for example a dietary or accessibility need. If you do, we use it only for the purpose you gave it to us and we handle it with additional care. If you give us personal information about someone else, such as a guest or a substitute, please make sure they know about this policy.

2. How we collect it

We collect personal information directly from you when you book an application interview through our scheduling tool, email or phone us, join, attend an event or deal with us in person. We also collect it from the tools we use to run the membership, for example the scheduling tool you use to book your interview, the video meeting tool the interview is held on, and the payment provider that processes your direct debit. Where it is reasonable and practical, we collect personal information only from you.

You may deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym for a general enquiry. We cannot assess an application, admit you as a member or run your membership without identifying you. If you do not give us the information we ask for, we may not be able to assess your application, admit you as a member, run your membership or respond to your enquiry.

3. Why we collect, use and disclose it

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information to:

• assess applications and decide whether to offer membership, including keeping the membership balanced across industries;
• run the membership: scheduling events, drawing groups, arranging courses, catering, carts, apparel and the Annual Swing, and managing substitutes and guests;
• take payment, manage direct debits, issue tax invoices and receipts and recover amounts owing;
• communicate with you about your membership, events, changes to the program, the membership terms and this policy;
• with your consent or where the law otherwise permits, send you news and offers about Fairway Forum and our partners (you can opt out at any time, see section 6);
• manage partner and sponsor relationships, including telling our apparel partner the size and name needed to personalise your polo;
• improve our website, events and services;
• meet our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our membership terms; and
• any other purpose you would reasonably expect, that you have consented to, or that is required or authorised by Australian law.

4. Who we disclose it to

We may disclose personal information to:

• our people, contractors and advisers who need it to do their jobs, bound by confidentiality;
• service providers that help us run Fairway Forum: website hosting, email, scheduling and video meeting tools, our payment and direct debit provider, our accounting and bookkeeping providers, and event suppliers;
• golf courses, venues and accommodation providers that host events and the Annual Swing, so far as needed to book and run them;
• our apparel partner, limited to the details needed to make and deliver your polo, and our hardware partner where you choose to take up a member offer;
• other members and guests, in the ordinary course of events (for example your name and business on the day's groupings);
• a purchaser or prospective purchaser of our business, under confidentiality;
• regulators, law enforcement and courts where required or authorised by law.

Our major partner, Boutique Business House, supports the program's finance and business-growth themes. We do not give partners your contact details for their own marketing unless you ask us to introduce you or you consent.

5. Overseas disclosure

Some of the service providers we use store or process information outside Australia. At the date of this policy they include our scheduling tool (Calendly, whose servers are in the United States), our email and video meeting provider (Microsoft, which may store data in Australia or other countries in which it operates), and our website hosting provider (which may store server logs in the United States). Before we disclose personal information to an overseas recipient we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient handles it in a way consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles. By booking an interview through our scheduling tool you consent to the details you enter there being held by that provider overseas, and you acknowledge that we may not be able to enforce the Australian Privacy Principles against it.

6. Marketing and how to opt out

If you apply, enquire or become a member we may send you emails or messages about Fairway Forum events, the program and partner offers. Every marketing message will identify us and include a simple way to unsubscribe, in accordance with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). You can also opt out at any time by emailing us at the address in section 11. We will still send you service messages you need as a member, such as event logistics and billing notices.

7. Photography and video at events

We photograph and film our events and may use the images on our website, in our information memoranda and on social media to promote Fairway Forum, and may share them with partners for the same purpose. If you would prefer not to be photographed, or would like an image of you removed, tell us on the day or email us and we will take reasonable steps to comply.

8. Website, cookies and analytics

Our website does not use advertising or tracking cookies and does not currently use an analytics service. It uses only the browser storage needed for the page to work. If we add analytics we will update this policy and use the information in aggregate to understand how the site is used, not to identify you. Applications are booked through Calendly, a third-party scheduling tool whose own privacy policy also applies to the details you enter there.

9. How we hold and protect information

We hold personal information in secure cloud systems operated by reputable providers, protected by access controls, multi-factor authentication and encryption in transit. Access is limited to people who need it. Payment card and bank details are held by our payment provider, not by us. We keep personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purposes above, to meet legal and tax record-keeping obligations (generally five years for tax records and seven years for company records) or to deal with any dispute, and then take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.

If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm to any individual, we will notify the individuals affected and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme in Part IIIC of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

10. Access, correction and complaints

You can ask us for access to the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it, by contacting us using the details below. We will respond within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days, and we do not charge for making a request. In limited circumstances the law allows us to refuse access or correction. If that happens we will tell you why in writing and how you can complain about the refusal.

If you are concerned about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first. We will acknowledge your complaint within 7 days, investigate it and respond in writing, usually within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

11. Contact us

Privacy enquiries, requests and complaints can be directed to:

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be on our website with its version number and effective date. Where a change is significant we will let members know by email before it takes effect.