1 INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITIONS

1.1 Exponential Australia Ltd (Exponential) was established in 2020 to promote the multiplication of churches, assist in training of church leaders, provide accountability to ministers of religion, collaborate with churches and serving the community.
1.2 Exponential is required by legislation to handle, use and manage personal information and sensitive information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (the Privacy Act).
1.3 Personal information according to the Privacy Act means information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database) about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not (personal information).
1.4 Sensitive information according to the Privacy Act means information about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual orientation or practices, criminal record, health information, genetic information that is not otherwise health information, biometric information that is to be used for the purpose of automated biometric verification or biometric identification, biometric templates, or any other information that is also personal information about an individual (sensitive information).
1.5 Exponential is committed to protecting the privacy of the people who provide their personal information and sensitive information to Exponential for Exponential to achieve their charitable purposes as outlined in paragraph 1.1.
1.6 The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to set out the policies of Exponential in relation to the collection, management, disclosure and security of personal information and sensitive information by Exponential.

2 COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND SENSITIVE INFORMATION
2.1 Exponential collects personal information and sensitive information in order to achieve its charitable goals outlined in paragraph 1.1 including but not limited to the following purposes:
(a) Fulfilling Exponential’s role to ignite and stimulate multiplication within the churches in Australia and the Oceania region;
(b) Notifying individuals of Exponential’s activities and campaigns including invitations to create partnerships;
(c) Seeking new members for Exponential and seeking donations;
(d) Fundraising initiatives;
(e) Enable effective engagement with Exponential’s members and supporters;
(f) Recruitment purposes;
(g) Research purposes;
(h) Analytics and marketing purposes;
(i) Donor requirements for tracking church plants and church health;
(j) Sharing information to the National Church Life Survey (NCLS) for further research purposes; and
(k) Promoting events and streams of Exponential such as podcasts, learning communities and Church Planters Collective.

2.2 Exponential collects personal information and sensitive information from various individuals including its members, supporters, volunteers, donors, personnel, or other persons with whom Exponential is connected.
2.3 Exponential collects a wide range of data including:
(a) Demographics which include but are not limited to an individual’s name, residential address, date of birth, language, gender, telephone number, email address, occupation, religious faith and practices, and social beliefs;
(b) Details relating to church planting and church activities which include but are not limited to the name of the church plant, whether an individual has planted a church before, whether a church has planted another church before, church plant targets, year of commencement of church plant, location of church plant, record of registrations to events hosted by Exponential, position held by an individual or individuals within the church, and denomination the church plant;
(c) Health and well-being of individuals and churches; and
(d) Data for compliance purposes such as an individual’s working with children’s check or national police check.
2.4 Exponential collects personal information and sensitive information via paper, electronic and in-person methods, including through online forms, individual networking meetings, event registrations, membership registrations to Church Planters Collective, and general membership registrations.
2.5 Exponential only collects personal information and sensitive information where necessary, and participation by individuals and churches is voluntary and with informed consent.
2.6 Exponential is bound by the 13 Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) included in the Privacy Act in relation to the collection of sensitive information.
2.7 If Exponential collects personal information or sensitive information about an individual from a third party, or if the personal information or sensitive information is unsolicited, Exponential will destroy or de-identify the information as soon as practicable unless the unsolicited personal information or unsolicited sensitive information is reasonably necessary for or directly relates to Exponential’s functions and activities.
2.8 Exponential endeavours to take all reasonable steps to ensure that personal information and sensitive information collected is accurate, complete, up-to-date and relevant, having regard to the purposes of the use or disclosure of the information collected.

3 DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND SENSITIVE INFORMATION
3.1 Exponential discloses personal information and sensitive information which Exponential has collected to the NCLS, for the following purposes:
(a) Research;
(b) Reporting and analytics in relation to church health;
(c) Church planting targets and statistics; and
(d) Church planting growth trajectory in Australia.
3.2 Exponential does not transfer personal information and sensitive information to other third parties without the consent of the individual or church to whom the information relates.
3.3 Exponential may publish public research reports which include aggregated data and non-sensitive personal information about church planting, church health and denominational reports.
3.4 In the future, Exponential may be required to transfer personal information and sensitive information to overseas partners to assist with event registrations and bookings. Exponential will take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipient will hold, use and disclose the information received from Exponential strictly in accordance with the APPs and the Privacy Act.

4 SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND SENSITIVE INFORMATION
4.1 Exponential endeavours to take all reasonable steps to protect and secure the personal information and sensitive information collected, including to prevent misuse, interference, loss or disclosure from unauthorised access, or modification.
4.2 Exponential ensures the security of personal information and sensitive information by securely storing all paper records, using professional software systems, and ensuring all access is restricted by complex passwords.
4.3 All of Exponential’s data is stored in a cloud server on a secure database which is located in Australia.
4.4 Personal information and sensitive information held by Exponential is organised and stored separately from other documents and research data files.
4.5 All personal information and sensitive information held by Exponential will be destroyed from the secure cloud server or permanently de-identified as soon as it is no longer required for the purposes for which it is collected and Exponential is not required to retain the information by law.
4.6 When personal information or sensitive information is collected via electronic methods, individuals are responsible for the security of and access to their own electronic devices including computers and mobile phones to ensure that personal information and sensitive information is protected and secured.

5 ACCESS TO AND CORRECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND SENSITIVE INFORMATION
5.1 Only authorised team members of Exponential and authorised staff of NCLS have access to the personal information and sensitive information collected by Exponential.
5.2 All staff of Exponential are required to abide by this Privacy Policy.
5.3 The privacy policy of NCLS can be viewed on its website here: https://www.ncls.org.au/about/privacy/
5.4 If Exponential holds personal information and sensitive information about an individual, the said individual may request access to the information held by Exponential as specified in the APPs. When this request is made, Exponential must not unreasonably withhold access to the said individual unless there is a valid reason to do so. Exponential may also charge a reasonable fee for giving the said individual access to the personal information and sensitive information.
5.5 An individual may request for their personal information or sensitive information held by Exponential to be corrected or deleted as specified in the APPs by contacting Exponential at the contact details in paragraph 6, and Exponential will respond to the request within a reasonable period of time.
5.6 Exponential may take reasonable steps to correct the personal information and sensitive information held on their own initiative if Exponential is satisfied, having regard to the purpose for which the information is held, that the personal information and sensitive information is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

6 CONTACT
6.1 For all queries or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy, or requests for access to or correction of, personal information and sensitive information, please contact:
Attention: Privacy Officer, Exponential Australia Ltd
Postal address: PO Box 276, Riverside, TAS 7250, Australia
Telephone: +61 3 6327 4538
Email address: admin@exponential.org.au