Sparrows Website Privacy Notice

Sparrows Child and Youth Care Centre is a registered non-profit organisation. We give children who need it a safe and loving home. This notice explains how we handle the personal information of people who visit our website, contact us or support our work.

It does not cover the children in our care. Their information is protected separately. We never publish it, and we never collect it through this website.

Who we are

Sparrows Child and Youth Care Centre, 4 Murray Street, Tarkastad, 5370, is the responsible party for the information in this notice. Our Information Officer is the Executive Director. You can contact the Executive Director about anything in this notice:

What we collect and why

We collect what you give us.

  • Contact form. Your name, email address and message. We use them to reply to you.
  • Newsletter. Your first name and email address. You may also give us your last name, birthday and phone number. We use them to send you news and updates. We send the newsletter through Mailchimp.
  • Donations. Your name, contact details and the amount. Our payment provider, PayFast, handles your card or bank details. We do not see or keep them. We use your details to thank you and to record the donation. If you ask for a section 18A tax certificate, we use them to issue it.
  • Visits. Tools on our website record which pages you visit and what device you use. See “Cookies and website tools” below.

Do you have to give us this information?

No. You choose what to give us. Without your name and email address we cannot reply to you or add you to the newsletter. Without the details a tax certificate needs, we cannot issue one.

Why we may use it

We use your information because you asked us to do something, such as reply to a message or send a newsletter. For the newsletter, you agree by ticking a box when you sign up, and you can stop at any time with the unsubscribe link in any email. Tax law also requires us to keep financial records and to issue section 18A certificates correctly.

Who we share it with

We share your information only where we need to for the reason you gave it, or where the law requires it. This includes:

  • PayFast, which processes donations;
  • Mailchimp, which sends the newsletter;
  • Google and Meta (Facebook), through the website tools described below;
  • Cloudflare, which protects and speeds up our website and checks our contact form for spam;
  • the providers of the AI tools we use, described below;
  • the company that hosts our website;
  • the South African Revenue Service and our auditor, for tax and audit purposes.

Sending information to other countries

Some of these providers keep information outside South Africa. Our website host keeps it in France. Google, Mailchimp, Meta, PayFast, Cloudflare and the providers of our AI tools may keep it in other countries too. We keep a register of these providers and check their terms. The law lets us send information abroad only where the provider must protect it to a similar standard, you agree, or another reason in the law applies. If you are unhappy about this, tell us.

Artificial intelligence

We use AI tools to help with our work, for example to draft replies and reports. An AI tool may be given your name, your message or your donation details when that helps us do what you asked. We use only AI tools that our Executive Director has approved, on accounts that belong to Sparrows. An AI tool does not make a decision about you. A person does. Our AI Usage Policy sets the rules.

Cookies and website tools

Our website can use Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Google advertising tools and a Meta (Facebook) tool to count visits and to measure advertising. These stay off unless you allow them. When you first visit, a bar asks you to choose, and you can change your mind at any time with the small cookie button at the bottom left of the page. Google fonts and the Google map also load only if you allow them. These tools do not tell us your name. Our contact form uses Cloudflare Turnstile to block spam.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. You can turn off Google’s personalised ads in your Google account settings.

How long we keep it

We keep information only as long as we need it. We keep a message you send through the contact form for 12 months after we last contact you about it. We keep a donation record for at least five years from the end of the financial year, as tax law requires. We keep your newsletter details until you unsubscribe. Our Records and Retention Policy sets out the periods for financial records.

How we protect it

We limit who can see your information to the staff who need it. If a security breach puts your information at risk, we tell you and the Information Regulator, as the law requires.

Your rights

You may ask us to:

  • tell you whether we hold information about you, and give you a copy;
  • correct it;
  • delete it, unless the law says we must keep it;
  • stop using it for a purpose you object to.

We reply in writing within 30 days. Telling you whether we hold your information is free. If we charge for a copy, we tell you the estimated cost first.

You may also ask for a Sparrows record, whether or not it is about you, under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000. Ask the Executive Director how to do this.

If you are unhappy

Please tell us first, so that we can put it right. You may also complain to the Information Regulator:

This notice summarises Sparrows’ POPIA Data Protection Policy, Records and Retention Policy, PAIA Access to Information Policy and AI Usage Policy. If this notice and a policy differ, the policy governs. Last updated 4 October 2026.