1. Introduction
The Sizofakulwazi Foundation ("the Foundation", "we", "us" or "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, and the rights you have under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 (POPIA).
By using our website, contacting us, donating to us, volunteering with us, or otherwise interacting with the Foundation, you agree to the practices described in this policy.
2. Who We Are
The Sizofakulwazi Foundation is a South African non-profit organisation that works to uplift communities through education, food security, hygiene initiatives, clothing donations and community outreach.
- Registered name: SIZOFAKULWAZI FOUNDATION
- Registration number: 2025 / 638584 / 08
- Physical locations: Wynberg and Green Point, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
- Email: info@sizofakulwazifoundation.org.za
- Phone: +27 82 429 1635
For the purposes of POPIA, the Foundation is the "responsible party" for the personal information described in this policy.
3. Information We Collect
Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of personal information:
- Identification and contact information: name, email address, phone number, postal address, organisation name.
- Donation information: amount donated, payment reference, recurring donation status, and information needed to issue receipts or Section 18A tax certificates.
- Volunteer information: skills, availability, motivation for volunteering, and any details you provide when applying for a volunteer role.
- Partnership and sponsorship information: company details, contact person, sponsorship tier, and correspondence.
- Communication content: the content of messages you send us through our contact form, email or WhatsApp, including any information you choose to share about yourself or your situation.
- Newsletter subscriptions: name and email address.
- Technical information: IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited, and similar information collected automatically when you use our website (see our Cookie Policy).
We do not intentionally collect sensitive personal information (such as health, religious or political information) unless you choose to share it with us, for example when contacting us about a sensitive matter. If you do share such information, we will treat it with extra care and only use it for the purpose for which you provided it.
4. How We Collect Information
- Directly from you — when you fill in a form, email us, call us, donate, volunteer, partner with us, or subscribe to our newsletter.
- Automatically — when you visit our website (cookies, analytics, server logs).
- From third parties — for example, payment processors that handle donations on our behalf.
5. Why We Process Information
We process personal information for the following purposes:
- To respond to your enquiries and provide guidance.
- To process donations, issue receipts and Section 18A certificates.
- To manage volunteer applications and placements.
- To manage partnership and sponsorship relationships.
- To send newsletters and updates, where you have opted in.
- To keep records of our activities and report on impact.
- To comply with legal obligations (for example, tax and nonprofit reporting requirements).
- To improve our website, services and programmes.
- To protect the safety of our staff, volunteers, beneficiaries and the public.
6. Lawful Basis for Processing
Under POPIA, we process personal information on one or more of the following bases:
- Consent: where you have given us clear consent (e.g. newsletter sign-up).
- Contract: where processing is needed to perform an agreement with you (e.g. volunteer arrangement, sponsorship).
- Legal obligation: where we are required by law to process information.
- Legitimate interest: where processing is necessary for our legitimate organisational interests, provided your rights are not overridden.
- Protection of a legitimate interest of the data subject: where processing is needed to protect you or another person (e.g. responding to a safety concern).
8. How Long We Keep Information
We keep personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by law. For example:
- Donation records: retained for the period required by tax and nonprofit regulations.
- Volunteer records: retained while you are active and for a reasonable period afterwards.
- Newsletter subscriptions: retained until you unsubscribe.
- Contact enquiries: retained for a reasonable period after the enquiry is resolved.
9. Security
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, damage, unauthorised access or disclosure. These include access controls, secure hosting, and confidentiality obligations for staff, volunteers and service providers.
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If you believe your information has been compromised, please contact us immediately.
10. Your Rights Under POPIA
You have the right to:
- Be notified that we collect your personal information and why.
- Access the personal information we hold about you.
- Request correction or deletion of information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained.
- Object to processing on reasonable grounds.
- Withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent.
- Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@sizofakulwazifoundation.org.za. We may ask you to verify your identity before responding.
11. Children's Information
We may process information about children as part of our programmes. Where we do, we take extra care. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from a child without the consent of a competent person, unless permitted by law.
12. Cross-Border Transfers
Some of our service providers (for example, email or cloud hosting) may store information outside South Africa. Where this happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure the information receives a comparable level of protection, as required by POPIA.
14. Complaints
If you believe we have not complied with POPIA, you may contact us first so we can try to resolve the matter. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator:
- Website: inforegulator.org.za
- Email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za
- Phone: 010 023 5200
15. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will reflect the most recent version.
16. Contact Us
- Email: info@sizofakulwazifoundation.org.za
- Phone: +27 82 429 1635
- Physical address: Wynberg and Green Point, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa