We have drawn up this privacy policy to explain how we collect and otherwise process personal data. This is not a definitive description; other privacy policies or terms and conditions, conditions for participation or similar documents may govern specific situations. Personal data is understood to encompass all pieces of information that refer to an identified or identifiable person.
If you make personal data relating to other people (e.g. family members, data relating to work colleagues) available to us, please ensure that they are aware of this privacy policy. Only share their personal data with us if you are permitted to do so and if that personal data is accurate.
This privacy policy has been prepared on the basis of the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP). Whether, and to what extent, a law is applicable depends on each individual case, however.
Responsibility
The SWISSAID foundation, Lorystrasse 6a, 3008 Berne, is responsible for the data processing described in this privacy policy, insofar as not otherwise communicated in each individual case.
Collection and processing of personal data
We primarily process personal data that we obtain from our donors or their business partners in the course of our relationship with them, or from other persons involved in that relationship, or that we collect from users when operating our website and additional applications.
Where this is permitted, we also take certain data from publicly accessible sources (e.g. debt collection registers, land registries, commercial registers, the media, the internet) or obtain such data from authorities and other third parties (such as, e.g. list brokers). Along with your data that you give us directly, the categories of personal data that we receive from third parties about you include, in particular, details from public registers or data connected with the use of the website (e.g. IP address, MAC address of the smartphone or computer, details of your device and settings, cookies, data and time of the visit, pages and content retrieved, functions used, referring website, location details).
Purpose and basis of the data processing
We primarily use the personal data we collect to manage, generate and receive donations, to communicate with our donors, to purchase products and services from our suppliers and sub-contractors, and in order to comply with statutory obligations in Switzerland and abroad. If you work for a customer or business partner of this nature, you and your personal data may, of course, likewise be affected by this processing.
We furthermore process your personal data and that of other persons, where permitted and where we deem it advisable, for the following purposes, in which we (and occasionally third parties also) have a legitimate interest that aligns with that purpose: providing and continuing to develop our offerings, services and website and other platforms on which we have a presence; communicating with third parties and processing their enquiries (e.g. media enquiries); reviewing and optimising processes for needs analysis for the purpose of directly addressing customers, and collecting personal data from publicly accessible sources for the purpose of acquiring donors; advertising and marketing (including organising events), where you have not objected to the use of your data (if we send you advertising as an existing donor of ours, you can object to this at any time and we will then place you on an appropriate blacklist); media monitoring; asserting legal claims and defence in connection with legal disputes and administrative proceedings; prevention and investigation of criminal offences and other misconduct (e.g. carrying out internal investigations, data analysis to combat fraud); safeguarding our operations, in particular the IT on our website and other platforms; measures to safeguard domiciliary rights, and other measures for IT, building and plant security and the protection of our employees and other persons and information belonging to us or entrusted to us (e.g. access controls, visitor lists, network and email scanners, telephone records).
We have asked you for consent to certain processing-related activities. You can withdraw your consent in writing at any time with future effect. Where we do not ask your consent for processing, we base the processing of your personal data on the fact that the processing is necessary to perform a contract with you (or with the entity that you represent) or that we or third parties have a legitimate interest in doing so, in particular in order to pursue the purposes described above and the objectives connected with them, and to be able to implement the corresponding measures. Our legitimate interests include compliance with statutory requirements, insofar as this compliance is not already recognised as a legal basis by the applicable data protection law in question.
Donation appeals to acquire new donors
SWISSAID regularly sends donation appeals to potential new donors. For that purpose, addresses from established Swiss address and data services are used in some cases. The legal basis for data processing is your consent and/or a legitimate interest on the part of Swissaid. You can request access at any time to the data stored by an address and data service. If you have any questions, please contact datenschutz@swissaid.ch .
Newsletters
We provide information to existing donors by means of our newsletters. Where you do not object, we use the email address specified in the donation form to send our newsletters, in which we report on the progress of projects and seek further support. We also send our electronic newsletter to interested parties, sympathisers and donors based on their consent. Each newsletter contains a clearly visible link which the recipient can easily use to unsubscribe.
SWISSAID uses the Australian newsletter service «Campaign Monitor» to send newsletters. Into our newsletters and other marketing emails; the retrieval of these graphics by our servers allows us to determine whether and when you opened the email. In this way, we can analyse whether our communication is relevant to you, and continually improve it. You may block this function in your email program.In some cases, and where permitted, we also integrate visible and invisible graphics elements
You can find Campaign Monitor’s privacy policy here.
Online donations
Donations can be made on our website. When you donate via our website, personal data is transferred to SWISSAID. SWISSAID uses the donation tool provided by the Zurich-based company ‘RaiseNow’ and the offerings of the Swiss financial services providers Datatrans and WorldLine to process the donation to this end. You can find RaiseNow’s privacy policy here.
Cookies and other technologies associated with the use of our website
We typically use cookies and comparable techniques on our websites, by means of which your browser or your device can be identified. A cookie is a small file that is sent to your computer or is stored automatically by the web browser used on your computer or mobile device when you use our website [or install the app]. If you visit this website again [or use our app], this file enables us to recognise you, even if we do not know who you are. Along with cookies that are only used during a session and are deleted after your website visit (session cookies), cookies may also be used to store user settings and other information for a particular duration, e.g. two years (permanent cookies). However, you can configure your browser at any time so that it rejects cookies, only stores them for a session or otherwise deletes them earlier. Most browsers are pre-configured to accept cookies. We use permanent cookies to store user settings (e.g. language, auto login) in order to better understand how you use our offerings and content, and so we can display offers and advertisements tailored to you (this may also occur on other companies’ websites; however, those companies do not learn from us who you are, even if we ourselves know that information, as they only see that the same visitor who was on a particular page of our website is on their website). Certain cookies are set by us, certain also by contractual partners with whom we work. If you block cookies, certain functionalities (such as, e.g., choice of language, shopping cart, ordering processes) may no longer work properly. A summary of the cookies that have been stored can be found here. The cookie banner automatically provides a comprehensive, up-to-date export of the cookies stored.
Surveys and quizzes
We use the software Typeform for surveys or quizzes. Typeform is a software-as-a-service company, TYPEFORM SL, C/Bac de Roda, 163, 08018 Barcelona, which specialises in creating online forms and online surveys. Personal data may be transferred when this software is used. For more details on data processing associated with Typeform, please see Typeform’s privacy notice.
Social networks
SWISSAID has integrated plugins from social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook into its website (displayed as a Facebook button, for example). This is made clear to you in each case (typically by the corresponding symbols).
We have configured these elements in such a way that they are deactivated by default. If you activate them (by clicking on them), the operators of the respective social networks may register that you are on our website and may use this information for their purposes. The processing of your personal data is then the responsibility of that operator and subject to their privacy provisions. We do not receive any details about you from the operator.
If you are logged in to Facebook, clicking the «Like» button or submitting comments will be assigned to your personal user account. Facebook’s privacy policy, which contains more details on the collection and use of data by Facebook, your rights in this respect, and configuration options to protect your privacy, can be found here.
X/Twitter
X/Twitter buttons are integrated into our website. They can be recognised by terms such as X/Twitter, combined with a stylised blue or black bird or an X. These buttons make it possible to follow us on X/Twitter. When the button is used, your browser establishes a direct connection to Twitter’s servers. The contents of the X/Twitter buttons are then transferred directly to your browser by X/Twitter. Please be advised that we do not obtain any knowledge of the data transmitted or its use by X/Twitter. The controller is International Unlimited Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07, IRELAND. More information on this topic is available in Twitter’s privacy policy here.
Our website uses features provided by the service ‘Instagram’, which is operated by Meta Platforms Ireland Limited. The corresponding plugins are identified by an Instagram logo, for example in the form of an Instagram camera. If you are logged in to Instagram and interact with the plugin this information is transferred to an Instagram server and stored there.
We explicitly advise that we, as the provider of this website, do not obtain any knowledge of the content and scope of the data transmitted and its use by Instagram. For further information on this topic, please see Instagram’s privacy policy and the general information provided here.
YouTube
We have integrated YouTube videos into our website. YouTube is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States. When you visit a page on our website that has a YouTube video embedded on it, your browser connects to YouTube’s servers. Various pieces of data are transferred in the process, depending on the settings. Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland is responsible for data processing in the European region. Further information on this topic can be found here.
To whom do we disclose your data?
In the context of our business activities and the purposes described here, we also disclose your data to third parties where permitted and where we deem it advisable, whether it be because they are processing that data for us or because they intend to use it for their own purposes. This involves the following entities, in particular: printing businesses, other service providers of ours (such as, e.g., banks, insurance companies), including processors (such as, e.g., IT providers), suppliers, subcontractors and other business partners; customers; authorities in Switzerland and abroad; government agencies or courts; the media; the public, including visitors to websites and social media; competitors, industry organisations, associations, organisations and other bodies; other parties to potential or actual legal proceedings; other companies in the Swissaid Group. We have entered into contracts with our external providers – for example, businesses that print donation appeals, IT providers – that oblige the latter to comply with data protection requirements.
We collaborate with Corris AG and Lazoona AG on stand-based and door-to door campaigns. Once a new donor or sponsor has been acquired, this data (personal data and financial data) is stored and processed for 18 months by Corris AG. For information on data protection in relation to stand-based and door-to-door campaigns, please see the separate privacy policy between Corris AG and SWISSAID. We have concluded a contract with Corris for order data processing.
Is personal data transferred abroad?
As explained above, we also disclose data to other entities, not all of whom are located in Switzerland. Your data may therefore be processed both in Europe and outside Europe, and, in exceptional cases, in any country in the world.
If a recipient is located in a country without adequate data protection, we impose a contractual obligation on the recipient to comply with the applicable data protection requirements (we use the revised standard contractual clauses of the European Commission, which can be retrieved here for this purpose), where the recipient is not already subject to a legally recognised set of rules to ensure data protection and we are not able to rely on an exemption.
How long do we process your data for?
We process your data for as long as is required by the purposes of our processing, the statutory retention periods and our legitimate interests in processing for documentation and evidentiary purposes, or for as long as storage is necessary due to technical reasons.
In this context, it is possible that personal data will be retained for the period during which claims can be asserted against us and where we are otherwise statutorily obliged to do so or legitimate business interests require this (e.g. for evidentiary and documentation purposes). As soon as your personal data is no longer required for the purposes named above, it will fundamentally be erased or anonymised where possible. Shorter retention periods of twelve months or less fundamentally apply in respect of operating data (e.g. system logs, other logs).
Data security
We take appropriate precautions and employ the appropriate technology in order to protect your data.
Profiling and automated decision-making
In some cases, we employ automated data processing with the aim of evaluating certain personal aspects (profiling). In particular, we use profiling so that we can provide you with information and advice targeted to you. In the process, we use analytical instruments that enable us to carry out needs-based communication and marketing, including market research and opinion polling.
We fundamentally do not use fully automated automatic decision-making to establish and implement the business relationship or for other purposes. If we should employ such processes in specific cases, we will notify you of this separately where required by law, and will inform you about your rights associated with this.
Rights as a data subject
You have a right of access, right to rectification, right to erasure, right to restriction of data processing and also the right to object to our data processing and to have certain personal data handed over for the purpose of transmission to another entity (data portability). However, please note that, for our part, we reserve the right to enforce statutory restrictions, for example if we are obliged to retain or process certain data, have an overriding interest in doing so (where we are permitted to rely on that interest) or require it in order to assert claims. If you will incur costs for doing this, we will inform you of this in advance. Please note that the exercise of these rights may conflict with contractual agreements and that this may have consequences such as, e.g., the early termination of the contract, or cost implications. We will inform you in advance in this instance, if this is not already specified in the contract.
As a rule, asserting these rights requires you to conclusively prove your identity (e.g. by means of a copy of an identification document if your identity is not otherwise clear or cannot be verified). You may contact us at the address stated here to exercise your rights.
Every data subject furthermore has the right to assert their rights in court or to submit a complaint to the responsible data protection authority. The responsible data protection authority in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.
You can contact us at datenschutz@swissaid.ch.
Amendments
We may amend this privacy policy at any time without prior notice. The specific version currently published on our website applies. Where the privacy policy is part of an agreement with you, we will notify you of any updates by email or another appropriate method.