Privacy Policy

01Our approach, and a note on the law

Businesses with an annual turnover of $3 million or less are generally exempt from the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) it sets out, unless an exception applies (for example, if they trade in personal information or hold Commonwealth contracts). Better Funded currently falls under this small business threshold. A reform that would remove this exemption has been proposed by the federal government but, as at the date above, has not been passed into law.

Regardless of whether the Privacy Act strictly applies to us, we've written this policy to follow the Australian Privacy Principles because it's the right way to handle information about the organisations and people who trust us with it, and because many of the councils, not-for-profits and government-adjacent bodies we work with reasonably expect it. If our circumstances change (including if the exemption is removed), this policy will be updated accordingly.

02Personal information we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

• Identity and contact details you provide, such as your name, email address, phone number and organisation name.
• Information about your project or funding needs that you choose to share, including through the free eligibility brief request or general enquiry forms.
• Correspondence between you and Better Funded, including emails and notes from calls or meetings.
• If you engage us for paid work, the further information reasonably needed to prepare a funding strategy, grant application or tender response, which you provide directly.
• Basic technical information generated by visiting our website, such as browser type, device type, and general usage patterns (see 'Cookies and website analytics' below).

We don't ask for or knowingly collect sensitive information (such as health, financial hardship, or similarly sensitive details about identifiable individuals) through our website forms. If a project genuinely requires us to handle sensitive information as part of an engagement, we'll agree the basis for that with you directly before it's shared.

03How we collect it

Most of the information we hold is provided directly by you, through the free eligibility brief request, the general enquiry form, our newsletter signup, email, phone or in person. Occasionally we may receive your details indirectly, for example if you're referred to us by someone you work with, or if your organisation's publicly available information (such as a website or annual report) helps us understand a project you've already asked us to look at.

04Why we collect, hold, use and disclose it

We use personal information to:

• Prepare and send your free eligibility brief.
• Respond to enquiries and communicate with you about a potential or existing engagement.
• Deliver funding strategy, grant writing, tender writing and related services once you've engaged us.
• Send the Funding Intelligence email, if you've subscribed to it (see 'Direct marketing' below).
• Maintain our own business records, including accounting and legal obligations.
• Improve this website and how we work, using aggregated or de-identified information where practical.

We don't sell personal information, and we don't disclose it to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

05Who we may share it with

We may disclose personal information to:

• Funders, assessors or program administrators, but only where sharing is a necessary part of the application, tender or proposal you've engaged us to prepare, and only to the extent you'd reasonably expect.
• Service providers who help us run our website, email and business systems (for example, hosting, email delivery and scheduling tools), under obligations to protect it appropriately.
• Professional advisers, such as our accountant or lawyer, where reasonably necessary.
• Regulators, courts or other parties where we're required to by law.

06Overseas disclosure

Some of the tools we use to run this website and manage correspondence (such as hosting, email and scheduling providers) may store information on servers located outside Australia, including in the United States, as is standard for widely used business software. Where this applies, we choose providers with appropriate security and privacy commitments. We'll update this section to name specific countries once our provider set is finalised.

07How we store and protect it

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information against misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, including restricting access to those who need it to do their work and using reputable, security-conscious service providers. No online system is completely immune from risk, and we'll let affected individuals know if we become aware of a data breach likely to result in serious harm.

08Cookies, analytics and advertising

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to count visits to this website and see how quickly pages load. Cloudflare says it doesn't use cookies or other storage in your browser to do this, and doesn't fingerprint visitors.

We also advertise some pages in Google search results through Google Ads. Google's tag on our pages sets cookies that store an identifier for you or for the ad click that brought you here. If you then click our email link or send our enquiry form, the tag sends that identifier back to Google, so we can see which ads led to an enquiry. Google explains its own use of this information in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings.

09Direct marketing and the Funding Intelligence email

If you subscribe to our Funding Intelligence email, we send it on the basis of the consent you give when you sign up, in line with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). Every email identifies Better Funded as the sender and includes a working unsubscribe link. You can opt out at any time, and we'll process that request promptly. We won't add you to this list simply because you've submitted an eligibility brief request or general enquiry.

10Accessing and correcting your information

You can ask us what personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it's wrong, by emailing andrew@betterfunded.com.au. We'll respond within a reasonable time, verify your identity where appropriate, and explain our reasons if we're unable to give you full access (for example, where doing so would unreasonably impact someone else's privacy).

11Making a complaint

If you think we've mishandled your personal information, contact us at andrew@betterfunded.com.au and we'll look into it and respond. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can raise the matter with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au, which is the independent body that oversees privacy in Australia.

12Retention, updates and contact

We keep personal information only as long as it's needed for the purposes described above, or as required by law (including standard tax and business record-keeping obligations), and take reasonable steps to delete or de-identify it afterwards. We may update this policy from time to time; the date at the top shows when it was last revised. If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your information, contact us at andrew@betterfunded.com.au.