Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

We are the Whau Mental Health Research Foundation, a registered charity under the Charities Act 2005 having its registered address at Building 1, Unit A, 100 Bush Road, Rosedale, Auckland (we, us, our, the Foundation).  

This privacy policy sets out how we collect, store, use, and disclose your personal information.  We need to collect, store, use and disclose your personal information in order to consider your application for a mental health research grant, provide you with any research grants that we award you, liaise with you regarding any grants awarded to you, receive donations from you, send you and others marketing communications, and to receive messages from you.  

2. The information that we collect

When you use our website, apply for a research grant, donate to us, subscribe to our mailing list, or contact us (either directly or via our contact form), we’ll collect, hold, use and disclose information about you or that may identify you.  

The types of information we may collect about you are:   

• Identity information: including first name, last name, your photograph, and your host institution or organisation details.
• Contact information: including billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Research grant application details:  including title of your research, a summary of the research, your CV, and other information you give us in an application for a research grant.
• Financial information: including bank account and/or payment card details.  Please note that donations are processed using an external third party payment processor and your payment details for such donations are not stored by us.
• Transaction information: including details about payments to and from you and other details of research funds granted to you and/or donations given by you to us.
• Queries: including any information you provide to us when you contact us (either directly or via our contact form).
• Technical information: including entry ID, entry date, source URL, post ID and user agent details. 
• Marketing and communications information: including your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.

You can choose not to provide this information to us, but that may impact the functionality of the website and our ability to provide you with a grant or receive donations from you. 

3. How we collect information

We use different methods to collect personal information from and about you:

• You may give us your personal information by filling in an application form for a research grant, donating to us, signing up to our mailing list and corresponding with us.
• As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect information about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns.  We collect this personal information by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies.  Please see section 5 below for further information about how we use cookies.
• We may also receive personal information about you from others, including:
  • If you are applying for a research grant from us, we may contact others, including your referees, to provide information about you.
  • If you are helping a research grant applicant with their research or if you are a referee for the applicant, the applicant may give us your name, host institution or organisation, and contact details.

If you provide us with information about someone else, you agree that you have told them about the disclosure to us and have the necessary consents to share their personal information with us.

4. Why we use your information

We will use your information to: 

• consider your application for a research grant and notify you of the result of your application;
• liaise with you regarding grants awarded to you including payment of grant funds and reporting about your project;
• receive donations from you;
• comply with our legal, regulatory, tax and/or accounting requirements; 
• keep an accurate record of our interactions with you for such period as that record may reasonably be required by us; 
• monitor the use of, and improve, our website; 
• contact you and others about our recent activities, including details about research we have funded. You can unsubscribe from any marketing communications from us by following the instructions on any communications sent to you.  You can also exercise this right at any time by contacting us using the details at the end of this privacy policy;
• carry out marketing analysis; and  
• assist with any queries, requests or complaints that you may have. 

We may also need to share your personal information with: 

• our marketing subscribers and the wider public if you are a research grant recipient (unless you ask us not to).  We will only share your name, host institution, research title, a lay summary of your research, the grant amount, and a photo of you;
• our service providers and suppliers to enable our use of your information for the purposes set out above; and
• anyone who we need to share information with by reason of law or to address any complaints you make to a third party or regulator (such as the Privacy Commissioner).  

5. Cookies

We may use cookies and other interactive techniques such as web beacons to collect information about how you use our website for the purposes of: 

• providing you with a more enjoyable, customised service and experience on our website; 
• enabling you to use certain services on our website; and 
• helping us manage security and fraud risks. 

We may also use persistent cookies so that you can set your preferences for using our website.  

You can usually set the settings on your browser to let you know when you are offered cookies so that you can decide whether or not to accept them.  However, if you disable or refuse cookies, please be aware that some parts of this website may not function properly.

6. How we store and protect your information

We will use reasonable security safeguards to protect information we hold against loss, access, use, modification and unauthorised disclosure.

We only retain information for as long as we legitimately need it for, or as long as we are legally required to.  We will de-identify and aggregate information wherever possible.

7. Your rights

You have rights to see and request the correction of any personal information we hold about you.  If you want to exercise these rights or to ask us questions about this privacy policy, please contact us using the following details: 

Whau Mental Health Research Foundation C/o Sophie Morris

Email address: info@whaufoundation.org.nz

Postal address: PO Box 302499, North Harbour, Auckland 0751. 

There may be charges associated with providing copies of your personal information to you.  We will always advise you of those charges in advance.  

This privacy policy is governed by New Zealand law.  For more information about privacy issues in New Zealand and protecting your privacy, visit the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner’s website.  

Changes to this Privacy Policy 

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and will provide notice of changes to this privacy policy on our website and, if you are subscribed to our mailing list, through email notice to you. 

This version was last updated on 11 August 2025. Historic versions can be obtained by contacting us on the details above.