Last updated: February 5, 2026
Our Commitment
The IWK Foundation is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of its donors, volunteers, potential supporters and other stakeholders (“you” or “your”), including those residing in Quebec. We value the trust of those with whom we deal and of the public and recognize that maintaining this trust requires that we be transparent and accountable in how we treat the information that you choose to share with us. For Quebec residents, we comply with Quebec's Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector, as amended by Law 25.
What we collect
The Foundation collects and maintains a limited amount of personal information about you, which you provide to us voluntarily when you: contact us by phone, mail, email, in person or on our website, register for an event, make a donation, or use our website. For example, when you make a donation, we ask you to provide the personal information we require in order to process your gift and issue a charitable tax receipt.
That information may include information such as your first and last names, mailing address, telephone number, email address, credit card information, information about events you attend and mailings/publications you receive, and other information provided by you. You are always in control of your personal information and you can refuse to allow us to collect personal information about you. Your refusal may result in our inability to process donations, issue tax receipts, or provide certain services to you. The consent you give us to collect or process your personal information may be withdrawn at any time by contacting us as indicated in the "Contact Us" section below. We will respect your choice in accordance with our legal obligations. From time to time, we may collect personal information from you, or use your personal information, in ways not described above, but only if we obtain your express approval.
We may also collect non-personal information about you, which is information that does not personally identify you, including information that is anonymized, aggregated or publicly available when not combined with non-public information about you, or website visitor data (more on this below).
We do not have access to patient records or medical information within the IWK or any part of the Nova Scotia Health Authority.
How we use your information
If you choose to provide your personal information, we may use it to:
Contact you as needed or to respond to your inquiries or comments
Process your donation and issue a charitable tax receipt
Provide you with updates about the Foundation and its work
Plan future fundraising events or activities
Allow you to register or sign-up for events or to receive products
Obtain your feedback via surveys
Analyze giving patterns
Promote opportunities for you to support the Foundation
Communications
We may use your address or email address to contact you with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information that relates to our work; however, we will do so only if you have agreed or opted-in to receive electronic communication materials from us.
Periodic mailings or e-mails on IWK Foundation’s services or events may be sent to individuals. You have the right to withdraw your consent to receive these communications at any time. If you do not wish to receive these mailings, please let us know by email, phone or a letter using the contact information provided in the "Contact Us" section.
Security Measures
IWK Foundation has implemented physical, technological and organizational security measures to adequately protect the confidentiality and security of your personal information against loss, theft or any unauthorized access, disclosure, reproduction, communication, use or modification. These measures include controlling access to our offices and equipment, setting up a secure connection between your device and our server on our website, making our employees aware of this policy, obtaining their commitment to comply with it and to respect the confidentiality of your personal information, and adopting governance measures aimed in particular at the secure storage and destruction of your personal information.
In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those staff members who need it to perform their duties. These people only have access to the information they need to perform their duties.
Despite the adoption of such measures, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your personal information. If you have reason to believe that your personal Information is no longer secure, please contact us immediately as indicated in the "Contact us" section.
Our Website
In order to prevent unauthorized access and ensure proper use of information, we use password protocols and encryption software to protect personal and other information. Our software is routinely updated to maximize protection of such information.
By using the Foundation website, you agree to the collection and use of your information in accordance with this policy.
Limitation of Liability
IWK Foundation undertakes to take all reasonable measures to ensure a level of confidentiality and security of personal information in accordance with technological standards appropriate to its sector of activity and the sensitivity of the data collected.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, you acknowledge that no computer system offers absolute security and that there is always a degree of risk involved in transmitting personal information over the public Internet.
You agree that IWK Foundation cannot be held responsible for any breach of confidentiality, hacking, virus, loss, theft, misuse or alteration of Personal Information transmitted or hosted on its systems or those of a third party. You also agree to waive all claims in this regard, except in the case of gross negligence or intentional misconduct on the part of IWK Foundation. Accordingly, you agree to hold IWK Foundation and its officers, directors, affiliates and business partners harmless from any damages of any kind, whether direct or indirect, incidental, special or consequential, arising out of the use of your personal information.
In the event of a privacy incident involving your personal information that poses a high risk to your rights and liberty, you will be notified of such breach as soon as possible, and we will take appropriate steps to preserve the confidentiality and security of your personal information.
Cookies and other Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar technologies (collectively, "Cookies") to help us operate, protect and optimize the website and the services we offer. You can set your browser to notify you when you visit the website, so that you can decide whether or not to accept some or all cookies.
Among the Cookies we collect via our site are the following:
Essential or technical cookies: These are cookies that are essential for the operation of the website, enabling good communication and facilitating browsing. Also known as functionality cookies, they enable the website to communicate effectively and facilitate navigation by remembering the choices you make (such as your user name, preferred language, etc.) to provide you with a personalized and enhanced experience on future visits.
Statistical or analytical cookies: These cookies enable us to recognize and count the number of visitors to our site, and to monitor their browsing behavior. This improves user navigation and makes it easier for them to find what they're looking for.
Performance cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors use the website. They are used to evaluate and improve the content and performance of the website (e.g. by counting the number of visitors, identifying the most popular pages or clicks), and to better match commercial proposals to the user's personal preferences.
Tracking cookies (Google Analytics): the website uses tracking cookies via Google Analytics, in order to help us measure the ways in which users interact with the content of the website, and which generates visit statistics. These statistics enable us to continually improve the website and offer users relevant content. We use Google Analytics to gain an overview of website traffic, the origin of this traffic and the pages visited. This means that Google acts as a subcontractor. The information collected by Google Analytics is generated as anonymously as possible. For example, it is not possible to identify individual visitors to the website. For further information, the user is invited to consult Google's data protection policy, available at the following address: http://www.google.nl/intl/en_uk/policies/privacy.
The length of time cookies are kept varies according to their type: essential cookies are generally kept until the browser is closed, while functional cookies remain valid for 1 year and performance cookies for 4 years.
We authorize public search engines to visit our website via crawlers for the sole purpose of making access and content of the Website available via their search engines, without granting us the right to archive the website. We reserve the right to withdraw the authorization as formulated in this article at any time.
Cookie Management
Most browsers are configured to accept cookies automatically, but all allow you to customize the settings according to your preferences.
If you do not wish our website to place cookies on your computer or mobile device, you can easily manage or delete them by modifying your browser settings.
You can also set your browser to notify you when it receives a cookie, so that you can decide whether or not to accept it.
If you wish to block and/or manage certain cookies, you can do so by following the link for your browser:
If you do not wish to accept cookies from Google Analytics, you can do so via the cookie message that appears on your first visit to our website, or by customizing your browser settings to refuse cookies.
To stop being tracked by Google Analytics on any website, please visit the following website: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.
If you deactivate certain cookies, it is possible that some parts of the site may not be available for consultation and/or use or may only be partially available.
Third-party websites
Our website may contain links to other websites. When you click on one of these links, you enter another site for which we have no responsibility. We recommend the user to read the privacy policies of all these sites as they may differ from ours. We therefore accept no responsibility for the content and activities of these sites. We strongly advise you not to publish any Personal Information about yourself on social media in order to ensure the protection of your personal data.
Disclosure of Personal Information
In the course of our activities, we make your personal information available to our employees, consultants or agents whose duties so require.
Although we try to avoid sharing your personal information with third parties, we may use service providers to perform various services on our behalf, such as IT management and security, HR management, auditing, marketing, and data analysis, hosting and storage. In such circumstances, we provide only the personal information necessary for the performance of their mandate, and we are committed to ensuring that the principles set out in this policy are respected.
In addition, these service providers provide us with sufficient guarantees that they have implemented adequate safeguards for the protection of your personal information processed or communicated before your personal information is communicated to them. When our service providers no longer need your personal information, we ask them to destroy it in an appropriate manner.
The personal information we collect and store remains protected and is securely hosted on servers that may be located outside Quebec, notably in Canada and the United States.
We may also share, transfer or communicate, strictly in accordance with this policy, your personal information with third parties when required by law or as part of a business transaction involving the transfer or assignment, in whole or in part, of the Foundation or its assets, in part or in whole. In such a case, and in the event that the transaction is completed, we will inform you before your personal information is governed by another privacy policy.
We do not sell, trade or otherwise disclose your personal information to third parties, subject to exceptions provided by law.
Retention and Destruction of Information
The Foundation complies with all applicable federal and provincial privacy laws, including Quebec, and with the Foundation's internal policies governing the retention, management and destruction of your information. We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, unless you consent to it being used for another purpose or as required by law. After this period, your personal information will be securely destroyed or anonymized.
Accessing and Correcting Your Personal Information
You can review and request changes to the personal information that we have collected about you by contacting us by email, phone or a letter. Please be aware that we may not accommodate a change request that would affect record retention or other operational requirements, violate any law or legal requirement, or cause the information to be incorrect.
Individuals Under 14 Years of Age
We do collect or use personal information from persons under the age of 14. If you are under 14 years of age, you must not provide us with your personal information without the consent of your parent or guardian.
If you are a parent or guardian and become aware that your child has provided us with personal information without consent, please contact us as described in the "Contact Us" section to request that we delete that child's personal information from our systems.
Your Rights Regarding Your Personal Information (Quebec Residents)
If you are a Quebec resident, the law provides you with the following rights regarding your personal information:
Access: You have the right to be informed of the personal information we hold about you and to request access to or copies of documents containing your personal information, subject to exceptions provided by applicable law.
Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct, amend, or update your personal information if it is incomplete, inaccurate, equivocal, or out of date.
Withdrawal: You have the right to withdraw or modify your consent for us to collect, use, disclose, or retain your personal information at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions. However, withdrawing consent may limit our ability to provide certain services to you.
Deindexing: You have the right to request that we cease disseminating your personal information and de-index any hyperlink attached to your name that allows access to your personal information, if such dissemination contravenes the law or a court order.
File a Complaint: You have the right to file a complaint with the IWK Foundation regarding our handling of your personal information, or to file a complaint directly with Quebec's Commission d'accès à l'information.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information in the "Contact Us" section below. We may require you to provide appropriate identification to verify your identity before responding to your request, as permitted or required by law. We will respond to your request within the timeframes required by applicable law.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to modify this policy at any time in accordance with applicable law. In the event of a change, we will post the revised version of our privacy policy, update its effective date, and provide notice of the update on the home page of our website. The notice will indicate the date of its publication, the general purpose of the changes made and the date on which the changes take effect.
We encourage you to review this policy whenever you access our website to stay informed about our safeguards and practices for handling your personal information.
If you do not agree to the new terms of the privacy policy, please do not continue to use our website and services. If you choose to continue using our website or services after the new version of our policy becomes effective, your use of our website and services will be governed by the new version of the policy.
Contact Us
Privacy Officer
IWK Foundation
2738 Clifton Street, Suite 300
Halifax NS B3K 0K8
Canada
Contact Us | IWK Foundation
Phone:
(902) 470-8085
1-800-595-2266
Fax:
(902) 470-8000
Hours of Operation:
Monday - Friday
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.