Privacy policy (POPIA)

1. Who we are

Dream Chasers is a registered non-profit organisation (NPO 308-919) working with young people through arts, culture and skills development. We are the responsible party for the personal information described in this notice.

2. Information we collect

We only collect information we genuinely need, which may include:

• Contact details you give us — name, email address, phone number and message content when you use our enquiry, volunteer or partnership forms.
• Programme participation details — for young people joining a programme: name, age or date of birth, guardian contact details, and any medical or accessibility information needed to keep participants safe.
• Giving information — the amount, frequency and designation of a donation, plus an email address if you ask for a receipt. Card details are handled entirely by our payment provider and never reach our website.
• Photos and video from public events and programme activities, used only where consent has been given.
• Basic technical information such as pages visited, used to keep the site working and secure.

3. Why we process it (lawful basis)

We process personal information to run our programmes, respond to enquiries, manage volunteers and partners, process and acknowledge donations, meet our reporting duties as an NPO, and share news with people who have asked to hear from us.

Depending on the purpose, we rely on your consent, on the performance of an agreement with you, on compliance with a legal obligation, or on our legitimate interests as a non-profit organisation.

4. Children's information

Many of the young people we work with are under 18. We collect a child's personal information only with the consent of a parent, legal guardian or other competent person, we limit it to what is needed for participation and safety, and we do not publish a child's identifying details or photographs without that consent. Consent can be withdrawn at any time.

5. Sharing your information

We do not sell personal information. We share it only where necessary: with service providers who help us operate (for example website hosting, email and payment processing), with funders or auditors in aggregated or anonymised form for reporting, and where the law requires it. Where information leaves South Africa through a service provider, we take reasonable steps to ensure comparable protection.

6. How we keep it safe

We apply reasonable technical and organisational safeguards, restrict access to those who need it, and use reputable providers with encrypted connections. No system is perfect, but if a compromise affects your personal information we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by POPIA.

7. How long we keep it

We keep personal information only as long as needed for the purpose it was collected, or as long as the law requires (for example financial and donation records). After that it is deleted or de-identified.

8. Your rights

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• Ask what personal information we hold about you and request a copy.
• Ask us to correct or delete information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive or out of date.
• Withdraw consent, including consent to photographs or to receiving our updates.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa.

9. Contact us about your information

To exercise any of these rights, or to ask a question about this notice, email info@dreamchasers.org.za or call +27 75 950 1907. We will respond within a reasonable time and may ask you to verify your identity first.

Information Regulator (South Africa): enquiries can be made via the Regulator's official channels at inforeg.org.za.