AskPro Privacy Policy

AskPro is operated by Chattaboxx Pty Ltd (ABN 57 669 895 256), trading as AskPro (AskPro, we, us or our).

AskPro connects nonprofit and community organisations with professional volunteers, corporate partners, universities, students and other participants who can provide skills-based volunteering, advisory support and project assistance.

The information we collect depends on how you interact with AskPro.

Professional volunteers and individual members

• your name, email address, telephone number and location;
• your employer, job title, professional background, qualifications and experience;
• your areas of expertise, interests, availability and preferred types of volunteering;
• information you ask us to obtain from or create using a LinkedIn profile or other professional profile you provide;
• your profile photograph, biography and other information nominated for a public AskPro profile;
• details of requests, sessions or projects in which you participate;
• correspondence, feedback, testimonials and survey responses; and
• records relating to your account and participation.

Nonprofit and community organisation members

• the organisation’s name, location, size, activities and contact details;
• the names, positions and contact details of authorised representatives and staff involved in requests, sessions or projects;
• membership and account information;
• project briefs, requests for help, session information, project records and outcomes;
• correspondence, feedback, testimonials and survey responses; and
• information required to assess eligibility, suitability, impact or safeguarding needs.

Corporate, university and other partners

• organisation and business contact information;
• the names, positions and contact details of representatives, employees, academics, students, mentors and other participants;
• participation, engagement and impact information;
• contract, invoicing and payment administration information; and
• correspondence, feedback and reporting information.

Website visitors and other contacts

• information submitted through enquiry, registration, contact and newsletter forms;
• email correspondence and other communications;
• IP address, device type, browser type, approximate location and website usage data;
• cookie identifiers and information about how you interact with our website, emails and digital communications; and
• information supplied when you attend an event, webinar or other AskPro activity.

We do not normally retain complete payment card details. Payments may be handled by a third-party payment provider under its own privacy policy and security arrangements.

Some project briefs or communications may incidentally contain sensitive information, such as health information or information about a person’s racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, disability or membership of a professional association.

We ask members not to include personal or sensitive information about clients, beneficiaries, employees or other individuals unless it is genuinely necessary, they are authorised to share it and appropriate safeguards are in place. Project briefs should be anonymised wherever reasonably possible.

We will collect sensitive information only where you consent or where collection is otherwise permitted or required by law.

We usually collect personal information directly from you when you:

• create or update an account;
• submit or respond to a request;
• provide a LinkedIn URL or other professional profile;
• participate in a session, project, survey, event or program;
• communicate with AskPro; or
• consent to a profile, testimonial, photograph, video or case study.

We may also collect information from:

• your organisation, employer, university or another participating organisation;
• another participant involved in a request, session or project;
• corporate or university partners administering a program;
• publicly available professional sources, including information you direct us to review; and
• service providers that help us operate the website and services.

If you provide personal information about another person, you must have a reasonable basis for doing so and, where appropriate, make them aware that their information has been provided to AskPro.

Where practical, you may interact with us anonymously or using a pseudonym. However, we generally need accurate identity and contact information to create an account, verify eligibility, arrange a match or safely deliver AskPro services.

We may use personal information to:

• create, verify, administer and secure accounts;
• assess membership applications and requests for support;
• prepare or improve volunteer profiles and structured project briefs;
• identify and recommend potentially suitable matches;
• schedule, facilitate and manage advisory sessions and projects;
• communicate with participants and provide service notifications;
• manage corporate, university and community partnerships;
• monitor participation, quality, safety and compliance with our terms;
• respond to enquiries, complaints and requests;
• seek feedback and improve our website, services and participant experience;
• measure and report on participation and social impact;
• prepare aggregated or de-identified research, analysis and impact reporting;
• administer contracts, invoicing and business records;
• promote AskPro opportunities, activities and impact where permitted;
• prevent fraud, misuse and security incidents;
• comply with legal obligations and protect our lawful interests; and
• carry out other purposes explained at the time of collection or authorised by you.

We do not sell personal information.

To facilitate an introduction, session or project, we may share relevant information with prospective or confirmed participants. This may include names, roles, professional profiles, organisation information, contact details, project briefs, availability and session or project details.

We aim to share only information reasonably required for the proposed activity. Some limited profile information may be shown before a match is confirmed so participants can assess suitability.

Participants who receive personal information through AskPro must use it only for the relevant AskPro activity and handle it in accordance with applicable laws and the AskPro Membership Terms and Conditions.

With your permission, AskPro may publish profile information you nominate for publication, such as your name, organisation, role, photograph, professional experience, areas of expertise and description of your involvement. This information may appear on the AskPro website, social media and other AskPro communications.

We will seek additional permission before publishing confidential project details, an attributed testimonial, a substantive case study, or identifiable photographs or video that you did not provide for publication.

Information published online may be copied, indexed or shared by third parties outside AskPro’s control. You may withdraw permission for future use by contacting us. We will action reasonable requests within a reasonable period, although it may not be practical to recall printed material or remove every historical or third-party copy.

We may disclose personal information where reasonably necessary to:

• technology, website hosting, database, authentication and cloud-storage providers;
• email, communications, videoconferencing and scheduling providers;
• analytics, survey, customer relationship management and support providers;
• payment, accounting and professional advisory providers;
• AI service providers used to assist with functions such as drafting structured briefs or profiles, where those features are enabled;
• corporate, university or program partners involved in administering an activity;
• regulators, courts, law-enforcement bodies or government agencies where required or authorised by law; and
• a purchaser, successor or adviser in connection with a proposed or completed restructure, financing, merger or sale of all or part of our operations, subject to appropriate confidentiality arrangements.

Our service providers may use personal information only to provide services to us or as otherwise permitted by law. We do not authorise them to use AskPro member information for their own unrelated marketing.

AskPro may use artificial intelligence tools to help turn information supplied by members into draft profiles, structured project briefs, summaries, suggested matches or administrative content.

• the output may be incomplete or inaccurate and should be reviewed by a person before publication or reliance;
• members should not submit unnecessary sensitive, confidential or third-party personal information;
• information may be processed by an AI service provider acting on our behalf; and
• AskPro remains responsible for determining how the feature is used within its service.

We will not intentionally use identifiable member information to train a general-purpose public AI model unless we clearly disclose this and obtain any consent required by law.

Some technology and service providers used by AskPro may store or process information outside Australia or allow support personnel located overseas to access it.

Before publishing this policy, AskPro should confirm and insert the countries in which its principal hosting, authentication, email, analytics, scheduling, videoconferencing and AI providers are likely to process or access personal information. These may include: [insert confirmed countries].

Where required, we take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients handle personal information consistently with applicable Australian privacy requirements. However, privacy protections in another country may differ from those in Australia.

We may send members information about relevant AskPro opportunities, events, partnerships, services and impact where they have consented or where otherwise permitted by law.

You can opt out of marketing emails at any time by using the unsubscribe facility in the message or contacting support@askpro.com.au. We will process opt-out requests within a reasonable period and without charge.

Even if you opt out of marketing, we may still send necessary messages about your account, security, requests, matches, sessions, projects or changes affecting the service.

AskPro may use cookies and similar technologies to:

• operate and secure the website;
• remember preferences and login sessions;
• understand website traffic and usage;
• assess the performance of communications and campaigns; and
• improve the website and services.

Some cookies are necessary for the website to function. Others, including analytics or advertising cookies, should be managed through any cookie controls we make available and through your browser or device settings.

Disabling cookies may affect some website features. Where tracking technologies are used for targeted advertising or direct marketing, we will provide choices as required by applicable law.

We take reasonable steps to keep personal information accurate, complete and current, and to protect it from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

Our safeguards may include:

• access controls, account authentication and encryption supported by our service providers;
• staff access restrictions;
• secure cloud services;
• monitoring;
• backups; and
• procedures for responding to suspected incidents.

No online service or storage method is completely secure. Members are responsible for keeping passwords confidential and notifying us promptly if they suspect unauthorised use of their account.

If a data breach occurs, we will investigate and take appropriate action. Where the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme applies and a breach is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by law.

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including providing services, managing accounts and relationships, measuring impact, resolving disputes, maintaining security and meeting legal, insurance, accounting and reporting obligations.

Retention periods vary according to the type of information and the reason it is held. When personal information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to delete it or permanently de-identify it, unless the law permits or requires continued retention.

You may request account closure or deletion of personal information. We may need to retain limited records where required by law, necessary to establish or defend legal claims, or needed to maintain accurate security, consent, financial or participation records. Aggregated or de-identified information may also be retained.

You may ask to access personal information we hold about you or request that inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading information be corrected.

You can update some information through your account or contact support@askpro.com.au. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

We will respond within a reasonable period. If we refuse access or correction where the law permits us to do so, we will generally explain why and tell you about available complaint options. We will not charge for making a request. If a lawful charge could apply to providing access, we will explain it beforehand.

Where we rely on your consent, you may withdraw it by contacting support@askpro.com.au. Withdrawal applies to future handling and does not make earlier authorised handling unlawful.

Withdrawing consent may affect our ability to provide a particular feature or service. We will explain any practical consequences where relevant.

If you have a privacy concern or believe we have mishandled your personal information, please contact us using the details below and provide enough information for us to investigate.

We will acknowledge your complaint and aim to respond within 30 days. If we need more time, we will let you know. We will explain the outcome of our review and any action we propose to take.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may be entitled to complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Information about making a privacy complaint is available at www.oaic.gov.au.

The AskPro website may contain links to third-party websites or services. AskPro is not responsible for the privacy practices of those third parties. You should review their privacy policies before providing personal information.

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to our services, technology or legal obligations. The current version will be published on the AskPro website with its effective date.

If a change materially affects how we handle existing personal information, we will take reasonable steps to notify affected users, such as through the platform or by email.