Privacy Policy
How TOPS collects, uses, and protects your personal information
This policy explains what we collect from donors, staff, volunteers, contractors, and the children and families we serve — and the rights you hold over that information.
Tahanan Outreach Projects and Services (TOPS) has developed this Privacy Policy to protect your privacy and to demonstrate our commitment to keeping your personal information safe. It covers TOPS' responsibilities, your rights, the information that may be collected, and how it might be used.
Personal information is any information or opinion that identifies you, and may include sensitive information. What we collect depends on your relationship with TOPS — whether you're a beneficiary, business partner, donor, member of the public, online visitor, or part of TOPS personnel (including volunteers, employees, delegates, and prospective staff).
Our primary purpose in collecting personal information is to provide services to children — planning, funding, monitoring, and evaluating those services. TOPS takes reasonable steps to keep the information it collects, uses, retains, or discloses accurate, complete, up to date, and protected from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure.
01 Overview & purpose
This policy applies across every channel through which TOPS interacts with the public — our programs, our office, and our website — and to everyone whose information we hold, from a first-time donor to a long-serving volunteer.
02 What information is collected, and how
TOPS collects and retains personal information about:
- Donors
- Staff
- Volunteers
- Contractors
- Job applicants
- People receiving a service from TOPS
- Other people who come into contact with TOPS
This includes, without limitation:
- Names and addresses
- Bank account details or credit card information, for donations and bank direct debits
- Dates of birth
- Telephone numbers
- Email addresses
- Information from previous employers
We collect it through forms, face-to-face meetings and interviews, telephone calls, facsimiles, email, and sometimes through contractors or consultants acting on our behalf.
Our collection standard
Only information necessary for TOPS' activities will be collected and recorded. Information given to us in confidence remains confidential.
Some third-party companies with which we hold accounts, and to which we link from our own content — including Facebook and other social media platforms — may track your activity if you click through to them.
03 Do we use cookies?
Yes. Cookies are small pieces of data sent to your browser by TOPS when you visit our website, and stored on your computer's hard drive. We use them to collect non-identifying information about our visitors — such as browsing behavior or preferences — and to recognize you on your next visit. By using our website, subscribing to our services, or donating online, you agree that we can place cookies on your device.
You can configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is sent — check your browser's "Help" menu for instructions. Note that disabling, removing, or rejecting cookies from our website or linked sites may prevent parts of the website from working as intended.
04 Personal information provided by other people
TOPS may also receive personal information from third parties — for example, references or referrals, advertising networks, payment and delivery services, sub-contractors, or other TOPS entities. Information received this way forms part of the personal information described throughout this policy.
05 How TOPS uses personal information
TOPS collects, holds, uses, and discloses your personal information for purposes including, without limitation:
- To verify your identity
- To provide programs to you, and to manage, account for, and improve those programs
- To report to government or other funding bodies on how funding is used
- To process donations and provide receipts
- To manage our relationship with you
- To communicate with you about how your donation is used, or about events, causes, programs, products, or services we believe may interest you
- To respond to your feedback, questions, or complaints
- To facilitate our international business operations
- To share information with third-party service providers in connection with any of the above
TOPS does not otherwise disclose personal information without your permission, unless the disclosure is made in accordance with this Privacy Policy or any agreement you enter into with us, or is required or authorized by law in the Philippines, including international law.
06 Storage & overseas transfer
Wherever reasonably practicable, TOPS stores personal information on data servers owned and controlled by TOPS and/or our third-party service providers. Some information, however, may be transferred, stored, processed, used, or disclosed overseas — where our service providers are located overseas, or where use or disclosure overseas is required for the purpose the information was originally conveyed to us.
07 How we protect your personal information
We take appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial measures to keep your information secure, accurate, and up to date, and to retain it only as long as reasonable and necessary.
No transmission of information over the internet is ever completely secure, and while we apply appropriate safeguards once your information reaches us, we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to our website — any transmission is at the user's own risk.
Payment data
Any payment card details we receive through our website — credit or debit card information — are passed securely to our payment processing provider in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Security Standards.
08 Access, correction & privacy complaints
You may, at any time:
- Request access to and seek correction of your personal information held by TOPS
- Make a complaint about a breach of your privacy
- Submit a query or concern about this Privacy Policy or TOPS' information handling processes
You'll be asked to provide proof of identity before we grant access to your personal information. TOPS aims to respond within a reasonable period of receiving a valid request.
Every privacy complaint we receive is treated seriously, handled promptly, and kept confidential. Once we begin investigating, we'll let you know the outcome within a reasonable period after the investigation concludes.
09 Communication preferences
To update your communication preferences with us — including choosing not to receive further information — please contact our Supporter Care team by email at info@topsincph.org or by writing to Tahanan Outreach Project And Services Inc, 2589 Sta. Clara, Santa Ana, Manila, 1009 Metro Manila.
We can change the types of communications you receive from us, or stop them altogether. Please allow 28 days for your request to be processed and your preferences to take effect.