Alumni and Friends Privacy Notice
Development and Alumni Relations Division
Stellenbosch University
Our alumni and friends of Stellenbosch University (SU) are extremely important to us. We want to stay in touch with you and keep your personal data in accordance with your wishes. This privacy notice explains how we use personal data that Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) collects from our alumni and friends.
It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep your personal information updated during your relationship with us by emailing us at alumni@sun.ac.za.
How do we collect personal information?
- If you studied at SU, data collected by the University during your time as a student are transferred from your student record to the DAR database upon your graduation. This is to keep you informed about events, networking and volunteering opportunities as well as any other activities organised by your alma mater.
- If you have supported (financially or in-kind) or volunteered at SU, we will retain the personal data provided by you during the interaction. This is to keep you informed of the impact of your support and to offer you further opportunities to engage with the University.
- If you have received financial support through philanthropic income obtained by DAR, we will collect the personal data for the purpose of reporting to the donor and the institution.
- If you have responded to invitations to events, we may store the information you recorded on personal preferences and the events you attended.
What personal data will be processed?
- If you studied at the University, we process biographical, contact and education details collected by the University during your time as a student. If you resided at an SU-affiliated residence or formed part of a private student organisation, we will also collect your details as described above.
- If you have supported the University as a donor or friend, the data we process are your personal contact details, your affiliation, as well as your communication preferences.
- We may also collect and keep personal information derived from publicly available sources (either directly or through internet search functions). These public sources may include LinkedIn, Twitter, Graduway, and other business-related resources, including company websites.
Examples of categories of personal data which we may hold
- Biographical/contact details such as your name, postal/e-mail address and telephone number, date of birth, nationality, marital status and student number;
- Educational details such as the courses you attended and completed, the dates of study, the residences you lived in, the clubs and societies you were affiliated to, and whether you received any financial assistance (bursaries) while you studied;
- Professional details such as your employer, occupation and work address;
- Any preferences provided by you for a specific purpose, for instance access requirements or other adjustments and dietary preferences for event management purposes, and your communication preferences;
- Philanthropic details such as your history of donations (of both time or money) made to SU, your areas of philanthropic interest, and your publicly known philanthropy;
- Engagement details such as your membership of clubs, societies and alumni groups, your attendance at SU events, your relationships with other alumni, friends of SU, and publicly-known relationships with non-university stakeholders;
- Photographs such as the ones we have taken at events, or to accompany a published interview, sport club photographs, and those that are in a public domain.
What is the purpose of the processing?
Most personal data that we hold is the information you have provided to the University or information that is in the public domain. We only process data for specific purposes and if it is justified in accordance with the Protection of Privacy of Information Act (POPIA), Act 4 of 2013.
In general terms, we process your personal data to improve your experience and engagement with the University as a supporter and/or member of our alumni community.
We also process personal data for the following purposes:
- To generate philanthropic support for strategic SU projects. More specifically, these activities may include:
- Circulating publications (e.g. Matieland and PHAMBILI), forwarding updates on events on campus, and sending out e-mail newsletters about the University and its fundraising projects in a way that is tailored and relevant to you;
- Helping you keep in touch with other alumni and/or University supporters and donors by inviting you to alumni reunions, and University events;
- Sending information on concerts and sports events that involve SU groups so that you may buy tickets from external event organisers (through Computicket, Webtickets or Quicket);
- Informing you of the benefits available to alumni, for instance career advice and educational programmes, after graduation;
- Asking if you would like to support SU (e.g. by donating, contributing to surveys, volunteering, or acting as a mentor);
- Thanking you for any gifts of time and money that support the University’s causes;
- Undertaking any necessary research for our due diligence in alignment with our gift acceptance policy; and
- Performing internal record-keeping and administration (e.g. to process a donation or administer an event that you wish to attend).
- To validate your address and to prepare reports using maps by ‘geocoding’ your address to present global alumni distribution.
- To publish photographs and videos relating to our activities and events.
- To compile anonymised statistics for ranking/league tables in which SU participates.
We may occasionally carry out wealth screening. This involves using trusted third parties who on our behalf review information that is in the public domain to give an indication of the financial giving capacity of individuals. We never use the data produced through this exercise as the sole basis for sending out communication. However, this is a starting point for further research we carry out about a person to identify if they may be interested in supporting SU, and may include any previous engagement with SU, their philanthropic interests, and previous donations. This enables us to contact only those individuals whose interests we believe align with our fundraising mission.
What is the legal basis of processing?
We consider the processing of your personal data for the above purposes to be necessary:
- in the pursuit of SU’s legitimate interests in fundraising and alumni engagement to maintain a strong relationship with our alumni and supporters;
- to enable SU to meet its legal obligations and to comply with the relevant legislation;
- for performing tasks that are carried out in the public interest or for exercising our official authority, e.g. for the Graduate Employability Rankings; and
- occasionally only, when it is needed to protect your or another person’s vital interests and you are not capable of giving your consent (e.g. in an emergency).
How do we store your data and keep it secure?
Your data is stored securely on our database that is accessed by employees with strict user rights imposed.
Within SU, your data is shared with only those parties who need access for the purpose of rendering our alumni and supporter activities. Your personal data is held securely on the DAR database, which is restricted to nominated employees.
Your personal data as required will be shared on a need-to-know and confidential basis with parties only if they are able to assist with our alumni and supporter activities. These parties act on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions outlined and are not allowed to process your data for any other purpose other than the requested purpose. These parties are required to complete a non-disclosure agreement and to confirm that the data will be kept secure.
It may be necessary for us to share your personal data with third parties from time to time as follows:
- Third parties engaged by SU to provide alumni, supporter and fundraising related services – we share biographical, contact and education details, professional details, volunteering and philanthropic details;
- Event venue providers – names, dietary requirements and assistance related information;
- The Registrar and Bursary Office; and
- Occasionally and when necessary, internal and external auditors.
We ensure that we have appropriate data sharing and/or processing agreements in place before we share your personal data with any other data controllers.
We do not sell your personal data to third parties under any circumstances or permit third parties to sell the data we share with them.
How long do we keep your data?
We will retain most of your data indefinitely in support of your lifelong relationship with SU.
This privacy notice is reviewed when necessary and at least annually.
This privacy notice is under review to ensure that we disclose our POPIA compliancy practices sufficiently.
August 2021