Invest Rural is the trading name of JDC Innovations Pty Ltd, ABN 22 699 658 501 (we, us, our). We are committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. Where a government funds one of our events, we also follow the state privacy rules set out in that funding agreement.
Please read this policy before you give us your personal information. When you register you are asked to agree to this policy. Our ticket form also asks separately about marketing and photos. Saying no to either will not affect your registration.
1. The information we collect
The personal information we collect may include:
- your name, email address, phone number and postal address
- your job title, business or company name and website
- the events and tickets you register for, what you paid and whether you checked in on the day
- dietary requirements and accessibility needs
- your age range, gender identity, local government area and whether you identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
- information about your business, such as industry, stage, number of employees, turnover, investment history and whether it is First Nations owned
- for investors, your investor type, the stages and industries you invest in and the size of investment you typically make
- for speakers and funders, your bio, headshot, company logo, panel details, travel and accommodation details, frequent flyer number and an emergency contact
- photos and video of you at our events, where you have agreed
- your feedback, survey answers and any story you share with us about what came out of an event
- any other information you choose to give us when you contact us or complete one of our forms
Card payments are made directly through Stripe. We see that a payment was made but we do not see or store your full card number.
If you give us the details of another person, such as an emergency contact, please let them know and point them to this policy.
When you visit our website we may also collect limited technical information automatically, such as your device type, browser and general location, through standard web server logs and Google Analytics.
You do not have to give us your personal information. If you choose not to, we may not be able to register you for an event or provide you with what you have asked for.
2. Sensitive information
Some of what we collect is sensitive information. This includes whether you identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and health related details such as accessibility needs. Dietary requirements can also reveal health or religious information, so we treat them with the same care.
We only collect sensitive information with your consent. We use it only for the purpose you gave it to us, such as catering, accessibility and reporting to our funding partners. Our reports to funding partners use totals and unidentified data. We do not use sensitive information for marketing.
3. How we collect your information
We usually collect personal information directly from you, through our website, our registration and RSVP forms, email, phone or in person at our events. Our forms are provided through Fillout and payments are processed through Stripe.
In some cases we collect information from third parties, such as event partners or someone who has referred you to us. We also collect business contact details from public sources, such as company websites, business directories and LinkedIn, so we can tell businesses about events that may be relevant to them.
4. Why we collect, use and disclose your information
We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information to:
- register you for our events and manage your attendance
- process your payment and issue receipts and tax invoices
- communicate with you about your registration, logistics and event updates
- arrange travel, accommodation and catering where relevant
- report attendance and outcomes to our funding and delivery partners
- promote our events, including with speaker profiles and with photos, video and stories where you have agreed
- ask for your feedback after an event, including by survey for up to a year afterwards
- tell you about our events and services, as set out in section 8
- improve our events, website and services
- meet our legal and reporting obligations
5. Photos, video and public profiles
We have photographers and may film at our events. We use photos and video to promote future events, including on our website and social media. Our ticket and speaker forms ask whether you agree to appear in them. If you say no, we give you a marker on your name tag so our photographers can avoid you. If you were not asked or you change your mind, tell us by email or speak to our team on the day and we will do the same.
If you are a speaker, funder or partner we may publish your name, role, bio, headshot and logo on our website and in event promotion, using the details you give us for that purpose.
We only publish a story about what came out of an event with your permission.
6. Who we share your information with
We may disclose your personal information to:
- our service providers, listed below
- contractors who help us run and promote our events, such as photographers and social media support
- our funding and delivery partners, including Investment NSW, the Queensland Government and the organisations that hold those funding agreements, for reporting, acquittal and audit
- travel, accommodation, venue and catering providers, where needed to deliver your event experience
- professional advisers and government or law enforcement bodies, where required or authorised by law
Our service providers include Fillout (forms), Airtable (data storage), Stripe (payments), Xero (invoicing and accounting), Netlify (website hosting) and Google (email, calendar, documents and website analytics).
We also use AI tools to help our team prepare emails, documents and event logistics. These tools may process personal information we hold. We do not use them to make decisions about you that have a legal or similarly significant effect.
Event partners and sponsors. We may share your name with our event partners and sponsors. We do not share your contact details with them, such as your email address or phone number.
Queensland Government. If you register for our Goondiwindi event, we may give your contact details to the Queensland Government and its evaluators so they can evaluate the funding program and tell you about related programs. You can tell us at any time if you would rather we did not.
We do not sell your personal information.
7. Overseas disclosure
Some of our service providers store and process information outside Australia, mainly in the United States. This includes Fillout, Airtable, Stripe, Netlify, Google and our AI tools. Providers may also use facilities in other countries.
Members of our team sometimes work from overseas. One of our co-founders is based in Thailand and accesses our systems from there.
Where we disclose your information overseas, we take reasonable steps to make sure it is handled consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.
8. Direct marketing
If you have agreed, we may send you information about our events and services by email. We may also email businesses whose contact details are publicly available, where an event is relevant to what they do.
Every marketing email tells you how to opt out. You can opt out at any time by replying to the email with the word unsubscribe and we will not email you again. You can also email us at jo@investrural.com.au. We will stop as soon as we can and within five working days.
We can still send you messages about an event you have registered for.
9. Cookies and website analytics
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to help it work properly and to understand how visitors use it. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, though some parts of the site may not work as intended if you do.
We use Google Analytics to understand how people find and use our website, such as which pages they visit and how long they stay. Google Analytics uses cookies to do this. It reports to us in totals and does not tell us who you are. You can opt out on any website by installing the Google Analytics opt out add-on for your browser.
Our pages also load fonts and video previews from Google and YouTube. Our forms load from Fillout. These services can see basic technical information such as your internet address when they load.
Our post-event survey is anonymous unless you choose to leave your email in the optional box at the end.
10. How we store and protect your information
We hold your personal information in secure systems provided by our service providers. We take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. No system is completely secure. We cannot guarantee the absolute security of information sent over the internet.
If a data breach is likely to cause serious harm, we will tell the people affected and the relevant regulators as the law requires.
11. How long we keep your information
We keep event and financial records for at least seven years after the funding agreement for that event ends, because our funding agreements and the law require it. When we no longer need your information we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.
12. Accessing and correcting your information
You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you. You can also ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. To make a request, email us at jo@investrural.com.au. We aim to respond within 30 days. There is no charge to make a request, though in some cases we may charge a reasonable fee for giving access.
13. Complaints
If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us at jo@investrural.com.au and we will do our best to resolve it. We aim to respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on our website, with the date it was last updated shown at the top.
15. Contact us
If you have any questions about this policy or your personal information, contact us at:
Invest Rural (JDC Innovations Pty Ltd, ABN 22 699 658 501)
Email: jo@investrural.com.au