PRIVACY POLICY

Islamic Help Pakistan respects the privacy, dignity, and confidentiality of every person who interacts with us. This includes donors, supporters, volunteers, beneficiaries, children, families, staff, consultants, suppliers, partners, visitors to our website, and members of the wider public.

This Privacy Policy explains how Islamic Help Pakistan collects, uses, stores, protects, shares, and manages personal information through its website, online donation systems, forms, campaigns, communications, field programmes, events, social media platforms, and other digital or physical interactions.

We are committed to handling personal information responsibly, lawfully, fairly, and transparently, in line with the applicable laws of Pakistan, relevant international data-protection principles, recognised humanitarian and child-safeguarding standards, donor requirements, and sound information-security practice.

Islamic Help Pakistan is a humanitarian and development organisation working to support vulnerable and underserved communities through programmes such as emergency response, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), education, health, Child protection, orphan support, food security and Nutrition, livelihood, Housing and shelter, community development, climate action and other charitable interventions.

For the purposes of this Policy, “Islamic Help Pakistan”, “IHP”, “we”, “our” or “us” refer to Islamic Help Pakistan and its authorised staff, representatives, volunteers, and implementing partners acting on its behalf. For the personal information described in this Policy, Islamic Help Pakistan acts as the “data controller”.

Islamic Help Pakistan

Website: https://islamichelp.org.pk

Email: info@islamichelp.org.pk

Phone: +92 325 786 5555 / +92 42 35290725

This Policy is designed to meet both national requirements and recognised international good practice. Because Pakistan does not yet have a single, comprehensive, enacted data-protection statute, we align our practice with the applicable Pakistani laws below and, where they go further, with leading international standards.

In this Policy, the following terms have the meanings set out below:

Personal information / personal data. Any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual, such as a name, identity number, contact details, location, or online identifier.

Sensitive personal information. Personal data requiring additional protection, including health, disability, biometric or identity data, financial hardship, religious donation preferences, and protection or safeguarding concerns.

Processing. Any operation performed on personal information, including collecting, recording, storing, using, sharing, transferring, archiving, or deleting it.

Data controller. The party that determines the purposes and means of processing personal information, in this Policy, Islamic Help Pakistan.

Data processor. A third party that processes personal information on our behalf and under our instructions.

Data subject. The individual to whom the personal information relates.

Beneficiary. A person or household receiving, or assessed for, assistance through our programmes.

Consent. A clear, informed, and freely given indication that a person agrees to their personal information being processed for a stated purpose.

This Policy applies to personal information collected through:

This Policy does not apply to third-party websites or platforms linked from our website. Those third parties are responsible for their own privacy practices.

We apply the following principles to all personal information we handle:

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of information.

Name; father’s, husband’s, or guardian’s name where required; CNIC or identity details where legally or programmatically necessary; date of birth, age, gender; address, district, province; phone number, email address; and emergency-contact details.

Donation amount and type; Zakat, Sadaqah, Lillah, Fitrana, Fidya, Kaffara, Qurbani, or other giving preference; transaction reference; payment method; bank-transfer details; donor-receipt and tax-related information where applicable; and communication preferences.

Your preferences for receiving updates, newsletters, appeals, campaign information, event invitations, volunteer opportunities, donor reports, receipts, acknowledgements, and impact updates.

Information required to assess eligibility, vulnerability, and needs, including assistance received, household composition, socio-economic status, disability status, health-related needs, education and livelihood status, WASH and shelter needs, protection concerns, and other programme-relevant data. We collect such information only where necessary for humanitarian, development, accountability, safeguarding, audit, donor-reporting, or legal purposes.

Where our programmes involve children, including orphans, students, child beneficiaries, or children in vulnerable households, we may collect limited information necessary for programme delivery, safeguarding, sponsorship, education, welfare monitoring, and reporting. Children’s information is treated as highly sensitive. We seek appropriate consent from parents, guardians, or authorised caregivers wherever required, and we apply additional safeguards when using children’s photographs, stories, or personal details.

With appropriate consent, we may collect photographs, videos, audio recordings, quotes, testimonials, life stories, case studies, and impact stories for reporting, fundraising, advocacy, communication, transparency, and accountability. We avoid publishing sensitive details that may expose any person, child, family, or community to harm, stigma, discrimination, exploitation, or security risk.

When you visit our website, we may collect limited technical information such as IP address, browser and device type, operating system, pages visited, date and time of visit, approximate location, referral source, cookies, and similar analytics data.

If you apply for a job, consultancy, internship, volunteer role, vendor registration, or partnership, we may collect CVs, qualifications, work history, references, identity documents, tax information, bank details, conflict-of-interest and safeguarding declarations, due-diligence information, and other information relevant to recruitment, procurement, contracting, or compliance.

In limited cases, we may process sensitive information, including health status, disability, vulnerability status, biometric or identity details, financial hardship, religious donation preferences, and protection or safeguarding concerns. Such information is collected only where necessary, proportionate, lawful, and subject to appropriate safeguards.

We may collect information directly from you when you:

We may also collect information from authorised third parties, including implementing partners, community committees, referral organisations, government departments, schools, hospitals, financial institutions, payment gateways, donors, auditors, regulatory bodies, or publicly available sources, where lawful and necessary.

To process donations, issue receipts, maintain donor records, manage Zakat and restricted donations, respond to enquiries, provide updates, and ensure funds are used according to donor intent and organisational policy.

To identify needs, assess eligibility, register beneficiaries, deliver assistance, monitor quality, prevent duplication, support vulnerable communities, and remain accountable to affected populations.

To protect children, vulnerable adults, communities, staff, volunteers, and partners from harm, abuse, exploitation, neglect, fraud, misconduct, or safeguarding risks.

To send newsletters, appeals, campaign updates, impact reports, event invitations, and volunteering opportunities where you have agreed or where otherwise permitted by applicable law.

To assess impact, improve services, conduct surveys, prepare reports, respond to feedback, manage complaints, and meet donor, audit, and regulatory requirements.

To comply with applicable laws, court orders, financial-recordkeeping and tax obligations, audit requirements, anti-fraud controls, anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing obligations, and donor due-diligence requirements.

To operate, maintain, secure, and improve our website, prevent misuse, detect technical problems, analyse usage, and enhance user experience.

To process applications, manage contracts, conduct due diligence, evaluate suppliers, maintain HR records, process payments, and manage operations.

We process personal information only where there is a lawful, legitimate, and ethical basis to do so. Depending on the context, one or more of the following bases will apply:

Sensitive personal information is processed only with explicit consent or another appropriate safeguard, for example, where processing is necessary to protect life, to safeguard a child or vulnerable adult, or to meet a legal or donor obligation.

Where consent is the basis for processing, you may withdraw it at any time, subject to legal, contractual, safeguarding, audit, or programme-related obligations that may require us to retain certain information.

Islamic Help Pakistan is committed to protecting the privacy, dignity, safety, and best interests of children. When collecting or using children’s information, we will:

Islamic Help Pakistan does not knowingly use children’s personal information for commercial marketing.

We may use photographs, videos, testimonials, and case studies to demonstrate impact, raise awareness, report to donors, support fundraising, advocate for vulnerable communities, and promote transparency.

We will seek informed consent wherever required and appropriate. Individuals have the right to refuse photography, filming, or story collection without affecting their eligibility for assistance, unless documentation is strictly required for verification, audit, or compliance. We will not knowingly publish images or stories that compromise a person’s dignity, safety, privacy, or security.

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to improve functionality, remember preferences, analyse traffic, support donation processes, and improve user experience. Cookies may include:

Where required, we will request your consent before using non-essential cookies. You may also control or disable cookies through your browser settings, though disabling certain cookies may affect website functionality.

We may contact you with updates, newsletters, appeals, campaigns, event information, volunteer opportunities, and impact reports where you have opted in, donated to us, requested information, or where communication is otherwise permitted by applicable law. You may opt out of marketing communications at any time by:

We will not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

We share personal information only where necessary, lawful, proportionate, and subject to appropriate safeguards. We may share information with:

We require third parties handling personal information on our behalf to use it only for authorised purposes and to apply appropriate confidentiality and security measures under a written arrangement.

As a humanitarian and development organisation, we may work with international donors, partners, affiliates, service providers, and platforms. This may require personal information to be transferred, accessed, or stored outside Pakistan. Where such transfers are necessary, we take reasonable steps to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as:

We take reasonable technical, organisational, and physical measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include:

No website, email, or digital system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. However, we take reasonable steps to protect the information entrusted to us.

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including legal, audit, tax, donor, safeguarding, contractual, programme, or operational requirements. The following indicative periods apply and may be adjusted to meet specific donor or statutory obligations:

Subject to applicable law, donor requirements, safeguarding obligations, and legitimate organisational needs, you may have the right to:

To make a request, contact us using the details in Section 1 or Section 25. We will acknowledge your request and aim to respond within 30 days. There is normally no charge, although we may apply a reasonable fee for manifestly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive requests. We may need to verify your identity before responding.

We may refuse or limit a request where disclosure would affect the rights, safety, privacy, or security of another person, or where retention is required for legal, audit, safeguarding, donor, or humanitarian-accountability purposes. Where we cannot fulfil a request, we will explain the reason.

We recognise that beneficiaries and affected communities have the right to dignity, privacy, informed participation, and safe access to assistance. We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that beneficiaries understand:

Refusal to provide optional media consent will not affect eligibility for assistance. However, certain minimum information may be required to verify eligibility, prevent duplication, ensure accountability, or comply with donor and audit requirements.

If we become aware of a data-security incident that may affect personal information, we will act without undue delay to:

Where a breach is likely to pose a significant risk to affected individuals, we aim to notify them and any relevant parties promptly, as a matter of good practice, ordinarily within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach.

Our website may contain links to third-party websites, payment gateways, social-media platforms, video platforms, donor portals, or partner websites. Islamic Help Pakistan is not responsible for the privacy practices, security, or content of third-party websites or platforms. Users are encouraged to read the privacy policies of those third parties before submitting personal information.

When you interact with Islamic Help Pakistan through social-media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, or others, your information may also be processed by those platforms according to their own privacy policies.

Please do not publicly share sensitive personal, financial, medical, child-related, or beneficiary information on social media. If you need to share sensitive information with us, please use official and secure communication channels.

We do not use personal information for automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects without human review. We may use limited segmentation or analysis to understand donor interests, improve communications, prevent fraud, evaluate programme needs, or improve services. Such activities are carried out responsibly and proportionately.

We are committed to ensuring that personal information is used ethically and respectfully. We will not knowingly use personal information in ways that:

If you have any concern about how Islamic Help Pakistan has collected, used, stored, or shared your personal information, please contact us using the details below. We will review privacy concerns fairly, confidentially, and without retaliation.

Islamic Help Pakistan

Email: info@islamichelp.org.pk

Phone: +92 325 786 5555 / +92 42 3529 0725

Postal address: Head Office: House Number: 366 - Block G3, Johar Town, Lahore, Punjab Pakistan.

Please include your name, contact details, the nature of your concern, and any relevant information that may help us respond appropriately. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate the matter to the relevant regulatory or oversight body as provided under applicable Pakistani law.

This Policy is governed by, and interpreted in accordance with, the laws of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, without prejudice to the international standards and donor requirements referred to in Section 2. Where a specific donor agreement or applicable law imposes a stricter standard, that stricter standard will apply to the relevant processing.

We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our operations, website, legal or donor requirements, technology, or privacy practices. The latest version will be published on our website with the updated effective date. Where material changes are made, we may take additional steps to notify users where appropriate.

By using our website, making a donation, communicating with us, participating in our programmes, or otherwise providing personal information to Islamic Help Pakistan, you acknowledge that your information will be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy.