1. Who is responsible for your information
The Akanksha Foundation is responsible for the information described on this page.
- Registered address: Voltas House, Z Block, Chinchpokli, Mumbai 400 033
- Contact for anything about your data: volunteers@akanksha.org
If you have a question or a complaint about how we handle your information, that address reaches the person responsible for it.
2. What we collect, and why
We only ask for something when we have a reason. Here is every reason.
| What we collect | Why we need it |
|---|---|
| Name, email address, phone number | To create your account and contact you about your placement |
| Date of birth | To confirm you meet the minimum age, and to know whether we need a parent or guardian's permission |
| Address and city | To match you with a school near you |
| Gender | For programme reporting, and to arrange things appropriately at schools |
| Occupation, employer or college, qualifications | To match you to a role that fits your skills |
| Availability — days and times | To match you to a school schedule that works |
| Emergency contact, and guardian details if you are under 18 | Your safety while you are at a school |
| Identity documents — Aadhaar, PAN, birth certificate, address proof, photograph, signature | Only to apply for your Police Clearance Certificate. We work with children, so this check is required |
| Police Clearance Certificate | To confirm you have been checked before working with children |
| Your signed declaration | Your commitment to our child protection and anti-harassment policies |
| Hours you log and activities you record | To track your contribution and issue your certificate |
| Feedback and survey responses | To improve the programme |
| Photographs of your work | Only if you choose to share them. You tick a box each time |
3. Who else sees your information
We do not sell your information to anyone, ever. We share it only with the organisations below, and only for the reasons given.
| Who | What they receive | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The school you are placed with | Your name, contact details, availability, and that your background check is complete | So they can plan with you and know you are cleared to work with their children |
| MagicTick | Runs this volunteer portal for us | The portal you are using is built and operated for Akanksha by MagicTick. They handle your information only on our instructions and cannot use it for anything else |
| Hostinger | Technical hosting of our website, database and email | Our systems run on their servers |
| Nothing about you. We only check when our own staff calendars are free | So we do not offer you an orientation slot when nobody is available |
We will also share information if the law requires us to — for example, a court order, or a child protection matter we are legally obliged to report.
4. How long we keep it
We delete information once the reason we collected it has passed, unless a law requires us to keep it longer.
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Your identity documents | Deleted within 30 days of you officially ending your volunteering, or of your account being inactive for more than 60 days |
| Your Police Clearance result and signed declaration | 7 years after you finish volunteering. These are child safeguarding records |
| Your logged hours | 3 years after you finish |
| Your certificate | Kept, so you can request a copy years later. We keep only your name, dates, hours and school |
| Your feedback | Made anonymous after 24 months, so it no longer identifies you |
| If you registered but never started | Deleted after 12 months. We email you first |
5. Your rights
You have all of the rights below. The quickest way to use any of them is to log in and open your profile → Your Data & Privacy — one click and we will have your request. You can also email us at volunteers@akanksha.org. Either way we will reply within 30 days, and you will get an email confirming we have received it.
See what we hold about you
Ask us for a copy of your information, and for a list of who we have shared it with.
Correct it
If something is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it. This works even if your profile is locked.
Have it deleted
Ask us to delete your information. We will, apart from a small number of records we are legally required to keep — we will tell you exactly what those are before we do anything.
Complain
If you are unhappy about how we have handled your information, tell us. See section 9.
Nominate someone
You can name a person who can exercise these rights for you if you are unable to.
6. Withdrawing your permission
You gave us permission to use your information. You can take it back at any time from your profile → Your Data & Privacy, or by emailing volunteers@akanksha.org.
You can withdraw one thing at a time. You can ask us to stop using your photo in the public library, stop using your details for the police clearance application, or stop sending you non-essential emails — without affecting anything else.
You can also withdraw completely. Please understand what this means: we cannot run your volunteering without using your information, so withdrawing completely also ends your placement and closes your account.
Before we act on a full withdrawal we will tell you exactly what will be deleted and what we must keep. If you have earned a certificate, we will help you download it first.
Withdrawing does not make anything we did beforehand unlawful.
7. If you are under 18
You can volunteer with us from 16, with your parent or guardian's involvement.
- We ask for your parent or guardian's details and their agreement before your application can be completed.
- We also ask for a signed parent consent form.
- A parent, guardian or chaperone must be with you at Akanksha activities.
- Your parent or guardian can ask to see your information, correct it, or have it deleted, in the same way you can.
8. How we protect your information
We limit who can see your information to the staff who need it for your placement and your background check.
We keep a record of administrator activity in the portal, so we can see who did what.
The credentials used to file your Police Clearance application are stored encrypted.
We review our security regularly and fix what we find. If something goes wrong and your information is affected, we will tell you.
9. If you are not happy with our answer
Please contact us first at volunteers@akanksha.org — most things are quickest to sort out directly. We will reply within 30 days.
If you are still not satisfied, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India, which oversees this law.
10. Changes to this notice
If we change this notice, we will update the date at the top. If the change affects how we use your information, we will tell you directly rather than relying on you noticing.
11. Other languages
This notice is available in English, Hindi and Marathi. For any other language, please email volunteers@akanksha.org and we will arrange it.