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Our policies

Terms of use, privacy, donations and safeguarding · last updated

AOK Foundation — the Aminat Olanbiwoninu Kadri Foundation — is a non-governmental organisation registered in Nigeria and based in Abuja. We work to open access to quality education for young Africans. This page sets out how we handle your information, how donations work, how we protect the young people we serve, and how to raise a concern.

Donations

How your gift reaches us

Donations are processed by Paystack, a licensed Nigerian payment provider. When you click “Donate” you leave this website and complete the payment on Paystack’s own secure page. You can also give by direct transfer to the bank accounts listed in the footer of this site.

We never see, receive or store your card number or bank credentials. Those are handled entirely by Paystack under their own security standards. What reaches us is confirmation that a donation was made, with the name, email address and amount we need to thank you and keep our records straight.

How we use it

Unless you tell us otherwise in writing, donations are unrestricted: we apply them where they are most needed across our education programmes, including the running costs that keep those programmes going. If you want your gift directed to something specific, email us before you give and we will confirm whether we can honour it.

Acknowledgement and refunds

We acknowledge every donation we can identify. If you gave and did not hear from us, please get in touch so we can correct our records.

Donations are voluntary gifts rather than purchases, so they are not ordinarily refundable. But if you donated in error, were charged twice, or believe a payment was made without your authorisation, email info@aokfoundation.org. We will investigate and refund a genuine mistake.

Protecting yourself from fraud

Organisations like ours are impersonated. Please note:

  • Our only official donation channels are the Paystack link on this website and the bank accounts named in the footer, which are held in the name Aminat Olanbiwoninu Kadri Foundation.
  • We will never ask you to send money to an individual’s personal account.
  • We will never ask for your card PIN, your full card number, your bank password or a one-time code. Nobody legitimate will.
  • Our only email addresses are on the contact section of our website.

If something claiming to be from AOK Foundation looks wrong, contact us before you act on it.

Privacy

This section explains what personal information we collect and why. It is written to meet our obligations under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

What we collect

  • When you contact us — your name, email address, phone number, and whatever you put in your message.
  • When you apply to the Academy — the information requested on the application form. See Academy applications.
  • When you donate — your name, email address and the amount. Not your card details, which we never receive.
  • Automatically — your IP address, browser and device type, and which pages you visited. Ordinary web traffic information, used only to understand how the site is being used.

We collect only what we actually need, and we do not buy personal information from anyone.

Why we use it, and on what basis

  • To reply to you, and to assess and administer Academy applications — because you asked us to, or because it is necessary to take steps you requested.
  • To introduce Academy participants to partner employers — with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
  • To acknowledge donations and keep proper financial records — because we are legally required to.
  • To report to funders and partners on our work — using aggregate figures, not information that identifies you, unless you have agreed to your story being told.
  • To understand how this website is used — on the basis of our legitimate interest in running it well.

We do not sell your personal information, we do not rent or trade our contact lists, and we do not use your information to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Photographs and stories

We sometimes want to tell the story of someone we have worked with. We ask for permission in writing first, we explain where the photograph or story will appear, and you can say no without it affecting your place on any programme. You can withdraw that permission later and we will stop using the material in anything we publish from then on.

Who we share it with

Only with service providers who help us operate, and only as far as they need it:

  • Our payment provider, which processes donations.
  • Google, which hosts our application form and the map on our contact section.
  • Partner employers, for Academy participants only, in connection with a specific opportunity, and only where you have agreed.
  • Our website host and email provider.

Some of these providers are based outside Nigeria, so your information may be transferred and stored abroad. Where that happens we rely on the provider’s own data protection commitments, as permitted under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

We may also disclose information where the law requires it, or where it is necessary to protect someone from harm.

How long we keep it

  • Enquiries: up to two years after we last heard from you.
  • Academy applications: for the application cycle, and afterwards only if you asked us to keep your profile on file for future opportunities.
  • Donation records: as long as Nigerian financial and tax record-keeping rules require.
  • Safeguarding records: as long as necessary, which may be longer than the periods above.

Cookies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies set by the services embedded in our pages — principally Google Maps on the contact section, and our email and analytics tools. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the site will still work, though the map may not display.

Keeping it safe

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information, and we limit access to the people who need it. No online service can be completely secure, so we cannot promise absolute security — but if a breach occurs that is likely to put your rights at risk, we will tell you and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

Academy applications

Applications to the AOK Foundation Academy are submitted through a form hosted on Google Forms, and the responses are stored in our Google account.

We use your application to assess eligibility, to run the programme, and — for participants who complete it — to introduce you to partner employers. We share your profile and your work with an employer only in connection with a specific opportunity.

Places on the Academy are decided on merit and on the published entry requirements. We do not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, state of origin, religion, gender, disability or background, and we do not ask applicants for payment in exchange for a place. If anyone tells you otherwise while claiming to represent us, please report it to us immediately.

Work you produce during the programme remains yours. We may show it to a prospective employer as part of a referral, and we will ask separately before using it in anything we publish.

To have your application deleted, or to stop being referred to employers, email info@aokfoundation.org.

Safeguarding

Our work brings us into contact with children and young people. We are committed to their safety, and we expect everyone acting on our behalf — staff, trustees, volunteers, mentors and partners — to treat them with respect and to do nothing that puts them at risk.

In practice that means we seek a parent, guardian or school’s involvement before collecting a child’s information, we ask permission before photographing or naming a young person, and we take any concern raised with us seriously.

If you are worried about the safety or wellbeing of a child or young person in connection with our work, tell us at info@aokfoundation.org and mark your message urgent. If someone is in immediate danger, contact the police or the relevant authorities first.

Your rights

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 you have the right to:

  • ask what personal information we hold about you, and get a copy;
  • have inaccurate information corrected;
  • ask us to delete your information, where there is no legal reason for us to keep it;
  • object to, or ask us to restrict, how we use it;
  • withdraw consent at any time, where we relied on your consent;
  • receive your information in a portable form; and
  • complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission if you are not satisfied with how we have handled your information.

To exercise any of these, email info@aokfoundation.org. We will respond within 30 days, and we will not charge you for it.

Complaints

If we have fallen short — in how we treated you, how we ran a programme, or how we handled your information — we want to hear about it.

Email info@aokfoundation.org with “Complaint” in the subject line. We will acknowledge within 7 days and give you a substantive response within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can escalate to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission for data matters, or to the relevant regulator for anything else.

Using this website

What this site is

This website provides information about our work, lets you donate, describes the AOK Foundation Academy, and gives you ways to contact us. We do not sell anything here, and there are no fees or charges for using it.

Information here is general

The content on this site describes our programmes and our work. It is general information, not professional, legal, financial or career advice about your own circumstances. We keep it as accurate as we can, but we may change it at any time.

Content and credit

The text, images, logos and design here belong to AOK Foundation or to the people we licensed them from. You are welcome to read, share and link to our pages. Please ask before republishing substantial parts of the site, and please do not use our name or logo in a way that suggests a partnership or endorsement we have not given.

Material you send us

Anything you send us — an application, a message, a photograph, a piece of work — stays yours. You give us permission to use it for the purpose you sent it for, and we will ask separately before using it for anything else.

Links to other sites

We link to services we do not control, including our payment provider, our application form, our blog on Medium and our social media profiles. Those services have their own terms and privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their content or practices.

Liability and law

We provide this website as it is. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for loss arising from your use of the site or from reliance on general information published here. Nothing here limits any liability that cannot lawfully be limited. These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Contact us

For anything on this page, including data protection requests, safeguarding concerns and complaints:

We review this page at least once a year, and whenever we change how we handle personal information. We will note significant changes at the top.