Privacy Policy

Who we are

KiwiHacks is New Zealand's first high school hackathon club, run by high schoolers, for high schoolers. We organise free hackathons and related events (including KiwiHacks Nova) for teenage coders across Aotearoa. We are not a commercial business and do not sell products or services.

What information we collect

We collect information directly from you when you interact with KiwiHacks, including:

• Event sign-ups - name, email address, school, age, and (where relevant to an in-person event) emergency contact and dietary or accessibility information, collected through our sign-up forms.
• Parent or guardian details - where an attendee is under 18, we may collect a parent or guardian's contact details for consent and emergency purposes.
• Email correspondence - your email address and the contents of any message you send us, if you contact us directly or subscribe to our community newsletter.
• Community platforms - your username and activity if you join our Discord server, which has its own privacy terms set by Discord.
• Basic site analytics - anonymised, aggregated usage data (such as pages visited and general location) via Vercel Analytics, to help us understand how the site is used. We do not use this data to identify you individually.

How we use your information

We use the information we collect to:

• Run our events safely, including catering, seating, and emergency contact needs
• Communicate with you about events you've signed up for, including schedule changes
• Send occasional community updates and newsletters, which you can unsubscribe from at any time
• Improve KiwiHacks events and this website

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to anyone, and we do not use it for advertising.

Who we share it with

Your information is only accessible to the KiwiHacks organising team, on a need-to-know basis. We use a small number of trusted third-party services to help us run KiwiHacks, including Fillout (event sign-up forms), Brevo (email newsletters), and Google Workspace (internal record-keeping and communication). These providers only process your information on our behalf and under their own security and privacy terms.

We may disclose information if required to by law, or where necessary to protect the safety of an attendee at one of our events.

Under-18 attendees

Most KiwiHackers are high school students aged 13-18. Where a sign-up requires parent or guardian consent, we ask for that consent as part of the registration process. Parents and guardians with questions about what information we hold about their teen, or how it's used, are welcome to email us at niko@kiwihacks.org. See also our Parents' Guide.

How long we keep it

We keep event sign-up information for as long as it's needed to run the relevant event and season, and to keep basic records for our sponsors and funders. You can ask us to delete your information at any time, and we'll do so unless we're required to keep it for a legitimate reason (such as financial record-keeping).

Your rights

Under the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, you have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you, request a correction, or ask us to delete it. To do any of these, email us at niko@kiwihacks.org and we'll get back to you within a reasonable time.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time as KiwiHacks grows. If we make a significant change, we'll update the date below.

Last updated: 20 August 2026

Contact us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your information, email us at niko@kiwihacks.org.