Privacy Policy
Who we are
This website is owned and operated by Affinity Trust, which is also registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioner under reference Z1845610.
Affinity Trust is a registered charity (registered in England No. 216250. Registered in Scotland No. SC043881) and a company limited by guarantee (06893564).
Our registered office is
1 St Andrew’s Court
Wellington Street
Thame
Oxfordshire OX9 3WT
What personal information we collect
The types of personal information we collect depends on how we intend to use it. We collect, store and use the following kinds of personal information:
- Technical data such as your IP address, when you browse our website.
- Contact data, including your email address, postal address, and phone number (for example, if you sign up to receive updates from us).
- Marketing data such as your preferences for receiving communications from us.
- Any other information you provide us (see “How we collect personal information”).
How we process your data
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the UK’s Data Protection Bill, we must have a legal reason to keep your data and process it. We process your data under Article 6 (1)(a) of the UK General Data Protection Regulations. When Affinity Trust provides you with a service, we will process your data on the basis of legitimate interest or public task. We do this because we cannot provide a service to you without using your personal information.
How we collect personal information
We collect personal information in the following ways:
When you provide it directly. For example, when you:
- enquire about our activities or services
- visit our website
- sign up to receive updates from us
- create or update a profile
- post content to our website or via our social media channels
- communicate with us (either online, by email, phone or post)
Via social media
Depending on your settings and the relevant policies and terms of service, when using social media and messaging services like Facebook and X (Twitter), you might give us permission to access information about you from those accounts or services.
When we collect information when you are using our website
When you visit our website, information about your visit is recorded and stored. See our Cookie Policy for more details.
How we will use your personal information
We will use your personal information in a number of ways depending on why it has been collected, including for the following purposes:
- To provide you with the services or any information you have requested.
- To update you about any changes to our services.
- To communicate with you as set out in this policy below (including administrative communications as well as communications about our work, services and fundraising).
- To maintain our organisational records and ensure we have your most up-to-date details, including marketing preferences
- To help us improve our services, campaigns or information-offering, and improve your interactions with our website (including via cookies).
- To enable you to participate in interactive features on our website.
- To enable you to participate in voluntary surveys or research.
- To analyse your website behaviour.
- To deal with enquiries and/or complaints made by or about you.
Sharing your information
We will only use your information for the purposes for which it was obtained. Rest assured that we never sell or share your personal information with other organisations for their own marketing purposes. But there are some situations where we do need to share your information.
Occasionally, if you have given us permission to use your email address, we will try and match it to your Facebook account. This is so we can share relevant information with you in your newsfeed (known as Custom Audiences) or to identify people who Facebook think share your interests, behaviour and demographics (known as Lookalike Audiences). We do this by securely uploading a cypher of your email address to Facebook. If you have an account, Facebook will note your connection with Affinity Trust on your profile and then show you adverts for us that you might like to see, as well as delivering adverts to people with similar interests. Regardless of whether there is a match, the cyphered email address will be deleted from Facebook’s servers within 48 hours, leaving only an updated Facebook profile.
You can of course request that we do not use your email address in this way or for this purpose, whilst continuing to receive our emails. Please consult the “your rights” section of this policy or adjust your settings by visiting Facebook’s Data Policy.
How long we keep your data
We keep your data for no longer than necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, taking into account guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office. In general, we will only keep your contact information for as long as our interactions with you continue and for six years thereafter.
After such a period, within our database, we anonymise records so we can reference behavioural patterns in our data analytics, but the information is no longer personal to you.
Legacy income is vital to sustaining Affinity Trust’s work. We may keep some of your personal information if we receive a pledge, intention to pledge or enquiry into leaving a legacy for at least 6 years after we receive the full gift or longer in some circumstances, so that we can administer legacy gifts and communicate effectively with the families of people leaving us legacies. This also enables us to identify and analyse the source of legacy income we receive.
If you request to receive no further legacy marketing or marketing communications from us, although we will act on that, we will keep some basic information about you on our suppression list to enable us to comply with your request.
Your rights
You have the right to ask us to see what data we hold about you. If you do this, we will provide it to you free of charge within 30 days of our receiving your request.
If you become aware of any errors in the data we hold about you, you have the right to ask us to correct this. We must do so within 30 days of receiving your request.
Affinity Trust’s Director of Development and Innovation is responsible for answering any questions you have about this privacy notice and any requests for access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data. She may be contacted at the following address:
Director of Development and Innovation
Affinity Trust
1 St Andrew’s Court
Wellington Street
Thame
Oxfordshire OX9 3WT
or by email communications@affinitytrust.org
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s supervisory authority for data protection issues:
The Office of the Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 745
Website: https://ico.org.uk/
We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with any concerns you may have before you approach the ICO, so please feel free to contact us first.