Privacy Policy
In this statement, references to 'we', 'us' or 'EWT' are to the Essex Wildlife Trust charity and its trading company. This privacy statement covers the Essex Wildlife Trust website at www.essexwt.org.uk. Where links are provided to other websites, they are not covered by this statement. EWT will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data is kept securely and to respect the information privacy of all visitors to its website.
1.0 General Statement of the Charity's Duties
Essex Wildlife Trust is required to process relevant personal data regarding members, beneficiaries, donors, trustees and volunteers as part of its operation and shall take all reasonable steps to do so in accordance with this Privacy document. To achieve this, the Charity endeavours to comply with the Data Protection Principles contained in the Data Protection Act 1998.
2.0 What information do we collect?
We collect two kinds of information about our supporters:
Non-personal information
In common with most websites, the Essex Wildlife Trust website automatically logs certain information about the requests made of it. This information is used for system administration, for bug tracking, and for producing usage statistics. This logged information may be kept indefinitely.
When you visit some pages on our website, your computer may be issued with a small file (a 'cookie') for the purposes of managing and improving the services on the website. Cookies do not contain any personally identifying information and do not store any personal or sensitive information about the client machine or the user. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, or to warn you before accepting them but you may have problems accessing some services. We do not pass on information gathered from these cookies to any third party without your express consent.
Some anonymous log-file information is collected automatically when you visit the site:
· your IP (Internet Protocol) address
· your browser and operating system
· the date and time of your visit
· the pages you request
· if you followed a link to the EWT site, your previous web site
This helps us to determine how many individuals use our website, how many people visit on a regular basis, which pages are most popular, and which pages are least popular. This information does not tell us anything about who you are or where you live, it simply allows us to monitor and improve our online service.
Personal information
Examples of personal information that we may gather are: name, postal address, telephone number, email address, date of birth (where appropriate) and credit / debit card or bank details.
We collect this information only in connection with specific activities, such as membership requests, donations, or competition entries. The information is either needed to fulfil your request or to enable us to provide you with a more personalised service. Any personal data collected by EWT is used in strict accordance with the Data Protection Act of 1998, which ensures that your personal information is only used for the purpose for which is was requested and that the data is held securely.
When you send information to the EWT website you are giving the information to us alone. From time to time we will send you information regarding our campaigns and appeals. We will not, however, share your information with any third party (unless under special circumstances, such as where the law requires it), although we might send you information on behalf of a third party, where their objectives are compatible with ours.
Note: if you wish to opt out of these additional mailings, please complete the opt-out data protection statement when you provide us with your data. This status can be amended at any time. If you do decide you wish to opt out of mailings at a later date then you can contact us:
· by phone on 01206 729678
· by fax on 01206 729298
· by letter to Essex Wildlife Trust, Fingringhoe Wick Visitor Centre, South Green Road, Fingringhoe, Colchester, CO5 7DN, Essex
· or click here to email us
Please mark any correspondence as Data-protection Opt-out.
How is the information used?
Any personal data relating to you will be used and recorded by us in accordance with current data protection legislation and this Privacy Policy. We will use the information you provide to:
· fulfil your requests, for example applications for membership, donations, competition entries, participation in campaigns and provision of information
· process donations or other payments and verify financial transactions
· identify contributors
· record any contact we have with you
· keep our members informed about activities, campaigns or promotions
We place great importance on the security of all personally identifiable information associated with our supporters, customers and users. We have security measures in place to attempt to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of personal data under our control. For example, our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorised personnel have access to member information. We use secure server software (SSL) to encrypt any financial information you input before it is sent to us.
Changes
We may make changes to this Policy from time to time. If we change our Privacy Policy we will post the changes on this page. If the change in our Privacy Policy affects the use of your personal information we will use our best endeavours to contact you by email to seek your consent to the use.
Your rights
Any personal information submitted via our websites or by text is treated in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. To find out more about your entitlements under this legislation read the Act online at www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980029.htm.
You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee may be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you or if you have any questions relating to this Privacy Policy or how we use the personal information we have about you, please click here to email us.