Privacy Policy

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1. Who are we?

Sussex Wildlife Trust is a conservation charity for everyone who cares about nature in Sussex. We focus on protecting the wonderfully rich natural life that is found across our towns, countryside and coast, increasing people’s awareness and understanding of the natural world, and deepening people’s relationship with it. Founded in 1961 we are the largest local organisation dedicated to protecting the wildlife and natural environment across Sussex.

Supported by some 39,000 members and 450 volunteers we look after more than 30 nature reserves across Sussex covering over 5,000 acres of land. We create opportunities for people of all ages to learn about nature and connect with it. Over 10,000 children visit our environmental education centres each year, and 5,000 people attend our wildlife events and courses.

We conduct research that supports the conservation of nature in Sussex and engage with policy makers and other organisations to encourage positive change. Our Landowner Advice service works with landowners of all sizes to advise on land management for the benefit of nature and our WildCall information service helps the public with all sorts of wildlife and nature conservation questions.

You can find out more about our role and our projects here: https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/what-we-do

2. Our commitment to your privacy

This privacy policy explains how and why we collect your personal data, how we use it, with whom we share it and how we keep it secure. You can also find information about your rights and how to exercise them. We will process your personal data in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We also comply with Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (as amended) (PECR), where this applies to direct marketing and rules about cookies.

We may make changes to this policy, so we recommend you check this page occasionally to make sure you are aware of any changes.

Any references to Sussex Wildlife Trust, the Trust, or to ‘we’ or ‘us’ refer to:

Sussex Wildlife Trust. We are a registered charity in England and Wales, and our registered charity number is 207005.

3. What information do we collect?

Your personal data is defined as any information that can directly or indirectly identify you.

a) We collect some or all the following information, depending upon the purposes outlined in section 4:

Personal information (i.e., your full name; your date of birth, your gender)
Your contact details (i.e., postal address, telephone number, e-mail address)
Social media identity;
Records of our correspondence with you;
Your bank or credit card details where these are used to make a payment;
Records of membership subscriptions, donations or pledges,
Records of purchases made from our online shop;
Tax-payer status to enable us to claim Gift Aid;
Information on volunteering services you have provided to us;
Records of events you have attended, or campaigns or activities you have been involved in;
Interactions with us on social media;
Information about your wildlife interests;
Photographs of you taken during an event or activity, with your permission
Photographs or videos you supply for publication are credited with your name;
Information about your land or garden (if you use our Landowner advice services)
Information through the use of our website (such as IP address, location, type of device you used)
Usernames and passwords;
CCTV images from Sussex Wildlife Trust locations;
If you share biological wildlife records with us, then your name is included with the record alongside the date and location information of your observation;
Where you have left us a legacy, information regarding next of kin or executors;
If you own or manage a Local Wildlife Site, we collect records of land parcels in your ownership;

a) Special category data

We do not normally collect or store special category data (such as information relating to health, religious beliefs, or political affiliation) about supporters and members. However, there are some situations where this will occur. When we do so, we will be very clear as to why we are collecting such information, and we will only do so with your specific consent and permission. In these situations, we collect the data from you directly.

For example, special category data may be collected if you volunteer with us. This may include information relating to health, racial or ethnic origin, criminal records checks, references and details of emergency contacts.

We may also collect special category data if you have an accident on one of our reserves or during one of our activities. This information will be retained for legal reasons, for safeguarding purposes and to assist us (including in the event of an insurance or legal claim). If this does occur, we’ll take extra care to ensure your privacy rights are protected.

Lastly, special category data such as dietary requirements or accessibility needs may be collected if you register to attend our events.

b) Children and young people

In line with data protection law, we will not collect, store or process your personal details if you are under 13 years of age; unless we have the express permission from your parent or guardian to do so.

We will process your personal data only for specific reasons. For example, if we have the permission of your parent or guardian, and you are a Wildlife Watch member, we will capture your date of birth at the point of joining. We will also process your personal data in order to send you a paper copy of the junior magazine if you are a member of our programmes.

c) Recruitment and employment

In order to comply with our contractual, statutory, and management obligations and responsibilities, we process personal data, including special category data, from job applicants and employees. Such data can include, but isn’t limited to, information relating to health, racial or ethnic origin, and criminal convictions. In certain circumstances, we may process personal data or special category data, without explicit consent as we are relying on other lawful bases more appropriate for the processing activities we are carrying out (e.g., legal obligation or contract).

d) Trustees

If you apply to be a trustee of the Trust, we will need to collect additional information about you, in line with Charity Commission guidance, to enable us to make a decision about your suitability as a trustee (e.g., information provided in the declaration of eligibility about your age, that you are not disqualified in the administration of a charity, that you are not undischarged bankrupt etc.).

4. How we collect your information and how your information is used

a) Sussex Wildlife Trust and its partnership projects use the information you provide to us for the following purposes:

To administer your Sussex Wildlife Trust membership;
To provide you with the data, services, products or information you asked for (purchases, magazines etc.);
To administer your donations or support your fundraising, including processing Gift Aid and process payments including Direct Debits
To ask for your opinion about our work;
To communicate with you about hiring our event or meeting spaces;
To keep in touch with you as a volunteer;
To respond to any enquiries or complaints you make to us;
To process your application for a job or volunteering position, including Trustee applications;
To understand how we can improve our services or information by conducting analysis or market research;
To record your intention to remember us with a gift in your Will, and to communicate with you appropriately;
To send you information about our work that we feel will be of interest to you such as events (and update you about these if you have booked your attendance), fundraising appeals, campaigning opportunities, and volunteering.
To manage your employment contract or your job application.
To comply with contractual, statutory and management obligations relating to our governance;
To communicate with our existing supporters via social media and advertise our services or services of our third parties. We also use the information you provide to us for research marketing purposes, namely to find other contacts sharing the same interests with you
To enable attribution and verification of biological records;
To contact biological recorders about their observations, for data management and verification purposes;
If specifically requested by you, to enable other members of the Sussex biological recording community to contact you about biological recording activities or events;
To communicate with landowners and land managers in relation to the Local Wildlife Site survey, review and selection process and site management;
If you own or manage a Local Wildlife Site, to request permission to access the land for survey purposes, and to notify you of survey results and designations decisions;
If you own or manage a property adjacent to a Sussex Wildlife Trust reserve, to contact you in relation to activities or works affecting the local area.

b) Sussex Wildlife Trust may also collect your information from third parties in the following cases:

when you donate through third parties (such as Just Giving)
when you register for events through third parties such as Zoom or Eventbrite and provide your consent for your personal information to be shared with us.
if your membership has been purchased as a gift your personal details will have been provided by the gift purchaser.
from time to time, we may collaborate with third parties so that we receive the contact details of people who might be interested in hearing from us in the future. Before we receive this information, we always make sure that the data subjects had actively expressed an interest in receiving information from third parties.
to ensure that the personal data we hold for you is up to date (Directory Enquiries for telephone numbers, or Royal Mail’s National Change of Address database).
we may collect information about certain supporters from public sources including public databases (such as Companies House) news and other media, search engines and social media.
to obtain information on ownership of registered land (HM Land Registry portal).
we may make use of profiling methods from external sources of geodemographic and consumption data such as CACI Acorn and MOSAIC to help us identify the demographic profile of our supporters, in order to provide more personalised communications to our supporters. Examples of such information include newspaper readership, leisure interests and indicators of financial status such as house value. These will be based on postcodes rather than being specific to any individual.
when we use social media platform services for targeted advertising and research marketing purposes. For example, the Custom audience service of Facebook. As regards targeted advertising, and based on existing supporters’ information, we can find individuals/users of Facebook who might be interested in Trust’s programmes or events and ask from them to join or donate to Sussex Wildlife Trust. At the same time, we may use information of existing members (emails and names), to exclude them from advertising campaigns and appeals.
We also use Facebook’s tool, Facebook pixel to retarget supporters who have previously engaged with us through our website. For more information about the way Facebook processing your personal information Read Facebook’s privacy policy.

c) Sussex Wildlife Trust may also collect your information through website.

On the websites we maintain (sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk, sxbrc.org.uk, lws-sussex.org.uk, wildcoastsussex.org.uk and geodiversitysussex.org.uk) we gather information through cookies which might include which pages you visit most often and which of our areas of work are of most interest to you.

For more information on our Cookies Policy, please click here

https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/cookies

https://sxbrc.org.uk/about/privacy.php

5. Lawful basis for using your information

We will only ever collect, store and use your personal data when we have a clear justification for doing so. For the data processing activities described in this policy we rely on the following lawful bases:

Consent

Consent is used when we ask you for permission to use your information in a certain way, and you agree to this. For example, in order to send you communications about our events and programmes we ask your consent. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

Legal Obligation

To comply with legal or regulatory obligations we may need to share your information with bodies such as the Charity Commission, Fundraising Regulator or Information Commissioner.

Performance of the contract

We use your information on a contractual basis when purchase something from us, such as membership, a service or an event we may organise such as our wildlife walks and our educational courses.

Vital Interests

We may need to use your information where it is necessary for us to protect life or health. For example, in the event of an emergency on one of our reserves, or a safeguarding issue requiring us to share your information with emergency services.

Legitimate Interests

Legitimate interests means that we can process your personal information if we have a genuine and legitimate reason, and we are not harming any of your rights and interests. For example, holding your personal data to respond to an enquiry or to send you a thank-you letter. In order to determine this, we undertake a ‘balancing exercise’ to evaluate the impact of processing data in this way.

6. When and how and we communicate with you

Post

We may rely on your consent or our legitimate interest to send you fundraising or marketing communications by post. If you prefer not to hear from us this way, please get in contact and let us know by any of the contact details listed in section 10.

Phone/Email/Text

If you have provided us with your telephone number or email address, for example, when you have contacted us directly and expressed interest in our charity, we may get in contact with you via phone, email or text to provide you with further information about our services. We will only send you fundraising and marketing communications if you have explicitly provided your consent. We will make sure you wish to receive such communications by occasionally reaffirming your consent with us.

You may opt-out from these communications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the end of our marketing emails. Alternatively, you can get in touch via any of the contact details listed in section 11 of this policy.

7. Who your information is shared with

We will never sell or trade your personal data. We may share personal data with subcontractors or suppliers who provide us with services for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf. These third parties (called processors) are processing your personal data on our behalf and under our instructions. When we work with other organisations in this way, we always set up a written contract as set out in UK GDPR with them to protect your data. We may also share your personal data with third parties that they do not act on our behalf (HMRC services for example).

More specifically, we may share your personal data with third parties in order to assist us:

process your payments. If you use a credit or debit card to donate, buy a membership or purchase something from us we will pass your credit card details securely to our payment provider
send your membership magazine
send Marketing communications. For example, this might be a communication or software provider who may send e-mail communications (for example Mailchimp) and confirmation and reminders for events you have booked through these platforms
administer Gift Aid. If you have made a Gift Aid declaration, we will disclose the information you have provided to HMRC in order to reclaim Gift Aid on your donation(s).
collect and store basic personal data for Biodiversity Record Centre Data Requests
with IT and Digital Services
document our events and activities through photographs
process donations
social media platforms for the purposes identified in section 4(b)

8. International data transfers and security

All the personal data we process is processed by our staff in the UK. However, for the purposes of IT hosting, maintenance or other services we are providing to you, your information may be transferred outside of the UK. This will be done in accordance with the provisions of UK GDPR and the guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office regarding transfers of personal data outside the UK. In case of international data transfers, Sussex Wildlife Trust will put in place an International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum.

For example, we use an organisation called Mailchimp to process your information, such as to sign you up to our newsletter and marketing emails. Mailchimp has data hubs in the USA so personal information may be stored overseas. A data processing agreement and a UK Addendum are in place to ensure security and data protection in line with UK Data Protection Legislation and Sussex Wildlife Trust Data Protection Standards.

We have put appropriate technical and organisational security policies and procedures in place to protect personal data (including sensitive personal data) from loss, misuse, alteration, or destruction. Electronic data and databases are stored on secure computer systems, and we control who has access to information (using both physical and electronic means). Our staff receive data protection training, and we have data protection procedures which personnel are required to follow when handling personal data.

9. Data retention policy

We will only use and store information for as long as it required for the purposes it was collected for. We periodically review what information we hold and delete what is no longer required.

10. Your rights

We respect your right to control your data. Your rights include:

The right to be informed

You have the right to be informed as to how we use your data, under what lawful basis we carry out any processing.

The right of access

You have a right to request access to a copy of some or all your personal information we hold about you, along with the information on what personal information we use, why we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it for and whenever it has been used for automated decision making. You can make a request for access free of charge and proof of identity is required. If you wish to obtain a record of the personal data we hold about you, through a Subject Access Request, we will respond within one month.

The right to rectification

If any of your information is out of date or if you are unsure of this, please contact us through any of the contact details listed in this section and we will update it.

The right to erasure

You can ask us to erase your personal details from our records, where possible and according to the requirements set out in data protection legislation.

The right to restrict processing

You have the right to restrict the processing of some or all your personal information if there is a disagreement about its accuracy, or we are not lawfully allowed to use it.

The right to data portability

You or a third party can ask to obtain your personal data from us for your own purposes in a structured, commonly used, electronic form so it can be easily transferred.

The right to object

You can object to processing where we are using your personal information such as where it is based on legitimate interest or for direct marketing and fundraising communications.

Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

Automated decision making takes place when an electronic system uses personal information to make a decision without human intervention. You have the right to question the outcome of automated decisions that may create legal effects or create a similar significant impact on you. We respect your right not to be subject to a decision that is based on automated processing.

For more information on your individual rights, please see the Information Commissioner’s Office.

11. Contacting us

To amend your communication preferences or update your contact details,

please contact:

Membership Department

Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woods Mill, Henfield, West Sussex, BN5 9SD

Telephone: 01273 497532

Email: [email protected]

Our office hours are Monday – Friday, 9am – 4pm.

To ask questions about this Privacy Policy, or exercise your data protection rights, please contact:

Director of Finance & Operations

Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woods Mill, Henfield, West Sussex, BN5 9SD

Telephone: 01273 497532

Email: [email protected]

Our office hours are Monday – Friday, 9am – 4pm.

To make a complaint

We take complaints seriously and we treat them as an opportunity to develop our approach. We are always very grateful to hear from people who are willing to take the time to help us improve.

For information on how to make a complaint, please see Complaints Procedure | Sussex Wildlife Trust

If you have any complaints in relation to the processing of your personal data, you can lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Email: [email protected]

Online: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

12. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We update this policy periodically to ensure it accurately reflects our use of personal data.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 26 July 2023.