Privacy policy

Christian Aid is committed to protecting your data and your privacy. We aim to ensure that any information you give us is held securely and safely.

Please read this policy carefully, along with our Terms and conditions and any other documents referred to in this policy, to understand how we collect, use and store your personal information.

Christian Aid (Registered Charity 1105851/SC039150) operates a wholly owned trading subsidiary, Christian Aid Trading Ltd (Registered Company Number 01001742), which supports the efficient fundraising and income-generation activities of the charity, and whose activities are also covered by this policy.

The websites referred to in this statement are christianaid.org.uk, caweek.org, charity-gifts.christianaid.org.uk, globalexplorers.org, bigshiftglobal.org, prayandact4climate.org, give.christianaid.org.uk, volunteer.christianaid.org.uk, christianaid.clcmoodle.org, jobs.christianaid.org.uk, mediacentre.christianaid.org.uk and fundraise.christianaid.org.uk


Christian Aid holds and processes personal details in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations and the Data Protection Act 2018 and is registered with the Information Commissioner. Christian Aid Trading Ltd, our trading arm, is also registered with the Information Commissioner.

If you have any questions about this policy or how your data is handled, please write to:

The Data Protection Officer
Christian Aid
PO Box 100
London
SE1 7RT

Email: dataprotection@christian-aid.org

Our Data Protection Officer is William Denton.

Data protection

Christian Aid takes data protection very seriously.

As you use our website, get in touch with us, or take part in our campaigns and activities, we collect information. This deepens our understanding of what you are interested in and helps us to improve the quality and relevance of all of our communications with supporters. 

Christian Aid and its subsidiary will never share your information with another organisation for their own marketing purposes and we will never sell your information for any reason whatsoever. We know that this is important and want to reassure you that you are always in control of how we use your personal information in regard to marketing and fundraising activities.

We do however need to collect and use your personal information for carefully considered and legitimate business purposes, which will help to ensure that we can run Christian Aid efficiently, raise funds effectively and deliver our charitable programmes around the world.

This policy will set out what data we collect, how we will use it, what the legal basis for this is, and outline what your rights are in respect of your personal data.

Purposes

The main reason we will use your personal information will be to help us effectively carry out our charitable activities, through your involvement in our campaigns and events or to help us raise funds to carry out our work around the globe.

We will always endeavour to be clear, honest and transparent with you whenever we collect and use your personal data. The overview below summarises the different reasons why we may collect and use your data. We may not use your personal information for all of these purposes, it will depend on the nature of your relationship with us, and how you interact with Christian Aid as an organisation:

  1. Fundraising, campaigning and marketing: Like all major charities, we have a range of fundraising and marketing activities that are designed to raise income or promote the aims and objectives of the charity. We use a range of marketing activities and channels such as direct marketing and face-to-face activity, advertising (print, broadcast and digital) and public relations for marketing, fundraising, and income generation. This may include talking to you about specific disaster appeals, promoting ongoing campaigns in which you can play an active role, competitions, commercial trading activities, sponsorships, events or volunteering opportunities. We may also ask if you are able and prepared to Gift Aid any of your donations.
  2. Advertising: We use online advertising to keep supporters aware of our work and ongoing campaigns. You may see Christian Aid banners and ads when you are on other websites and apps, such as Social Media. We manage this through a variety of digital marketing networks and ad exchanges. We also use a range of advertising technologies. The banners and ads you see are based on information we hold about you, or your previous interactions with Christian Aid (for example the pages you interact with on the Christian Aid website) or on Christian Aid banners or ads you have previously interacted with. For more information on our use of advertising technologies and Cookies, please see our Cookies Policy.
  3. Delivery of core charitable services: Delivery of our core charitable activities may require the recording of our beneficiaries' contact details, their eligibility for our charitable services, records of financial transactions and communications. We may also need to use your personal information for the prevention of fraud and to identify any misuse or abuse of our services.
  4. Interaction with local partners: Delivery of our core charitable activities is often done in partnership with local organisations and suppliers. As part of our relationship with these organisations we may collect and store contact details of partner staff and volunteers, records of financial transactions and communications documents. We may also need to use partner staff and volunteer personal information for the prevention of fraud anti-diversion and anti-money laundering purposes.
  5. Management of volunteers: If you are one of our valued volunteers we may need to use your personal information to manage your volunteering activities, deliver training, involve and update you on our projects and campaigns and to ensure your safety. This may include sending you newsletters or information about our fundraising appeals so that you are best equipped to perform your role and advise the public about our work.
  6. Retail trading: Through the Present Aid website Christian Aid offers individuals the chance to purchase a range of ethical gifts. If you interact with this service, we may use your personal information for the marketing of similar products to you in future. We will also use your information to process the purchase of any items and for the recovery of Gift Aid, where you have completed a Gift Aid declaration.
  7. Analysis, targeting and segmentation: In order to fund our vital work responding to emergencies and providing aid to people around the globe, we have to communicate our aims and objectives and ask people for financial support. Efficiency is very important to us, as we value every single donation. Therefore, we only want to send communications that are genuinely interesting and relevant to you. We will make use of information you have given us and your interactions with our services, to help us predict your interests and tailor and personalise our communications in the future. This may also involve the use of focus groups in order to understand our supporters better.
  8. Research: We may collect data in order to carry out research on our supporter base. This is in order to improve our communications and ensure that we understand how best to interact with our valued supporters. The primary way in which we do this is through the Closer Panel. Information we gather from individuals as part of this process is kept separately from our marketing database and is only used for research purposes.
  9. Profiling: In some limited circumstances we may combine the personal information you have given us with information available in the public domain to create a profile of your interests and preferences where they are relevant to your potential engagement with Christian Aid. Information collected for these purposes may include information about your corporate directorships, shareholdings, published biographical information, employment, philanthropic interests and networks, charitable giving and relevant media coverage. We do this to help us understand the ways in which our supporters can support our work sooner, and more cost effectively. The use of publicly available sources helps us determine what support we should ask you for and helps us engage you in activities that are relevant to your areas of interest and influence. We may gather information about you from publicly available sources such as Companies House, the electoral register and the media to help us understand more about you as an individual and your ability to support Christian Aid. You can opt-out of your personal information being used for profiling or analysis by contacting info@christian-aid.org
  10. Due diligence research: Christian Aid’s trustees have a duty to ensure that there is no reputational or financial risk to accepting a donation or other kind of support. We may therefore use publicly available sources to carry out due diligence on you to ensure that we are fundraising within the law.  For more information on the circumstances this may apply in and the type of information required please visit the Charity Commission.
  11. Staff administration: Christian Aid employs a number of staff both in the UK and abroad, who are crucial to both delivering our programmes and raising the funds to provide our charitable services as well as providing a range of professional and technical support. We process the personal information of our employees for recruitment, staff administration, remuneration, pensions and performance management purposes.

Lawful processing

Christian Aid, like all organisations in the UK, needs a lawful basis to collect and use your personal data. The law allows for six legitimate purposes which organisations can rely on to legally process people’s personal data. Of these, only three are relevant to charities for the type of activities listed above:

  • Information is processed on the basis of an individual’s consent.
  • Information is processed in line with a contractual relationship.
  • Information is processed on it being a legitimate interest for Christian Aid to do so.

 We will also comply with legal requests where disclosure is required or permitted by law (for example to government bodies, statutory bodies, or law enforcement agencies for tax purposes, where it is in the public interest, or the prevention and detection of crime, subject to appropriate protection in law).

Consent

Christian Aid will always ask for your consent to send you marketing by email, SMS and Whatsapp.

Should we ever ask you to provide any sensitive personal data about yourself, for example any health condition that may be relevant if you are taking part in a Christian Aid event, we will always seek your explicit consent to process this data.

Where you give us consent to process your data we will always keep a clear record of how and when this consent was obtained, and you can withdraw this consent for all channels and activities at any time by contacting our supporter care team on info@christian-aid.org or on 020 7620 4444.

Contractual relationships

The vast majority of relationships with our supporters and beneficiaries are voluntary and not contractual. This purpose primarily relates to how we process the data that we hold in relation to our staff, and in some circumstances, our volunteers.

Legitimate interests

The law allows personal data to be legally collected and used by an organisation if it is necessary for a legitimate business interest of the organisation - as long as its use is fair and balanced and does not unduly impact the rights of the individual concerned.

There are times when it is just not practical to ask a person for consent. In many situations, the best approach for Christian Aid and our supporters, beneficiaries, and volunteers is to process personal data because of our legitimate interests, rather than consent.

If you want to change our use of your personal data for marketing and fundraising activities, you can do so at any time by contacting our supporter care team on info@christian-aid.org or on 020 7620 4444.

What are Christian Aid’s legitimate interests?

Governance:

  • Delivery of our charitable purposes as set out in our amended charitable objects (November 2007).
  • Transfers between Christian Aid and our wholly-owned subsidiary Christian Aid Trading Ltd.
  • Reporting criminal acts and compliance with the legal instructions of law enforcement agencies.
  • Providing reports to funding organisations (including UK, EU and Non-EU governmental bodies)
  • Internal and external audit for financial or regulatory compliance purpose.
  • Statutory reporting.

Publicity and income generation:

  • Conventional direct marketing by direct mail, telephone and other forms or marketing, publicity or advertisement.
  • Unsolicited commercial or non-commercial messages, including campaigns, income generation or charitable fundraising.
  • Unsolicited communications to Churches and other organisations, for example schools, with whom we work closely in order to publicise our appeals and campaigns.
  • Personalisation to tailor and enhance the supporter experience in our digital and postal communications.
  • Exercise of the right to freedom of expression or information, including in media and the arts.
  • Analysis, targeting and segmentation to develop fundraising strategy and improve communication efficiency.
  • Processing for research purposes.
  • Profiling, including the use of publicly available information.

Operational management:

  • Employee and volunteer recording and monitoring for recruitment, safety, performance management or workforce planning purposes.
  • Provision and administration of staff benefits such as pensions.
  • Physical security, IT and network security.
  • Maintenance of suppression lists.
  • Processing for historical, research or statistical purposes.


Financial management and control

  • Processing of financial transactions and maintaining financial controls.
  • Prevention of fraud, misuse of services, or money laundering.
  • Enforcement of legal claims.


Purely administrative purposes

  • Responding to any solicited enquiry from any of our stakeholders.
  • Delivery of requested products, resources or information packs.
  • Administration of direct debits and other existing financial transactions.
  • Administration of Gift Aid.
  • Providing 'thank you' communications and receipts.
  • Maintaining 'do not contact' lists

When we use your personal information, we will always consider if it is fair and balanced to do so and whether it would be within your reasonable expectations that we would use your data in this way.

We will balance your rights and our legitimate interests to ensure that the way in which we use your data never goes beyond what you would expect and is not unduly intrusive or unfair.

What information we collect

We collect and use personal information such as names and address details, as well as other contact information such as email addresses and telephone numbers. We also collect information about the services individuals use on our website, including any purchases or financial transactions made and any marketing preferences given.

We maintain a record of communications that we send to supporters, and will also log any communications that supporters send to us. In some limited cases we may collect some publicly available information about supporters, including company directorships, and your interests. If an individual attends a Christian Aid event it is possible that photographs may be taken, and information on how to opt-out of those photographs being used will be posted. If an individual calls our supporter care team, the call may be recorded for quality and training purposes. 

If supporters have made a donation to Christian Aid and kindly agreed to Gift Aid that donation we must record the fact that they are a UK tax payer and we have to maintain a record of the amount of Gift Aid we have collected.

Special Category personal information

Under data protection law, certain categories of personal information are recognised as particularly sensitive, including health information, race, religious beliefs, and political opinions (‘special category personal data’). In limited cases, we may collect special category personal data about you.

We would only collect special category personal data if there is a clear reason for doing so, as outlined earlier in this policy, such as where we need this information to ensure that we provide appropriate facilities or enable you to participate in an athletic event (such as a marathon, where we would need prior knowledge of any relevant medical conditions).

We will only use sensitive information provided to us for the purpose it is provided.

Credit and debit card information

If you use your credit or debit card to donate to us, or buy something online, we pass your card details securely to our payment-processing partner as part of the payment process. We do this in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Security Standard and don’t store the details on our website or databases.

Where does this information come from?

The vast majority of personal data we hold is given to us directly by our supporters, customers, partners, beneficiaries and volunteers in the course of them interacting with our services, program delivery, websites, or fundraising activities. We may also receive your personal information when you donate to Christian Aid through third party services such as Just Giving, Virgin Money Giving, or BT Donate.

We may occasionally use third party organisations to provide us with further details of individuals who have expressed an interest in Christian Aid and have agreed to receive communications from Christian Aid.

In some situations we may update our supporters, clients and volunteers personal information using other agencies; for example, to check we have a valid and deliverable postal address, or to check if you are on the telephone preference service or fundraising preference service.

Data retention

Christian Aid removes personal data from our systems in line with our data retention policy and schedules. The length of time each category of data will be retained will vary on how long we need to process it, the reason it is collected, and in line with any statutory requirements.

After this point the data will either be deleted or rendered anonymous. In certain specific situations, for example where a supporter has kindly pledged a legacy to Christian Aid in their will, we will maintain their details up to the time when we need to carry out the legacy administration and communicate effectively with their family.

Data sharing

We will only use your information within Christian Aid for the purposes for which it was obtained. Christian Aid will not, under any circumstances, share or sell your personal data with any third party for their own marketing purposes, and you will not receive marketing from any other companies, charities or other organisations as a result of giving your details to us.

Christian Aid’s suppliers
We may need to share your information with service providers who help us to deliver our projects, fundraising activities and appeals, for instance through handling responses to our emergency appeals. These "data processors" will only act under our instruction and are subject to pre-contract scrutiny and contractual obligations containing strict data protection clauses. We do not allow these organisations to use your data for their own purposes or disclose it to other third parties without our consent and we will take all reasonable care to ensure that they keep your data secure.

Funding Organisations
In some circumstances Christian Aid may share the personal data of staff and volunteers, as well as the personal data of staff and volunteers of local partner organisations, with organisations that have provided us with charitable funding. This may be as part of a report, or in response to a specific request where it  is determined that the disclosure is within Christian Aid’s legitimate interests.

Current and former Christian Aid employees
When you leave Christian Aid, Christian Aid may process your data to respond to requests for employment references. In addition, OGB participates in the Inter-Agency Scheme for the Disclosure of Safeguarding-related Misconduct in Recruitment Process within the Humanitarian and Development Sector ('Scheme'). Where you apply for employment with another member of the Scheme, they will request a statement from Christian Aid disclosing whether you have been found to have committed misconduct (in the form of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse or sexual harassment) while employed at Christian Aid. Christian Aid will respond to these requests in line with the rules of the Scheme.

More details about the Scheme are available on the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response website.

Find out more about Christian Aid’s assessment of the privacy impacts of participation in the Scheme.

Where legally required
As noted above, Christian Aid will also comply with legal requests where disclosure is required or permitted by law, for example, to government bodies, statutory bodies, or law enforcement agencies for tax purposes, where it is in the public interest, or the prevention and detection of crime, subject to appropriate protection in law. 

In some circumstances, Christian Aid may transfer your personal data outside the EEA. If it does so, this may occur under the protections of the European Commission's standard contractual clauses, but will otherwise only take place where appropriate standards and safeguards are in place.

Your data protection rights

Where Christian Aid is using your personal information on the basis of your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. You also have the right to ask Christian Aid to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes. Simply contact our supporter care team on info@christian-aid.org or on 020 7620 4444 and they will amend your contact preferences. The law also gives you a number of other rights in relation to your personal data:

Right to be Informed: You have the right to be told how your personal information will be used. This policy document, and shorter summary statements used on our communications, are intended to be a clear and transparent description of how your data may be used.

Right of Access: You can write to the Data Protection Officer asking what information we hold on you and to request a copy of that information. In accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018, we will comply with your request as soon as we are able, and at most 30 days once we are satisfied you have rights to see the requested records and we have successfully confirmed your identity.

Right of erasure: You have the right to be forgotten (i.e. to have your personally identifiable data deleted from our systems). In many cases we would recommend that we suppress you from future communications, rather than data deletion. Certain specific categories of personal data may not be deleted where, for example, a specific legal statute compels us to retain data for a set time period.

Right of rectification: If you believe our records are inaccurate you have the right to ask for those records concerning you to be updated.

Right to restrict processing: In certain situations you have the right to ask for processing of your personal data to be restricted because there is some disagreement about its accuracy or legitimate usage.

Right to data portability: Where we are processing your personal data under your consent the law allows you to request data portability from one service provider to another. This right is largely seen as a way for people to transfer their personal data from one service provider to a competitor and is unlikely to be relevant to your relationship with Christian Aid.

Right to object: You have an absolute right to stop the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes.

Right to object to automated decisions: In a situation where a data controller is using your personal data in a computerised model or algorithm to make decisions 'that have a legal effect on you', you have the right to object. This right is more applicable to mortgage or finance situations. Christian Aid does not undertake complex computerised decision making that produces legal effects.

Data security

We maintain a high level of physical and electronic security in relation to the collection, storage and disclosure of your information. We take reasonable steps to ensure that any information we hold about you is protected. We use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information given over the internet to protect all personal data as soon as it is possible.

The software scrambles data transmitted between your computer and our server, where it is unscrambled securely. While we make every reasonable effort to ensure that information sent to us is done so securely, we cannot warrant the security of information transmitted to us through the internet. When you transmit information to us via the internet, you do so at your own risk.

Cookies

Christian Aid uses cookies. Cookies are small text files on your device (computer, smart phone etc). They are made by your web browser when you visit a website. Every time you go back to that website, your browser will send the cookie file back to the website's server. They improve your experience of using a website, for example, by remembering your preference settings and by measuring your use of a website to ensure that it meets your needs. Cookies can also be used to show you relevant Christian Aid content on social media services such as Facebook – these are known as 'retargeting' or 'advertising' cookies. For information on the types of cookies we use, how we use them and how you can control your cookie preferences, see Christian Aid’s Cookies Policy

Use of IP addresses

We collect IP addresses to obtain aggregate information on the use of this website. An IP address is a number assigned to your computer by a web server when you're on the web. When you are on our site, we have a server that logs your computer's IP address. We only use the information we find out from tracking IP addresses in the aggregate, such as how many users entered a specific area of our site, and not to track a specific IP address to identify an individual user.

Changes to Christian Aid's privacy statement

From time to time, we will make changes to this statement to keep it up to date and relevant. Please make sure you check regularly to see what's changed. This statement was last updated on 14 April 2020.

What to do if you are not happy?

In the first instance, please talk to us directly so we can help resolve any problem or query. Our friendly Supporter Care team can help, or you can contact our data protection officer by emailing dataprotection@christian-aid.org You can also register with the fundraising preference service (FPS).

This service is run by the Fundraising Regulator and allows you to stop email, telephone, addressed post, and/or text messages from a selected charity or charities by using the online service at fundraisingpreference.org.uk or by calling 0300 303 3517. Once you have made a request through the FPS, we will ensure that your new preferences take effect within 28 days.

You can also contact the Fundraising Regulator directly to complain by using the online complaints form on their website. You also have the right to contact the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) if you have any concerns about Data Protection using their help line 0303 123 1113 or at ico.org.uk