Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Policy explains when and why Seafarers’ Christian Friend Society (SCFS) collects personal information about people, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.

We may make changes to this policy from time to time. If we do so, we will post the changes on this page and they will apply from the time we post them. This policy was adopted by the SCFS Board of Trustees on 23rd June 2023.

Any questions regarding this policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to dpo@scfs.org or by writing to the Data Protection Officer, SCFS, Unit 18, Inspire Business Park, 16 Carrowreagh Road, Dundonald, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, BT16 1TQ. Alternatively, telephone +44 (0) 28 9521 7770.

2. Guidance

This Policy is based on the advice and guide contained in the Information Commissioner’s Office “Guide to the General Data Protection Regulations”.  The trustees of SCFS are committed to meeting the Charity Commission expectation that charities should operate in line with this guidance, and within the provisions outlined in the charity’s own governing document.

3. Process

We obtain information on individuals in a number of ways. We hold information on those directly attached to the charity: for example, as trustees, employees, potential employees or suppliers. We also gather information on those who contact us about products and services, to donate, or to register to receive our magazine.

The personal information we collect includes name, address, phone number, email address, IP address, and information regarding what pages are accessed and when.

The reasons for obtaining personal information include:

• To process a donation.
• To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and us.
• To seek views or comments on the services we provide.
• To issue notification of changes to our services.
• To send communications which have been requested.
• To process a grant or job application.
• To send invitations to SCFS events.
• To participate in surveys for research, if approval has been given.
• To send communications to our supporter base.
• To thank supporters for donations of knitwear or gifts.

SCFS reviews the retention periods for personal information on a regular basis.

We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations for example, the collection of Gift Aid. We will hold personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract held with us.

We accept that we must have a lawful reason to process personal data. All data which we retain is justified through one of six lawful reasons:

• Consent.
• Contract.
• Legal obligation.
• Vital interests.
• Public task.
• Legitimate interests.

4. What is personal data?

Personal data is information that can be used to help identify an individual, such as name, address, phone number, IP or email address.

5. What we collect and why we collect it

This policy applies to the SCFS website, our use of emails, postal correspondence, and any other methods we use for collecting information. We obtain information about you when you use our website, for example, when you contact us about products and services or to leave a legacy. It covers what we collect and why and what we do with the information.

• We collect information that is either personal data (as outlined above) or non-personal data (pages accessed etc.).
• We collect information to provide services or goods.
• We only collect the information that we need or that would be useful to us in our quest to provide the best possible service.
• We do our very best to keep personal information secure, including SSL technology (secure server software), wherever we collect personal data online.
• We never sell your data and we will never share it with another company or charity for marketing purposes.
• We only share data where we are required by law or with carefully selected partners who do work for us.
• Our websites use cookies – for more information please see paragraphs 13, 14 and 15.
• We will only retain your data for as long as it is required.
• We may collect information about you whenever you interact with us, for example when you:
  • Fulfil your requests – such as provision of information.
  • Communicate with us.
  • Take part in one of our events.
  • Attend a meeting with us and provide us with information about you.
  • Contact us through the following channels: online, email, phone, SMS, social media, or post.
  • Prevent or detect fraud or abuses of our websites and enable third parties to carry out technical, logistical or other functions on our behalf.
  • Provide information relating to any legacies you make.
  • Post content to our website/social media sites (including Facebook).

6. Who has access to information?

SCFS will not sell or rent information to third parties.

SCFS will not share information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Only SCFS distributes its magazine.

Our data is held on secure servers which are maintained by a trusted and certified third-party IT specialist.

Staff information is shared with our third-party payroll provider via a secure network to facilitate payment of salaries.

7. Disclosures

We may disclose information about you to any of our employees insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes as set out in this privacy policy. In addition, we may disclose your personal information:

• To the extent that we are required to do so by law.
• In connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings.
• To establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk).

Except as provided in this privacy policy, we will not provide your information to third parties.

8. Contact Choices

SCFS will not contact anyone for marketing purposes by email, phone or text message unless prior consent has been given. We will not contact anyone for marketing purposes by post if they have indicated that they do not wish to be contacted. Marketing preferences can be changed at any time by contacting SCFS by email: hq@scfs.org or telephone on +44 (0) 28 9521 7770.

9. How to access and update information

The accuracy of information is important to SCFS. If information needs updating please email hq@scfs.org or write to SCFS, Unit 18, Inspire Business Park, 16 Carrowreagh Road, Dundonald, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, BT16 1TQ. Alternatively, telephone +44 (0) 28 9521 7770.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information SCFS holds on you. If you want a copy of the information we hold on you please contact our Data Protection Officer by writing to Data Protection Officer, SCFS, Unit 18, Inspire Business Park, 16 Carrowreagh Road, Dundonald, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, BT16 1TQ. or by email: hq@scfs.org.

If you are not satisfied by our actions, you can seek recourse through our internal complaints procedure. If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

T: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate)

10. Security precautions in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information.

Non-sensitive details (email addresses etc.) are transmitted normally over the Internet, and this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while SCFS strive to protect personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us over this medium, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, our policies, processes and storage arrangements ensure the security of the information.

11. Profiling

We will not use your information for profiling.

12. Our website

Our website may contain links to other websites outside our control and which are not covered by this Privacy Policy. If you access other sites using the links provided, the operators of these sites may collect information from you which will be used by them in accordance with their privacy policy, which may differ from ours.

13. Cookies

Our website uses cookies, which is a small piece of data saved with your computer’s web browser. Cookies do not have access to your computer or browser information, they are only sent back to the website at the next visit from that browser. We use cookies so that we can track how users navigate through our site, in order to enable us to evaluate and improve our site. We use this information to compile anonymous statistical data on the use of our website.

14. Disabling Cookies

In most cases there are no industry standard options for disabling cookies without completely disabling the functionality and features they add to this site. Although it is recommended that you leave on all cookies, you can prevent the setting of cookies by adjusting the settings on your browser.

15. Embedded Content

Some of the content on our website is provided by third parties including, but not limited to Raisely, Stripe, Google Maps, YouTube and Vimeo for hosted vídeo, and Shutterstock and Flickr for images. When you visit a page containing content from one of these sites a cookie may be set. We do not have any control over these cookies and you should check the relevant third-party website for more information about these. You can similarly disable cookies for all websites as described above.

16. Links to other websites

The SCFS website contains links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our website. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from the SCFS website.  In addition, if you linked to the SCFS website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site.

17. Google Analytics

Our website uses Google Analytics, which is one of the most widespread and trusted analytics solutions – Google Analytics data is anonymous – on the web for helping us understand how you use the site and ways that we can improve your experience. These cookies may track things such as how long you spend on the site and the pages you visit. For more information on Google Analytics cookies, see the official Google Analytics page.

18. Social Media sites

We operate several social media pages, including Facebook and WhatsApp. Where SCFS port missionaries administrate and maintain their own Facebook or WhatsApp pages these are not official SCFS sites. Although this policy covers how we will use any data collected from those pages it does not cover how the providers of social media websites will use your information. Please ensure you read the privacy policy of the social media website before sharing data and make use of the privacy settings and reporting mechanisms to control how your data is used.

19. Messages and Comments

When visitors leave a message or comments on the website we collect the data shown in the message or comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string, to help spam detection.

20. Your rights

The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) controls how your personal information is used. To indicate the UK’s status outside the European Union (EU), it was amended on 1st January 2021 by regulations under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The DPA 2018 sits alongside and supplements the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and gives you certain rights over your data and how we use it. These include:

• The right in certain circumstances to have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed.
• The right to prevent your data being used for direct marketing.
• The right of access to a copy of the information we hold about you (known as a subject access request).

This legislation has been put in place to give you a clearer understanding of how and why your data is collected, how it is stored, for how long and how it is disposed of. It also includes information as to when and how your information might be shared with others.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact the SCFS Data Protection Officer in writing at SCFS, Unit 18, Inspire Business Park, 16 Carrowreagh Road, Dundonald, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, BT16 1TQ, or by emailing dpo@scfs.org

For more information about your rights under UK GDPR go to the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk

21. Aged under 16

If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent / guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information.

22. Donations

If you are making a donation, in addition to asking for your name and email address, we will ask for your full address and your phone number. We may also ask why you chose to support our work. All donations and payments, including those by debit or credit card, are processed securely.

23. Gift Aid

Even if the supporter has been removed from the database, Gift Aid records are financial records and must be kept for 7 years in accordance with current accounting rules.