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PRIVACY POLICY

Introduction and general terms

Poverty Child, and the people we seek to help, are dependent on the generosity of our supporters as well as the goodwill and trust of the public.  We are therefore committed to protecting any personal information we obtain about you, whether you are just visiting our website or are a financial supporter, shopper, volunteer or campaigner.  This Privacy Policy sets out how we obtain, use and protect any personal information you provide to us, whether online, via phone, text, email, in letters or in other correspondence.

This privacy policy explains the following:

  • what information Poverty Child may collect about you;
  • how Poverty Child will use information we collect about you;
  • when Poverty Child may use your details to contact you;
  • whether Poverty Child will disclose your details to anyone else;
  • your choices regarding the personal information you provide to us; the use of cookies on the Poverty Child website and how you can exercise your choices in relation to those cookies.

Poverty Child is committed to safeguarding your personal information. Whenever you provide such information, we are legally obliged to use your information in line with all laws concerning the protection of personal information, including the Data Protection Act 1998.

The Poverty Child website contains hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third party websites have their own privacy policies, including policies on their use of cookies, and we urge you to review them. They will govern the use of personal information you submit or which is collected by cookies whilst visiting these websites. We cannot accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.

Who we are

Poverty Child is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee (company number 8679269).  Poverty Child’s registered address is 83 Ducie Street, Manchester, M1 2JQ.

What information will Poverty Child collect about me?

When you contact Poverty Child to make a donation, purchase an item online or sign up to any of Poverty Child’s activities or online content, such as newsletters, competitions, or message boards, or you telephone, email, write to or text Poverty Child, or engage with Poverty Child via social media channels, we may receive and retain personal information about you. This can consist of information such as your name, email address, postal address, telephone or mobile number, bank account details to process donations and whether or not you are a tax payer so that we can claim Gift Aid.

By submitting your details, you enable Poverty Child (and where applicable any sub-contractors we may use) to raise funds and to provide you with the goods, services, information, activities or online content you select.

We do not usually collect “sensitive personal data” about our supporters, e.g. health status, unless there is a clear reason for doing so – such as participation in a marathon or similar fundraising event or where we need this to ensure that we provide appropriate facilities or support to enable you to participate in an event.  Clear notices will be provided on applications for such events so that it is clear what information we need and why we need it.

If you are simply browsing our website as an anonymous visitor, Poverty Child may still collect certain information from you, such as your IP addresses (an IP address is a number that can uniquely identify a specific computer or other network device on the internet).

Poverty Child also uses cookies.  Cookies are small text files on your device.  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.  See below for more detail on how we use cookies and how you can control your cookie preferences.

How will Poverty Child use the information you collect about me?

Poverty Child will use your personal information for a number of purposes including the following:

  • in relation to any correspondence you have entered into with us whether by letter, email, text, social media, message board or any other means;
  • for “service administration purposes”, which means that Poverty Child may contact you for reasons related to donations you have made or the activity or online content you have signed up for;
  • for internal record keeping;
  • to fulfil sales contracts you have entered into with Poverty Child;
  • to contact you about any content you provide;
  • to invite you to participate in surveys or research about Poverty Child or our work (participation is always voluntary);
  • for marketing purposes where you have specifically agreed to this (see below);
  • to provide you with information about our activities or online content you have agreed to receive;
  • to personalise the way Poverty Child content is presented to you;
  • to use IP addresses to identify the location of users, to block disruptive use, to establish the number of visits from different countries;
  • to analyse and improve the activities and content offered by the Poverty Child website to provide you with the most user-friendly navigation experience. We may also use and disclose information in aggregate (so that no individuals are identified) for marketing and strategic development purposes.

Will I be contacted for marketing purposes?

Poverty Child will only contact you for marketing purposes by email or other electronic means if you have agreed to be contacted for these purposes or where you have made a donation by text and have not opted out from receiving further information.  Where you have provided your postal address we may send you direct mail about our work unless you have told us that you do not wish to receive such information.

If you wish to contact us either to obtain information about our work or to stop us sending you such information please email us at hello@povertychild.org with the details. You may also opt out of marketing emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email from Poverty Child.

Will Poverty Child share my personal information with anyone else?

We will only use your information within Poverty Child for the purposes for which it was obtained, unless you have explicitly agreed that we may share your information with another organisation. Sometimes Poverty Child contracts third parties to process your information on our behalf.  We require these third parties to comply strictly with our instructions and data protection laws.

We will keep your information confidential except where disclosure is required or permitted by law (for example to government bodies for tax purposes or law enforcement agencies for the prevention and detection of crime, subject to such bodies providing us with a relevant request in writing).

Offensive or inappropriate content placed on the Poverty Child website

If you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content to or anywhere on the Poverty Child website or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on any Poverty Child service, we may use your personal information to stop such behaviour.

Where Poverty Child reasonably believes that you are or may be in breach of any of the laws of England and Wales (or the law of Scotland if you live there) (e.g. because content you have posted may be defamatory), we may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties such as your employer, internet provider or law enforcement agencies about the content and your behaviour.

How long will Poverty Child keep my personal information?

We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, e.g. we will keep a record of donations for at least seven years.  If you request us not to send you marketing information we will keep a record of your contact details and appropriate information to enable us to comply with your request not to be contacted by us.

Where you contribute material to us, e.g. user generated content or in response to a particular campaign we will generally only keep your content for as long as is reasonably required for the purpose(s) for which it was submitted unless otherwise stated at the point of generation.

What is Poverty Child’s policy on allowing me to update, correct, or delete my personal information?

The accuracy of your information is important to us. We are working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that Poverty Child maintains about you. In the meantime, if you change email address or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, you can let us know by emailing us at hello@povertychild.org.

Under the Data Protection Act you have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. (We charge £10 for information requests and require you to prove your identity with two pieces of approved identification).

Please address requests and questions about this or any other question about this Privacy Policy by email to hello@povertychild.org.

Cookies Policy – information Poverty Child collects from your computer or mobile device

a. What is a cookie?

Cookies are small text files on your device.  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.  Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device.

Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving the user experience. They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.

You can find more information about cookies at: www.allaboutcookies.org and www.youronlinechoices.eu, or by watching the video below.

b. Why does Poverty Child use cookies?

Like many websites, Poverty Child uses cookies in order to provide you with a more personalised web service.

Cookies help us identify which bits of our website people are using, and help us do work on those sections of the website to improve the user experience.  We also use cookies to help show content on our site which is relevant to you and your interests, for example if on a previous visit you went to our pages about emergencies, festivals or events, we might find this out from your cookie and show you other information on our website related to emergencies, festivals or events on subsequent visits.

Information supplied in cookies also allows us to measure the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns for Poverty Child. This enables us to ensure any money we spend on digital marketing gives us a good return on investment.

Changes to Poverty Child’s Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to Poverty Child. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page. If you do not agree to these changes, please do not continue to use the Poverty Child website to submit personal information to Poverty Child.  If material changes are made to the Privacy Policy we will notify you by placing a prominent notice on the website.