Privacy notice
How we collect, use and protect your personal information.
Draft for trustee approval. Trustees must review and approve this page, including the items in [square brackets], before the site goes live.
Who we are
The Guiding Hand Foundation (CIO), registered charity 1214155, is the data controller for the personal information described in this notice. Contact us at guiding.hf@gmail.com.
What we collect and why
- Support applications and enquiries: your name, contact details, college or university and course, and details of your circumstances, including financial information if you apply for a hardship grant. We use this to assess and provide support. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests in carrying out our charitable purposes [trustees to confirm].
- Donations: your name, contact details, home address and Gift Aid declaration, and the amount you give. We use this to process your gift, claim Gift Aid and thank you. Lawful basis: legal obligation (Gift Aid records) and legitimate interests.
- Volunteers and partners: your contact details and the information you send us. Lawful basis: legitimate interests.
We do not ask for information about your health or ethnicity. If you choose to share it, we will only use it with your explicit consent and only to help with your request.
Who we share it with
- Our donation platform, Zeffy, and Swiftaid, which claims Gift Aid on our behalf [confirm once set up]
- Google, which provides our email
- HMRC, for Gift Aid claims
- Regulators or professional advisers, where the law requires
We never sell your personal information.
International transfers
Some of our providers may process data outside the UK. When they do, we rely on safeguards recognised under UK law, such as adequacy regulations or standard contractual clauses.
How long we keep it
- Gift Aid declarations and donation records: six years after your last donation, as HMRC requires.
- Support applications: [period to be confirmed by trustees] after we make a decision.
- General enquiries: [period to be confirmed by trustees].
Your rights
You have the right to access, correct or delete your information, to restrict or object to how we use it, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time. To use these rights, email guiding.hf@gmail.com. We will respond within one month.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, please email us first. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and respond without undue delay. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or 0303 123 1113.
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