Website Privacy Policy
Taking care of your information:
We take your privacy and personal information seriously at St Margaret’s House (SMH). This privacy policy sets out how we collect, use, share, and store your personal information.
Please read this policy carefully; by providing us with your personal information, you consent to the collection and use of any information you provide in accordance with this policy. Occasionally, we may make changes to this policy so do remember to check back from time to time.
If you have any questions on this policy, please call our Communications Teams on 020 8980 2092 between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday or email us at comms@stmargaretshouse.org.uk.
What information we collect:
Information you provide to SMH:
You might give us information about yourself by filling in forms on our website www.stmargaretshouse.org.uk or by corresponding with us by phone, email, social media or otherwise. When you use our website, we collect the personal information that you provide to us, for example your name, your email address, your telephone number, your contact preferences, financial and credit card information, the date or year of your birth, as well as any other contact or other information you choose to provide us in connection with the delivery of services.
If you register a young person for any of our classes, courses, or workshops, we will collect the personal information that you provide to us, for example information about the young person including their name, date of birth, school they attend, and any additional needs they may have.
We may also collect information about the donations you make to us or events that you may register for or participate in, and details from any interactions with our staff members.
We may also gather information that is publicly available, to build up a better picture of our users (anonymously).
To do this we use desk research to help us understand things such as the demographic information associated with your postcode.
Information we automatically collect:
By using SMH’s website, we automatically collect information via cookies and other similar pieces of software/technology.
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device to help us give you a better experience of using our website. Cookies do lots of different things, such as helping us to:
Personalise the website to your requirements. If for example, on a previous visit you went to the Create Place page, then we might find this out from your cookie and highlight information related to this which you may find interesting, on a second visit
Avoid asking you to complete details twice
Estimate the number of visitors to our site, including the source and patterns relating to this traffic
Display relevant advertising to you when you visit other websites
Understand how visitors use the site, and how we can enhance this experience
You can set your devices to accept all cookies, to notify you when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time, although of course please be aware this means that you’ll miss out on some personalised services. You should read the information that came with your browser software to see how you can do this.
You can also find out more about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org and www.youronlinechoices.eu/.
Sensitive information:
We might collect sensitive personal information about you, including information about your racial or ethnic origin, age, gender, sexuality and offences or alleged offences committed by you. Typically, we only collect this kind of information on a voluntary basis and after having obtained your explicit consent to do so, or where it is necessary to do so to comply with legal requirements (including for employment law purposes and to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us). Where you consent to provide this data, we shall use this information solely to monitor and report on our compliance with our commitment to create a diverse society and community. Compliance with any request for such information is always voluntary and you will never be asked to provide special category data as a requirement to participate in any activity, including the purchasing of tickets as an audience member.
All raw special category data shall be stored separately from, and with a greater level of protection to general data, with appropriate levels of security (which shall include being protected behind strong authentication) to reflect the additional levels of sensitivity of such data. Access to such raw data shall be limited to certain members of the Board of Trustees and core staff members with responsibility for diversity and inclusion and data protection and storage.
How we collect information:
Information helps us operate as efficiently as possible and to make sure our interactions with you are timely, relevant, and tailored for you. To do this, we may collect information about you in the following ways:
When you interact with us online, for example filling in forms on our website, such as workshop or exhibition proposals, hire enquiries, completing event surveys, or booking/reserving event tickets. This data helps us to improve your online experience and enables us to respond more efficiently to your requests
When you interact with us in person, or over the phone, for example completing event surveys, booking/reserving event tickets, taking a message for a colleague/facilitator
When you interact with third parties such as when you make a payment for a ticket through a third-party website e.g., Ticket Tailor and give your permission for your information to be shared with us. When you book a ticket directly through SMH’s website, for events including Saturday Circus Club, the financial transaction is processed via Stripe. Similarly, if you engage with us on social media and messaging services like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter/X you might give us permission to access information from those accounts. The data we are given access to by social media services will vary but will always be in line with the Terms of that particular service
When you visit our website we may gather information, such as the pages you visit or how long you spend reading a particular page. This data helps us to improve your online experience, for example by adding new features, or removing elements that make the website difficult to use. We may also use data and insights to help inform the choice of words and images that appear on the site, to improve visitors’ response to our events programme
Depending on the type of device you’re using, your apps and settings may supply us with additional information about the device type, your operating system, and details associated with this
From other information that is available to the public to help us understand more about you and ensure our communications are tailored to you. To do this, we may use information from publicly available sources such as Companies House, or information published in the media, as well as that which is commercially available through third party subscriptions. By understanding more about you, and how you might be interested in supporting us, means we can help make our work as cost effective as possible
How we use your information:
We will ask for your consent before we use your information for certain purposes, such as sending you emails about our events programme. We may also use your information where we have a legitimate interest in order to carry out our activities, examples include:
To provide you with the services, products, or information you have requested, or that we feel would be of interest to you, and reasonably expected by you
To process your donations or other payments and verify financial transactions
To provide updates on our work for the community and the difference your support is making, as well as tell you about other ways you might be able to support us, where you have agreed to receive this
For administrative purposes, like to issue an invoice or sign a contract
To keep a record of your relationship with us
To safeguard participants and customers who use our services and verify your identity for security purposes
To ask you to participate in surveys or research
To analyse the personal information, we collect about you alongside publicly available information to better understand you and ensure our communications are tailored to you
To analyse and improve our website, services, products, or information
To process an internship application or job application
To process a workshop/class/exhibition proposal
To investigate and prevent fraudulent activities and other illegal activities
So that we can let you know the latest news about our work and share with you how else you can help, we may contact you by direct mail, and by telephone, email, or SMS, where you have agreed to be contacted.
If you have acquired tickets or services from us before, we are entitled to assume that you may wish to acquire tickets from us or use our services in the future and on that basis, we will continue to process your information on this basis until you withdraw your consent, or it can be reasonably assumed that your consent no longer exists. This may include sending you information about the workshop or event you have booked for and general information about activities at SMH.
You can change how you hear from us at any time simply by getting in touch with our Comms Team – please see the section ‘How to change the way we contact you’ below.
If you would prefer us not to analyse your information or combine it with publicly available information, you can let us know by contacting our Comms Team on comms@stmargaretshouse.org.uk
Who we share your information with:
We may share your information with partners, agents, or service providers to allow them to perform services on our behalf or to help us understand our users more effectively. These partners will only act under our instruction and will not use your information for their own purposes.
We always have contracts in place with our suppliers, which require them to comply with UK’s law on data protection and to have systems and processes to protect the security of your information. We promise to always keep your details safe, and we’ll never sell or swap your information with any other organisation.
We may provide your email address or mobile phone number to digital advertising or social media companies who work on our behalf, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This is so we can reach you and others like you with our latest news and information about how you can help support the community. This data is always provided in an encrypted format and is deleted immediately after use.
If you don’t want to see targeted advertising from us on social media, please refer to the instructions provided by the website or app, for example on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and Google.
Information we process because we have a legal obligation:
SMH is subject to the law like everyone else. We may disclose personal information if required to do so by law or if we believe that such action is necessary to protect and defend the rights, property or personal safety of St. Margaret’s House, our websites, or our visitors and for other lawful purposes.
Box Office:
We use three third party providers to manage our ticketing and donation systems: Ticket Tailor and Stripe. We gather personal information that you provide to them, for example your name, your email address, your telephone number, address, and information about whether you have opted-in to receive our emails and third-party information. For more information, please see the following privacy notices: Ticket Tailor and Stripe.
E-Newsletter:
We use a third-party provider, Mailchimp, to deliver our e-newsletters. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter. For more information, please see Mailchimp’s privacy notice.
Instant Messaging:
We use two third party providers, Google Messages and WhatsApp, to facilitate instant messaging. For more information, please see Google’s privacy notice and WhatsApp's privacy notice.
Social Media:
We use a variety of social media platforms, including but not limited to: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, YouTube, and NextDoor.
Web Analytics:
We use one third party provider, Google Analytics, to analyse our web traffic. For more information, please see Google’s privacy notice.
Surveys:
We use two third-party providers, Google Forms and the Arts Council England’s Illuminate software, to facilitate customised market research and demographics. For more information, please see Google’s privacy notice and Arts Council England’s privacy policy.
Legitimate Interests:
“Legitimate Interests” means the interests of our organisation in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/products and the best and most secure experience. For example, we have an interest in making sure our marketing is relevant for you, so we may process your information to send you marketing that is tailored to your interests. It can also apply to processing that is in your interests as well. For example, we may process your information to protect you against fraud when transacting on our website, and to ensure our websites and systems are secure.
When we process your personal information for our legitimate interests, we make sure to consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative), and your rights under data protection laws. Our legitimate business interests do not automatically override your interests – we will not use your Personal Data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law).
If you have any concerns, you have the right to object to processing your personal information that is based on our legitimate interests.
How we keep your information safe:
We make sure that appropriate physical, technical, and human controls are in place to ensure we take good care of your information.
However, the transmission of information over the internet is never completely secure and as a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, St. Margaret’s house cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your data, we make every effort to try to ensure its security both on our systems and while in transit between our systems and our partners who work on our behalf.
All staff who have access to your personal data understand the importance of keeping your information safe and secure at all times and are given training to support them in this.
We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other websites even if you access them using links from our websites and recommend that you check the policy of each site you visit.
We ensure that additional controls are in place for financial, sensitive, and special categories of information, meeting regulatory and legal requirements for managing these types of information.
Sometimes we may need to use a service provider or partner outside the European Economic Area (EEA) – which may include a country that does not have the same level of data protection as the UK. In these circumstances, we take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety and security of your information as set out in this Privacy Policy, including adhering to the EU-US privacy shield agreement.
How long we keep your information:
We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity and meet any legal or regulatory requirement.
This is so that we can provide the services, products, or information you have requested
To administer your relationship with us
To ensure we don’t communicate with you if you’ve asked us not to and to comply with the law
To comply with local authority requests and the law, including for the period demanded by tax regulations
We may keep information relating to gifts in wills indefinitely so that we can administer these gifts and communicate appropriately with the families of those leaving SMH a legacy
You can request a copy of the personal information that we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. If you would like to do so, please send a description of the information you would like as well as approved proof of identity to the Comms Team at St. Margaret’s House, 21 Old Ford Road Street, London, E2 9PL.
We will regularly review any personal data held by us and where the above factors do not apply, or there is no other legitimate reason for us to retain such personal data, will delete and destroy such personal data insofar as we are able to do so. This will not prejudice your ability to ask us to remove personally identifiable information from our records.
You have the right to lodge a complaint about the way we manage your data with the Information Commissioners Office.
How to change the way we contact you:
We always want you to be happy with the communication you receive from us. If you want to change how you hear from us, or update your details, simply get in touch with our Communications and Operations Team. You can call them on 020 8980 2092 or email comms@stmargaretshouse.org.uk (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm).
You can opt-out of receiving promotional or marketing communications from us by using the unsubscribe link at the end of any such email.
Where you tell us that you no longer want to hear from us for marketing purposes, please be aware that we may still contact you for administration purposes such as about providing you with information you’ve requested or in helping resolve a query.
What if I’m under 18?
If you are under 18, please make sure that you obtain your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide personal information via our websites. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information. Also, if you do use our sites to obtain information about fundraising, campaigning, or supporting the work of St. Margaret’s House, please let an adult know.
Changes to this policy
Date of last review: 10/2024
Next Policy Review date: 11/2025
SMH staff to review policy: Communications Officer / Arts and Wellbeing Director / Co-CEO
This information was last updated in October 2024. From time to time, we may make changes to the information on this page so you may wish to check back. The amended information will apply from the date it is posted on the site and will govern the way in which we collect and use personal information from then on.