Privacy Policy
Who are we?
This Privacy Policy covers all personal data that is gathered by the Society for Abandoned Animals (hereafter ‘the SAA’), Registered Charity Number 245426.
Data protection
The SAA takes data protection very seriously.
As you browse our website, get in touch with us, or use our services, we may collect information. This makes providing our services possible, and improves the efficiency of these services and our fundraising communications.
The SAA will never exchange or sell your information to another organisation for its own marketing purposes. We know that this is important to you, and want to reassure you that you’re always in control of how we use your personal information in regards to marketing and fundraising activities.
We do, however, need to collect and use your personal information for carefully considered and legitimate business purposes, which help ensure we can run the SAA efficiently, raise funds effectively, and deliver our charitable animal rescue/animal welfare services. This policy sets out how your personal data will be used, what data we collect, and our legal basis for its use, along with outlining your rights with respect to personal data.
Purposes
Your personal information may be used to help us effectively deliver our animal rescue/animal welfare services or to help us raise funds for those services.
We always strive to provide a clear, honest, and transparent approach regarding how and when we may collect and use your personal data. The overview below summarises the different reasons we do this. We may not use your personal information for all of these purposes – it will depend on the nature of our relationship with you, and how you interact with our services, website, and fundraising activities.
Purpose | Activities |
1. Delivery of animal rescue/welfare services | Delivery of our core animal rescue services will require the recording of contact details and communication preferences of those surrendering pets to us, as well as the vet records of pets if they are available. We may also need your contact details to provide you with animal welfare advice, or to make appointments for nail clipping or the use of our dog field etc. |
2. Rehoming an animal from us | When you apply to rehome an animal from us, we’ll need to gather personal information such as your name, address, email address, and telephone number to enable a home check by one of our members of animal care staff.We ensure all animals are microchipped when they’re rehomed from us. We will share your personal information with a microchip company in case your animal goes missing. We use the ‘Chipworks’ database at present.
If you rehome a cat, dog, or rabbit from us, we will also share your personal information with Petplan, our pet insurance provider, so they can offer you four weeks’ free pet insurance. If you take this up, Petplan will contact you with an offer to extend the cover after the free period ends. |
3. Fundraising and marketing | Like all 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 appeals, competitions, animal welfare issues, sponsorships, events, or volunteering opportunities.We may also ask if you are a tax payer and able to Gift Aid any of your donations (we as a charity can reclaim tax on a donation made by a taxpayer – an extra 25p for every £1 you donate, at no extra cost to you). We will probably need your name and contact details to do this. |
5. Donors and supporters | If you wish to support us by making a donation, sponsoring a pen, registering to fundraise for us, or signing up to an event, we will collect your name and contact details as a minimum.Where appropriate, we may also ask for your date of birth and your motivation or personal experience for supporting us. We will use the information you provide to give you the services, products or information you asked for (for example if you have requested a newsletter), tailor communications to you, to administer your donation including processing Gift Aid, to send you a thank you letter, to support your fundraising, or to manage your marketing preferences.
We may also send you administrative communications, for example confirming a direct debit instruction when you have made a donation to us, or letting you know the time an event starts. To make an online donation or payment by direct debit or debit/credit card, you will be directed to a payment gateway which uses security features and encryption to ensure your data remains safe. |
6. Members | If you are a member of the SAA, then we need to hold your personal information so that we can keep our register of members up to date.We will also communicate with you about your SAA membership and contact you with information relevant to you, such as informing you of dates for the AGM. When applying to become a member of the SAA, we may check if you have any affiliations to groups that you may have that oppose or seek to undermine the SAA’s aims. |
7. Sales | The SAA operates a network of sales points, including an eBay store, our on-site shop, and ordering forms for memorial plaques. If you pay by debit or credit card for any of these services, we will receive your contact details in order to process the payment. |
8. Staff administration | We process the personal information of our employees for recruitment, staff administration, remuneration, pensions, and performance management purposes. |
Lawful processing
The SAA needs a lawful basis to collect and use your personal data. The law allows for six legitimate ways to process people’s personal data. Only some of these are relevant to charities for the types of purposes listed above.
- Information is processed on the basis of a person’s consent
- Information is processed on the basis of fulfilling a contractual relationship
- Information is processed on the basis of a legal obligation
- Information is processed on the basis of vital interests (protecting somebody’s life)
- Information is processed on the basis of performing a public task
- Information is processed on the basis of the ‘legitimate interests’ of the SAA
In extreme situations, we may share your personal details with the emergency services if our employees believe it is in your ‘vital interests’ to do so. For example, this would apply when someone is taken ill on our premises. We may also share your personal information where we are compelled by law to do so.
What are the SAA’s legitimate interests?
Data Collected
We collect and use personal information such as names and address details along with other contact information such as email addresses and telephone numbers. We also collect information about the services you use (e.g. use of our dog field or rabbit boarding unit), any purchases or financial transactions you make, or any marketing contact preferences you give.
If you have kindly Gift Aided your donation to SAA, we must record the fact that you are a UK taxpayer and we have to maintain a record of the amount of Gift Aid we have claimed.
Do we process sensitive personal information?
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law, certain categories of personal information are recognised as ‘sensitive personal data’, including health information, race, religious beliefs, and political opinions. We do not collect or process sensitive personal data unless it is absolutely necessary, for example asking for health information if it related to an injury incurred on our premises, or ensuring you are able to work or volunteer with us. We will also discuss your lifestyle and carry out a home check in order to match you with an animal for rehoming.
Your credit or debit card information
If you use your credit or debit card to donate to us, or buy something, 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 the information come from?
The vast majority of personal data we hold is given to us directly by our supporters, customers, clients, members, staff, and volunteers in the course of them interacting with our services, website, or fundraising activities. We also receive your personal information when you donate to the SAA through third party services such as JustGiving or PayPal.
Data retention
In general terms, we remove identifiable personal data from our records as soon as it has fulfilled its purpose. This can mean personal data is deleted immediately, or kept for several months/as long as it is needed by us to provide our services to those the data pertains to.
Data sharing
The SAA will not exchange or sell your personal information to another organisation for its own marketing purposes. However, there are legitimate situations where we have to share your personal information with other organisations. When you adopt an animal from us, we will share your details with Chipworks (our microchip database provider), and with Petplan, who will issue 4 weeks’ free insurance. In these situations, the relationship between the SAA and the third party is governed by a contract, and strict security requirements are in place to protect your personal information.
Data protection rights
Where the SAA is using your personal information on the basis of consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. You also have the right to ask the SAA to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes. Simply contact our Fundraiser (fundraiser@saarescue.co.uk) or Team Leader (teamleader@saarescue.co.uk), or call 0161 973 5318.
- Right to be Informed – You have the right to be told how your personal information will be used. This policy document, and shorter privacy notices 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 submit a Subject Access Request to our Fundraiser or Team Leader at any time to see which information we hold on you, and to request a copy of that information. From 25th May 2018 we will have 30 days to comply once we are satisfied you have right to see the requested records and we have successfully confirmed your identity.
- Right of Erasure – From 25th May 2018, you have the right to be forgotten (i.e. to have your personally identifiable data deleted).
- 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.
- 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. The SAA does not undertake complex computerised decision making.
Collection of data through ‘cookies’
We use ‘cookies’ on our website to collect information about you and your activity across the site. A cookie is a small piece of data that our website stores on your computer browser, and accesses each time you visit so we can understand how you use our site and serve you content based on preferences you have specified.
If you do not wish to accept cookies from us, you should instruct your browser to refuse cookies from our website. This policy covers only the use of cookies between your computer and our website; it does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.
By using our website, our social media pages (such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram), you agree that, unless you have set your computer’s browser to reject them, we can place cookies on your device and use that data in accordance with this policy.
Notification of changes to the Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may change from time-to-time. For example, we will continue to update it to reflect new legal requirements. Please visit this website page to keep up-to-date with the changes to our Privacy Policy.
What to do if you’re not happy
In the first instance, please talk to us directly so we can help to resolve any problem or query.
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 www.fundraisingpreference.org.uk or by calling 0300 303 3517. Once you have made a request through the FPS our charity is registered automatically, and we will ensure that your new preferences take effect within 28 days.
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 www.ico.org.uk