Privacy statement
Introduction
Cofarm Foundation is committed to safeguarding your privacy. This statement explains how and why we (will) collect, use and disclose your personal information.
References to ‘CoFarm’, ‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’ are to Cofarm Foundation, a charitable company limited by guarantee in England & Wales, with registration no. 12267456 and Registered Charity Number 1193795, having its registered office at Future Business Centre, Kings Hedges Road, Cambridge CB4 2HY.
CoFarm Foundation brings people together to grow and share delicious, nourishing food and helps build stronger, healthier communities and ecosystems.
We deliver our work through relationships with volunteers, fundraisers, supporters, and partners from communities, schools, businesses, local authorities, government departments, research and civil society organisations. Our use of personal information enables us to operate safely and efficiently on a daily basis, helping us realise our vision that, by 2030, everyone in the United Kingdom will have access to local, sustainably produced food and opportunities to enjoy growing and sharing it with others.
This statement is a summary of how we are taking all reasonable steps to ensure your information is secure. There may be other privacy policies that apply to certain services we provide. We will make these explicit when they apply. Please read them before you subscribe for such services to ensure you are happy with our use of your information.
This policy became effective from the date of CoFarm Foundation’s first Trustee board meeting as a newly incorporated charitable institution. This board meeting was on 22nd November 2019. We will regularly check this notice and update it when necessary to be transparent about how we process and protect your information.
This statement includes
What information we collect
Why we collect information
Where we collect information from
How long we keep your information for
Who we share your personal information with
How your information is secure
Managing your communications from us
What information we collect
We may collect a variety of personally identifiable or sensitive information from you for various reasons. The type and quantity of information we collect and how we use it depends on why you are providing it. For example, we may collect:
personal details, including your full name, contact details (e.g. postal address, email address, telephone number), date of birth, records of your correspondence and engagement with us
financial details, including bank or credit card details, payment and donation history
education and employment background
photographs, video or audio recordings
equal opportunities data
physical or mental health information
criminal record
Sensitive personal data
We will normally only record sensitive, personal data (including health, religion, sexuality, ethnicity, political and philosophical beliefs) where we have your explicit consent, unless we are permitted to do so in other circumstances under data protection law. For example, we may make a record that a person is in a vulnerable circumstance to comply with legal requirements and the Code of Fundraising Practice, to ensure that we do not send fundraising communications to them.
Volunteers and former volunteers
If you are a volunteer or have previously volunteered with Cofarm, some of your personal data you provided to us in connection with your volunteering with Cofarm may be transferred to your record. For example:
details of your volunteering with CoFarm, e.g. community farm location, dates
details of your interactions with CoFarm, e.g. your participation in any co-farming activities, attendance at CoFarm events, other contact with us, benefits or services provided to you by us, your relationship with other CoFarm volunteers or supporters, your communications preferences.
Additional information
We also record, where applicable, based on information you provide to us and, in some cases, publicly available information:
financial information relating to you and your family, including: your history of payments and donations made to CoFarm Foundation or a subsidiary, your ability and willingness to make donations, if we think particular products, services, donations or funding appeals may interest you, your philanthropy and other giving, including donations to other organisations and other support that you provide (e.g. details of volunteering roles)
career information including your current and previous employment status, career highlights and achievements
information about your areas of interest and hobbies.
Why we collect information
Your data is collected and used by us for many interdependent purposes in support of delivering our social objectives, communications and fund raising activities.
Depending on how you interact with us, we use your information to:
provide you with information and administer services that you have requested
process volunteer and employee applications
process payments for goods, services and donations
process and administer an event you have registered for or attended
communicate with you regarding our activities, impact and campaigns
invite you to events, such as gatherings, feasts and open farm days
send you details of volunteering opportunities and apprenticeships
send you tailored proposals, appeals and requests for financial support to support our projects and collaborative work with our partners
share your story to inspire others to volunteer or support our work
obtain information to improve our services and user experiences, including conducting surveys
keep our internal records updated, including your relationship with us and the management of any feedback or complaints
manage your communication preferences
comply with applicable laws and regulations, and requests from statutory agencies.
Building profiles and targeting communications
To provide the best experience of volunteering with, supporting and benefiting from CoFarm, we may carry out targeted communication and fundraising activities to ensure these are timely and relevant for you. In creating a profile, we may combine information that you have provided to us with other information when it is available (e.g. public records or social media). We do this to conduct due diligence before seeking or accepting financial support or social investments. Where possible, we cleanse and remove out of date data by checking it against publicly available records such as deceased records. We do this screening to help make best use of our resources by not sending inappropriate communications.
You can withdraw your consent, unsubscribe from or update your communications preferences at any time by contacting us using the details below or via the unsubscribe buttons which are embedded in all of our email campaigns. If you do make any changes, we will update your record as soon as we possibly can.
Our legal basis for processing data
In some instances we may process your information without your specific consent when we are legally allowed to do so, for example to provide the opportunity to volunteer with CoFarm in response to your application to volunteer. This will only be where it is in our legitimate interests to do so and where we are confident that such processing is not likely to prejudice your legitimate interests or rights and freedoms.
Where we are processing your personal data on the basis of your specific consent that you have given us, you are entitled to withdraw that consent at any time.
Where we collect information from
CoFarm may collect information in the following ways via any paper forms you complete, telephone conversations or face-to-face interactions, digital forms completed via our website or online surveys, communication via social media and through third-party companies and crowd-funding and alternative finance websites.
From you directly: e.g. when you request a newsletter or information, complete your details in a social media advertisement, fill out a volunteer application form, make a payment or participate in one of our events.
From you indirectly: e.g. when you use third party websites to raise funds in support CoFarm’s social objectives
From other organisations: when you have given them permission to share your information
From social media: depending on your settings or the privacy policies for social media and messaging services like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you might give us permission to access information from those accounts or services e.g. you may receive targeted advertisements through our use of social media audience tools.
From our website: when you visit, e.g. we use software such as Google Analytics to identify which pages on our website are visited most. This information is collected automatically. It does not contain any personal or sensitive information, so browsing is anonymous. For information on this, please see our website Terms and Conditions and our Cookies Policy.
From publicly available sources: we may collect personal details about you from the public domain, e.g. Companies House, the electoral register, the phone book, the Charity Commission’s Register of Charities, Who’s Who, LinkedIn, company annual reports and websites, and articles in newspapers and magazines.
How long we keep your information for
We keep personal information for different lengths of time dependent on what is necessary or reasonably required for the purpose. For example, we will keep a record of any payments and donations you have made to CoFarm Foundation and its subsidiaries for at least six years.
We want to ensure that any personal information we collect from you is used appropriately to support our work together and considers any future dealings that you would like to have with us. For example, you may wish to receive a reference for voluntary work you undertake with us. In these cases, it is important we have the correct personal information on file for you.
We would like to keep volunteer information beyond the length of your time volunteering with us, so we can keep in touch with opportunities to be inspired by stories about CoFarm’s work, opportunities to connect and/or reconnect with other former volunteers, develop your skills and networks and give back by supporting similar projects and other volunteers.
You can contact us at any time to ask us to remove or amend your personal information. If you ask us to stop sending you marketing communications, 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.
Who we share your personal information with
We may need to disclose your details if required to by the police, regulatory bodies or legal advisers.
We never sell or share your personal details with third parties for the purpose of marketing. Sometimes we may need to share your information with external organisations to provide the volunteering opportunity you have expressed interest in. Whenever we share or transfer your personal information, we comply with the standards set by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and this privacy statement at a minimum.
How your information is secure
The security of your information is of utmost importance to us. We use reasonable measures to protect your information as required by the law, in line with industry standards and in accordance with the policies CoFarm has set. Sensitive data is held under strict security conditions. If you have any reason to believe that any personal information we hold is no longer secure, please contact us immediately.
Managing your communications from us
You are in control of how we use your data. You have a right to ask us to stop processing your personal data, and if it is not necessary for the purpose you provided it to us for (e.g. for audit purposes, processing your payments or registering you for an event) we will do so.
Your rights
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right to:
ask us for a copy of, or rectification or erasure, of your information held by us
be informed about how your information is used
restrict processing (pending correction or deletion)
withdraw consent for or object to communications or direct marketing
ask for the transfer of your data electronically to a third party (data portability).
Contact
The named person at CoFarm Foundation with responsibility for ensuring effective implementation of the commitments outlined in this Privacy Statement is the Founder & CEO of CoFarm Foundation, Gavin Shelton. You can click on this link to email him directly, or visit our Contact page for other ways to get in touch.
