Privacy & Cookies

The Electoral Reform Society is committed to safeguarding the privacy and protection the data of our website visitors. We believe you have the right to privacy on the web.

The Society will hold and process your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy.

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our treatment of your personal information, please write to us by email to ers@electoral-reform.org.uk or by post to:

The Data Protection Manager
Electoral Reform Society
15 Blue Lion Place
London
SE1 4PU

1. When do we collect information and what information do we collect?

(a) When you sign a petition or subscribe to our email notifications we collect the information you enter. If you use one our tools to write to a representative, we store the information you enter, except for your message. Inevitably, this often includes sensitive ‘Special category’ data, on political opinions or political memberships. This is stored on the secure Engaging Networks platform (https://www.engagingnetworks.net/uk/).

(b) If you enter into any transaction with us such as a donation or membership, we will store your name, address, email, postcode and the details of the contribution. We do not store the details of your payment method.

(c) We use cookies to collect information about your computer and about your use of this website. The information we collect includes your IP address, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views (see below for more information on cookies).

(d) We use the Engaging Networks platform (https://www.engagingnetworks.net/uk/) to collect information about how you interact with emails from us. (See below for more information on tracking technology).

(e) We store any additional information you provide to us voluntarily, including feedback and your response to any communication from us.

(f) You may provide sensitive personal information to us, such as information about your political opinions. You are not obliged to provide such sensitive personal information but, if you do provide it, you consent to such information being processed by us as described in paragraph 3 below.

2. How long will we keep your personal information?

(a) If you do not open an email in 12 months we will ask you if you wish to remain on our mailing list.

(b) If you unsubscribe or do not respond we will stop contacting you on the basis of consent, and keep your personal data on our records for a maximum period of one year to enable you to easily resubscribe and for us to respond to any queries or complaints that you may have.

(c) If you give us personal data via a petition or other form, but do not give us consent to contact you, we will hold the data for one year, and then delete it.

(d) After one year we may continue to store personal data where necessary for legal reasons, for instance concerning a donation or membership.

(e) We will keep statistical and computer use data for a period of 5 years.

3 Lawful basis for processing

(a) If you allow us to contact you regarding the Society’s work, this communication is lawful on the basis of consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time either via unsubscribe links in our emails or by contacting us.

(b) If you sign a petition, make a donation or use one of our tools you will receive an automated email informing you that your action was successful. This is sent on the lawful basis of legitimate concern.

(c) If you become a member you will receive communications regarding the functioning of the society such as internal elections and notices of the AGM. These communications are sent on the basis of contractual obligation.

(d) ‘Special Category’ data, such as political opinions, are processed in the course of our legitimate activities with appropriate safeguards as a not-for-profit body with a political aim and on condition that the processing relates solely to the members or to former members of the body or to persons who have regular contact with it in connection with its purposes and that the personal data are not disclosed outside that body without the consent of the data subjects.

3.1 How will we use your personal information?

(a) Where you provide information to us for a specific purpose, either through the website or in response to a communication from us, we will use your information for the specified purpose.

(b) We use your information collected from the website to enable your use of the website services, to personalise email communications and to administer the website.

(c) If you choose to make a donation or become a member, you will be automatically directed to a secure server site that is managed and controlled by Engaging Networks platform (https://www.engagingnetworks.net/uk/). Engaging Networks will pass your encrypted information to Stripe (https://stripe.com/gb) to process direct debits and card payments. We will only pass such information as is necessary to process your payment. You will be required to provide additional information directly to Stripe – all such information shall be governed by Stripe’s privacy policy, which you should check prior to providing such information.

(d) Once you have made a donation, we will use your information to send statements and receipts to you.

(e) We will also use your information to send you notifications that you have specifically requested and to deal with enquiries and complaints made by or about you.

(f) We analyse the use of this website using Google Analytics, which uses cookies (see below for additional information about cookies) to generate reports. Such cookies may contain your information, in which case Google will store this information. Google’s privacy policy is available at: http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html

(g) We may provide other third parties with statistical information about our users, however, we will first ensure that this statistical information cannot be used to identify any individual user.

(h) We may engage a third party to help us carry out any of our activities and these third parties may be located in countries that do not provide the same level of protection as is provided in the United Kingdom. We will ensure that these third parties have an obligation to protect your information in the same way that we protect your information.

(i) We will not sell or rent your personal information to any third party.

(j) The Electoral Reform Society is a limited company owned by its members. The names and addresses of all members are added to our statutory Register of Members which is available for to fellow members for inspection.

(k) Helping us to find new supporters

4. Campaigning

If you have consented to receive communications, we will use your information to send you communications relating to the Society and on behalf of carefully selected third-party supporters, which we think may be of interest to you. We will only send campaign information where you have specifically agreed that we may do so.

If you are a child, aged under 13 years old, consent for our online services is only valid with parental authorisation.

You have a right to request that we stop contacting you at any time. If you no longer wish to be contacted, you can unsubscribe from the Electoral Reform Society by emailing ers@electoral-reform.org.uk. If you are a member and no longer want to be informed of activities laid out in our articles of association, please state this.

5. Data about another person

If you provide us with information about another person, you must first tell them that you will be passing their information to us and the purposes for which their information may be used (as set out in paragraph 3.1). You must ensure that they consent to us storing and using their personal information.

6. Cookies and tracking technology

(a) A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you. This information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity, as described in paragraph 3 above.

(b) You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the above websites tell you how to remove cookies from your browser. Please note that if you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of our website services. For further information about cookies and how to refuse and delete them visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

(c) When you open an email from us or click a link an email, these activities are recorded in the secure Engaging Networks platform (https://www.engagingnetworks.net/uk/). We use this information to help us decide what future emails to send you.

(d) In addition to using cookies and related technologies as described above, we also use your data to help us tailor advertising to reach new supporters on Facebook’s ad network, if you consent to this. For instance, if you opt into our digital marketing consent, we may use your hashed data to find similar people who may be interested in our issues.

7. Security of your personal information

Your information will be kept confidential on our secure Engaging Networks database (except as specifically described in paragraph 3). We will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information. You are responsible for keeping your user details confidential.

8. Policy amendments

We may update this privacy policy from time-to-time by posting a new version on our website. You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes. We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email.

9. Your rights

If you want to know more your rights you can contact or complain to the Information Commissioners’ Office.

You are entitled to withdraw consent at any time, ask for a copy of any information that we hold on you and for us to delete this information. If you would like to withdraw your consent or for us to provide a copy of or delete this information, please e-mail the Data Protection Manager at ers@electoral-reform.org.uk or write to:

The Data Protection Manager
Electoral Reform Society
15 Blue Lion Place
London
SE1 4PU

Please enclose proof of your identity with your request. We will reply within one month.

10. Third-party websites

Our website links to a variety of other websites. This privacy policy does not apply to those websites and, before using those websites, you should check their privacy policies. We are not responsible for the privacy policies of these websites, nor for the way in which information about their users is treated.

11. Updating information

Please let us know if the personal information which we hold about you needs to be corrected or updated at ers@electoral-reform.org.uk. We will update our records within 10 working days of receiving your email.