Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy sets out how and why we obtain, use and protect personal information.

Who we areLink to this section

Grace Community Church is a registered charity in Northern Ireland (Charity Number NI107784). We are also a company limited by guarantee (Company Number NI650199).

This Privacy Policy applies to all the above entities. 

Grace Community Church’s registered address is 1 Blenheim Court, Richhill, County Armagh BT61 9JH. 

This Privacy Policy relates to information which is obtained by Grace Community Church and for which Grace Community Church is the Data Controller. 

Grace Community Church's PurposesLink to this section

Grace Community Church’s purpose and overall mission is​“family on mission”. 

We are a small non-denominational church in Richhill that loves God and loves to bless and share the Gospel with the community and further afield.

Who we hold and process supporters’ personal dataLink to this section

We hold and process supporters’ personal data for a number of reasons: 

• To keep a record of donations made and actions taken by our supporters and our communications with them 
• To claim gift aid on donations 
• To send our supporters marketing information about our projects, fundraising activities and appeals where we have their consent or are otherwise allowed to 
• To support volunteers, whether in shops, or participating in fundraising events 
• To record campaigning actions by supporters 
• To support community based fundraising and campaigning 
• To ensure we do not send unwanted information to supporters or members of the public who have informed us they do not wish to be contacted. 

When and why we will send you personalised marketing communicationsLink to this section

Grace Community Church will only contact you for marketing purposes — for example keep you up to date on our work, or let you know of ways in which you can support that work — where we have your consent or we are otherwise allowed to do so.

We will make it easy for you to tell us if you would like to receive marketing communications from us and hear more about our work and the ways in which you would like to receive this information (post, email). We will not send you marketing material if you tell us that you do not wish to receive it. There are a variety of ways you can do this, please see section 11 for details.

Where you give us your consent to send marketing information, we will wherever possible let you know how long this consent will last. Unless we have grounds for believing that a longer period is reasonable and have explained this to you, we will understand your consent to last for 24 months. After this time, in order for us to continue to update you, we will need your refreshed consent. You can update or withdraw your consent at any time, for individual channels of communication, or for all channels. See section 11 for details on how to do this.

Consent lasting more than 24 months

We will generally treat any marketing consent you give us as lasting for 24 months, but will apply the following exceptions (but only where we inform you of this at the time you give consent):

• Where you have committed to giving us a regular donation (usually monthly).
• In this situation, and unless you withdraw your consent, we will treat consent as enduring until you cancel your donation, at which point your consent will expire 24 months after the last donation. This is to enable us to keep you up to date with the impact of your gifts, and to ask whether alternative means of support would be of interest.
• Where you have indicated that you only want to hear from us about emergency appeals.
• As it is not possible to predict when the next emergency situation will arise, we define emergency appeal consent as lasting for 5 years, which is the longest interval between emergencies that we are aware of.
• Where you have notified us that you will be leaving a legacy to Grace Community Church.
• This is a lifetime commitment and although we will provide you with regular opportunities to shape and control your communication from Grace Community Church we will treat your consent as ongoing.

Other circumstances in which you may receive marketing information from Grace Community Church

"Soft opt in"Link to this section

This allows organisations to send marketing communications by email and SMS to individuals who have previously purchased similar goods and services, provided they were given the opportunity to opt out at the time of purchase. We will not use the​“soft opt in” option if you have opted out of receiving email and, whether direct to Grace Community Church or via the Fundraising Preference Service.

How and when we collect information about you

Grace Community Church may collect your personal data in the following circumstances:

When you give it to us DIRECTLY

You may give us your personal data directly when you make a donation, sign up for one of our events, sign up for our newsletter when you communicate with us.

When you give it to us INDIRECTLY

You may give us your information indirectly when you sign up to partners but not limited to Team Hope. These independent third parties will pass your data to Grace Community Church where you have indicated that you wish to support Grace Community Church and have given your consent or it is a necessary part of completing a contract with you.

When you access Grace Community Church’s Social Media

We might also obtain your personal data through your use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, depending on your settings or the privacy policies of these social media and messaging services. To change your settings on these services, please refer to their privacy notices, which will tell you how to do this.

When the information is publicly available

We might also obtain personal data about individuals who may be interested in giving major gifts to charities or organisations like Grace Community Church. In this scenario, Grace Community Church may seek to find out more about these individuals, their interests and motivations for giving through publicly available information. This information may include newspaper or other media coverage, open postings on social media sites such as Facebook. Grace Community Church will not retain publicly available data relating to major donors without their consent, which will be sought at the earliest practical opportunity.

When we use cookies

Cookies are a useful way for us to understand how supporters use our web site and/​or use a Grace Community Church app. When you visit our web site or use a Grace Community Church app we will collect data from your computer or other device such as a smart phone or tablet through the use of​“cookies”. Cookies are created by your web browser when you visit our website. Every time you go back to the Grace Community Church website, your browser will send the cookie file back to the website’s server. They improve your experience of using our website, for example, by remembering your preference settings so that you are presented with information likely to be most relevant to you, and by measuring your use of the website to enable us to continuously improve our website to ensure that it meets your needs. Cookies can also be used to show you relevant Grace Community Church content on social media services such as Facebook — these are known as​‘retargeting’ or​‘advertising’ cookies. For information on the types of cookies we use, how we use them and how you can control your cookie preferences, see Grace Community Church’s cookie policy.

If you visit our website as an anonymous visitor (e.g. you switch off cookies), Grace Community Church may still collect certain information from your browser, such as the IP address (an IP address is a number that can uniquely identify a computer or other internet device).

The Grace Community Church website contains hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by other organisations. These include other media organisations (such as the BBC), research organisations and think tanks (such as the Overseas Development Institute), our festival partners (such as Open Skies), other related charities (such as Team Hope and Aspire NI), and Grace Community Church affiliates in other countries. These third-party websites have their own privacy policies, including policies on their use of cookies, and we urge you to review them. They will govern the use of personal information you submit or which is collected by cookies whilst visiting these websites. We cannot accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third-party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.

What information might Grace Community Church collect about youLink to this section

We only collect personal data relevant to the type of transactions you have with Grace Community Church. 

For example, when you contact Grace Community Church to make a donation in store and online, take a campaign action, or sign up to any of Grace Community Church‘s activities or online content, such as newsletters, or campaign information, or your telephone, or emails to Grace Community Church, or engage with Grace Community Church via social media channels, we may receive and retain personal information about you. 

The information we collect is relevant to the type of transaction you are entering into with details such as your name, email address, postal address, telephone or mobile number, bank account details to process donations and whether or not you are a tax payer so that we can claim Gift Aid. 

Sensitive Personal Data

We do not collect​“sensitive personal data” about our supporters, e.g. health status, unless there is a clear reason for doing so — such as participation in a mission trip or fundraising event where we need this to ensure that we provide appropriate facilities or support to enable you to safely partner with us. Clear notices will be provided on application forms for mission trips so that it is clear what information we need and why we need it. 

All sensitive personal data is stored on a secure database, to which only a limited number of relevant staff have access. It is deleted when no longer relevant, is never shared with third parties, and is available to you at any point should you wish to see it. 

How will Grace Community Church use your personal dataLink to this section

Grace Community Church will use your personal information for the following purposes:

For administrative reasons, including:

• “service administration”, which means that Grace Community Church may contact you for reasons related to administering any donations you have made, your tax status with regard to Gift Aid if claimed, the completion of commercial or other transactions you have entered into with Grace Community Church or the activity or online content you have signed up for;
• to confirm receipt of donations (unless you have asked us not to do this), and to say thank you and provide details of how your donation might be used for example via an email.
• in relation to correspondence you have entered into with us whether by letter, email, text, social media, or any other means, and to contact you about any content you provide;
• for internal record keeping so as to keep a record of your relationship with us;
• to fulfil sales contracts you have entered into with Grace Community Church, Gift Aid scheme, under which we are required to notify you of the proceeds from sale of items you have donated to Grace Community Church shops;
• to keep your data up to date;
• to implement any instructions you give us to with regard to withdrawing consent to send marketing information or informing us through the Fundraising Preference Service that you do not wish to receive any marketing information;
• to use IP addresses to identify the location of users, to block disruptive use and to establish the number of visits from different countries.

For marketing and fundraising reasons (see section 4 for details).

For market research

• to analyse and improve the activities and content offered by the Grace Community Church website to provide you with the most user-friendly navigation experience. We may also use and disclose information in aggregate (so that no individuals are identified) for marketing and strategic development purposes.

Will Grace Community Church share your personal information with anyone else?Link to this section

We will only use your information within Grace Community Church for the purposes for which it was obtained. Grace Community Church will not, under any circumstances, share or sell your personal data with any third party for their own marketing purposes, and you will not receive marketing from any other companies, charities or other organisations as a result of giving your details to us.

Grace Community Church’s suppliers (including software)

We may need to share your information with service providers who help us to deliver our projects, fundraising activities and appeals, for instance through handling responses to our emergency appeals. These​“data processors” will only act under our instruction and are subject to pre-contract scrutiny and contractual obligations containing strict data protection clauses. We do not allow these organisations to use your data for their own purposes or disclose it to other third parties without our consent and we will take all reasonable care to ensure that they keep your data secure.

Facebook and other Social Media Sites

We may also use your email address and phone number to match to your account on Facebook or other social media sites in order to show you Grace Community Church content while using these services. We only do this where you have opted in to marketing emails and we keep your data secure by encrypting it. No data we hold about you is retained by the third party.

In addition, we may also use your email address to link to Facebook or other social media sites in order to identify other users of these sites whom we believe would be interested in Grace Community Church, and we may then show them Grace Community Church content. No data we hold about you is retained by the third party.

There are two ways to prevent this use of your data, you can either update your preferences at Grace Community Church by opting out of the relevant channel of communication or you can do this via the social media site:

Facebook: https://​www​.face​book​.com/​help/…

Twitter: https://​busi​ness​.twit​ter​.com/e…

Updating your preferences with Grace Community Church will not guarantee that you never see Grace Community Church content on social media, since the social media site may select you based on other criteria and without your data having been provided by Grace Community Church.

Where legally required

We will also comply with legal requests where disclosure is required or permitted by law (for example to government bodies for tax purposes or law enforcement agencies for the prevention and detection of crime, subject to such bodies providing us with a relevant request in writing).

Credit and debit card payment informationLink to this section

If you use your credit or debit card to donate to us, buy something I store or pay online or over the phone, we will ensure that this is done securely and in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Find out more information about PCI DSS standards by visiting their website at www​.pcise​cu​ri​ty​s​tan​dards​.org.

We do not store your credit or debit card details at all, following the completion of your transaction. All card details and validation codes are securely destroyed once the payment or donation has been processed. Only those staff authorised to process payments will be able to see your card details. 

All transactions online are processed by Stripe, and all card transactions processed in store are through Payment Sense (Payment Sense Privacy Policy)

Under 16sLink to this section

If you are aged 16 or under and would like to participate in an event, make a donation or get involved with us as a volunteer, please make sure that you have your parent/guardian’s permission before giving us your personal information. When we collect information about a child or young person, we will make it clear as to the reasons for collecting this information and how it will be used.

The WebsiteLink to this section

This website and its owners take a proactive approach to user privacy and ensure the necessary steps are taken to protect the privacy of its users throughout their visiting experience. This website complies to all UK national laws and requirements for user privacy.

Use of CookiesLink to this section

This website uses cookies to better the users experience while visiting the website. Where applicable this website uses a cookie control system allowing the user on their first visit to the website to allow or disallow the use of cookies on their computer / device. This complies with recent legislation requirements for websites to obtain explicit consent from users before leaving behind or reading files such as cookies on a user’s computer / device. 

Cookies are small files saved to the user’s computers hard drive that track, save and store information about the user’s interactions and usage of the website. This allows the website, through its server to provide the users with a tailored experience within this website. 

Users are advised that if they wish to deny the use and saving of cookies from this website on to their computers hard drive they should take necessary steps within their web browsers security settings to block all cookies from this website and its external serving vendors. 

This website uses tracking software to monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it. This software is provided by Google Analytics which uses cookies to track visitor usage. The software will save a cookie to your computers hard drive in order to track and monitor your engagement and usage of the website, but will not store, save or collect personal information. You can read Google’s privacy policy here for further information [http://​www​.google​.com/​p​r​i​v​a​c​y​.html ].

Other cookies may be stored to your computers hard drive by external vendors when this website uses referral programs, sponsored links or adverts. Such cookies are used for conversion and referral tracking and typically expire after 30 days, though some may take longer. No personal information is stored, saved or collected.

How long will Grace Community Church keep your personal information for?Link to this section

We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, for example we will keep a record of donations subject to gift aid for at least seven years to comply with HMRC rules. 

If you request that we stop sending you marketing materials 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. 

Legacy income is vital to the running of the charity. We may keep data you provide to us indefinitely, to carry out legacy administration and communicate effectively with the families of people leaving us legacies. This also enables us to identify and analyse the source of legacy income we receive. 

Where you contribute material to us, e.g. user generated content or in response to a particular campaign we will only keep your content for as long as is reasonably required for the purpose(s) for which it was submitted unless otherwise stated at the point of generation. 

The accuracy of your information is really important to us. We want to ensure that we are able to communicate with you in ways that you are happy with, and to provide you with information that is of interest. 

If you wish to change how we communicate with you, or update the information we hold, then please contact us: 

• email us at media@grace-community.church
• write to us at: 1 Blenheim Court, Richhill, BT61 
• call us on 078 8277 4243 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) 

Additionally you can opt out of email: 

• Email — You can opt out of marketing newsletter emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in mail chimp. 

How long will it take for these changes to be effective?

We endeavour to meet the following service levels where supporters request we do not send them marketing information: 

• Email — 24 hours from receipt of email 
• Telephone — 24 hours from receipt of request to opt out 
• Mail — 28 days from receipt of​‘do not mail’ request. This period is longer than for other channels due to the production times for mailing campaigns, and in most cases we would expect the change to be effective much more quickly. 

Under the Data Protection Act you have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected (In line with the GDPR Act 2018 this service is free) Please address requests and questions about this Privacy Policy to the Data Protection Officer, 1 Blenheim Court, Richhill, County Armagh BT61 9JH. 

How Grace Community Church keeps your data safeLink to this section

We ensure that there are appropriate technical controls in place to protect your personal details. For example our online forms are always encrypted and our network is protected and routinely monitored. 

We undertake regular reviews of who has access to information that we hold to ensure that your information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff, volunteers and contractors. 

Job and volunteer applicants and current and former employeesLink to this section

If you apply to work at the Grace Community Church, we will only use the information you give us to process your application and to monitor recruitment statistics. If we want to disclose information to someone outside the Grace Community Church — for example, if we need a reference, plan to use an external supplier to run background checks or need to get a​‘disclosure’ from the Disclosure and Access NI- we will make sure we tell you beforehand, unless we are required to disclose this information by law. 

If you are unsuccessful in your job application, we will hold your personal information for 6 months after we’ve finished recruiting the post you applied for. After this date we will destroy or delete your information. 

If you begin employment with us, we will put together a file about your employment. We keep the information in this file secure, and will only use it for matters that apply directly to your employment. 

Once you stop working for us, we will keep this file according to our record retention guidelines. You can contact us to find out more about this. 

If you apply for a job or volunteering opportunity we will also collect information so we can assess your suitability for the role. 

Please refer to our data protection and privacy. 

How to make complaint about this privacy policy or raise concernsLink to this section

If you would like more information, or have any questions about this policy, please contact our supporter relations team by email at info@​grace-community.church or write to us at: the address below, or call us on 028 37789406 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm).

To make a formal complaint about Grace Community Church‘s approach to data protection or raise privacy concerns directly with our data protection team, please contact:

The Data Protection Officer

Grace Community Church 1 Blenheim Court, Richhill, County Armagh BT61 9JH

Email: info@grace-community.church

You also have the right to make a complaint direct to the UK’s data protection authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO can be contacted at: https://​ico​.org​.uk/​g​l​o​b​a​l​/cont…

Concerns can be also be logged via the ICO website.

Changes to Grace Community Church's privacy policyLink to this section

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to Grace Community Church. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page. If you do not agree to these changes, please do not continue to use the Grace Community Church website to submit personal information to Grace Community Church. If material changes are made to the Privacy Policy we will notify you by placing a prominent notice on the website.

• Date created: 15/03/2018
• Dates confirmed by board:
  
• Review date: 15/02/2019
• Policy Owner: Grace Community Church (Ireland) Ltd.