Privacy & Cookie Policy

What this privacy and cookie policy covers

We are committed to protecting your personal information and being transparent about what information we hold, whether you are a donor, volunteer, shopper or campaigner.

The purpose of this Privacy & Cookie Policy ('Policy') is to give you a clear explanation about how we use the personal information (or personal data) you provide to us and that we collect, whether online, via phone, email, in letters or in any other correspondence or from third parties.

Getting a better understanding of our supporters through their personal information allows us to work more efficiently.

We ensure that we use your personal information in accordance with the law. This Policy explains:

What information we may collect about you;
How we will use that information;
Whether we disclose your details to anyone else;
Your choices regarding the information you provide to us; and
How we use cookies to provide services to you or to improve your use of our websites.

If you have any queries about this privacy and cookies policy please contact the Data Protection Officer here.

Changes to this Privacy & Cookie Policy

The Policy may change from time to time. For example, we have recently updated it to reflect new legal requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (also known as the 'GDPR'). Please visit this website section periodically in order to keep up to date with the changes in our Policy.

Cookie consent

By using our website, our social media pages (such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Instagram), subscribing to our services, making a donation to us and/or shopping with us online, you agree that, unless you have set your computer's browser to reject them, we can place the types of cookies set out below on your device and use that data in accordance with this Policy.

In order to remember that you have accepted the use of issued cookies, we will place a temporary cookie to remember your consent for 12 months. To find out more about cookies; how we use them and how to reject them, please see our full cookie policy below.

Information collection

We collect information about you in the following ways:

Information you give us. For example, when you post information on our social media or message boards, make a donation to us, register for an event or otherwise provide us with personal information. When you register, we'll ask for personal information, like your name, email address, telephone number etc.

Information we get from your use of our website and services.

We collect information about our online content that you use and how you use it, like when you watch a video on YouTube, visit our websites or view and interact with our ads and content. We, like all organisations, are able to confirm what browser you are using, IP address and computer operating systems that are being used and this information may be used to improve the services we offer. Please see our Cookie Policy below for more detail.

Information from known third parties.

We may also receive information about you from our third party partners. This can include information such as your name, postal or email address, phone number, your geographic location etc.

What personal information do we process?

We collect, store and use the following kinds of personal information:

Your name and contact details, including postal address, telephone number, email address and, where applicable, your social media profile,
Your date of birth
Financial information you provide where you make a payment, such as bank details or credit/debit card details, although we don't store credit or debit card details (see below)
Information about your computer/mobile device and your visits to and use of this website, including for example your IP address and geographical location
Information about our services which you use/which we consider of interest to you
Any other personal information you share with us as described above

Website users

Our website uses cookies to help our website work well and to track information about how people are using it. More information on cookies can be found in the Cookie policy below.

Our website collect personal information you supply when you register with us.
The website you sign up to will collect information such as your name, email address and post code. Once you register with the website, you will not be anonymous to us when you subsequently sign in.
As part of the registration process and continued use of our services, you agree that any registration information you give to us will always be accurate, correct and up to date. Please do get in touch should you need to amend or update any of your personal information.
We collect and retain information about your interactions with us so that we can process any request you make and efficiently deal with future queries.
As explained in our Cookie Policy below, we use cookies to allow us to store limited information on an individual's computer to either track them through tracking cookies or to allow people to have automatic logons as an example. We use this information to provide you with a good experience when browsing our website and to improve the functionality of our site.
Our website may use Google Analytics for analysis. Google Analytics is a product that has been developed by Google. This collected information may collect mouse clicks, mouse movements, page scrolling and any text keyed into website forms. The information collected does not include bank details or any sensitive personal data. Any information collected is used to improve our website usability and is stored and used for aggregated and statistical reporting.

How we use your information

We use your personal information for a number of purposes including the following:

To provide you with the services, products or information you have requested;
To process donations we may receive from you;
To create an account for you if you register with us;
To deliver products or services you
To process orders from our shop or provide after-sales service;
To invite you to participate in interactive features on our website when you choose to do so;
For internal management, such as record keeping of enquiries, feedback or complaints;
To invite you to participate in surveys or research (although this is voluntary);
To use IP addresses to identify your approximate location, to block disruptive use, to record website traffic or to personalise the way our information is presented to you;
To analyse and improve the online services we offer, to make them as user-friendly as possible;
We may collect personal information to conduct supporter research and this is on occasion through our existing network. We may also analyse information you provide to us with other freely available public information to create a profile of supporter interests, preferences and level of potential donations so that we can contact you in the most appropriate way and with the most relevant information (for more information about this use, see How will you combine and analyse the information we collect about you?)
Where collecting and holding your information is required or authorised by law;
Other specific purposes that you may agree to from time to time.

Legal basis for processing

The law requires us to set out the lawful grounds on which we collect and process your personal information as described in this Policy.

Consent:

In many instances, we will rely on obtaining your consent to our use of your personal information in a certain way (for example, asking for your consent to use your personal information to send you direct marketing information, and we may ask for your explicit consent to share sensitive personal information with us)

Legal Obligation:

We may need to collect, process and disclose personal information to comply with a legal obligation. For example, where we are ordered by a court or regulatory authority or we are legally required to hold donor transaction details for Gift Aid or accounting/tax purposes.

Performance of a contract:

For example if you purchase something from our online shop or agree to work for us, we need to be able to process your information for the purpose of meeting our contractual obligations.

Keeping your personal information

We keep your personal information only for as long as we need to use it for the purposes set out in this Policy.

We have adopted a data retention policy that sets out the different periods we retain personal information for in respect of these relevant purposes. The criteria we use for determining these retention periods is based on various legal requirements; the purpose for which we hold data and whether there is a legitimate reason for continuing to store it (such as in order to deal with any future legal disputes); and guidance issued by relevant regulatory authorities including, but not limited to, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Personal information that we no longer need is securely disposed of and/or anonymised so you can no longer be identified from it. Some personal information may be retained by us in archives for statistical or historical research purposes although we will do this in a manner that complies with applicable data protection law.

We continually review what personal information and records that we hold, and delete what is no longer required. We never store payment card data after the transaction has been completed.

Cookie Policy

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small text files that are automatically placed onto your device via the browser (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, Google Chrome or Firefox) that you use to access a website that you visit. They are widely used to improve the performance of websites, for saving different options and to provide website owners with information on how their website is being used.

There are broadly four reasons why a cookie might be stored on your device when visiting our website:

Cookies that make the website work properly for you and enable you to make use of the secure online services that we provide
Cookies that collect data about your use of the website which are then anonymised and used to help us improve our online services
Cookies that remember your preferences and make the website easier for you to use
Cookies that are placed by third party services we make use of to enhance the information we present online. We have no control over these third party cookies.

Categories of Cookies We Use

Strictly Necessary Cookies – These cookies are essential for you to be able to use and move around website or for you to use certain features: e.g. adding items to a shopping basket or remembering items in a shopping basket if you revisit the website.
Performance Cookies – These cookies collect information about how you as the viewer makes use of the website: e.g. which pages you visit most. These cookies do not collect information that personally identify you as a viewer.
Functionality Cookies – These cookies remember choices made by you or aspects of your interaction with our website to enhance your experience during your visit to our website. These cookies are also used to remember a user's preferences for a font size, or customisable parts of a web page: e.g. language, appeals visited or user's location.
Targeting cookies i.e. Third Party Cookies and Cookies used for Advertising – These cookies collect information if you decide to share a page from the website or if you use social media sites: e.g. Facebook etc, These may track how you interact with our website which then shows you relevant content elsewhere on the internet. These may also be used to choose the advertisements that are displayed to you on our website and other websites.

Other Third Party Cookies

You may notice some other cookies that are not related to our website whilst visiting. Some of our pages contain embedded content such as You Tube video, Twitter feeds, Facebook likes or Google+ shares, and you may receive cookies delivered from these websites. The British Heart Foundation does not govern the publication of third-party cookies.

How do I manage my cookie settings?

The "Help" menu in the toolbar of most web browsers will tell you how to change your browser's cookie settings, including how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, and how to disable cookies altogether. Below is some helpful guidance about how to make these changes.

Please find below links describing how to do this on some popular browsers.