GATES OF PRAISE PRIVACY POLICY

Gates of Praise (‘the Church”) has adopted this Privacy Policy as we recognise the right of people to keep their personal information private. This Privacy Policy cover’s the Church’s use of personally identifiable information that you provide and we collect or hold, including when you browse our website https://gopic.org/

Gates of Praise uses personal data about living individuals for the purpose of general church administration and communication.

Gates of Praise recognises the importance of the correct and lawful treatment of personal data. All personal data, whether it is held on paper, on computer or other media, will be subject to the appropriate legal safeguards as specified by current data protection regulations.

DATA PROTECTION

Gates of Praise fully endorses and adheres to the principles of the Data Protection as stated below. These principles specify the legal conditions that must be satisfied in relation to obtaining, handling, processing, transportation and storage of personal data. Employees and any others who obtain, handle, process, transport and store personal data for Gates of Praise must adhere to these principles.

This policy explains how the Church comply with the DPA (Data Protection Act), the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which comes into effect on 28 May 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. We may update this policy when the UK exits the European Union.

By providing your personal details you agree to allow the Church to contact you by mail, email, telephone or SMS text message on the basis of the consents you have given us or for our legitimate interests in accordance with current data protection regulations.

HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

We collect personal information each time you are in contact with us. For example, when you:

• visit our website; • register your details and your family details, at https://gopic.org/
• make a donation, by completion of Gift envelopes, via our website or electronic means;
• register for a conference or other Church event;
• provide your contact details, in writing or orally, to Church staff or volunteers;
• purchase goods or services, including when you provide credit or debit card details; (am not sure if we do this)
• when you attend church services or participate in other Church activities;
• communicate with the Church by means such as email, letter, and telephone;
• face to face meetings with staff and volunteers;
• access social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram

The Church does not hold any debit or credit card details for donations/payments made via our websites. All card payments are handled by service providers who encrypt card information.

What Data we Hold

If you a member of the Church, the following types of personal data may be held about you;

• Your names; first name and Surname
• Contact details, including your address, phone number and email address.
• Your marital status
• Please add if I have missed any

Note: The Church may collect and store sensitive personal information such as health information, religious information (church attendance) when you and/or your family attend, register for church events and conferences.

Your personal information will be kept strictly confidential. It is never sold, given away, or otherwise shared with anyone, unless required, by law.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

The Church will use the personal information we collect for the purpose disclosed at the time of collection, or otherwise as set out in this Privacy Policy. We will not use your personal information for any other purpose without first seeking your consent, unless authorised or required by law. Generally, we will only use and disclose your personal information as follows:

• Keep you informed by text and/or email as to church services, activities, resources and conferences; establish and maintain your involvement with the Church
• Acknowledge any donation given to the Church
• Answer an inquiry or request for further information or complaint about the Church, its services, activities and events
• Register you for events and conferences;
• Keep you informed of new developments we believe may be of interest to you.
• For statistical analysis; gaining a better understanding of the Church’s demographics.

Note: Though collated data may be passed to a third party, such as number of small groups or small group’s attendance, no personal data will be disclosed.

WHO SEES YOUR INFORMATION

The information you provide to us will be held on the Church’s secured database and access given to Church management and staff in the United Kingdom.

We do not sell or pass any of your personal information to any other organisations and/or individuals without your express consent, with the following exceptions:

By providing us with your details you are giving the Church your express permission to transfer your data to the Church Administrative service provider, Churchsuite, a secured online Church administrative portal.

Where such details are shared we have confidentiality agreements in place that restrict the use of your information to the purpose for which it is provided and ensure it is stored securely and kept no longer than necessary in line with current data protection regulations.

We do not intend to store or currently store financial details (credit or debit card numbers) obtained through online transactions. We do not store details online nor do we pass any information to third parties, except where we are legally required to do so, to assist fraud reduction, or to provide a service requested and minimise credit risks.

KEEPING DETAILS UP TO DATE

Please tell us as soon as any of your contact details change so that we can keep our records up to date.

You can change the way we contact you, or the kind of material we send you, at any time by contacting us by mail or email using the contact details below.

You can unsubscribe from our regular emails or at any time by using the ‘unsubscribe’ or ‘change preferences’ links on the email.

YOUR RIGHTS AS A DATA SUBJECT

You can request access to the personal information that the Church holds about you by contacting the Church’s Privacy Officer as set out below. We will provide you with access to your personal information unless we are legally authorised to refuse your request.

If you wish to change personal information that is out of date or inaccurate at any time please contact us. The Church will take reasonable steps to correct any of your information which is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date. If you wish to have your personal information deleted please let us know and we will delete that information wherever practicable.

We may refuse your request to access, amend or delete your personal information in certain circumstances. If we do refuse your request, we will provide you with a reason for our decision and, in the case of amendment, we will note with your personal information that you have disputed its accuracy.

Lodging a Complaint

You have the right to lodge a complaint directly with the supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner (ico.org.uk) who can be contacted on 0303 123 113. You may be asked to provide proof of identity when making these requests.

You have other rights under data protection law that you can exercise against the Church but these do not apply in all circumstances. You can exercise these rights free of charge except in limited circumstances, which will be explained to you if relevant.

For more information on these rights and how to exercise them against the church, please contact the Data Privacy Officer (see contact details below) who will be able to tell you more.

Here are short descriptions of your rights:

• Right to access – You have the right to request access to your personal data, to obtain confirmation that it is being processed, and to obtain certain prescribed information about how it is processed.
• Right to rectification – In certain circumstance you have a right to ask for your personal data to be corrected if it is inaccurate, and completed if it is incomplete. Where your personal data in question has been disclosed to other organisations, they must be informed of the rectification if possible.
• Right to be forgotten – in certain circumstance, you can ask to have your personal data erased. If the Church has a legal duty to retain or process your information then your request may be denied.
• Right to restriction of processing – You have a right to restrict the processing of your information. This may include when you contest it as being inaccurate (until the accuracy is proved).
• Right of portability – In certain circumstances, you have the right to move, copy or transfer your personal data to another organisation or to yourself. The right is only relevant if personal data is being processed based on a consent and is done automatically. Using the right of portability will not provide you with all the personal data you can get using the right of access.
• Right to object – In certain circumstances, you have the right to object to certain types of processing of your personal data if it is based on legitimate interests when it is processed for direct marketing or when it is processed for the purpose of statistics. Your rights to object may be relevant if you wish to find out more about what legitimate interests the Church rely on. Please note the Church does not do direct marketing.
• Automated decision making – The Church does not carry out any automated decision-making that would produce legal or other significant effect on you. Your data may be profiled for communication purposes, which you can opt out of.

SECURITY

The Church will take reasonable steps to keep secure any personal information, which we hold and to keep this information accurate and up to date. Personal information, held electronically, is stored in a secure server or secure files.

The Internet is not a secure method of transmitting information. Accordingly, the Church cannot accept responsibility for the security of information you send to or receive from us over the Internet or for any unauthorised access or use of that information. We take security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. Your information will be held for a reasonable period or as long as the law requires or permits.

COOKIES POLICY

Cookies are small amounts of information that we store on your computer. Unless you have indicated your objection when disclosing your details to us, our system will issue cookies to your computer when you log on to the site. Cookies make it easier for you to log on to and use the site during future visits. They also help to monitor website traffic and to personalise the content of the site for you but will not store save or collect personal information. You may set up your computer to reject cookies although, in that case, you may not be able to use certain features on our site.

LINKS

Our website may also include links to other websites. Links provided by the Church are for your convenience to provide further information.

We use websites such as YouTube to embed videos on our website, service providers such as MailChimp and Google Analytics and you may be sent cookies from them via our site. Please look at the cookie and privacy policies on these third-party sites if you want more information about this.

Users should therefore note they click on external links at their own risk and we cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links.

SOCIAL MEDIA

The Church uses social media such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and YouTube. Users must verify authenticity of sites before posting or providing personal information on such sites.

Our website may provide social media buttons, permitting sharing our web content directly to a social media, platform. Use of such buttons is at your own risk.

Unless it is material supplied or officially posted by the Church we do not endorse social media website(s) and have no responsibility for the content nor for the cookies they may contain.

The Church does not ask for passwords nor personal details on social media.

DOWNLOADS

Any documents or files made available to download from our website are provided at users own risk.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

The Church may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time to ensure compliance with changes or amendments to the law of the UK. Any amended version will be available on our website at https://gopic.org/

We suggest that you visit our website regularly to keep up to date with any changes.

CONTACT DETAILS

If you would like any further information, or have any queries, problems or complaints relating to the Church’s Privacy Policy or our information handling practices in general, please contact our Privacy Officer by

Telephoning +44 (0) 1375 377 853 Emailing: data@gopic.org

Writing to The Privacy Officer, Gates of Praise, The Centre, 79-83 London Rd, Grays RM17 5YF