OUR PRIVACY POLICY

The Abbotsford Trust is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy sets out the way we process your personal information and to make you aware of how we use your data.

Any updates to our processes will be amended within this policy so that you can be confident when sharing information with us that we will only use it in the ways described here.

The Abbotsford Trust is an independent charity registered in Scotland (SCO37425) and is the Data Processor of your personal data, and as such is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR). The Abbotsford Trust is registered with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office with registration number ZA188948.

We only collect personal information if we have your permission, or we have reasonable reasons for doing this, such as collecting information to process event registrations, to process donations or to supply you with services. We will only collect the minimum amount of information we need to do these things.

 

How we collect your data

We may collect your personal data in a few limited ways, such as:

• Directly from you when you fill in a form for Friends membership, give a donation or make a request to join our mailing list through our website
• When you interact with us during your time as a Friends member or donor and in various other ways such as attending events
• From someone else who may purchase Friends membership on your behalf as a gift
• At point of sale when purchasing a ticket, either on our website or face to face in our visitor centre, (or a third-party website e.g. third party booking platform)
• When you volunteer with us
• When you sign up for a newsletter, complete a survey, questionnaire or enter a competition. If you sign up for a newsletter, we may track your response e.g. open a newsletter or click on a link in a newsletter or the pages you visit. 
• Whenever you contact us directly with a question or comment
• When you make a booking such as for the Hope Scott Wing
• If you use our website we may record your IP address, registration details and your browsing history such as the pages you have visited within our sites. The IP address discloses nothing about you other than the IP address used to access our website

 

The types of information we collect

We may collect information such as the following types of personal data about you (and family members, where relevant):

• Contact and communications information, including your e-mail address, telephone numbers and postal address, and records of communications and interactions we may have had with you
• We may on occasion collect limited data concerning your health, where you have volunteered this, to allow us to best cater for you when you attend an event.
• We use a magnetic strip on our Friends membership cards to collect information on your visits. This data includes the date and events that you visited, any purchases made in our gift shop and your membership number. We use this information to understand our supporters' visiting trends and to make our communications to you more relevant.
• Information related to any donation you have given and/or your particular areas of interest related to your support of the Abbotsford Trust
• Information related to your booking such as in the Hope Scott Wing or other areas of Abbotsford

 

Website Cookies

We use cookies to monitor web usage. A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed onto your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps examine web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Essentially, cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie does NOT give us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

We use cookies on our website and we assume you are ok with this otherwise please disable cookies in your browser or navigate away and clear cookies set by the website.

Cookies on this website are used for:

• Analytical/performance purposes - this allows us to recognise and calculate the number of visitors and to see how visitors navigate around the website when they are using it. This helps us improve our website functionality for example, by ensuring that users can find what they are looking for easily.
• Functionality purposes - to help us recognise you when you return to our website. This allows us to personalise our content for you and remember your preferences and settings (e.g. your choice of language or region).
• Sharing purposes – this allows you to share pages with social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

 

We operate CCTV/video surveillance cameras at Abbotsford. CCTV is used for maintaining the security of property and premises; for preventing and investigating crime; and for detecting, apprehending and prosecuting offenders.

If CCTV is in operation, appropriate signage will be in place and the operating procedures will be regularly audited by the Abbotsford Trust to ensure compliance with relevant standards and legislation.

 

Photography and filming

If we plan to take photographs or film individuals or small groups during a visit or at an event you have booked, we will ask for your consent to take and use these images, before doing so. You have a right to withdraw your consent at any time, but you should note that it might be difficult to remove images if they have been published.

If we plan to take photographs or film large events, we will ensure there is clear signage on the day. If you would prefer not to be included in any images, or do not want your image to be published, please contact us and we will find ways to manage this carefully on the day.

 

Surveys and feedback

When we conduct research and surveys with you that involve the processing of your personal data, we may collect information from you such as the following:  

• Your name – to record your feedback and respond to any feedback and comments raised
• Your comments, opinions and views – in support of the survey aims and to improve our communications, experiences and operations, ensuring they continue to meet your expectations
• Your email address – to communicate with you regarding your feedback or to send newsletters (if you have provided consent)

When we process the above information about you, our legal grounds for processing are our legitimate interests in that it is necessary to respond to feedback and improve our communications and experiences. If we ask for special category data (e.g. your ethnic origin) we will inform you of the purposes at the time of data collection and we will only process this data with your consent.

 

How we use personal information

Personal information provided to us will be used for the purposes outlined at the time of collection or application and in accordance with the preferences that you express.

Personal data collected and processed by us may be used for the following types of purposes:

• Administration of memberships
• Keeping you up to date with Abbotsford news, and if relevant how any donation made by you has been used 
• Telling you about special offers and events
• Fulfilment of orders for goods and services
• Management of your donation, fundraising, legacy or other type of support, and processing of Gift Aid
• Covid-19 contact tracing purposes. We will only keep contact tracing data for this specific purpose and it will be deleted after 21 days
• Research to ensure that our products and services meet your needs

Where this is necessary for our legitimate interests (meaning our interests in promoting the charitable and commercial activities to support the Trust) we will:

• Tailor our marketing and fundraising communications to potential and existing supporters to ensure all marketing communications you receive from us are relevant

Regarding your donations

We collect information from you if you directly donate to us and through third party fundraising platforms. For information about how these third parties process your personal data in compliance with data protection laws, please refer to the privacy policies on their websites. 

In line with our Fundraising Policy, where required, we may carry out due diligence on donations pledged or received. These due diligence checks may include looking at professional biographies, giving information on the source of the wealth, what sectors/industries a donation has come from, and a general assessment of publicly available news media to check there are no reputational issues we should be aware of that may cause our Trustees to turn down a proposed gift.

When we process your information for the purposes of contacting you to say thank you, let you know what difference you make to our work, what we are working on and how you can support us to achieve even more, our legal grounds are legitimate interests, because we think you would expect to hear from us about this and it is of interest to you. If you would prefer we did not contact you, you can let us know at any time. We will contact you for up to 6 years after your last donation or communication with us. After this time, you will no longer hear from us unless you have provided your consent.

Your marketing preferences

The Abbotsford Trust will always act upon your wishes in respect of the type of communications you wish to and how you wish to receive them. There are some communications, however, that we need to send you regardless of your marketing preferences. These are what we would describe as essential communications to fulfil our contractual obligations to you such as because you are an Abbotsford Friends Member or for a booking for our facilities or events. Examples of communication would be:

• Transaction notifications, such as payment receipts or Direct Debit confirmations
• Membership related communications such as your renewal reminder, our visitor newsletter, administering your donation, and events notices

You are always in control of how we communicate with you. You can update your choices on receipt of any email communication from us or by contacting us at:

Telephone: +44(0)1896 752 043

Email: enquiries@scottsabbotsford.co.uk

Post: The Abbotsford Trust, Abbotsford, Melrose, TD6 9BQ

 

Sharing of information

The Abbotsford Trust will never sell your information with any other organisations. We may share your information internally with Abbotsford Trust employees and volunteers on a need to know basis for purposes such as administering your membership, bookings, and donations. 

We may also share it from time to time with contractors working on our behalf such as those responsible for website and donor administration, market research, payment processing and newsletters. 

Where these third parties are acting as data controllers, they are required to handle your personal data in accordance with all applicable data protection laws. For further information about how they do this, please refer to their privacy policies.  

Where the third parties are acting as data processors, processing personal data on behalf of the Trust, we have contracts in place with these third parties which require them to process your personal data on our instructions only. They will not process your personal data for any other purpose and they will retain it securely.

 

How long is your information kept?

We hold your information for only as long as necessary for each purpose for which we use it. For example, for most membership data this means we retain it for as long as you have a valid membership and for a period of up to six years after your last interaction with us for accounting, tax reporting and record keeping purposes.

For data related to your donations or support we will retain this for up to six years for accounting, tax reporting and record keeping purposes, for as long as your donation is live, and will check whether you wish to be kept up to date with the work of the Trust after this time.

Details offered solely for communication will be held until you choose to opt out of communication. Should you opt out, your detail is erased from our databases with immediate effect.

CCTV images: one calendar month unless a crime or incident has been reported and the images are to be retained in line with the investigation. Also, if we receive a request for access to CCTV images, a copy of the images provided will be retained for two years.

Photographs/video footage: permanently unless you ask us to delete your

Your rights

You have the right to ask us, in writing, for a copy of all the personal data held about you  - this is known as subject access rights. A copy will be sent to you as soon as possible and no later than one month after your request.

If you would like to access your personal data held by us, please apply in writing to our Data Controller:

The Abbotsford Trust, Abbotsford, Melrose, TD6 9BQ

Under the Data Protection Act and GDPR, you also have the following rights:

• To require us not to send you marketing communications
• To require we cease processing your personal data if the process is causing you damage or distress.
• To require us to correct the personal data we hold about you if it is inaccurate

• To request that we erase your personal data
• To request that we restrict our data processing activities (where our processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent without affecting the lawfulness of our processing prior to consent being withdrawn)
• To receive from us the personal data we hold about you which you have provided to us
• To object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to any of our particular processing activities where you feel this has a disproportionate impact on your rights

Please note that we may be able to refuse requests to erase data if we can show that our processing is necessary for a legitimate and lawful purpose as set out in this Privacy Policy.

 

Updating and amending your personal information

We will always try to keep your data as up to date as possible. If, at any time, you want to update or amend your personal data or marketing preferences then you can do so by opting out on any email you receive from us. Alternatively, you can contact us:

Telephone: +44(0)1896 752 043

Email: enquiries@scottsabbotsford.co.uk

Post: The Abbotsford Trust, Abbotsford, Melrose, TD6 9BQ

The verification, updating or amendment of personal data will take place within 28 days of receipt of your request.

 

Contacts and Complaints

If you have any queries about this Privacy Policy or how we process your personal information, or if you wish to exercise any of your rights under applicable law, you may contact our Data Controller:

Telephone: +44(0)1896 752 043

Email: enquiries@scottsabbotsford.co.uk

Post: The Abbotsford Trust, Abbotsford, Melrose, TD6 9BQ

If you are not satisfied with how we are processing your personal information, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner. You can find out more about your rights under applicable data protection legislation from the Information Commissioner’s office website available at www.ico.org.uk

 

Changes to our Privacy Policy

We will update this privacy policy from time to time to make sure that it stays up to date with how we use your personal data and to meet any new legal requirements. The current version will be posted on this page of our website.

Updated July 2022