Privacy Policy

At Polonia Northern England (PNE), your privacy is important to us. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information.

Our Privacy Policy

This privacy policy explains how Polonia Northern England (PNE) a registered charity in England and Wales Charity Number 1214544 collects, uses, stores, and shares your personal information when you visit our website www.pnecharity.org.uk ,donate to us, or use our services. We are committed to
protecting your privacy and complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

We collect information to support our charitable work, communicate with supporters, and deliver our services. We may collect two types of information:

  • Personal information: Data that can identify you, such as your full name, email address, phone number, postal address, date of birth (if relevant for services), bank/payment details (for donations), and information about your support for our charity (e.g., donation history, event attendance).
  • Non-personal information: Anonymous data that does not identify you, such as your IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, and time spent on the Site (collected via cookies and
    similar technologies).

We collect this information in the following ways:

  • When you donate, sign up for our newsletter, register for an event, or request services.
  • When you fill out contact forms, volunteer applications, or feedback surveys.
  • Automatically when you visit the Site (via cookies and analytics tools).
  • From third parties (e.g., fundraising platforms, event partners, or if you log in via social media).
  • From public sources (e.g., if you choose to fundraise for us publicly).

2. HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

We use your personal information only for legitimate charitable purposes, including:

  • To process donations, issue tax receipts (where applicable), and manage recurring giving.
  • To communicate with you about our work, impact updates, events, and fundraising campaigns (only if you’ve given consent or it’s in our legitimate charitable interest).
  • To deliver services, support, or volunteer opportunities you’ve requested.
  • To personalize your experience (e.g., sending information about causes you’ve shown interest in).
  • To ensure the security of the Site, prevent fraud, and comply with charity governance requirements.
  • To conduct research and analysis to improve our charitable impact and efficiency.

We will always balance our legitimate charitable interests with your privacy rights, and will stop processing if we determine your rights override our interests.

3. COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

We use cookies (small text files stored on your device) to improve your browsing experience, track how the Site is used, and measure the effectiveness of our online campaigns. You can manage your cookie preferences via the cookie banner on the Site or through your browser settings.

For more details, please see our [Cookie Policy] (link to separate cookie policy, if applicable)

4. WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH?

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. As a charity, we may share it only with:

  • Service providers: Third parties who help us deliver our work (e.g., payment processors like PayPal/Stripe, email marketing tools like Mailchimp, event management platforms, and analytics providers). These providers are bound by contracts to protect your information and only use it as
    instructed by us.
  • Charity partners: Other registered charities we work with on joint projects, but only if you’ve given consent or it’s necessary to deliver the service you requested.
  • Legal authorities: If required by law, court order, or regulatory body (e.g., the Charity Commission for England and Wales), or to protect our beneficiaries, supporters, or staff.
  • Fundraising platforms: If you donate or fundraise via a third-party platform (e.g., JustGiving), they will hold your information in line with their own privacy policies – we recommend reviewing these.

We will never share your information with political parties or for non-charitable marketing purposes.

5. HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION?

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, or loss. These include encryption for payment details, secure server storage, access controls (only staff who need it can access your data), and regular security reviews. While no system is 100% secure, we take all reasonable steps to keep your information safe.

6. YOUR DATA PROTECTION RIGHTS

Under GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the following rights regarding your personal information:

  • Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you (a “subject access request”).
  • Correction: Ask to fix any inaccurate or incomplete information.
  • Erasure: Request that we delete your information (subject to legal exceptions, e.g., if we need to
    keep donation records for tax purposes).
  • Restriction: Ask to limit how we process your information.
  • Data portability: Request that we transfer your information to another organization or to you.
  • Objection: Object to processing for fundraising or marketing purposes at any time.
  • Right to withdraw consent: If we rely on your consent to process your information, you can withdraw it at any time (this won’t affect processing that happened before withdrawal).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) or designated contact at [Contact Email]. We will respond within one month (and may extend this by a further two months for complex requests, with notice). There is no fee for most requests.

7. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

We will keep your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil our charitable purposes or as required by law:

  • Donation records: Kept for 7 years from the date of donation (to comply with HMRC tax requirements).
  • Communication records: Kept until you ask us to stop, or for 2 years after your last interaction (if we have no ongoing consent).
  • Service/volunteer records: Kept for the duration of the service/volunteering, plus 3 years for governance purposes.
  • Non-personal data: Kept indefinitely in aggregated, anonymous form for research and analytics.

8. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

Our Site and services are not intended for children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If we become aware that we have collected information from a child under 16, we will delete it immediately. If you are a parent/guardian and believe we hold information about your child, please contact us.

9. LINKS TO THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES

Our Site may contain links to third-party websites (e.g., fundraising platforms, partner charities). This privacy policy does not apply to those sites. We are not responsible for their privacy practices and encourage you to review their policies before using them.

10. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our work or legal requirements. We will notify you of significant changes by posting the new policy on the Site, updating the “last updated” date, and (where appropriate) sending you an email. Your continued use of the Site after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance.

11. CONTACT US

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests about this policy or your personal information, please contact:

Data Protection Contact

Mansoor Shah

Polonia Northern England (PNE)

Moss Street, Bury, Greater Manchester BL9 0DF

Email: info@pnecharity.org.uk

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – the UK’s data protection regulator – at any time. You can find out more at ico.org.uk.