Privacy notice

The Fairtrade Foundation is a company limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales (number 02733136). We are a registered charity (number 1043886). We form part of the global Fairtrade movement.

Contact us

Our address is: 5.7 The Loom, 14 Gower’s Walk, London, E1 8PY.
Please contact us by telephone: +44 (0)20 7405 5942 or via email: email@fairtrade.org.uk.

Data protection officer

Data protection within the Fairtrade Foundation is overseen by the data protection officer.

Contact the data protection officer via email: data.protection@fairtrade.org.uk.

We collect your data in the following ways:

When you give it to us directly

For example, by:

• Sending us an enquiry via the website, email, telephone, social media or post
• Attending a Fairtrade event or webinar
• Donating
• Responding to a petition
• Signing up for our newsletter
• Telling us about a Fairtrade event that you have organised
• Fundraising for us
• Applying for or renewing a Fairtrade Community status, place of worship or schools award
• Applying for jobs or volunteer roles with us.

When you give it to a third party who shares it with us

Your information may be shared with us through independent, third-party transactions. For example, through fundraising platforms (such as JustGiving).

These third parties will only provide us with your information if you have given your permission for it to be shared with us.

Occasionally we might work with trusted partners or suppliers who work with us or on our behalf and may ask you to provide your information under our instruction.

When you visit our websites or social media

When you visit our websites, we gather general information about how you use them, as well as information about the type of device you are using to access them (such as phone, tablet, PC).

This data helps us to create a better online experience for you. For example, making it easier for you to find what you’re looking for, or to fix elements that make the website difficult to use.

We use cookies (text files that a web browser stores on your device which track, save and store information, and may or may not expire when you close your browser) to understand how you interact with our website and help improve how it works.

See our Cookie Notice for more information.

When you engage with the Fairtrade Foundation’s social media accounts or advertising, we might also obtain your personal information through your use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn, depending on your settings or the privacy notices of these services.

To change your settings, please refer to their privacy notices.

Personal data is anything that can be used to identify you as an individual. It can include your:

• Name
• Email address
• Postal address
• Telephone number
• IP address
• Identifiable images
• Bank account details
• Credit/debit card details.

We collect personal data in the following circumstances:

Supporters

Our supporters are asked to provide their names, email addresses, postal addresses (when relevant) and telephone number.

We also collect your contact and event type preferences.

Some of our supporters share their images with us, or have their images taken by us, during supporter activities. These are taken with consent and are only shared in the manner outlined on the consent forms.

Community or places of worship

Some personal data is collected to process and administer the application or renewal of these schemes. Each community or place of worship will provide a key contact and an additional contact which includes name, email address and telephone number.

Images of those involved in these schemes are often taken or shared with us in line with our consent processes.

School awards

We will collect personal data relating to key contacts.

We may collect the names and email addresses of teachers.

We may collect the names, ages and class numbers of the pupils.

This information is uploaded to a secure portal to enable us to process these awards. Photos of school competitions or events can be uploaded alongside the consent forms signed by a parent or guardian for each pupil.

Children’s data

We consider anyone under the age of 18 to be a minor and we are careful about collecting, storing and using this data. Images, names, addresses, school details and ages may be collected, but always with the consent of a parent or guardian.

Donating or fundraising for us

If you use your credit or debit card to make a donation or fundraise for us, we will ensure that this is done securely and in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

To find out more, visit the PCI Security Standards Council website.

Recruitment

When you apply to work or volunteer for us, we collect your personal details to process your application.

Typically, this includes: name, address, contact details, proof of ID (such as a copy of your passport), gender, date of birth and references.

We also collect special category data including racial and ethnic origin information and potentially information that relates to disabilities, religious beliefs or sexual orientation, physical or mental health information and immigration/naturalisation records.

We may also ask you for personal information in line with our criminal background check procedures.

This data is carefully managed and stored by our HR team.

Competitions

We sometimes run competitions in partnership with our Fairtrade product licensees. Personal details are required to process the applications and to send the prizes to the winners. Typically, this includes: names, addresses and contact details.

Sometimes these details are shared with our Fairtrade product licensees in order to send the prizes to the winners. Where this occurs, it will be specified within the terms and conditions of the competition.

Surveys

We sometimes run surveys to better understand our supporters’ interests and feelings about Fairtrade products. This data is not kept for longer than required to process the responses.

We use your personal data in the following ways:

• To provide support in relation to our services, products or other information requested by you, or in relation to correspondence entered into with us.
• To process donations (including claiming Gift Aid), as well as to verify any transactions entered into with us.
• To administer events, online orders, donations, fundraising or any other support required, or where required or authorised by law to do so.
• To keep a record of your relationship with us and for administrative purposes (such as our accounting and record-keeping). We also use your personal contact information to advise you on updates and changes to our services or policies.
• If you enter personal information into a form on our website (such as a campaign action, donation or purchase) and start but don’t complete it, we may email you to check if we can help with any problems.
• To update you on our work at Fairtrade, and to highlight the difference your support is making to farmers and workers around the world.
• To ensure we know how you prefer to be contacted.
• For marketing, campaigning or fundraising (eg raising awareness, inviting you to events, sharing posts, signing campaign actions, helping us raise money, donating to us) by mail, email, phone or social media. To send you information about our latest news, campaigns and occasional fundraising activities.
• We also use personal information to administer employment, volunteering and internship applications.

The lawful criteria (basis) for processing personal data

We mainly rely on consent as the lawful basis for processing personal data.

However, there are situations where other criteria is used:

• Contract. Personal data related to a contract with us is typically processed under the terms of that contract. This can include contact details for a licence agreement, or personal data related to an offer of employment.
• Legal obligation. Personal details related to financial regulatory requirements or safeguarding requirements that can be shared with external regulators. This is always in line with regulatory requirements and these details are not shared with other external parties.
• Legitimate interest. We rely on this basis to share our business-to-business newsletter. We may also rely on ‘legitimate interest’ as a lawful basis if while gathering content for social media or during a spontaneous, unplanned event.
• Consent. As mentioned above, this is the main lawful basis we use to process personal data. This includes use of images, stories and quotes, supporter newsletters, invites for events or webinars, fundraising mailshots and donation requests.
  

At the Fairtrade Foundation, we take data protection seriously. We make it a priority to ensure that we have the right level of controls, interventions and processes in place to ensure we keep your personal information safe.

However, the nature of information transfer – particularly online – is never fully secure, so we cannot guarantee the complete security and protection of it, especially when it is outside of our control. Once we have your personal data, we will do everything reasonably within our power to ensure that we have the systems and processes in place internally to safely use it, store it or send it (for example, using encryption) where and when required to our partners (with your consent).

Only authorised staff have access to your personal data. Any special category information that has been shared with us (for example, health information) has additional protections in place and is only visible to a small selection of staff members.

All our staff and volunteers are trained and understand the policies, processes and protocol for keeping personal information safe.

Occasionally we use external companies to collect or process data for us on our behalf. Before we agree to work with them, we undergo a process to ensure they are compliant to the Data Protection Act 2018. We also have processes in place to ensure that any personal data that is shared with them is always in line with what has been agreed with you.

Sometimes our website or our emails to you may contain links to other external sites. We are not responsible for these organisations’ privacy policies. They may collect information that can be used to personally identify you. Check their privacy notice to learn more.

Some of our suppliers or members of the Fairtrade Movement operate outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Although they may not be subject to the same data protection laws as companies based in the UK, we will do our utmost to make sure they are compliant in accordance with UK data protection law. By submitting your personal information to us, you consent to this potential transfer, storing, or processing at a location outside the EEA territory.

We will comply with legal requests to disclose your details as permitted by operation of law to the police, government agencies, including courts of law, and regulatory bodies or legal advisors, if required to do so.

Recipients or third parties who will have access to the data

Outside of our legal responsibilities to share data, including with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the Charity Commission or the Information Commissioner’s Office, or their named successors, we will never share your data without your consent.

As part of our work to raise awareness of the Fairtrade movement, we may:

• ask to share your images or stories with other members of the Fairtrade system
• ask to share your images or stories with our commercial or retailer partners, as well as trusted organisations that we collaborate with

Some of these members or organisations have different data protection rules to those of the UK.

Countries which have been deemed legally, or by relevant regulatory bodies, to have adequate data protection laws with the UK.

There are a range of countries with an ‘adequacy’ status to the UK Data Protection Act 2018. This includes any country within the EU as well as those with deemed GDPR adequacy status. This means that data shared between the UK and these countries is considered safe due to the strict compliant rules in place.

Outside of countries with adequate data protection laws with the UK.

Any data shared outside of the EU or GDPR-adequate countries requires additional checks to take place. In addition to these checks, an agreement with those receiving your data may be put in place to outline how the data can be stored, transferred, used or moved.

We will retain your personal data as long as reasonably necessary for the relevant activity and relationship you have with us, as well as for any legal or regulatory requirement.

For example, we will keep a record of your donations for seven years if you have opted in to Gift Aid, to comply with HMRC rules.

If you request that we stop sending you marketing, campaigning or fundraising communications we will keep a record of your contact details and appropriate information to enable us to comply with your request. We won’t keep any information that we don’t need.

You have a number of rights over the personal data that you have provided to us. These are:

• The right to be informed. You have the right to know how your data is being collected, used, shared and stored by us.
• The right to access. You have the right to request and receive access to your data.
• The right to rectification. You have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified.
• The right to erasure. You have the right to be forgotten and, as such, can request your personal details are erased. There are some circumstances where this cannot be actioned due to regulatory reasons, for example in financial records. Any data which is not erased and the reasons as to why always be confirmed to you in our response to your request.
• The right to restrict processing. You have the right to request the restriction or suppression of their personal data. In other words, you can request that we can store your personal data but not use it or only use it in some circumstances.
• The right to data portability. You have the right to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services.
• The right to object. You have the right to object to the processing of your data in certain circumstances, for example there is an absolute right to stop personal data being used for direct marketing.
• Rights related to automated decision-making including profiling. You have the right to know when your personal data is being used for automated decision-making including profiling. We currently do not use any automated decision-making tools and will notify you (if we have your contact details) or update this Privacy Notice if that situation changes.

  What to do if you change your mind
  
  You are fully within your rights to change your mind about providing consent and sharing your personal data with us.

  If you no longer wish for us to use this information, please contact us:

  • Via email: data.protection@fairtrade.org.uk
  • Via telephone: +44 (0)20 7405 5942
  • By post: 5.7 The Loom, 14 Gower’s Walk, London, E1 8PY.

If you have any queries or concerns about your personal data, please contact the data protection officer via email: data.protection@fairtrade.org.uk.

If you wish to make a complaint to the Fairtrade Foundation, please contact us via:

Email: complaints@fairtrade.org.uk
Telephone: (0)20 7440 7676 (Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm)

Or write to us at:
Attention: Complaints (Legal)
The Fairtrade Foundation, 5.7 The Loom,
14 Gowers Walk,
London E1 8PY

The full complaints procedure can be found in our General Complaints Policy – Fairtrade Foundation.

After following the complaints and the appeal process, if you are still unhappy with the outcome, you can contact our regulator, The Charity Commission for England and Wales.

If your complaint relates to fundraising, please contact the Fundraising Regulator.

If your complaint relates to the protection of your personal information, please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.