Privacy Policy

1. Here at the Thornbury Volunteer Centre we are committed to maintaining your trust and confidence in us by protecting your privacy. If we ask you to provide information by which you can be identified, the information will be used only in the ways we describe in this privacy policy. We will always be open with you about what information we collect and what we do with it. Everything we do takes account of the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

1. If you consent, we will collect and store information about you or your organisation when you complete one of the forms on this site. We need this information to understand your needs and to provide you with an effective service. We will not collect more personal information than we need to fulfil our purposes and will not retain it for longer than necessary.
2. We collect some additional information — on gender, race, employment status and locality — which is collected to meet the requirements of funding agencies for statistical data. We do not use this information. It is provided to those bodies in a form that can’t identify any individual.
3. We will also, as part of the registration process, ask your permission to include you on our mailing list. This is so we can send you information and updates on volunteering issues related to the promotion and development of volunteering in the Thornbury and district area. In addition if you contact us we may send you e mail alerts if we believe there is a legitimate interest.

What we use your information for

For our core services:

1. The information you provide will be used to match volunteers and organisations offering volunteering opportunities or to fulfil any legal or regulatory requirements.
2. If you are intending to volunteer, we will use the information you provide solely to communicate with you; we will approach organisations offering relevant opportunities, but we will ask your permission before we identify you to them.
3. If you are an organisation that provides us with personal information about your staff (eg through an email address in the format ‘jo.bloggs@charityname.uk’) we will pass that personal data to potential volunteers and will retain it, both on paper and electronically as long as your organisation has an active relationship with us.
4. As part of our aftercare service and for statistical purposes we may contact an organisation to learn whether you have taken up an opportunity; necessarily we will have to mention your name when doing so but we will provide no other details.
5. In addition, we use your information:a) to maintain records of our operations for management purposes;b) to bring you up to date with information and events; andc) to provide anonymous statistical information to grant-giving or statutory bodies.

1. We are committed to ensuring that any information you supply is secure. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable electronic, physical and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect.
2. Our data is processed by Simply Connect Solutions Ltd. The data is stored in their Simply Connect volunteering platform. That organisation has its own privacy policy, which may be consulted here.
3. Our office computers and databases are protected by passwords. Personal information on paper is stored in locked cabinets. The office security systems are regularly reviewed.

1. You are entitled to view, amend or delete the personal information that we hold at any time. Please send your request to our Data Controller, whose details are below.
2. If, after two years, you no longer have an active relationship with us your electronic records will be deleted and our physical records destroyed.

1. We publish details of new opportunities to social media such as Facebook and Twitter. These do not contain personal information. If you access these sites via links on our website or otherwise, control of any personal information you supply is governed by their own privacy policies.

1. Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. We supply these in the hope that they may be useful to you but we are not responsible for their content.

1. In the first instance, please contact the Data Controller, whose details are below. If jointly you are unable to resolve the complaint, you may take it to the Chair of Trustees.
2. Every effort will be made to resolve your issue. If you have concerns about how your data is being handled, you can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office contact details at ico.org.uk/concerns or call the helpline on 0303 123 1113.

1. Our Data Controller is the Development Co-ordinator atThornbury Volunteer Centre, The Town Hall, 35 High Street, Thornbury, Bristol, BS35 2AR, telephone 01454 413392, email: mail@volunteer-thornbury.co.uk.

This policy was adopted by the Management Committee on 29th January 2025 and takes immediate effect. It will be reviewed in January 2027 unless there is legislative change in advance of this date.