Privacy Policy
Updated March 2024
The Edward Carpenter Community has over a thousand members who have attended our events over the last 30 years. We also have a large mailing list of people who receive our regular newsletter, including members and non-members. We have always striven to maintain this personal information in a responsible and secure manner, but have revised our processes and policies to ensure we are fully compliant with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) legislation introduced in May 2018.
We manage the following types of personal information.
- We record the names, addresses and contact details for people who book a place on our events, plus other information about their booking and any special needs. We use this information to co-ordinate the arrangements for the event.
- We maintain a contacts database of all members who have attended one of our events, and a record of events attended. We use this when we need to contact individuals on community business, and to compile generalised statistics about the membership as a whole.
- We collect names and email addresses of subscribers to our newsletter. We only use this information to send out information about the community and our events.
- We retain copies of all messages submitted via the Contact Us page, in case they don't reach the intended recipient due to non-delivery of emails for any reason.
All personal information is maintained online on a secure website, with tightly-controlled access only to nominated taskholders on a need-to-know basis. These may include event organisers, database coordinator, and administrators (the Maintenance Group or directors).
Bookings
When you make a booking, we ask for your full name and contact details. It is normal practice to share these details with all other participants on the event, and sometimes with venue hosts who may wish to add you to their own mailing list. You have the option not to have your details shared in this way when you book, but you can change your mind when the list is finalised by the organisers on the last day of the event. If you don't want to share your details, they will be kept confidential to the event organisers and administrators.
Other booking information such as the amount you will pay for the event, or any bursary granted, and payments received will be recorded and retained permanently for our accounting records.
We ask for contact details of a nominated person who we can contact in the case of an emergency. This information is kept confidential to the organisers responsible for your event. These details are destroyed when the event has finished.
If you cancel your booking or don't attend the event for any reason, your booking details will be destroyed after the event has finished.
Membership
Everyone who attends a residential ECC event automatically becomes a member for life. There is no enrolment process and no membership fee.
After an event has finished, your contact details will be used to update our membership database. We keep a record of your telephone numbers and email addresses in case we wish to contact you personally about community matters, and your home address so that we can see the geographical distribution of our membership, or contact members in a specific area.
All other booking information submitted is kept confidential to the organisers responsible for your event and is not used for any other purpose after the event has finished and the accounts are closed.
If you wish to know exactly what data is kept about you, please send an email request to privacy [at] edwardcarpentercommunity.org.uk. If you wish, your details can be amended, or you can ask to have them deleted permanently. In this case, your booking details will be retained, but all personal information will be destroyed or anonymised.
Newsletter
We send our email newsletter to everyone who subscribes, or who books for one of our events, or registers for a member login. There are about 6 to 8 newletters per year and they contain information about forthcoming ECC events, community business and articles of interest submitted by other members. You don't need to be a member of ECC to receive them, and you can sign up to the list at any time. Subscription to the list is normally automatic otherwise. You can unsubscribe at any time, and won't be automatically re-subscribed unless you explicitly sign up again.
Our mailing list is handled by Mailchimp - a third-party marketing platform based in the United States. We will pass your details (name and email address only) to Mailchimp and your privacy will be maintained according to Mailchimp's own Privacy Policy and Terms. You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email you receive from us, or by clicking here.
We do not use the mailing list for any other purpose than sending newsletters. You do not need to give your full name when subscribing.
Questionnaire
When you book for the first time, or sign up to our newsletter, we will normally ask you to consider providing us with information about your age, where you heard about us, and your self-identity in terms of gender or sexuality. This is entirely optional. The information is collected anonymously and is used only to give us some insight into the types of people interested in our community and to help us make decisions about how to promote ourselves in future. We may also ask you for this information if you contact us again with a new email address.
Social Media
If you wish to join any of our social media groups, including the Facebook group and our Discord server, you must sign up directly via those third party websites. Links are available on the social media page of our website, and in our confirmation emails when you book on an event.
Messages
When you send us a message via the Contact Us page, they are forwarded by email to one or more nominated individuals who deal with such enquiries. We also send a copy to you for your records, and we retain them permanently on our system in the form of a log. We do not use these details for any other purpose than responding to enquiries and can delete copies of messages on request.
General
For security and spam filtering purposes, we record the IP address of all booking submissions, sent messages, and newsletter signups.
If you have any questions or concerns about personal data, please send an email to privacy [at] edwardcarpentercommunity.org.uk.
Emails
We send you an automated email when you book for an event, send us a message or sign up for our newletter.
Booking emails are to acknowledge receipt of your booking and to provide you with a record of the details you submitted. It also gives you details about how to pay for your event. You can request a booking reminder containing similar information at any time afterwards, until the event has begun. The booking system does not currently send you any other emails relating to your booking, but you may receive manually generated mailings directly from the event organisers.
If you send us a message via the Contact Us page, we will send you a copy of the message for your records.
If you are an event organiser or other ECC taskholder, you may receive occasional alert emails relating to bookings or event management.
All emails from ECC are sent from the edwardcarpentercommunity.org.uk domain and you may wish to add this to your list of known senders in your junk mail filtering system.
Cookies
The ECC website and bookings site, like most others, uses small files called ‘cookies’ to help customise your experience. Cookies are stored by the web browser on your computer. They allow us to tailor the appearance of some of the pages to suit your needs and to optimise the site’s performance.
We generally only set session cookies which remain on your computer until you log out or close your browser window. These are created automatically by the web server technology. We use these session cookies to remember that you’re an authorised user.
You can select which types of cookies to accept. If you accept All Cookies, you may find that some third-party embedded content such as social media sharing links may set cookies on your computer. If you select the option to accept only Essential Cookies, some of the third-party content will be omitted.
When you select which cookies to accept, we place a permanent cookie on your computer so the notice doesn't appear again. If you select the ‘Remember Me’ option when you log in, we will also place a permanent cookie on your computer. Next time you visit the site, we use the contents of this cookie to log you in automatically.
We do not set or use any tracking cookies and we do not monitor usage of this site using cookies. If you accept non-essential cookies, some third-party content may set additional cookies.
By using the ECC website, you are consenting to our use of cookies in accordance with this Cookie Policy. If you do not agree to our use of cookies in this way, you can set your browser settings to control or disable cookies. Information on controlling and deleting cookies on a variety of popular web browsers is available at www.aboutcookies.org. Please note that by deleting our cookies or disabling cookies for this site, you may not be able to log in to the site.
Current cookie setting is unset