Privacy Statement
Who we are
Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees (CWR) is a volunteer organisation that aims to ensure that refugee families coming to live in Cheltenham feel welcome and are supported.
We also work to raise awareness about the current refugee crisis and to build an inclusive community through support for the resettlement process, and by education and campaigning.
This notice sets out our privacy policy.
The data we hold about you and how we use it
The personal data we hold about you and how we use it will depend on whether you simply subscribe to our CWR newsletter, actively volunteer for CWR or help us in some other way (or have done so in the past), or are a member of a refugee family.
All the personal data we hold is encrypted and kept securely. Only those members of CWR who need to access the data for a specific purpose, as set out below, are allowed to do so.
Subscribers to our newsletter – If all you do is subscribe to our CWR Newsletter, then the only data we hold about you will be your email address, and your name if you’ve given this to us. We share this information with MailChimp as set out below.
Everyone who subscribes to our newsletter is regarded as a member of CWR. There is no membership fee. You will be informed about our AGM, which you are entitled to attend and vote at, and about the other public meetings and events that we hold from time to time. You may occasionally be sent further emails about the issue of refugees that we think you will be interested in.
Volunteers – If you volunteer for CWR in some way, we may have asked you to complete an application form telling us such things as what activities you are interested in, when you are available to help, whether you speak Arabic or other languages, and whether you have been DBS checked. You may also have been asked to give the name of a referee.
We use this information to enable us to vet new applicants, and to help organise activities and events for the refugee families, including ensuring the families have lifts and can get there. It is also used to match volunteers to other specific tasks as and when they come up.
The refugee families – We know the names of the Syrian refugee families living in or near Cheltenham and, usually, their postal and email addresses and telephone numbers. Again, this information is used to make sure that the families are aware of, and can get to, any events that are organised for them or can otherwise be given the help they may need.
Other community contacts – From time to time we look for landlords, employers and others who may be able to offer opportunities for refugee families in Cheltenham. If you are in touch with us about any of these initiatives, then we will keep a record of what you have told us. Similarly, if you have helped CWR in some way in the past, we may still have a record of that help.
Sharing your personal information
We use a third-party provider, MailChimp, to deliver our newsletter. This allows us to gather statistics using industry standard technologies on, for example, the number of people opening and reading each mailing, which helps us to monitor and improve the newsletter. For more information please see MailChimp’s privacy notice.
We use Gmail as our regular email client, Facebook to engage with our supporters online and WhatsApp to send and receive messages. Other than the limited personal information needed for this, we do not share any of the personal information we hold with any other person or body.
We will never extrapolate, harvest or use any data that may come to us through using these applications.
Accessing your personal information
You are legally entitled to know what personal information we hold about you and to have any mistakes rectified. Email your request to chelt.refugees@gmail.com heading your email ‘Personal information’.
Cancelling your subscription
You can unsubscribe from our general mailings at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom our newsletter or by emailing us at chelt.refugees@gmail.com.
Once you have unsubscribed, you will no longer be a member of CWR.
Information from our website: http://www.cheltenhamwelcomesrefugees.org.uk/
We do not currently monitor the activities of visitors to our website but we are nevertheless able to collect information on such things as the overall number of visitors and which parts of the website are the most popular. This information does not identify anyone.
We will never attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.
Changes to this Privacy Notice
This privacy notice was last updated on 6 May 2018 and is kept under regular review.
Please let us know if you think it should be changed in any way.
We cannot accept any liability that may arise from using or downloading information from the website - it’s kept up to date and as accurate as possible, but we can’t account for misuse, misrepresentation, or misinterpretation.