The Together Initiative

PRIVACY STATEMENT

Last Updated: 2nd August 2021

The Together Initiative is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Statement explains how and why we collect your personal information when you visit our website, complete our surveys or sign up to hear more from us. It also explains how we use your data, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure. 

We may change this policy from time to time, so please check this page for updates. By using our website you accept the conditions set out in this Privacy Statement. Any questions regarding this Statement and our privacy practices should be sent by email to info@together.co.uk.

Who are we? 

The Together Initiative is a small non-profit governing entity for the Together Campaign, a coalition that everyone is invited to join, from community groups to some of the UK’s best known organisations. Our aim is to bring people together and bridge divides, to help build a kinder, closer and more connected country. 

The Together Initiative is also a “data controller”. This means that we are responsible for how we hold and use personal information about you. 

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this Statement or how we handle your personal information, please contact us at info@together.co.uk

Data Protection Officer

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer to oversee compliance with this Privacy Statement. If you have any questions about this Statement or how we handle your personal information, please contact the Data Protection Officer at info@together.co.uk. The Data Protection Officer is also a member of the Together Initiative’s Board of Trustees.

What type of personal information is collected from you? 

Personal information, or personal data, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include information where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We collect Personal Information in a variety of ways, including:

We collect Personal Information through the Services (we refer to the Website, Our Social Media, Emails, Google Drive, and Offline Interactions as Services), for example, when you sign up for a newsletter and from Other Sources. 

We receive your Personal Information from other sources, for example: 

  • joint marketing partners and event sponsors, when they share the information with us;
  • partner organizations (such as Pro Bono groups and nonprofits);
  • social media platforms.

We need to collect Personal Information in order to provide the requested Services to you. If you do not provide the information requested, we may not be able to provide the Services. If you disclose any Personal Information relating to other people to us or to our service providers in connection with the Services, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

When and how do we collect this information from you?

When you sign up your organisation to become a partner of the Together Initiative

The personal information we collect when you sign your organisation up to become a partner includes: 

  • Your name
  • Email address (personal/ business)
  • The name of the organisation you work for
  • Job Title
  • Region

We use this personal information so that your organisation can become one of our partners and we can perform the related contract we have entered into with you.

The personal information we collect when you sign as an individual includes: 

  • Your name
  • Email address
  • Region 

When you participate in one of our surveys

As part of our mission to bring people together and bridge divides, we from time to time conduct surveys via our website together.org.uk/survey/. Surveys allow us to form a view of the issues that cause the most division within our society and what unites us, which we use to inform further discussion and debates about the type of society we want to build, and to inform our forward strategy as to how to bring people together and bring that society about.

We always conduct surveys anonymously, meaning that we don’t relate any of your responses to you as an individual. Rather, we aggregate responses so that we can compile these in a report. Any identifiable information that you may have provided to us (such as your email address, see below), we keep separate from your survey responses. Survey results, if published, are always published in an aggregated fashion.

When you provide us with your contact details 

We collect this to, for example:

  • Provide you with further information about The Together Initiative, including in relation to: 
    •  the results of our survey, 
    • our activities and initiatives, or
    • participation in future surveys, or
    • Invite you to events run our partners that you request from us or which we feel may interest you.

We will obtain your opt-in consent before we use your personal information for these purposes. If you no longer want to receive communications from us, you can revoke your consent at any time by unsubscribing using the link in the communications themselves. Alternatively, you can send an email at any time to the administrator at info@together.org.uk.

Website Optimisation

When you use our website, we collect certain ‘technical’ pieces of personal information, including your IP address and other statistical data, automatically using cookies. We do this to monitor customer traffic patterns, website usage and related website information in order to optimize your use of our website, and to ensure that content from our website is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.  Please see our cookie policy for further information.

How long do we retain your personal information for? 

We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we collected the personal information and consistent with applicable law. The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:  

  • The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you (for example, for as long as your organisation is one of our partners); 
  • Whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records for a certain period of time before we can delete them); or 
  • Whether retention is advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard to applicable statutes of limitations, litigation or regulatory investigations).  

Who has access to your personal information? 

We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties. However, we do disclose your personal information to our third party service providers, to facilitate services they provide to us. These can include providers of services such as website hosting, data analysis, fraud prevention, information technology and related infrastructure provision, email delivery, auditing, and other services.

When we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary for the service provider to deliver their service, and where we have a contract in place with the service provider that requires them to keep your personal information secure and not to use it for their own purposes

Other Uses and Disclosures

We also use and disclose your personal information as necessary or appropriate, in particular when we have a legal obligation or legitimate interest to do so:

  • To comply with applicable law and regulations
    • This may include laws outside your country of residence. 
  • To cooperate with public and government authorities
    • To respond to a request or to provide information we believe is necessary or appropriate.
    • These can include authorities outside your country of residence.
  • To cooperate with law enforcement
    • For example, when we respond to law enforcement requests and orders or provide information we believe is important.
  • For other legal reasons
    • To enforce our terms and conditions; and
    • To protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or those of you or others. 
  • In connection with a sale or business transaction
    • We have a legitimate interest in disclosing or transferring your Personal Information to a third party in the event of any reorganisation, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business or assets. 

How you can access, update or delete your personal information 

If you would like to request to access, correct, update, suppress, restrict, or delete personal information, object to or opt out of the processing of personal information, or if you would like to request to receive a copy of your personal information for purposes of transmitting it to another company (to the extent these rights are provided to you by applicable law), please contact our Data Protection Officer in writing via info@together.co.uk. We will respond to your request consistent with applicable law. 

Securing your personal information 

We seek to use reasonable organisational, technical and administrative measures to protect personal information within our organisation.  Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.  If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contacting Us” section below.

Transferring Personal Information to a Country outside the UK or EEA

We may transfer any personal information we hold to a country outside the UK or European Economic Area (“EEA”) provided that one of the following conditions applies:

  • The country to which the personal information are transferred ensures an adequate level of protection for your rights and freedoms, as determined by the European Commission [or United Kingdom] (the full list of these countries is available here).
  • For transfers to countries not considered adequate by the European Commission or United Kingdom: 
    • You have given your consent
    • The transfer is necessary for one of the reasons set out in the Data Protection Act 2018, including the performance of a contract between us and you, or to protect your vital interests
    • The transfer is legally required on important public interest grounds or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
    • We have put in place adequate measures, such as standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission, to protect your personal information. You may obtain a copy of these measures by contacting us in accordance with the “Contact Us” section below.

Links to and from other websites 

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This Privacy Statement applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website. 

Under 16s

 Our website is not directed at children aged 16 or under. However, we may from time to time conduct surveys that are aimed specifically at children in schools. If you are aged 16 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide us with any personal information. 

Review of this Statement

We regularly review this Statement, and may update it from time to time to meet our business requirements and/or comply with statutory provisions.  You can see the date of the latest update at the top of the Statement.  If we make material or substantive changes to one of our privacy policies, we will seek to actively bring those changes to your attention.