Privacy Notice

INFORMATION HELPS ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES

At EDF EUROPE we rely on the generosity and support of individuals like you to carry out our vital work in preserving the environment. That is why we want to be transparent about the personal information we collect when you engage with us and how we will use this information.

As you browse our website and whenever you communicate with us, we collect information. It deepens our understanding of our constituents, which helps make our communications more effective. The more personal information we have, the more efficiently we are able to operate and the more funds we can direct into preserving the environment.

We take protecting your privacy very seriously and will always take all reasonable steps within our power to make sure your personal information is safe.

Our website is not intended for persons under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from persons in this age group. We reserve the right to delete any information identified as having been provided by such persons at our discretion.

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time.

CONTENTS

1. WHO WE ARE AND HOW TO CONTACT US

EDF EUROPE is an affiliate of the Environmental Defense Fund, Inc. (“EDF”), which operates around the world. All of EDF’s offices work collaboratively with a common mission to preserve the natural systems on which all life depends. This privacy notice relates to the personal information, which is obtained and processed by EDF EUROPE only, which is a separate entity from EDF’s other organisations in different countries. EDF EUROPE is a charity with company number 09217493 and registered charity no. 1164661 in England.

If you have any questions please contact our team at members@edf.org. If you wish to send hard copy mail, please send to: 3rd Floor, 41 Eastcheap London EC3M 1DT UK. Our website is www.edfeurope.org.

2. WHY WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

We collect personal information via our website, and on other occasions when you interact with us in other ways, to enable us to provide relevant information, products and services to you. Below you will find more information about what personal information we collect, how we collect it and what purposes we use it for.

3. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

The personal information we collect from you includes:

  • Your name, address, telephone number, mobile number and/or email address, along with your preferences as to how we should contact you in the future
  • Credit card information which you give to us if you have signed up to make recurring donations is stored by our third-party payment processor
  • Information you enter onto our website
  • Records of your donation history and correspondence with us
  • Details of your visit to the website, including technical information (such as the IP address you use to access the website and your web browser)
  • Other details relevant to your communications with us including your reasons for supporting us
  • In addition to personal information you give us directly, we may also collect personal information about you from publicly available sources (please see Fundraising below).

4. HOW WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

We collect personal information every time you interact with us. The type and quantity of personal information we collect and how we use it depends on why you are providing it.

For example, we may collect information when you:

  • Become a member of EDF Europe
  • Participate in an event or get involved with one of our campaigns
  • Request information or make a donation to us
  • Apply for a job
  • Subscribe to our e-newsletters or respond to our mailings
  • Contact us or become involved with us in any other way than as stated above
  • We also collect certain personal information from publicly available sources, as explained below.

5. WHAT PURPOSES DO WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR

We will use your personal information to:

  • Provide you with the services, products or information you asked for
  • Carry out fundraising activities, including communications
  • Administer your donation or support your fundraising
  • Keep a record of your relationship with us
  • To better understand your interests and preferences, so that we can contact potential donors more effectively (See Fundraising below)
  • Manage your communication preferences, including your fundraising preferences
  • Understand how we can improve our services, products or information
  • Keep you up to date with the work you are supporting
  • Carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and us
  • Process a job application.

Fundraising

When you come to an EDF or EDF Europe event, meet with a member of our staff, or support our work, we may collect and store personal information, such as your name, contact information, interests and contact preferences so that we can communicate with you appropriately. In cases where individuals have indicated that they may be interested in making substantial gifts to support our work, we may also use publicly available personal information (e.g. company websites, newspapers) in order to better inform any contact with them.

We also use publicly available information sources to identify individuals who we believe may be interested in supporting our work. For example, those who have publicly reported environmental interests. This enables us to identify and communicate with potential donors more effectively which, in turn, puts more resources directly toward program work to help save the planet.

You may opt out of your personal information being used for fundraising purposes at any time by contacting us at members@edf.org. If you choose to opt out, please note that we will not be able to contact you about future opportunities to engage with us.

6. THE LAWFUL GROUNDS WE RELY ON TO USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We rely on the following lawful grounds to use your personal information:

You have provided your consent to us using your personal information for a specific purpose

We will ask for your consent to use your personal information to send you electronic communications such as newsletters and emails. You always have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

It is necessary in connection with the performance of a contract with you

Sometimes it is necessary to process your personal information so that we can fulfil our contractual obligations to you. For example, if you apply for employment with us, or for a volunteer role, we will require your personal data to enable us to perform that agreement.

It is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject

We sometimes need to process personal data to meet a legal obligation. For example, we have an obligation to retain financial data and to process any taxes due (such as National Insurance for employees).

It is within our legitimate interests

We may process personal information when it is reasonably necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, so long as the processing is fair, balanced and does not unduly impact the rights of individuals. We will not use your personal information for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you, for example, where the use would be intrusive.

We have a legitimate interest to research potential new donors and to manage our communications and fundraising activity. We do this as part of our efforts to find practical and lasting solutions to the most serious environmental problems.

We also rely on our legitimate interests for the proper administration of EDF Europe, and to manage our operations (for example, maintaining appropriate records and databases of our supporters).

7. YOUR RIGHTS CONCERNING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You have certain rights concerning how we use your personal information.

Your Preferences

When you give us your details we will tell you what we are going to do with them. When you give us your telephone or address details you will always either have an option not to give them to us, or to give them to us in order for us to provide the service you have requested. You can opt-out of receiving our fundraising communications at any time.

Where you have provided us with your telephone number we may use that telephone number to call you. If you have already told us you prefer not to receive telephone calls from us we will not call you. If you would like to tell us now that you would prefer not to receive telephone calls from us then please contact us at members@edf.org.

We make it easy for you to tell us how you want us to communicate, in a way that suits you. Our email communications include information on how to opt-out from fundraising activity, or you can contact us members@edf.org.

Right to access your personal information

You have the right to access the personal data we may hold about you and the purposes for which we use it. You can contact us at members@edf.org. We may ask for proof of your identity. On receipt of your request we will endeavour to respond to you as soon as possible, at most within one calendar month.

Other Rights

You have a right to seek rectification of your personal information, to request the restriction of our processing of your personal information or to request for it to be erased.

If you don’t want us to hold certain personal information, it’s best just not to give that personal information to us. If you want us to erase certain or all of the personal information we hold about you, please let us know. You may obtain, rectify, update or delete records of your personal information, or change your preferences, by contacting us at members@edf.org.

Right to complain

You have the right to complain to us about the way we use your personal information using the email address above. You also have the right to complain to the relevant data protection authority about the way we use your personal information. In the UK this is the Information Commissioner’s Office – www.ico.org.uk.

8. WHO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH

We would only disclose your personal information with other parties for specific, limited and legal purposes, such as:

  • if we believe in good faith that the law requires disclosure, such as in the event of a police investigation, or to regulatory bodies or legal advisors;
  • when it’s necessary to disclose information to protect the rights, property and safety of EDF Europe or others;
  • if you have given us your permission to share it with another party.

We may allow our suppliers or processors to access and use your personal information to allow them to perform services on our behalf (e.g. payment processing). In these circumstances we will not give these organisations any rights to use your personal information for their own purposes - only to provide specific services to us in accordance with our instructions.

9. HOW WE KEEP YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION SAFE

We aim to ensure that there are appropriate physical, technical and managerial controls in place to protect personal information at all times. For example our online forms are always encrypted and our network is protected and routinely monitored. Within our offices only those trained in handling data securely will have access to your personal information.

When we use external companies to collect or process personal data on our behalf we carry out comprehensive checks on these companies before we work with them, and put a contract in place that sets out our expectations and requirements.

Our website may from time to time contain links to third party websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites will have their own privacy notices and that we cannot accept any responsibility or liability for when you leave our website.

You should be aware that no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. So, whilst we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any personal information which you disclose to us online.

10. HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WHEN IT IS TRANSFERRED OVERSEAS?

We may need to transfer your personal information to the U.S. or other countries outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) to allow third party organisations to perform services on our behalf. For example, when you sign up for a petition to help safeguard the natural environment. In doing so, your personal information may be stored or processed outside of the EEA. Where we engage with other organisations we take steps to ensure that the transfer and processing of your personal information is subject to appropriate security measures and safeguards. If you have any questions about our safeguards, please contact us using the contact details above.

11. KEEPING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION UP TO DATE

Where possible we use publicly available sources to keep your personal information up to date. Please let us know if your contact details, or circumstances change by contacting us at members@edf.org.

12. HOW LONG WE WILL STORE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR

We will hold your personal information only as long as is necessary for specific purpose(s), in accordance with our Data Retention Policy and Schedule. For information on EDF’s Data Retention Policy and Schedule, please contact us at members@edf.org.

If you request that we stop sending you marketing materials we will keep a record of your contact details to enable us to comply with your request not to be contacted by us.

Legacy income is vital to the running of the charity. We may keep personal information you provide to us indefinitely to carry out legacy administration and communicate effectively with the families of people leaving us legacies. This also enables us to identify and analyse the source of legacy income we receive.

13. DATE OF THIS PRIVACY NOTICE

This policy was last updated in February 2021.