Privacy Policy

SOLIC is committed to protecting the rights and privacy of individuals.  This Policy covers the Church’s use of any personal data that you provide to us and that we collect or hold.  Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified.  It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We take the privacy and security of your personal data very seriously and therefore you will only receive Church related information.

We collect different types of information for the following main reasons:

• for general church administration and communication
• to provide an interactive website
• to provide you with an efficient service and help us to improve the services that we provide.

We collect personal data from a variety of sources, for example:

• getting involved in the life of the church through one of our services, groups or activities
• registering on the ChurchSite database which requires a minimum of information, however, we also ask for further voluntary information in order to provide a richer, more useful address book
• visiting our website
• access social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp; YouTube, Instagram
• making a donation whether online or via the giving envelope
• registering for a church event or conference
• providing your contact details, in writing or orally, to Church staff or volunteers
• when you communicate with the Church by means of email, letter, text or telephone
• face to face meetings with staff and volunteers
• purchasing goods or services including when you provide credit or debit card details.

Here is a list of the ways we may use your personal data on the basis of legitimate interests:

• to keep you informed of areas such as church services, how to get involved, serving teams, life groups and courses
• to register for courses and events
• day to day administration of the church eg preparation of ministry rotas or to answer an enquiry
• to manage pastoral support including meetings, calls and visits
• to record attendance for Kids Korner
• to record and manage the specific areas/activities of the Church that you are involved in
• statistical analysis and gaining a better understanding of Church demographics.

We will also process your personal data on the basis of legal obligation:

• to process, record and acknowledge donations and gift aid
• maintaining financial records of giving for tax and audit purposes
• to adhere to charity and legislative requirements.

We will only use your personal data in regard to the following areas with your prior consent:

• to keep you informed of new developments, special events and to promote products and fundraising initiatives
• to keep you informed of our social action partners and initiatives.

We may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please email or write to us at the address below if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data.

Our website may contain links to websites owned by other organisations.  If you follow a link to another website, these websites will have their own privacy policy.  We suggest that you check the policies of any other websites before giving them your personal information as we cannot accept responsibility for any other website.

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers or on secure servers operated by a third party eg Godaddy, ChurchSuite, MailChimp, Planning Centre, JotForm.

Our database is accessed through the cloud and therefore, can be accessed through any computer or smart device with internet access. The server for the database is in the UK and hosted by Godaddy.  Access to the database is strictly controlled through the use of name specific passwords, which are selected by the individual.  Those authorised to use the database only have access to their specific area of use within it.  This is controlled by the Data Controller and other specified Administrators and these are the only people who can access and set these security parameters.  People who will have secure and authorised access to the database include SOLIC Staff.

Personal information will not be passed onto any third parties outside of the church environment.  We do not sell or pass any of your personal information to any other organisations and/or individuals without your express consent, with the following exception:

• by providing us with your details you are giving the Church your express permission to transfer your data to service providers including mailing houses, such as MailChimp, to enable fulfilment of the purpose for collection. 

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.  Where information is no longer required we will ensure that it is disposed of securely. 

You can ask us at any time to change, amend or delete the information that we hold about you or ask us not to contact you with any further information.  You can also ask us to restrict the information that we process about you.

You can use the checkboxes on the forms we use to collect your information or you can also request that we change, amend, delete your information or restrict our processing by emailing us at church@solic.org writing to us at the address at the end of this Privacy Policy.

You have the right to access information that we hold about you. If you wish to receive a copy of the information that we hold about you please write to the Data Protection Officer at the address at the end of this Privacy Policy. 

SOLIC aims to comply with requests for access to personal information as quickly as possible, but will ensure that it is provided within 30 days of receipt of a completed form unless there is good reason for delay. In such cases, the reason for delay will be explained in writing to the individual making the request.

You have the right to request that your personal data is transferred by us to another organisation (this is called “data portability”). Please write to us at the above address with the details of what you would like us to do and we will try our best to comply with your request. It may not be technically feasible, but we will work with you to try and find a solution. 

If you are unhappy with how your request has been handled or with any other concerns about your personal information you can contact the Information Commissioners Office helpline on 0303 123 1113 or lodge a complaint at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ 

We review our Privacy Policy on a frequent basis to check that it accurately reflects how we deal with your information and may amend it if necessary. You should check this page regularly to see the most up to date information.

Please address all correspondence to:
SOLIC
Boundary Road

NG9 2RF
or emailing: church@solic.org

As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect technical data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. This does not store, save or collect personal data. You may set up your computer to reject cookies although, in that case, you may not be able to use certain features on our site.