Policies

The Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust is a membership organisation governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association. More than 15,000 members currently support the Trust’s work.

The Trust is managed by a Council of Trustees, elected from its members, who provide the overall direction for the development of the Trust. The day-to-day work of the Trust is delivered by a team of 30 staff assisted by more than 600 active volunteers.

Our Mission
To protect and enhance the wildlife and wild places of Leicestershire and Rutland and to engage people with nature.

Our Vision
A Living Landscape rich in wildlife, valued and enjoyed by all.

Our work
The Trust works to safeguard wildlife by:

Protecting precious places
As at April 2018, we care for 35 nature reserves covering 1,234 hectares (3,048 acres), spread across Leicestershire and Rutland. From woodland to meadows, wetland to heaths, these reserves contain a rich variety of animal and plant species, many rare.

Encouraging people to enjoy nature
We offer everyone the chance to experience some of Leicestershire and Rutland’s fantastic wildlife. Activities and events are organised throughout the year, everything from badger watches to the Birdfair.

Inspiring and educating
We invest in the future by helping people of all ages to gain a greater appreciation and understanding of nature. Children can take part too – our junior club Wildlife Watch is for young people who want to find out more about wildlife, make friends and have fun.

Research and survey
We monitor, study and survey the wildlife of our counties to identify special places and important species, to inform management and promote nature conservation; and to protect local biodiversity.

Speaking out
We campaign for wildlife, protecting threatened habitats like wildflower meadows and rare species such as ospreys, otters, bats and water voles.

We are committed to keeping the personal details of our members and supporters safe. This policy explains how and why we use your personal data, to ensure that you remain informed and in control of your information.

Any references to Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, the Trust, or to ‘we’ or ‘us’ refer to:

• Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. We are a registered charity in England and Wales, and our registered charity number is 210531.
• Leicestershire Wildlife (Sales) Limited, our charitable trading company; (registered company number 2347573). The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, which trades to undertake wildlife consultancy work and raise funds for our charitable organisation.

We use three key definitions to describe people mentioned in this policy. These are definitions used by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights (www.ico.org.uk)

• ‘Data subject’: this is you, one of our loyal members and supporters. As the data subject, we respect your right to control your data.
• ‘Data controller’: this is us, the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. With your permission, we determine why and how your personal data is used (as outlined in this policy).
• ‘Data processor’: this is a person, or organisation, who processes your data on our behalf, with your permission. For example, this might be a mailing house who sends your membership magazine to you, on our behalf (due to the size of our organisation, it’s more cost-effective to outsource ad-hoc and large-scale tasks like this).

When we work with other organisations or individuals in this way, we always set up a written contract with them to protect your data. The third parties we work with at no point ‘own’ your data, so you will never hear from them independently and they will always delete your data from their systems when they have completed the task in hand. We always send your data to partner organisations securely, to minimise the risk of it being intercepted by unknown individuals and/or organisations. 

We will never sell your personal data.

Should you wish to find out more about the information we hold about you, or about our privacy policy, please contact us:

Mat Carter
Chief Executive Officer  
Telephone: 0116 262 9968
Email: info@lrwt.org.uk
The Old Mill, 9 Soar Lane, Leicester LE3 5DE

Our office hours are Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm and we are closed on all bank holidays.

We use your personal data to keep in touch with you.

We will only ever collect, store and use your personal data when we have an identified purpose and reason to do so. The ICO refers to this as a ‘lawful basis’. Further information about why we collect your personal data is outlined below.

a) To administer your Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust membership
We collect your personal data to administer your membership, which may involve:

• Sending you your membership welcome pack when you first join us
• Processing your Direct Debit subscription payments, if you have set this donation process up with us
• Sending you your membership renewal letter
• Getting in touch should there ever be any issues processing your subscription payment

The ICO define the lawful basis for processing your data for these purposes as ‘contractual’.

b) To send you items purchased from our online shop, including event bookings
We collect your personal data to send you:

• items you have purchased from our online shop
• information about events you have booked onto

The ICO define the lawful basis for processing your data for these purposes as ‘contractual’.

c) To send you information about our work and ask for your opinion
We also collect your personal data so that we can send you information about our work that we feel will be of interest to you. This includes your membership magazine, fundraising appeals, events, campaigning opportunities, products, feedback, competitions and other activities, as well as information about other carefully selected organisations that we work in partnership with (such as Vine House Farm’s bird seed catalogue). From time to time, we may also use your personal data to ask for your opinion about our work.

This information is in addition to that outlined in sections a) and b) and is defined as ‘direct marketing’ by the ICO.

i)  Joint and family membership
If you are a ‘joint’ or a ‘family’ member of our Wildlife Trust, we will address communications to all those listed on your membership. If you wish to update this at any point, please let our membership team know.

ii)  Gift membership
If your Wildlife Trust membership was purchased as a gift, we will use the address provided by the purchaser to send you information about our work in the post. This will include a ‘renewal letter’, which we will send you when your membership is due to expire (if the purchaser has not renewed your subscription), to see if you would like to continue supporting our charity. 

iii)  When your membership has ended
Unless we hear from you directly, we will continue to send you information about our work for up to 6 months after your membership has ended. This is just in case your support was cancelled accidentally, by for example changing your bank account details, and you wish to update your details with us.

Your personal data also helps us to get to know you better and to develop a ‘profile’ of you on our secure supporter database. This ‘profile’ enables us to send you the information listed above in a timely and relevant way, to suit you. For example, keeping track of the donations you make to our organisation helps us to send you information about fundraising appeals that we feel you would like to hear about. Likewise, keeping a record of your wildlife interests that you may tell us about in one of our Membership Surveys, helps us to send you relevant project updates.

As defined by the ICO, we use two different lawful bases for processing your data for ‘direct marketing’ purposes:

i)  Legitimate interest
This is where we have identified a genuine and legitimate reason for contacting you, which crucially does not override your rights or interests

We use legitimate interest to send you the information listed above by post or telephone (if you are notregistered with the Telephone Preference Service, and you have given us your telephone number).

ii) Opt-in consent
This is where you have given us express permission to contact you by particular communication channels.

We use opt-in consent to send you the information listed above by email, text message (SMS) or telephone (if you are registered with the Telephone Preference Service)

We respect your right to update the way we get in touch with you about our work at any time.

d) To enable you to volunteer with us
If you are a Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust volunteer, we collect your personal data so that we can keep in touch with you about, for example:

• changes to planned volunteer work programmes that you may be taking part in
• the positive impact you have on our work, by sending you our volunteer newsletter
• dedicated volunteer thank-you events

As defined by the ICO, the lawful basis for processing your data for these purposes is ‘contractual’ (where administering your volunteer record) and ‘legitimate interest’ (when sending you information about our work).

a) Basic information
We will usually collect basic information about you, including your name, postal address, telephone number, email address and your bank details if you are supporting us financially. 

Most of the time, we collect this data from you directly. Sometimes this is in person; other times, it is over the telephone, in writing or through an email. Occasionally we obtain information, such as your telephone number or other contact details, from external sources (only where you have given permission for such information to be shared).

b) Getting to know you better
We also collect information about you that helps us to get to know you better. This may include:

• information about your wildlife interests, which you tell us through our Membership Surveys
• records of donations you’ve made towards fundraising appeals
• your preferences of how you would like us to contact you
• ways you’ve helped us through volunteering your time
• records of events you’ve attended, or campaigns or activities that you’ve been involved in

Sometimes we will collect other information about you such as your date of birth and gender. When we do so, we will be very clear as to why we are collecting such information, and we will only do so with your specific consent and permission.

Other ways in which we collect personal data to get to know you better include:

i)  Our website
Our websites use ‘cookies’ to help provide you with the best experience we can. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile phone when you browse websites.

 Our cookies help us:

• Make our website work as you'd expect
• Remember your settings during and between visits
• Improve the speed/security of the site
• Allow you to share pages with social networks like Facebook
• Continuously improve our website for you

c)  Sensitive personal data
We do not normally collect or store sensitive personal data (such as information relating to health, beliefs or political affiliation) about supporters and members. However, there are some situations where this will occur.

When we do so, we will be very clear as to why we are collecting such information, and we will only do so with your specific consent and permission. In these situations, we collect the data from you directly.

If you are a volunteer then we may collect extra information about you, for example:

• references
• criminal records checks
• details of emergency contacts
• medical conditions

We may also collect sensitive personal data if you have an accident on one of our reserves. This information will be retained for legal reasons, for safeguarding purposes and to protect us (including in the event of an insurance or legal claim).

d) Children and young people
In line with data protection law, we will not collect, store or process your personal details if you are under 13 years of age; unless we have the express permission from your parent, responsible family member or guardian to do so.

If we have the permission of your parent, responsible family member or guardian, and you are a Wildlife Watch member, we will capture your date of birth at the point of joining. This is so that we can send you information that we feel is suitable to your age.  

For further information, please see our Child and Vulnerable Person Safety and Welfare policy.

a) Security
All of the personal data we process is processed by our staff in the UK. However, for the purposes of IT hosting and maintenance your information may be situated outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). This will be done in accordance with guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

Electronic data and databases are stored on secure computer systems and we control who has access to information (using both physical and electronic means). Our staff receive data protection training and we have data protection procedures which personnel are required to follow when handling personal data.

b) Payment security
All Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust electronic forms that request financial data will use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to encrypt the data between your browser and our servers.

If you use a credit card to donate, purchase a membership or purchase something online we will pass your credit card details securely to our payment provider (Global Payments). Other payment methods (e.g. PayPal) are handled in a similar manner.

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust complies with the payment card industry data security standard (PCI-DSS) published by the PCI Security Standards Council, and will never store card details.

Of course, we cannot guarantee the security of your home computer or the internet, and any online communications (e.g. information provided by email or our website) are at the user’s own risk.

c) CCTV
Some of our premises have CCTV and you may be recorded when you visit them. CCTV is there to help provide security and to protect both you and Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. CCTV will only be viewed when necessary (e.g. to detect or prevent crime) and footage is only stored temporarily. Unless it is flagged for review CCTV will be recorded over.

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust complies with the Information Commissioner’s Office CCTV Code of Practice, and we put up notices, so you know when CCTV is in use.

d) Data retention policy
We will only use and store information for as long as it is required for the purposes it was collected for. We continually review what information we hold, and delete what is no longer required.

We respect your right to control your data. Your rights include:

a)  The right to be informed
This privacy notice outlines how we capture, store and use your data. If you have any questions about any elements of this policy, please contact us.

b)  The right of access
If you wish to obtain a record of the personal data we hold about you, through a Subject Access Request, we will respond within one month.

c)  The right to rectification
If we have captured information about you that is inaccurate or incomplete, we will update it.

d)  The right to erase
You can ask us to remove your personal details from our records.

e)  The right to restrict processing
You can ask us to stop using your personal data.

f)  The right to data portability
You can ask to obtain your personal data from us for your own purposes.

g)  The right to object
You can ask to be excluded from marketing activity.

h)  Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
We respect your right not to be subject to a decision that is based on automated processing. 

For more information on your individual rights, please see the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust aim to meet your expectations in all we do. If you believe that we have not me our own high standards then we want to hear about it, in order to deal with the situation as quickly as possible and put measures in place to stop it happening again.

We take complaints very seriously and we treat them as an opportunity to develop our approach. This is why we are always very grateful to hear from people who are willing to take the time to help us improve.

Our policy is:

• To provide a fair complaints procedure that is clear and easy to use for anyone wishing to make a complaint.
• To publicise the existence of our complaints procedure so that people know how to contact us to make a complaint.
• To make sure everyone in our organisation knows what to do if a complaint is received.
• To make sure all complaints are investigated fairly and in a timely way.
• To make sure that complaints are, wherever possible, resolved and that relationships are repaired.
• To learn from complaints and feedback to help us to improve what we do.

Confidentiality
All complaint information will be handled sensitively, in line with relevant data protection requirements.

Responsibility
Overall responsibility for the complaints policy and its implementation lies with Mat Carter, CEO.

For further information on how to make a complaint, please click here.

Information Commissioner’s Office
For further assistance with complaints regarding your data, please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, whose remit covers the UK.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Email: casework@ico.org.uk

Our website uses cookies, as almost all websites do, to help provide you with the best experience we can. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile phone when you browse websites.

Our cookies help us:

• Make our website work as you'd expect
• Remember your settings during and between visits
• Improve the speed/security of the site
• Allow you to share pages with social networks like Facebook
• Continuously improve our website for you

We do NOT use cookies to:

• Collect any personally identifiable information (without your express permission)
• Collect any sensitive information (without your express permission)
• Pass personally identifiable data to third parties
• Pay sales commissions

You can learn more about all the cookies we use below.

Cookie provider: The Wildlife Trusts

Purpose: Used by the website to remember cookie preferences.

Cookies: cookie-agreed, MCPopupClosed

Cookie provider: Facebook

Purpose: Used by Facebook for sharing content, conversion tracking, optimisation, creating audiences for Facebook Ads and marketing.

Cookies: _fbp, fr

Provider policy: Facebook

Cookie provider: Google

Purpose: Used to understand website usage including how users found and explored our site and how their experience can be enhanced. Google also provides campaign tracking, advertising and website functionality services.

Cookies: IDE, _ga, _gat, _gat_UA-xxxxxxx-xx, _gid

Provider policy: Google

Cookie provider: Stripe

Purpose: Used for making card transactions on the website. Provided by Stripe.com which allows online transactions without storing any credit card information.

Cookies: __stripe_mid, __stripe_sid

Provider policy: Stripe

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any other websites linked to our website. If you have followed a link from this website to another website you may be supplying information to a third party.

Should you wish to find out more about the information we hold about you, or about our privacy policy, please contact us:

Telephone: 0116 262 9968
Email: info@lrwt.org.uk
The Old Mill, 9 Soar Lane, Leicester LE3 5DE
Our office hours are Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm and we are closed on all bank holidays.

We update this policy periodically.
Last updated:  March  2018

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust sets itself high standards in its operations, and we work hard to meet those standards. We therefore take complaints very seriously. A formal complaint about something done by the Trust, or by its staff or volunteers, will be dealt with under the Trust's complaints policy.

Our policy is to:

• provide a fair complaints procedure that is clear and easy to use for anyone wishing to make a complaint.
• publicise the existence of our complaints procedure so that people know how to contact us to make a complaint.
• make sure everyone in our organisation knows what to do if a complaint is received.
• make sure all complaints are investigated fairly and in a timely way.
• make sure that complaints are, wherever possible, resolved and that relationships are repaired.
• learn from complaints and feedback to help us to improve what we do

Confidentiality
All complaint information will be handled sensitively, in line with relevant data protection requirements.

Responsibility
Overall responsibility for this policy and its implementation lies with the Trust CEO.

How to make a formal complaint
Formal complaints should be in writing and sent to:
Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust
The Old Mill
9 Soar Lane
Leicester
LE3 5DE

All formal complaints will be investigated and responded to within four weeks of receipt. If you wish to make a complaint via email or on the phone, please contact the office on 0116 262 9968 or info@lrwt.org.uk in the first instance.

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and is committed to the highest standards in fundraising practice. In accordance with the Fundraising Regulator’s Complaints Policy, a complaint must be made to Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust within 12 weeks of the fundraising incident or communication of which the complaint is made.

If after four weeks following the complaint, the matter has not been addressed or you do not feel that your concerns have been resolved satisfactorily by Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, you can refer your complaint to the Fundraising Regulator. Concerns should be raised with the Fundraising Regulator within eight weeks following the complaint.

Fundraising Regulator

2nd Floor, CAN Mezzanine

49-51 East Road

London, N1 6AH

0300 999 3407 

www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk 

enquiries@fundraisingregulator.org.uk

Further assistance with regards to your complaint about fundraising can be sought from Charity Commission:

PO Box 1227 Liverpool
L69 3UG

0845 3000218
www.charity-commission.gov

For further assistance with complaints regarding information rights practices (data protection), advice can be sought from the Information Commissioner’s Office, whose remit covers the UK.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF

0303 123 1113
casework@ico.org.uk

We currently send:

• a membership magazine three times a year which may contain an appeal or ask for donations
• a regular emailed newsletter (to those who have signed up for it) which may also contain details of current appeals
• periodic appeals by separate mailing

A typical member may be contacted once every 3-5 years and asked to upgrade their subscription.

We value our members and the relationship we have with them. New members receive a ‘welcome call’ during their first few months of membership to ensure they are happy. As we value this relationship so highly we do not sell or exchange membership / supporter data to third parties.

We Are Committed to the Highest Standards

• We do all we can to ensure that fundraisers, volunteers and fundraising contractors working with us to raise funds comply with the Fundraising Regulator Code of Fundraising Practice and all relevant legislation

 We Are Honest and Open

• We tell the truth and do not exaggerate
• We answer all reasonable questions about our fundraising activities and costs. Please contact us, visit our website or see our Annual Report if you require further details 

 We Are Clear

• We are clear about who we are, what we do and how your donation is used
• Where we have a promotional agreement with a commercial company, we make clear how much of the purchase price we receive
• We give a clear explanation of how you can make a donation and amend a regular commitment

 We Are Respectful

• We respect the rights, dignities and privacy of our supporters
• We will not put undue pressure on you to make a donation and if you do not want to give or wish to cease giving, we will respect your decision
• If you tell us that you don’t want us to contact you in a particular way we will not do so

 We Are Fair and Reasonable

• We take care not to use any images or words that may cause unjustifiable distress or offence
• We take care not to cause unreasonable nuisance or disruption

 We Are Accountable

• If you are unhappy with anything we’ve done whilst fundraising, you can contact us to make a complaint
• We have a complaints procedure, a copy of which is available on request. If we cannot resolve your complaint, we accept the authority of the Fundraising Regulator to make a final adjudication