IFES Privacy Policy

IFES values each of our students, supporters and staff. We are committed to good stewardship of your information and to protecting your privacy. We are committed to working in a transparent, ethical, responsible and honest way. 

This policy outlines what kind of information we gather, how we use it, how we keep it safe and how this affects you. 

We would welcome any feedback on any of our activities or any questions you have.  

If you are in the USA: 
Write to: IFES/USA, PO Box 436, Platteville WI 53818, USA 
Call: +1 608 348 6234 
Email: donor.services@ifesworld.org 

For all other countries: 
Write to: IFES, 5 Blue Boar Street, Oxford, OX1 4EE, United Kingdom 
Call: +44 (0)1865 263777 
Email: info@ifesworld.org  

It’s important that you read the full policy to understand what information we hold, how we may use it, and what your rights are – but if you don’t have time to read it all now, here’s a quick summary: 

These are the key points of the privacy policy. You will find the policy in full below, so you’ve got all the details you need. 

This policy applies to all the websites we operate, our use of emails and postal mailings for marketing purposes, and any other methods we use for collecting information. It covers what we collect and why, what we do with the information, what we won’t do with the information, and what rights you have. 

IFES is a movement of students sharing and living out the good news of Jesus Christ, locally, nationally and globally. Our vision is to see students built into communities of disciples, transformed by the gospel and impacting the university, the church and society for the glory of Christ. IFES supports locally-led student movements in over 160 countries. You can find more details on our history, vision and work here. 

IFES is a registered charity in England and Wales (247919), and a limited company (876229) and an organisation registered in Lausanne, Switerland (une organisation déclarée à Lausanne, Suisse). IFES/USA is a tax exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is classified as a public charity 509(a)(2). The IFES website serves all three organisations, which work together to serve students worldwide, through three International Service Centres in Malaysia, the UK and the USA and regional and global ministries staff in numerous locations. In this policy, unless otherwise stated, ‘IFES’, ‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’ refers to the three organisations working together. This policy does not apply to the websites of IFES affiliated movements, or other external sites linked from the IFES website. 

IFES holds and processes your personal data according to the UK Data Protection Act 1998 and the EU Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations and the appropriate legislation and/or industry standards in the other countries in which we work. IFES registered address is: 

International Fellowship of Evangelical Students
Blue Boar House
5 Blue Boar Street
Oxford
OX1 4EE 

We only gather the information we need: to carry out what you have specifically asked us to do, to improve our services, to enable staff to do their job, or to perform the necessary functions of IFES. We do not sell, rent or otherwise pass on personal details outside of IFES and our national movements. When you are asked to supply personal information, you will be told why it is being collected and how IFES will use it. IFES regular communications will always offer you the choice to opt out of future similar mailings/e-mailings. You can also contact us at any time to request removal from any regular mailings in any format.   

We collect data in the following ways: 

Directly from you 

We collect personal information each time you deal with us. For example, when you make a donation, request materials or information, sign up for our publications, engage with our social media, register for an event, apply for a job, provide comments, complete surveys or otherwise provide your personal details we collect the information you provide.  

From your website interaction with us 

We collect non-personal data such as IP addresses, details of pages visited and files downloaded. Website usage information is collected using cookies (see the section on cookies below). This data enables us to build a profile of how people are using the site and improve it for you and other website users. 

Indirectly from third parties 

We may receive information about you from third parties, for example: updated delivery and address information from our delivery agents so that we can correct our records and deliver your next communication more easily. Your information may be shared with us by fundraising sites and giving services like JustGiving, CAF and Stewardship. These independent third parties will only do so when you have indicated that you wish to support IFES and with your consent. We may also be given your data by an IFES national movement if you are attending an IFES event, for example. You may wish to check the privacy policy of such third party organisations when you provide your information to understand fully how they will process your data. 

Where you give your permission to other organisations 

We may collect information that you make available on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or similar organisations. You may wish to check their privacy policy to find out more information on how they will process your data. 

From publicly available data 

We may collect information from Companies House, Charity Commission and information published in articles, newspapers or blogs. 

Sensitive data 

Data Protection law recognises that certain categories of personal information are more sensitive. This is known as sensitive personal data or special categories of data and covers health information, race and ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs and political opinions amongst other things. 

We do not collect sensitive personal information about you unless there is a clear reason for doing so, such as involvement in an event where we need this information to ensure safeguarding, to carry out appropriate checks on volunteers, or care for participants or staff and volunteers, or to confirm that job applicants are in sympathy with the IFES doctrinal basis as an Occupational Requirement for the post. 

When we collect this information, we will make it clear to you what we are collecting and why and what are our legitimate interests or other legal grounds for processing this information. 

We may use the personal data we collect to: 

IFES uses Google Analytics to analyse how our visitors engage with our website. Google Analytics places cookies to track your use of this website, but does not collect any information that can identify you personally to IFES or to Google. 

We collect data using cookies. Cookies provide a way for the website to identify users’ computers (not individuals themselves) and keep track of their preferences.  

What is a cookie?  

A cookie is a small text file created by a web server that is stored on your computer. We use cookies to improve your experience of the website and to collect anonymised information that helps IFES understand how people are using our website. The use of cookies is standard on most major websites. For more information you can visit AboutCookies.org. 

Can I opt out of using cookies? 

Users have the opportunity to set their computers to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. Each browser is different, so check the ‘Help’ menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences. If you opt not to use cookies, you may be unable to access certain parts of the IFES website. For the best experience on our site, we recommend that you leave cookies switched on. If you register with us or if you continue to use our site, you agree to our use of cookies. 

Third party cookies 

There are a few external companies that IFES works with who set cookies on our website. These cookies are mainly used for reporting and advertising so we can improve the way we communicate. 

We use websites like Youtube and Vimeo to embed videos, and they may send you cookies too. We don’t control the setting of these cookies, so check those websites for more information. 

IFES also uses companies like Facebook, HotJar and Google Analytics, which may use cookies. They may also use tracking pixels, which tell us how effective our adverts are. 

You can opt out of Google’s tracking cookies any time you want. Google uses cookies to match adverts with your preferences so they’re more relevant to you. If you don’t want to see adverts from us based on that information, you can use Google’s Ad Personalisation Tool. 

All information we get through Google’s cookies is anonymous, it just helps us understand how people use our website and which pages are more popular. If you don’t want Google to include you in this information, you can install the Google Analytics Opt Out Tool. 

You can also visit the Digital Advertising Alliance website to personalise your advertising preferences. 

As some of these services may be based outside of the UK and the European Union, they might not fall under the jurisdiction of UK courts. If you’re worried about that, you can change your cookie settings (see above). Or for more information, visit https://ico.org.uk/

How long? 

We will keep your personal information only for as long as we consider it necessary to carry out each activity. 

We have a data retention policy to implement this. We take account of legal obligations and accounting and tax considerations as well as considering what would be reasonable for the activity concerned. 

Legacy income is an important source of income for our beneficiaries. We may keep data you provide indefinitely to carry out the administration of legacies and to communicate with the families of those leaving us legacies. 

If you have any questions about our data retention policy please do get in contact with us. 

IFES does everything possible to maintain high levels of data security for all the data held. We use secure software (SSL) whenever financial information is required. This is designed to encrypt information given over the internet to protect all personal data. We make every effort to ensure that information sent to us is done so securely, but transmission of data across the internet is not completely secure and you submit it at your own risk.  

IFES is a global organisation with International Services provided in Malaysia, the UK and the USA. Your information may be processed in the UK and other locations globally including in the United States where it may be subject to access requests from governments, courts, or law enforcement in the US. The data we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination within or outside the European Economic Area (EEA). It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. Such staff may be engaged in, among other things, the processing of your payment details and the provision of support services.  

Information is stored by IFES on secure servers at our offices, off-site and in the Cloud. We may also store information in paper files in locked filing cabinets. We ensure that access to personal data is restricted to authorised personnel only, who have been suitably trained, both at induction and in regular refresher sessions. Online forms are encrypted and our network is protected and routinely monitored. 

Where you or we have provided a password enabling you to access parts of our websites or use our services, it is your responsibility to keep this password confidential. Please don’t share your password with anyone. If you think anyone else has gained access to your password, please let us know as soon as possible. 

We may make limited use of external companies to collect or process personal data on our behalf. When we do so, we carry out checks on these companies, put in place contracts to make sure our requirements are clear, and carry out periodic reviews. When we do use external companies, we remain responsible for the storing and processing of your personal data. 

By submitting your personal data, you agree to the transfer, storing or processing outlined above. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to make sure your data is treated securely and according to this policy. 

IFES gathers the information required to process and acknowledge your donation(s) or payment(s). During 2018, IFES is in the process of moving from the previous payment processers (WorldPay and DonateLINQ) to a new service (Stripe) to process gifts from IFES supporters and event attendees all over the world. This transition is ongoing, but all processors are compliant with major security standards including PCI/DSS and use tools like encryption to keep your data safe. IFES gathers your details, details of your donation(s)/payment(s), Gift Aid details and information about contact preferences. Our processors collect your card details and other details required for fraud prevention, but card details are not passed to IFES when you give online. We use strict procedures in gathering information and processing donations and payments and immediate destruction of card details in our offices to protect the data of card holders sent to us on paper forms. You can read more about each processor below. 

IFES uses Stripe for payment, analytics, and other business services. Stripe collects identifying information about the devices that connect to its services. Stripe uses this information to operate and improve the services it provides to us, including for fraud detection. You can learn more about Stripe and read its privacy policy at https://stripe.com/privacy.  

IFES uses the WorldPay secure payment gateway to handle web donations made by donors outside the US. WorldPay is one of the UK’s leading providers of card checking and authorisation systems. When you proceed with a transaction processed by WorldPay you are confirming your acceptance of WorldPay’s shopper privacy policy: www.worldpay.co.uk/about/index.php?go=privacy

In the USA, IFES uses DonateLINQ (secure-q.net) to handle web donations made by donors.  Online giving with DonateLINQ gives donors a secure way to easily create one-time or recurring gifts.  DonateLINQ collects your contact details, credit/debit card details and information on the donation. Your contact details are forwarded to us with the donation information. We do not receive your credit card details.  DonateLINQ is PCI compliant and meet the strictest PCI/DSS security standards, such as SSL certificates, encryption, intrusion detection, and transaction security.  

If you believe that your card has been used fraudulently, please contact your card issuer and IFES immediately. 

If you would like to give money to IFES, but you do not want to donate through the website, please contact us. 

We rely on a variety of legal bases for processing data depending on the purpose of the activity being undertaken. 

We use a contractual obligation basis for processing data relating to recruitment, employment, subscriptions and event bookings. 

We use compliance with a legal obligation as the basis for processing any legally required activities such as Gift Aid returns to HMRC. 

We rely on legitimate interests for a variety of purposes. Legitimate interest is about balancing the interests of IFES with your rights and freedoms, and having due regard to your reasonable expectations about the use of your data. These purposes include: 

We also rely on the legitimate interests legal basis to share with you the prayer and fundraising needs of the charity and to ask for your support, given your engagement with IFES publications, events and programs, provided that we have also previously obtained any additional consents required to send this information to you in particular formats. For example, we will not send fundraising information or requests to you by email or other electronic means or via automated telephone calls where you have not opted in to these formats beforehand. You can let us know at any time if you would prefer not to receive these communications. Every email newsletter and regular postal mailing you receive provides a clear opportunity for you to opt out of/unsubscribe from future similar publications, or you can contact us. 

IFES does not sell or pass on any information about you to external organisations. However, we may share your data with IFES service providers if necessary to provide you with information or services that you have requested. 

IFES databases are shared across IFES International Services offices in the UK, USA and Malaysia. All who have access to this data are trained in data protection, work according to strict procedures to keep your data safe, and are committed to the highest standards in stewarding the personal data of our students, staff, supporters and others. 

If you make a donation to an IFES national movement or staff worker through IFES, whether through the website or using other means, your details may be passed on to that national movement or staff worker. If you do not want your information to be passed on, please tick the anonymous box on the Give webpage each time you donate online, include a note with your donations letting us know, or contact the appropriate IFES International Services office. This information is provided for the specific purpose of enabling the national movement or staff worker to acknowledge your gift(s) and to keep you up to date with their ministry. If subsequently you do not wish to receive information from the movement or staff worker you should contact them directly. 

If you are a UK tax payer and have asked us to claim Gift Aid on your donation, we will pass on limited information about that donation to HMRC in order to claim the Gift Aid. 

Any data transfers are done using secure methods and all service providers or other recipients will protect your privacy in the same way as IFES. 

We may need to pass on information if required by law or by a regulatory body. For example, a Gift Aid audit by the HMRC, or if asked for details by a law enforcement agency.  

We may provide third parties with general information about users of our site, but this information is both aggregate and anonymous. Where applicable, we use your IP address to make sure you see the right page for your location, for example to make sure that US donors can receive Tax Receipts and UK donors can Gift Aid their donations. We may also use IP address information to identify a user if we feel that there are or may be safety and/or security issues or to comply with legal requirements. 

Preferences 

You can change your preferences on what you receive from us, including marketing and fundraising materials, or how we contact you, by mail, phone or email, at any time on the IFES donor portal or by contacting us. 

Updating your details 

We do appreciate it if you keep your details up to date. You can do so in the same way as updating your preferences (above), on the IFES donor portal or by contacting us. 

We may use Post Office address search, postcode lists or other available sources to confirm data that you provide us with, where, for example, we are unsure of what you have completed on a form. 

Telling us to stop processing 

You have the right to ask us to delete your personal data, to ask us to restrict our processing or to object to our processing of your personal data. You also have the right to request details of the information we hold about you. You can do so at any time by contacting us. 

For more information about your rights under the Data Protection Act you can visit the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

This policy was last updated in May 2018. We keep this policy under regular review. If we make any significant changes in the way we treat your personal information, we will make this clear on our websites or by contacting you directly. By continuing to use our website you will be deemed to have accepted these changes.

We welcome feedback or questions on this policy or on any of our actions. Your comments enable us as an organisation to learn and continuously improve our services. You can get in touch with us here. 

If you wish to raise a data protection concern or complaint with a supervisory body, you can address a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. For more information, visit the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

We do not actively seek to collect children’s data, unless they are travelling with parents to an IFES event, or for other reasons related to their parents’ employment. If at any time we create any materials which may lead to someone aged 12 or under providing their details, we make it clear that they should make sure that they have their parent’s /guardian’s permission first, before giving us their personal information.  

When we collect information about a child or young person, we will make it clear why we are collecting this information and how it will be used. Children from 13 upwards may give their own consent in relation to any online services that we may offer.