Privacy policy

Your privacy on the internet is of utmost importance to the Royal Free Charity. This privacy statement describes Royal Free Charity's policy concerning the gathering and sharing of visitors' information through the Royal Free Charity web site. It applies to all "Royal Free Charity sites" - that is, all sites within the "www.royalfreecharity.org" domain name.

What information does the Royal Free Charity collect?

Normal web site usage

In general, you can browse the Royal Free Charity site without telling us Royal Free Charity you are or revealing any personal information about yourself. The only information we gather during general browsing is from standard server logs. These include your IP (Internet Protocol) address, domain name, browser type, operating system, and information such as the web site that referred you to us, the files you download, the pages you visit, and the dates/times of those visits.

Collection of personally identifiable information

In some parts of the Royal Free Charity website you such as the grant application form, you will be asked to provide personal information such as your name, postal address and email address. This information is collected only with your knowledge and permission, and is kept in various Royal Free Charity databases and mailing lists. If you are donating or purchasing something using the web, you may be asked to provide your credit card details. These details are transferred to a secure, online payment service, hosted outside of the Royal Free Charity. Credit card information is not retained by the Royal Free Charity.

In some parts of the Royal Free Charity website, registering or supplying personal information sets a cookie*. By setting this cookie, the Royal Free Charity will remember your details the next time you visit, so you don't have to re-enter the information. This helps us to provide you with a better service.

Our use of cookies - Google Analytics sets cookies to help us accurately estimate the number of visitors to the website and volumes of usage. This is to ensure that the website is available when you want it and to help us understand what you want to use.

For further details on the cookies set by Google Analytics, please refer to the Google Analytics website.

What does the Royal Free Charity do with the information it collects?

Normal web site usage

The information gathered during general browsing of the "www.royalfreecharity.org" domain is used to analyse trends and usage of the Royal Free Charity site and to improve the usefulness of the site. It is not connected with any personal information.

Personally identifiable information

• Contact you - either in response to a query or suggestion, or to mail newsletters, documents, publications etc. to you;
• Confirm your purchases and registrations on the site;
• Obtain payment for purchases through the site (via credit card);
• "Remember" your online profile and preferences;
• Help you quickly find information that is relevant to you based on your interests, and help us create site content most relevant to you;
• Statistical analysis.

What if I don't want to provide personal information?

Providing personal information on the Royal Free Charity site is optional. If you choose not to provide personal information, you can still browse and use the Royal Free Charity site, but you will not be able to carry out certain actions such as apply for a grant.

Opting out and changing your information

At any time, you can cancel or modify your information by contacting us via rfh.fundraising@nhs.net.

Security

We do not sell or share any personally identifiable information volunteered on the Royal Free Charity site to any third party. Any information provided to the Royal Free Charity by users of the Royal Free Charity site is held with the utmost care and security, and will not be used in ways other than as set forth in this privacy policy, or in any site-specific policies, or in ways to which you have explicitly consented. Royal Free Charity employs a range of technologies and security measures to protect the information maintained on our systems from loss, misuse, unauthorised access or disclosure, alteration, or destruction.

All employees of the Royal Free Charity that have access to, and are associated with the processing of personal data, are obliged to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and we shall endeavour to ensure that the personal information we obtain and use will always be held, used, transferred and otherwise processed in accordance with that Act and all other applicable data protection laws and regulations.

The Royal Free Charity site contains links to sites external to the www.royalfreecharity.org domain. Royal Free Charity is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such sites.

Notification of changes

Changes to this privacy policy will be posted on the Royal Free Charity website.

Contact

For questions or queries regarding this privacy policy, please contact us at rfh.fundraising@nhs.net.

*Cookies

A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent from a web server to your browser. It is normally used to assign a unique identification to your computer and securely store information such as user IDs, passwords, preferences, and online profiles. It is stored on the hard drive of your computer. You can choose not to have cookies delivered by the Royal Free Charity sites by changing your browser settings. Different web sites can send their own cookies to your computer. To protect your privacy, your browser only allows a web site to access the cookies it has already sent you, not the cookies sent by other sites.