Privacy Policy

Simon Communities of Ireland is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This Statement explains when and why we collect personal information about people, how we use it, the conditions under which we disclose it to others and how we keep it secure. It outlines how you can access the information we hold about you or how you can have it updated or, if you wish, erased.

We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy in compliance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 (as amended), and GDPR.

We will change this Statement from time-to-time; please check our website to ensure that you are aware of any changes. Any questions regarding this Statement and our privacy practices should be sent to our Data Controller:

• By email: communications@simoncommunity.com
• By phone: 01 671 1606
• Or by writing to: Data Controller, Simon Communities of Ireland, St. Andrews House, 28-30 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2.

Who are we?

Simon Communities of Ireland is a registered charity (Charity Number CHY 8273); (Registered Charity Number CHY 8273), (Company Registration Number 74038) with registered offices at St. Andrews House, 28-30 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2.

How do we collect information about you?

We obtain information about you for example, when you apply for employment, when you make a donation via our website or as a result of a mailing or in person.

What type of information do we collect about you and how is it stored?

The personal information we collect might include your name, address, email address, phone number, IP address, and information regarding when and what web pages you accessed. If you make a once-off or recurring donation using your credit / debit card your card information is not retained

by us; it is processed by Realex, who specialise in secure capture and processing of card transactions.

Bank details that you submit to us to process recurring donations are stored on our secure database, hosted by Blackbaud.

Sensitive personal information is personal information relating to your religious or ethnic origin, religious or political opinions, sexual orientation, physical or mental health, trade union membership or criminal convictions. We don’t ask for sensitive personal information about you unless you are applying for an employment with Simon. Such applications may request some sensitive personal information relating to physical and mental health, and criminal convictions for the purpose of Garda vetting.

What do we do with your information?

We will, for example:

• Process a job application.
• Process a once-off donation that you have made.
• Process a recurring donation.
• Seek your views or comments on the services activities we undertake.
• Send you communications that may be of interest to you. These will include information about campaigns, appeals, fundraising events or other fundraising activities.

We will use your data for statistical reports. These statistics will not include any information that could be used to identify you or any individual. We store and use the personal information you submit to us in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 (as amended) and GDPR.

How long will we keep your personal information?

We retain data for periods necessary to comply with legal obligations (e.g. tax compliance), and for the duration needed to manage relationships with existing and former supporters, volunteers and employees.

Who has access to your information?

We do not sell or rent your information to any third-party organisation for marketing, fundraising or campaigning purposes.

We have some third-party service providers working on our behalf. We only pass your information to these third-party service providers, agents and other associated organisations for the purposes of

completing tasks and providing services on our behalf. We actively screen these companies to maximise the protection of your privacy and security. When we use third-party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes. They are only permitted to use the data in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 (as amended) and GDPR. However, please be reassured that we will not release your information to third parties unless you request for us to release your information to a third party (eg. for an employment reference). There are some occasions where we are required by law to release information on individuals for example by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime. With your express agreement we will share your information with your local Simon Community for use for their direct marketing work. When you submit information using our secure online once-off donation pages, or when you sign up for a recurring donation using your credit / debit card, your donation is processed by third-party payment processors Realex, who specialise in the secure capture and processing of credit / debit card transactions. When you submit information using our secure online recurring donation pages on our website, we process your donation using the bank details you submit.

What choices do you have?

If you are a donor or a subscriber any of our mailing lists we are required to obtain your consent to the processing of your data. By this we mean that we have a responsibility to ensure that:

• You give us your consent freely, without us putting you under any type of pressure.
• You know exactly what you are consenting to (we need to give you enough information).
• You decide which processing activities you consent to and which you don’t.
• We enable you to give positive and affirmative consent e.g. by providing a tick box for you to check so that your consent is clear and unambiguous.
• We will keep records of the consents that you have given in this way.

If you are not happy about our approach to obtaining or processing your personal data as described above, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us. You can change your preferences at any time by contacting us by email: communications@simoncommunity.com or by telephone: 01 671 1606.

Donors

We collect personal data from donors as follows:

• Via online payment processors to receive one-off or regular donations (as decided by you).
• Personal contact (donations).
• Posted donations.

In these case, we collect: first name, surname, contact phone number, email/postal address (in accordance with your preferences) and payment method. If you wish to become a regular donor, we then attribute an internal unique donor identity number to you.

Later, where you express interest in receiving ongoing communications from us, we may contact you as follows:

• with information about other opportunities to support Simon Communities of Ireland,
• with information on services your donation goes to support.
• we do not transfer or store your data internationally.

If we have not had meaningful contact with you for a period of 7 years, we will delete your personal data from our systems unless we believe in good faith that the law or other regulation requires us to preserve it (for example, because of our obligations to tax authorities or in connection with any anticipated litigation). By meaningful contact, we mean, for example, direct communication between us (either verbal or written), or where you are actively engaging with our online services or fundraising events.

How can you access and update the information we hold about you?

You have the right under the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 (as amended) and GDPR to know what information we hold about you and to ask, in writing, to see your records, to amend your records or to have your records erased. In certain circumstances we will be unable to delete data entirely for statutory purposes such as tax and accounting legislation, but in such cases we will remove your data from any other processing activities.

The accuracy of your information is important to us. If you change email address, or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please email communications@simoncommunity.com

Or you can write to Data Controller, Simon Communities of Ireland, St. Andrews House, 28-30 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2. Alternatively, you can telephone: 01 671 1606.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information Simon Communities of Ireland holds about you. We will comply with your request within 30 calendar days of receipt. To receive a copy of the information Simon Communities of Ireland holds about you, please email communications@simoncommunity.com or you can write to Data Controller, Simon Communities of Ireland, St. Andrews House, 28-30 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2.

You also have the right to have the information Simon Communities of Ireland holds about you erased. We will comply with your request within 30 calendar days of receipt, in accordance with legislation. If you wish to have the information Simon Communities of Ireland holds about you erased, please contact our Data Controller using the contact details above.

How do we store and transfer your data securely?

The Simon Communities of Ireland is a national organization in Ireland – we do not transfer or store your data internationally. Once we have received your personal data, we will process it and store in our database but if you have chosen your donation to be transferred to local community we will share your data with the Community of choice (as per Data Sharing Agreement). The local Simon Community may further process your data as per your consent and their Privacy Policy. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features with the intention of preventing unauthorised access to, or unlawful processing or disclosure of, such data.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is never completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted via our site; any transmission is ultimately at your own risk. We are committed to taking all reasonable and appropriate steps to protect the personal information that we hold from misuse, loss, or unauthorised access. We do this by having in place a range of appropriate technical and organisational measures. These include measures to deal with any suspected data breach.

If you suspect any misuse or loss of or unauthorised access to your personal information please let us know immediately.

Do we engage in profiling?

We will analyse your personal information to create a profile of your interests and preferences so that we can contact you with information relevant to you. We will make use of additional information about you when it is available from external sources to help us do this effectively.

Where we engage the services of third parties, such services are covered by an appropriate contract, and any data acquired in the course of such services is processed in compliance with the GDPR.
The Simon Communities of Ireland does not carry out automatic decision-making.

Transferring your information outside Europe

On occasion, the information which you provide to us will be transferred to countries outside the European Union (EU). By way of example, this can happen if any of our servers are located in a country outside of the EU. These countries may not have similar data protection laws to the Republic of Ireland. By submitting your personal data, you are agreeing to this transfer, storing or processing. If we transfer your information outside of the EU in this way, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Statement.

How do we use information we gather for applications for employment opportunities at Simon Communities of Ireland?

When you apply for an employment opportunity with us, we will collate your personal data to monitor the progression of your application and monitor the effectiveness of the recruitment process through the statistics collected. Where we need to share your data – such as gathering references, Garda vetting and / or police clearance, you will be informed beforehand, unless the disclosure is required by law. These checks are only completed after a position has been offered to the successful candidate.

Personal data about unsuccessful applicants are held for 12 months after the recruitment exercise is complete for that particular vacancy. Applicants can ask us to remove their data before this time if they do not want us to hold it.

Once a successful applicant has taken up an employment position with us, we will compile a file relating to their tenure of employment. The information contained in this will be kept secure and will only be used for purposes directly relevant to the position. Once you have left the organisation, we will retain the file in accordance with the requirements of the law and our retention schedule and then delete it from our files.

Do we use ‘Cookies’?

Like many other websites, this Simon Communities of Ireland website uses ‘Cookies’, which are small pieces of information many websites send to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow those websites to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns. For example, they may store details that you submit on the site, such as your personal settings, your location, etc. Using cookies does not allow us to identify users personally; we will only store information that you have specifically given us permission for.

Our website uses a small number of cookies to give us a better overall picture of how people interact with our website, and how we can improve our services to you. The information we gather through this process is completely anonymous, and visitors to the site cannot be identified. All browsers allow you to manage which cookies you accept, reject and delete. You can usually find these controls under the ‘Preferences’ or ‘Tools’ menu. You can find more detail about individual browser settings at http://www.aboutcookies.org. If you choose not to accept cookies from our website, some sections may not work properly.

Does this privacy statement cover links to or from other sites?

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy statement applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on other websites you may visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.

If you linked to our website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third-party site and recommend that you check the privacy statement of that third-party site.

What if I am 16 years of age or under?

We are concerned to protect the privacy of children aged 16 years or under. If you are aged 16 years or under‚ please get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information.

Review/Update of this Privacy Statement.

We keep this Privacy Statement under regular review. This Statement was last updated in June 2018.