The Association of Christian Financial Advisers (hereafter known as ACFA) appreciate that privacy is very important. ACFA has adopted this Privacy Policy as we recognise the right of people to keep their personal information private.

This Privacy Policy covers:

o   What personal information we collect

o   Where and how personal information is collected

o   Why personal information is collected

o   How we use your personal information

o   How long we may keep your information

o   How we keep your information safe

o   Sharing personal information with third parties

o   The legal basis for processing

o   Your rights under data protection legislation

o   Security

o   Cookies

o   Changes to our privacy notice

o   Our contact details

Interpretation:

Whenever “We”, “Our” or “Us” is used in this Policy it is referring to your relationship with and an obligation or right, with ACFA.

“Data Controller” is the entity that determines the purpose for which personal data is collected and processed. ACFA is a data controller.

“Data Processor” is the entity processing personal data on behalf of the Data Controller

“Personal Data” is any information about a living individual, which allows them to be identified, such as a name, email or photograph and can identify them alone or in conjunction with other information.

‘’GDPR’’ General Data Protection Regulation

Who we are:

ACFA is an Association of Christian Financial Advisers and other professionals providing advice in the financial services sector in the UK.

Email Address: support@acfauk.com

The Information We Collect

What information do we collect?

The types of personal information collected by us include:

• personal details such as your title, name and date of birth;

• personal contact details such as postal address, post code, email, mobile and telephone numbers;

• financial information such as your bank details;

• employee and volunteer data such as expenses claims;

• photographs provided by you or taken at ACFA live events;

• visits to the website to enable ACFA to improve its effectiveness and better promote its services and events.

• business details such as work email addresses, address, phone numbers and job titles.

We may collect and store sensitive personal information (special category information under GDPR) such as:

• religious information (attendance at ACFA events / activities, personal faith decisions, baptism);

• prayer requests.

When and how do we collect the information?

Personal information may be collected in any of the following ways:

• via the website;

• via social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, X (formally Twitter), YouTube);

• via email, text, letter, telephone;

• registration for one of our online or in person events;

• provision of your contact details, in writing or verbally, to our staff or volunteers;

• purchase of goods or services and when you provide credit or debit card details;

• when you make a donation to ACFA;

• participation in activities put on by ACFA;

• In face to face meetings with staff and volunteers;

• applying for a job or to volunteer.

Why do we collect the information?

We collect personal information so that we can stay in touch with you, provide you with services and to process donations or payments made by you.

How will we use the information?

The personal information we collect from you will be used in the following ways:

• to establish and maintain your involvement with ACFA, events you have attended, what activities you have supported, record and acknowledge any donation if made, to provide the products or services you have requested;

• to provide you with regular correspondence;

• to provide the products or services you have requested from ACFA;

• to answer your enquiry by post, telephone, text message and email;

• to register you for events, conferences or promotions;

• to assist us to make ACFA’s site, services and products more valuable to the community;

• to directly promote products or services and to keep you informed of new developments we believe may be of interest to you.

• to manage employees and volunteers;

• to fundraise, process payments as well as related statutory rights and obligations;

• to follow up from past events and provide invoices and request feedback of our services.

How long will you keep the information for?

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is required and in accordance with the Law and other legal requirements.

• If you have indicated that you no longer wish to hear from us, we will keep the minimum information necessary to ensure that no future contact is made.

• However, even after you modify your communication preferences, we may retain copies of information about you for a period of time that is consistent with applicable law, applicable statute of limitations or as we believe is reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law, regulation, or legal process.

Where we hold Sensitive Category Personal Information, unless we have evidence of your regular contact with us or we are required by law to retain, the sensitive information will be deleted after a period of two (2) years.    

How do we keep information safe?

The information you provide to us will be held securely on an online database accessed by or given to our staff or steering group, who may occasionally work from outside the UK, who act for us for the purposes set out in this policy or for other purposes approved by you.

We may also pass information to third parties who use it to process information, fulfil and deliver orders, process credit card payments, and provide support services on our behalf. We may also pass aggregate information on the usage of our site to third parties but this will not include information that can be used to identify you.

With whom will the information be shared? 

Generally, we will only disclose your personal information as follows:

• to third parties where we have retained or outsourced to those third parties to assist us to operate ACFA and provide the products or services you have requested, such as speakers, catering and event coordinators, promotions companies, volunteers, health care providers, website hosts and IT consultants, and our professional advisers such as consultants, lawyers and accountants. In some circumstances we may need to disclose sensitive information about you to third parties as part of the services you have requested; and

• to different parts of the ACFA to enable the development and promotion of other products and services and to improve our general ability to assist ACFA members and the wider community.

Countries outside the UK do not always have strong data protection laws. However, we will always take steps to ensure that third parties use your information in accordance with this policy.

Unless required to do so by law, we will not otherwise share, sell or distribute any of the information you provide to us without your consent.

The legal basis for processing 

We will only process your personal information where we have a legal basis to do so. The legal basis will depend on the reason/s we collected and need to use your information. Under the Law in almost all cases the legal basis will be:

• because it is in our legitimate interest as an association to use your personal information to operate and improve our service as ACFA;

• to fulfil any contractual relationship we have with you in relation to provision of products or services, such as registration at events;

• because you have consented to ACFA using your information for a particular purpose;

• because we need to use your personal information to comply with a legal obligation, such as protection and welfare of individuals;

• to protect the vital interests of you or another person, for example, in an event;

• to process sensitive / special category personal data that is relevant to the ACFA as a not-for-profit religious association;

• where you have given consent for us to contact you by email, phone or SMS, to send you information and marketing communications.

Your rights under data protection legislation

Where you have provided your consent to us processing your personal data, you may withdraw this consent at any time. In addition, the Law gives you the following rights, under certain circumstances:

• You have a right to receive clear and easy to understand information on what personal information we have, why and who we share it with (this information is contained in this policy)

• You have the right of access to your personal information. You may request in writing and securely obtain copies of the personal information we hold about you;

• You have the right to correct or update your personal information held by us;

• You can ask for your information to be deleted or removed if there is not a compelling reason for ACFA to continue to have it.

• You can ask that we block or suppress the processing of your personal information for certain reasons. This means that we are still permitted to keep your information – but only to ensure we don’t use it in the future for those reasons you have restricted.

• You can ask for a copy of your personal information for your own purposes to use across different services. 

• You have the right to request us to stop using your personal information for marketing purposes or for any other purpose where there is no legal requirement for continued processing;

• You have the right to object to profiling activities based on our legitimate interest;

Please tell us as soon as any of your contact details change so that records can be kept up to date. We will take reasonable steps to correct any of your information, which is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.

If you wish to have your personal information deleted, please contact support@acfauk.com and wherever practicable that information will be deleted.

A request to access, amend or delete your personal information may be refused in certain circumstances. If refused, you will be provided with a reason for the decision and, in the case of amendment, will note with your personal information that its accuracy is disputed.

Security

ACFA will take reasonable steps to keep secure any personal information which we hold and to keep this information accurate and up to date. Personal information is stored in a secure server or secure files. The Internet is not a secure method of transmitting information. Accordingly, ACFA cannot accept responsibility for the security of information you send to or receive from us over the Internet or for any unauthorised access or use of that information. We take security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. Your information will be held until you choose to opt out or if the law requires.

Cookies

Cookies are small amounts of information that we store on your computer. Unless you have indicated your objection when disclosing your details to us, our system will issue cookies to your computer when you log on to our websites. Cookies make it easier for you to log on to and use the sites during future visits. They also help to monitor website traffic and to personalise the content of the sites for you. You may set up your computer to reject cookies although, in that case, you may not be able to use certain features on our sites. If you do not wish to receive cookies in the future, please contact us.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

ACFA may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time by having the amended version available on our websites. We suggest that you visit our websites regularly to keep up to date with any changes. This Policy was last updated on 21.5.2024.

Contacting us

If you would like any further information, or have any queries, problems or complaints relating to ACFA’s Privacy Policy or our information handling practices in general, please contact us by emailing: support@acfauk.com.