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Dreams Come True is committed to protecting your information and using it responsibly, we understand that we rely on the generosity and support of people like you. We value transparency and want you to be clear about why we ask you for personal information when you support us, volunteer with us or refer children and young people to us and want to be honest about how we will use it.

Knowing more about you and why you support us helps us to make decisions that are right for our supporters, right for the children & young people and families that we work with and help us communicate more effectively. Ultimately, it helps us to achieve our goal of providing a dream for every eligible child or young person.

This policy tells you how we collect, use, and store your information. The processing of your information is carried out by or on behalf of Dreams Come True and is a registered charity in England

& Wales (800248) and Scotland (SC043878). Dreams Come True Charity is a registered company (02301610).

Contacting us:

If you have any questions about this privacy policy and how we use your information you can contact us in writing to:

Dreams Come True

Exchange House

33 Station Road

Liphook

Hampshire

GU30 7DW

Alternatively, by emailing us at [email protected]

1. Why we use your information

We will only use your information where we have a legal basis and will always respect your rights. Where we use your information, it may be because you have consented to us doing so or because we consider we have a legitimate interest to do so.

Where we do rely on a legitimate interest to use your information, we will always ensure that this is

done in a way that is not intrusive or does not cause distress.

We may also use your information because we have a legal obligation to do so or because we need

to fulfil a contractual obligation.

Some examples of what we mean by this include:

• We have a legal obligation to use your information, for example to claim Gift Aid.

• We are using your information in pursuit of a legitimate interest, for example writing to you to tell you about our dreams and ask for your support in helping us provide dreams.

● We are using your information to instigate a dream for the child or young person you have referred to us, we will use your contact details to provide updates on how the dream is progressing or to discuss any issues that arise with the dream, child or family.

• You have given us your consent to use the information for a specified purpose, such as

sending you marketing emails or newsletters

• We need to use your information to fulfil a contract with you – such as providing an auction

prize.

Other reasons include:

• To ensure we meet our regulatory requirements as a charity

• To pursue our charitable purpose to deliver our mission and vision

• To manage our financial transactions and prevent fraud

• To raise vital funds for our work

• To manage our ongoing relationship with our supporters, referrers, and anyone we work with

●      To fulfil any safeguarding obligations that may arise

2. How we use your information

2.1 To respond to any requests, complaints or queries you make to us

If you contact us directly, we will use the information you give to us to handle your enquiry or request. This may include responding to your query/feedback or sending you relevant information on dreams or fundraising materials. We may also keep a record of conversations we have with you, feedback you

provide and any marketing materials we send out to you. This can help us to handle queries more

efficiently.

2.2 To process any donations you make, claim any relevant Gift Aid and maintain a record of your

past or potential future financial contributions. This includes keeping a record of any pledges, gift agreements or any other indications that you are planning to donate to Dreams Come True. We keep a record of any donation, financial or gifts in kinds we receive for audit purposes, and as we are legally required to keep information related to Gift Aid. We may need to use your information to prevent fraud. We may also use your information to administer any lotteries or auctions you participate in, for example, contacting you to let you know you have won a prize.

2.3 To provide you with information and support for any events, fundraising and campaigning

activities or volunteering opportunities you sign up to registering or enquiring about an event,

activity or campaign If you have completed a form to register or enquire about an event or activity, or to sign up to one of our campaigns plus given us consent to contact you, we will consider this as a request to send you details about the event, activity, or campaign.

Volunteering with us

When you take part in one of our volunteering roles or sign up to support one of our sponsorship or

regular giving programmes, we will use your details to contact you in relation to your role or activity

and to provide you with information on the progress of that project.

Supporting you in your charitable role

Where you provide contact details, we will provide information and support by post, phone, mobile

messaging, email, via social media, and any other channels for which you have given consent. When

you have asked for details of an event, we will send you information including, where relevant, ideas

for fundraising and reminders on key information about the activity. You can change your contact

preferences at any time by getting in touch with us at [email protected].

Where appropriate, we will use the information you provide to identify any help we can offer,

specific to the activity you have signed up for and to provide necessary information to event

organisers. Where this includes information about sensitive topics such as your health, we will only

use this information if you have given us explicit consent to do so.

We may also receive information through event organisers or through third party websites (for

example JustGiving or Virgin Money Giving) so we know you are fundraising for us.

When you are a Referrer

When you refer a child or young person for a dream your details are stored on our CRM system in relation to that child or young person. We will use your details to contact you in relation to that child or dream.

In the event of a safeguarding issue with the child or family we may contact you directly with or without the families’ consent if it is in the interest and safety of the child or young person.

When you agree to be a member of our referrer network, we will keep your contact details on a data base separate to the child’s records that you have referred. If you have not referred a child but have agreed to be part of the network, you details will be kept on the database. We will use your contact details to provide you with updates on our dream referral process, new initiatives, and newsletters. We will also use collective data for audit purposes such as monitoring referral patterns from geographical areas, establishments, and professions.

Where you provide contact details, we will provide information and updates via post, phone, mobile messaging, email, via social media, and any other channels for which you have given consent. You can change your contact preferences at any time by getting in touch with us at [email protected].

2.4 To manage our recruitment

When applying for a staff or voluntary role with Dreams Come True, through a third-party portal or

through a recruitment agency, the personal data you provide as part of the recruitment process will

only be held and processed for the purpose of the selection processes of Dreams Come True, and in

connection with any subsequent employment unless otherwise indicated.

By submitting your personal information, you will be asked to give your consent for us to hold and

use the data for the purposes being consented to. You will be asked to provide certain information

including your name, contact details, employment history and qualifications. This information is

mandatory so we can fairly consider your application, communicate with you about your application

and where successful, follow up with references or meet our statutory and internal monitoring and

reporting responsibilities.

We may also view social media profiles such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, to the extent that it

is relevant to your application or candidate selection. Unsuccessful applicant data will be held

confidentially within the recruitment system for up to six months before it is deleted. This means

you can use your information in any future applications, and we can respond to statutory reporting

requests.

3. How we use your information and tell you about our work

3.1 To send you marketing communications by email, mobile messaging, or direct message on

social media, where you have agreed to receive this.

3.2 To send referrers information about the referral portal and new dreams’ initiatives.

Where you have provided an email address, mobile phone number, or details of your social media

profiles and consented to being contacted in this way, we will send you information by those

channels – including by direct message through social media – covering ways to give or raise money

for us, campaign for us, to volunteer for us, updates on dreams and other areas of our work. This

may include promoting the work of partner organisations that we believe will benefit us and our

charitable cause. We never give your information to partner organisations and third parties without

your prior consent.

3.3 To contact you by phone and post

Where it is appropriate and relevant, and you have provided us with a telephone number or a postal

address, we will occasionally call or write to you to tell you about ways to give or raise money for us,

to volunteer for us, the dreams we are granting and our wider work.

We do this as we consider it as a legitimate interest to promote our charitable cause and

communicate with you about ways you can support us. We will not contact you by phone for

marketing purposes if your number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service, unless you

have agreed to receive calls from us. We will not contact you by mail if you have registered your

address with the Mailing Preference Service.

We may send referrer’s information relevant to the referral process, development in dreams, specific information, and progress about the child or young person you have referred or more general dream stories in the form of a newsletter. The newsletter could also contain information of new campaigns or fundraising.

3.4 To manage your contact preferences You can tell us to stop contacting you, or change the way in which we do so, by getting in touch with us by emailing [email protected]. We will keep a record of any requests to stop receiving marketing, fundraising or general dreams information from us to ensure that we do not communicate with you in the future, unless you tell us you want to hear from us again. As a referrer you can also request to be removed completely from the referral network database.

3.5 To help us speak to you in a way that is relevant to you, and to understand our supporters more broadly we try to ensure that our communications are as effective as possible. This means communicating with people in different ways, appropriate to them.

On occasion, we will use information you have given us, for example the record of your previous

donations to us and the type of activity you have been involved with, to tailor our communications

with you about future activities. We will also use information about how you use our website or

interact with our emails so we can make them more effective.

In certain circumstances we will use information about you from publicly available sources - such as

online registries, websites, media or social media, or personal introductions - in order to understand

more about your interests and preferences so that we can better tailor our communications – telling

you about the things you are likely to be interested in or letting you know of ways to fundraise with

us which are relevant to you. We may do this by looking at your career information, peer networks,

demographic information, hobbies and interests or other information.

We will also use broad demographic information such as statistics and analysis from third parties to

better understand how our own supporter base compares to the general population. This helps us to

decide who to send our communications to and is useful to ensure the communications you receive

are relevant to you.

3.6 To target our digital and social media marketing and website activity

If you visit our website, we log the IP address of the computer you are using in order to protect our

servers against abuse and malicious activity. Other information is used to measure the performance

of our website, how many visitors (traffic) we receive, how users move around the site (we also use

third party sites like Google Analytics to help with this).

When you access our website, some cookies are saved to your computer, for example if you have

chosen a landing setting or created a user account. You can also turn off your cookies so that we

can’t access this information. For more information, please read our Cookies Policy.

We may also use the information you provide us with to target our digital and social media

advertising effectively. This could include securely providing contact details such as your name and

email address to digital advertising networks or social media companies, including but not limited to

Facebook, Google, and Twitter. For example, we may use your information to enable us to display adverts to you, or to find potential supporters who have similar characteristics to you.

Any information we share with social media companies will be shared in an encrypted format and

will not be used for their own purposes. You can stop your information being used for this by

contacting us at [email protected]

Where you have asked us not to use your information for targeted digital advertising, you may still

see adverts related to Dreams Come True. This is because the social media site or advertising

network may select you based on information they hold, such as your age and location, or websites

you have visited, without using information that has been provided by us. You can control the kind

of advertising which you see through the settings in the relevant social media site.

You can also control other advertising messages by changing your browser settings, and opting out

via networks such as Digital Advertising Alliance.

You can control the cookies that your computer and other devices use too – find out more

about cookies here. Please also see our Cookies Policy.

3.7 Use of any images, videos of, or other information you tell us about something you have done

for Dreams Come True.

If you share information about the fundraising or campaigning activities you have done for us, or

your personal experiences, by post, email or over social media, we may want to use this to help us

promote our events and activities in the future.

If you are participating in an event with us, we’ll ask if you are happy to be included in our pictures – please tell us if you are not. In other cases, we will obtain the necessary permission to use this information or share this via social media – if you have already posted information yourself via social media about your engagement with us, we may repost your information.

3.8 To undertake our wider work.

We maintain a record of information relating to areas of our wider work in providing a dream. This

could include examples of offers you have made to donate items for a child’s dream, donations of

time or money via a company or partner or offers to provide us with discounts and other offers for

dreams. This information is stored because it is critical to help us reach our charitable goal. This will

include keeping a record of contact details such as address, telephone number and email address as

well as the offers you have made, and any networks or connections you have shared with us.

3.9 To comply with the law.

As with all charities, we ensure that our activities comply with the law. Therefore, we may need to

share or use your personal information if we are required to do so by law (for example, in response

to a warrant or court order) and we may use information from other sources for the purposes of

fraud prevention, for example to comply with money laundering regulations, or to protect people’s

rights, property, or safety. If certain levels of donation are made, the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice requires us, and all charities in the UK, to perform checks. More details can be found at www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk

4. Keeping your details up to date

We always use information you have provided for us to keep your records up to date and respect

your preferences when you express them. You can let us know if you move to a new house, jobs or work contact detail in the case of referrers or your own details change by contacting us at [email protected]

5. What we do if you choose to tell us about your experiences with us

Where you have provided information about your experience of our fundraising events, dreams you

know about or feedback on us (such as how we look after you), through surveys, focus group,

questionnaire, or when we are talking to you by phone or email, we will explain what the

information will be used for and whether it will be held anonymously or not. If the information will

be held in a way that could be connected to you personally, we will ask your permission to store and

use what you tell us.

We will use this information for the purposes explained to you when we ask you about taking part.

For example, to better understand the issues that are important to our supporters which helps

shape our communications and activities. We may compare statistics related to our supporters to

information about the general population, to help our understanding.

Where you provide more detailed information, we may want to use this in our communications

including PR and media activity, digital and social media, campaigning, fundraising materials and

internal communications, to help us raise awareness of Dreams come True, how you can volunteer

and how you can help provide dreams and even the impact of dreams on children and families.

We will never use your story without obtaining your consent first. If a suitable opportunity arises for

us to use the information you have given us in a way which we do not feel is covered by our normal

agreements, we will contact you to discuss the use of your story in further detail. We will fully

explain how we would like to use your information, so that we may obtain your fully informed

consent.

Where you have given appropriate consent, we will use information you have shared to send you

communications which are relevant to, for example to better support you in an activity you are

doing for us; or to ensure that we do not send you any communications or ask you to take part in

any activity that would not be appropriate.

Dreams Come True ensures that all "consented to" media coverage is positive and accurate.

However, once this media coverage is released to the wider internet Dreams Come True is unable to

physically control any "consented to" media coverage and therefore cannot be held liable for its

misuse.

Dreams Come True will make every effort to ensure that your "consented to" media is

protected and used on the internet in a positive and accurate manner where and when possible.

Where your “consented to” media coverage has been released to the internet Dreams Come True

indemnifies itself from all, damages and claims of any kind connected with the use, distribution or

disclosure of any photographs, films, videotapes, electronic recordings, art work, or other

information regarding participants and the dream, through any media whatsoever, including but not limited to the internet, electronic media, and print publications other than where Dreams Come

True is deemed as the primary cause of the misuse of your “consented to” media coverage data.

6. Sharing your information with other organisations

We will never share your information with third parties for their own purposes, unless this is

explained to you at the time, we collect your information, you give us your permission to, or we are

legally required to do so. For example, we are legally required to provide your data to HMRC if you

have agreed to us claiming Gift Aid on your behalf. We may need to provide information to a third

party to fulfil and auction prize or offer, or to help provide the dream of a child or young person.

We may also use suppliers known as 'data processors' to process data on our behalf, for example, to

send out mailings and fulfil orders. When enlisting the services of such suppliers we ensure that they

are under a contractual obligation to only use your information in accordance with our instructions

and for no other purposes.

7. Transferring your information out of the EEA

Sometimes organisations who work on our behalf may manage information outside the European

Economic Area (EEA). In those circumstances, we will make sure that we have a valid reason for

doing so under current Data Protection legislation and have relevant contractual agreements in

place with them.

8. How long we keep your information for

As a rule, we will hold your information for a period of ‘current plus three-years’ from the end of

your relationship with the charity in accordance with our data retention policy. If you have told us,

you plan to leave us a gift in your will we may keep your information on our system for longer. In

some circumstances, we may hold your data for a shorter period, for example:

• Information related to unsuccessful job applications is destroyed after six months.

In some circumstances, this will be longer, for example:

• Pension information of former employees

●  Referrer information connected directly to a child’s or young person’s records will be kept for 5 years after their dream has been completed in accordance with our data retention policy.

● If a referrer requests to be removed from the referral network database their records will be deleted immediately.

If you would like to know how long we will hold any specific information, then please contact [email protected] and we can provide further details.

9. Your Rights

9.1 Your data rights

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) stipulates that you have the following rights. We

are happy to explain how we can help you with any requests around these rights or explain them in

more detail for you.

• Information Right – the right to receive the information contained in this policy and our data

collection forms about the way we process your personal data.

• Personal Data Access Right – the right to know that we are processing your personal data and, in

most circumstances, to have a copy of the personal data of yours that we hold. You can also ask for

certain other details such as what purpose we process your data for and how long we hold it.

• Personal Data Correction Right – You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate data or

complete incomplete data that we hold on you.

• Personal Data Erasure Right – Known as the Right to be forgotten. In certain circumstances you

may request that we erase your personal data held by us.

• Personal Data Restriction Right – You have the right to restrict the way we process your personal

data in certain circumstances, for example if: you contest the accuracy of the data, if our processing

is unlawful, to pursue legal claims, where we are relying on legitimate interests to process data.

• Data Processing Objection Right – You have the right to object to us processing your data for (i)

direct marketing purposes (ii) scientific or historical research or statistical purposes and (iii) purposes

of profiling related to direct marketing or based on our legitimate interests or on the performance of

a task in the public interest

• Data Portability Right – you have the right to receive a copy of certain personal data or to have it

transferred to another organisation in some circumstances

9.2 Right to Withdraw Consent at any time

Where we use your personal information based on your prior consent, or where you have given us

permission to send you marketing communications by email, mobile messaging and by direct

message on social media, you can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting

[email protected]

10. Complaints

If you have any complaints about how we handle your personal data, please contact us so we can

resolve the issue, where possible. If you need to make a complaint, you can find out more about

how you can do this in our Complaints Policy. You also have the right to lodge a complaint about any

use of your information with the Information Commissioners Office, the UK data protection

regulator. Where you have a complaint about the way in which we have used your personal

information in our fundraising, you can also complain to the Fundraising Regulator.

11. How we keep your information secure

We take appropriate measures to ensure data is held confidentially and with integrity in systems.

Our staff are trained in the correct procedures for managing and handling data and our processes

are regularly reviewed. Our systems hold data securely – we protect your data in a range of ways

including secure servers, firewalls and encryptions. We follow industry standard compliance

requirements (such as PCI compliance (for payment card processing). Data is held in restricted,

password protected access to information which is stored on our systems. Where we work with third parties who may provide us with data (for example Just Giving or payroll giving agencies), or hold your data via a third-party system (for example our email marketing tool), we ensure our suppliers are compliant with the current regulations and have proper systems and processes in place to fulfil their legal and contractual obligations.

12. Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in how we use your information. You may wish to

check this policy each time you provide us with your information. Where appropriate, we will

provide you with notice of any significant changes to how we use your information, for example an

email to update.