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Data Protection Statement for Alumni, Donors and Other Supporters

Summary

This statement explains how the University of Hertfordshire Higher Education Corporation will process and use personal data that we collect about our alumni and supporters. Broadly speaking, we use your personal data to keep in touch with you, in order to keep you informed about our activities and developments, to provide services to you, and to identify ways in which you can support us, through donations and/or other forms of financial and non-financial support.

In line with current data protection legislation, we are committed to protecting your personal information and being transparent about what information we hold. The University has a range of data protection policies and procedures, which are set out here (under “Data Protection”). “Personal data” is defined within those policies and follows the definition within the General Data Protection Regulation (“http://sitem.herts.ac.uk/secreg/upr_azlist_info.htm”). Further updates in relation to our data protection policies and procedures will be posted on the above site, so please refer to it for all updates to our policies in relation to data protection.

This particular statement specifically relates to the use of your personal data for the purposes of the Development and Alumni Relations team (as set out in more detail below). If we update our approach, then an updated form of this statement will be made available to you.

After receiving an award from the University, you automatically become a member of the University of Hertfordshire alumni community. The University provides services to its alumni and regards these services as an important and integral part of the University’s long-term commitment to its students and former students.

Personal data held by the University

We may hold information relating to you which derives from a number of different sources. The majority of the information we hold on alumni is information which you provide to us (for example, you may give us information by filling in forms on the University's website, or by contacting us by telephone, email or otherwise). If you are a student or studied at the University, some of your personal data is transferred from your student record to the University’s Development and Alumni database (known as “Raiser’s Edge”). We also attend graduation and awards ceremonies and collect information from you in person at such events.

Most records contain:

  • details of your studies (e.g. the courses you have completed, dates of study);
  • unique personal identifiers and biographical information (e.g. student number, date of birth);
  • your contact details (we will update these whenever you let us know that they have changed);
  • your professional activities;
  • details of your interactions with the University, including:
    • your attendance at University events;
    • communication and correspondence between you and the University;
    • details of benefits and services provided to you, including those set out at here;
    • any volunteering activities;
    • your donor status and any history of donations made to the University;
    • your relationships with other alumni or supporters of the University;
    • any details about your family provided by you (e.g. your marital status, the name of your partner or spouse);
    • personal data provided by you for a specific purpose (e.g. disability and dietary preferences for event management purposes); and
    • your communication preferences, to help us provide relevant communications.

We also record, where applicable, the below publicly available information:

  • your current job title;
  • employment and employer details.

As an organisation that undertakes fundraising, the University may undertake internal profiling and screening techniques to help to identify an individual’s potential to support the University, to provide you with an improved experience, to send you communications that are relevant and timely, to identify volunteering or support opportunities that may be of interest to you, and to avoid approaching you with opportunities that will not be of interest.

In doing so, we may augment the data provided by you, and which the University already holds, with data from publicly-available sources (including Companies House and other business-related sources, the Charity Commission, Who’s Who, Rich Lists, and the media), and any information that you have publicly shared on social media including services such as LinkedIn. The University always seeks to ensure that any opportunities we present are aligned with your interests and presented in the most effective way.

In addition, before seeking or accepting major donations we are required to conduct due diligence, including reviewing publicly-available personal data relating to the prospective donor’s possible criminal convictions and offences.

The University does not collect or hold sensitive personal information (such as ethnicity, religious beliefs, political opinions, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, or data concerning health or sexual orientation) for any alumni, donors or supporters.

Information is held securely on the University’s Development and Alumni Relations database (“Raiser’s Edge”), provided by Blackbaud Inc.

How your data is used by the University

Depending on the consents that you have given in relation to your preferred methods of communication, your data is used by us for a number of related purposes in support of alumni relations, supporter communications and fundraising. These include:

  • sending you publications (e.g. alumni magazines and updates about the University);
  • conducting surveys;
  • providing services, including access to University facilities;
  • sending you tailored proposals, appeals and requests for donations;
  • sending you details of volunteering opportunities;
  • inviting you to alumni and other University events;
  • the promotion of other opportunities and services available to you;
  • internal profiling and research in order to improve our understanding of our alumni and supporters, inform our fundraising strategy, target our communications more effectively, and maintain best practice;
  • internal record keeping, including the management of any feedback or complaints; and
  • administrative purposes (e.g. in order to process a donation you have made or to administer an event you have registered for or attended).

Communications to you may be sent by post, telephone or electronic means (e.g. by email), depending on the consents given by you in relation to the methods of communication by which you would prefer us to contact you. More information about the legal basis for processing your personal data and for using specific forms of communication is set out below.

If you have concerns or queries about any of these purposes, or how we communicate with you, please contact us using the details listed below.

We will always respect a request by you to stop processing your personal data and your statutory rights are set out below.

WHO THE University shares your data with

We share certain of the above categories of data with a mailing house once a year only for the specific purposes of printing and circulating the annual alumni magazine. Any transmission of data to or from the mailing house is managed through agreed processes which comply with relevant data protection legislation.

How the University protects your data

We ensure we have appropriate data sharing agreements in place before sharing your personal data. We do not sell your personal data to third parties under any circumstances, or permit third parties to sell on the data we have shared with them. We do facilitate communication between individual alumni, but in doing so we do not release personal contact details without explicit prior permission.

Any transfers of your data overseas (outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”)), for example to an international alumni organisation, as set out above, are protected either by an 'adequacy decision' by the European Commission (declaring the recipient country as a 'safe' territory for personal data) or by standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission (which give obligations for the recipient to safeguard the data) or, before 25 May 2018, based on the University's self-assessment of the risks involved with the transfer and its determination that the data will be adequately protected during and after the transfer.

Our “Raiser’s Edge” database holds data in both the EEA and the US, but subject to appropriate contractual arrangements which meet the requirements of the European Commission.

Further information about the measures we use to protect data when being transferred internationally is available from our Data Protection Officer (whose contact details are set out below).

Data subject rights

You have the right to:

  • ask us for access to, or rectification or erasure of your data;
  • restrict processing (pending correction or deletion);
  • object to communications or direct marketing; and
  • ask for the transfer of your data electronically to a third party.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office here.

Full information on data subject rights is set out in our data protection policy (UPR).

Additional information

The legal basis for processing your personal data for the specific and related purposes set out above is that: processing is necessary to meet the legitimate interests of the University – processing of the Personal Data is in the University’s legitimate interests, pursuant to Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR, in order for the University to keep alumni updated on the University.

Where we send alumni or donor information to you by post, our basis for doing so is the same: processing is necessary to meet the legitimate interests of the University – processing of the Personal Data is in the University’s legitimate interests, pursuant to Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR, in order for the University to keep alumni updated on the University; in order for it to thank its donors; in order to invite supporters to an annual ‘thank you’ event; and to update donors on how their donation was spent.

Where we contact you with marketing information via telephone, email, text, or other electronic means, we shall always ensure that we have the appropriate consent to do so (in line with the requirements of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR)). In those circumstances, the legal basis for processing your personal data is that: the University has your explicit and informed consent – you have given clear and informed consent to the processing of your Personal Data for the specific, identified purpose of contacting you by telephone or electronic means (pursuant to Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR).

We will always hold and process your personal data securely and minimise its use, and ensure that there is no overriding prejudice to you by using your personal information for these purposes.

The data controller for your personal data is the University of Hertfordshire Higher Education Corporation, and we can be contacted via dataprotection@herts.ac.uk. Our Data Protection Officer is responsible for monitoring compliance with relevant legislation in relation to the protection of personal data, and can also be contacted via dataprotection@herts.ac.uk.

Please contact us at dataprotection@herts.ac.uk if you have any concerns or questions about the above information or you wish to ask us not to process your personal data for particular purposes.  Where you have specific requests relating to how we manage your data, we will endeavour to resolve these, but please note that there may be circumstances where we cannot comply with specific requests.

As an alumnus or alumna of the University, we will retain your data indefinitely in support of your lifelong relationship with the University or until you request us to do otherwise. We will publish on our website any changes we make to this data protection statement and notify you by other communication channels where appropriate. Full details of policies regarding data retention may be found here.