Privacy policy

Updated: 17 March 2025

Eden Rivers Trust (ERT) is committed to protecting your privacy and security.  This policy sets out how we collect and process personal data that we collect from you or that you provide to us. This applies to our website and to data you provide by post, email, phone, or any other means. Any changes to this policy will be posted on this page.

This privacy and personal data policy applies to Eden Rivers Trust and its activities throughout the UK.

The Eden Rivers Trust is a Registered Charity in England and Wales, Registered Charity Number 1123588.

Whenever you provide personal information, we will treat that information in accordance with this policy, with current legislation on protection and use of data and with best practice guidance from organisations such as the Charity Commission and Fundraising Regulator.  We will always comply with any preferences you express on how you would like us to communicate with you.

If you indicate that you wish to receive regular information and news about river conservation and Eden Rivers Trust’s activities, we will send you communications by post, email and phone.  These will include details of how you can help conserve Eden’s Rivers, for example by volunteering, donating or becoming a regular supporter or ‘Friend’.

If you have already supplied us with personal information, you can change your preferences for how we keep in touch or opt out of communications at any time by contacting our office:

Eden Rivers Trust, 4, Cowper Road, Gilwilly Industrial Estate,
Penrith CA11 9BN

Tel: + 44 (0) 1768 866788

Email: [email protected]

Website
You can use most of the features of our website without disclosing any personal information. The optional features of this site, relating to receiving our newsletter ask you to provide some personal information: your name and e-mail address.

When you are on the website and are asked for personal information, you are sharing that information with Eden Rivers Trust alone, unless a service provider requires your data.

Examples of service providers are the companies which help us communicate with you such as MailChimp. we will not disclose any of your personal information, except under special circumstances, such as when we believe the law requires it.

Personal data you provide

We collect data you provide to us. This includes information you give when you become a supporter or volunteer, register an interest in our activities or news, or communicate with us. For example:

– personal details (name, date of birth, email, address, telephone etc.) when you become a supporter or join in our activities;

– financial information (payment information such as credit/debit card or direct debit / bank account details), and whether donations are gift-aided;

– details of your interests and preferences (such as campaigns, the ways you support us or types of environmental activities you enjoy).

If you allow us to use photographs you have taken, we may store your name and the fact that you have given us permission to use them.  If you are pictured in a photograph and have given us permission to use it, we will record this.

Some data may be passed to us via a third party, such as an on-line donation site like JustGiving, if you have given them permission.

Information created by your involvement with Eden Rivers Trust

Your activities and involvement with us will result in personal data being created. This could include details of how you’ve helped us by volunteering or being involved with our campaigns and activities. If you donate, we will keep records of when and how much you give and whether it is for a particular activity.

Information created by using our website

If you have provided consent to us processing your information (or there is a legal obligation for us to disclose it) this type of information concerns your interactions with our website, advertisements and location information.

This is used for analytics purposes – so we can understand where our audiences have come from and which web pages are of interest to them. It may also be used for marketing and advertising, allow us to performs services, process or fulfil orders or transactions, process payments or protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activity, and prosecuting those responsible for such activities.

Sensitive personal data

We do not normally collect or store sensitive personal data (such as information relating to health, beliefs or political affiliation) about supporters. However there are some situations where this will occur (e.g. if you volunteer with us or if you have an accident on one of our volunteer days or at one of our events). If this does occur, we’ll take care to ensure your privacy rights are protected.

Accidents or incidents

If an accident or incident occurs at our offices,  at one of our events or involving one of our staff (including volunteers) then we’ll keep a record of this (which may include personal data and sensitive personal data, such as information relating to health).

Volunteering

If you are a volunteer (either specifically for us or if you are helping us for other reasons – for example, you work for another organisation that is running an event with us) then we may collect extra information about you (e.g. references, criminal records checks, details of emergency contacts, medical conditions etc.). This information will be retained for legal reasons, to protect us (including in the event of an insurance or legal claim) and for safeguarding purposes.  We may also process your bank account details if you claim expenses.

Internet or other electronic activity – information regarding your interactions with advertisements is shared with our advertising networks and data analytics providers. (Facebook, Google Adwords and Google Analytics)

Sensitive personal information – geolocation information is shared with Advertising networks, data analytics providers (we use Google Analytics), financial transactions processors. fraud prevention services vendors and parties that need to operate the website.

If you would like to opt out of Google Analytics, please visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.

Information from third parties

Occasionally, we may collect information about individuals who support us (e.g. particularly well known or influential people) from public sources. This could include noting what we see in the news or other media and information on public databases (such as Companies House). We don’t do this for everyone.  It is the exception not the rule.

Disclosure of data

Where other companies are used to capture data or undertake fulfilment services on our behalf (for example when we use a mailing company which can cut the cost of posting magazines), these activities are carried out under contract in compliance with all legal requirements.  We never pass on your details for another company or charity to use for their own purposes.  We will only disclose information if we are legally obliged to do so.

If you carry out botanical recording and share data with us, your name as the recorder (but not any contact details) may be passed to other organisations as part of the data. If you ask us not to include your name, we will remove it.

We may process your personal information for carefully considered and specific purposes which are permitted by regulations and enable us to carry out our charitable work or the services we provide to our supporters.

We will use your details for:

– Thanking you for the help you have given to river conservation;

– Communications about our conservation work and campaigns, about threats to rivers, how we’re addressing them and what you can do to help;

– Volunteer activities you undertake, in a personal or work capacity, including processing any biological data you collect and share, and paying expenses, if you are entitled to claim them;

– Our fundraising and marketing;

– Fulfilment of orders for goods and services or details of events you are coming to;

– Administration of donations and legacies;

– Claiming Gift Aid;

– Supporter surveys;

– Fraud prevention;

– In-house analysis to understand the interests of our supporters and the effectiveness of our fundraising;

– Improving the services we provide and our efficiency, so we can do more conservation;

– Processing any payments due to you or handling any contract we have entered into with you;

– Administration of externally organised events you have chosen to participate in to support Eden Rivers Trust, such as sporting events, in which case we may need to pass on your personal contact details to the relevant organisation.

We will keep your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

Where we rely on your consent to use your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This includes the right to ask us to stop using your personal information for marketing or fundraising purposes or to unsubscribe from our email list at any time. You also have the following rights:

1. The right to access the personal information that we have collected about you.
2. The right to request that we delete all or some of the personal information that we have collected on you.
3. The right to ask us to transmit your personal information that we have collected on you to another provider (where technically feasible).
4. The right to request that we amend any of the information that we have collected about you.
5. The right to withdraw your consent to the processing of your data.
6. The right to request that we restrict the processing of your data.
7. The right to lodge a complaint regarding our collection, sharing and processing of data with competent authorities in the proper jurisdiction.
8. The right to stop receiving unwanted direct marketing.
9. The right to receive the personal information that we hold about you in a portable and, to the extent feasible, a readily usable format that allows you to transmit this information to another entity.

You can express your preferences by contacting us:

The Office Manager, Eden Rivers Trust,
4, Cowper Road, Gilwilly Industrial Estate, Penrith CA11 9BN

Tel: + 44 (0) 1768 866788

Email: [email protected]

Eden Rivers Trust:

– Will always comply with the law.

– Will never give, exchange, sell or rent your details to anyone.

– Will always follow the strict code of conduct set out by the Fundraising Regulator (https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/code-of-fundraising-practice/code-of-fundraising-practice/).

– Will always comply with your preferences on how we communicate, including requests to unsubscribe from our mailing lists.

Exceptionally contractors of Eden Rivers Trust may be given access to data for specific tasks, for example when we use a mailing company which can cut the cost of postage. They are not free to use it for any other purpose.  Where other companies are used to capture data or undertake fulfilment services on our behalf, these activities are carried out under contract in compliance with all legal requirements.

Your preferences

By providing personal data you consent to its processing as described in this Policy.

If you do not wish to receive information in any or all of following ways – mail, telephone, e-mail, SMS – or wish to express other preferences, contact

The Office Manager, Eden Rivers Trust,
4, Cowper Road, Gilwilly Industrial Estate, Penrith CA11 9BN

Telephone: + 44 (0) 1768 866788

Email: [email protected]

This website is intended for use by a general audience and does not offer services to children. Should a child whom we know to be under 18 send personal information to us, we will use that information only to respond to that child to inform him or her that they cannot use this website.

We encourage you to be aware of the activities in which your children are participating both offline and online, particularly with regard to third party websites. If your children voluntarily disclose information, this may encourage unsolicited messages. We suggest that you discourage your child from providing any information without your consent.

You can contact us anytime by letter, email or telephone to change or update your details, or obtain a copy of your record.

If you have any problems or queries about your data, please contact:

The Office Manager, Eden Rivers Trust,
4, Cowper Road, Gilwilly Industrial Estate, Penrith CA11 9BN

Telephone: + 44 (0) 1768 866788

Email: [email protected]

A cookie is a piece of data about a website that is stored in your web browser. Cookies are often used to store choices about how you use the site to improve your user experience. Our website makes use of cookies in this way and also helps us get a feel for what it is you are looking at. They’re anonymous, they only give us information about the number of visitors to our site, so we don’t know what you personally are looking at, just that someone has looked at what you’ve looked at.

Some parts of our site rely on cookies, but we will tell you where and when. Most browsers will allow you to control how cookies are handled, whether they are accepted and how long they are stored for. All browsers do this differently, but if you’re concerned about privacy and security then please have a look in the ‘help’ documentation for your particular browser.

All electronic forms that request credit card or bank details use the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol. Most browsers (Microsoft Explorer, Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, etc) support SSL. The link between your browser and the server is secure if your browser displays a small padlock or key symbol somewhere in the frame, or the address bar shows a web address beginning https:// (rather than http://). Any hard copies of financial data is stored securely in locked cabinets.

The Eden Rivers Trust website contains hyperlinks to other websites. This information is supplied in good faith, in case it is of interest, or use, to our website users. We are not responsible for the content or functionality of any of these external websites and our inclusion of hyperlinks to such websites does not imply any endorsement of the material on such websites or any association with their operators and this Policy does not apply to them.

If there is a breach in personal data security leading to its accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, unauthorised access. We will assess the risk to people’s rights and freedoms and take appropriate action. If the breach is likely to result in a high risk of adversely affecting individuals’ rights and freedoms, we will inform those individuals without delay and notify the Information Commission Office within 72 hours.

We will document all breaches and near breaches of personal data security.

You can complain to Eden Rivers Trust by contacting The Office Manager, Eden Rivers Trust,
4, Cowper Road, Gilwilly Industrial Estate, Penrith CA11 9BN

Telephone: + 44 (0) 1768 866788, Email: [email protected].

We review all comments and complaints and consider changing our practices.

Notification of change of Privacy Policy

If you have any queries regarding this policy please contact us at the address above.

We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Policy at any time. Any change will be posted on our website and will take effect on publication. Your continued use of our website after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.