Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 2026

CHUMS Charity takes the privacy and security of personal information seriously. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we may collect when you visit our website, contact us, support our Charity, take part in fundraising or sign up to receive communications from us, and how we use and protect that information.

1. Who we are

CHUMS Charity is a registered charity supporting mental health and emotional wellbeing services for children, young people, adults and families. For data protection purposes, CHUMS Charity is responsible for the personal information it collects and uses as described in this Privacy Policy.

CHUMS Charity
Wrest Park Enterprise Centre
Wrest Park
Silsoe
Bedfordshire
MK45 4HS
Telephone: 01525 863924
Registered Charity No. 1179048

You can also contact us through the Contact Us page on this website.

2. The personal information we may collect

Depending on how you interact with CHUMS Charity, we may collect information including:

  • Your name.
  • Email address.
  • Telephone number.
  • Postal address.
  • Information you provide through website forms.
  • Information about donations or fundraising activity.
  • Your communication and marketing preferences.
  • Information relating to volunteering, events or campaigns.
  • Correspondence between you and CHUMS Charity.
  • Technical information about how you use our website, such as device, browser and website interaction information.
  • Other information you choose to provide to us.

If you contact us about mental health, emotional wellbeing, bereavement or another personal situation, the information you provide may include sensitive information about your health or circumstances. Please only provide information that is relevant to your enquiry.

3. How we collect your information

We may collect personal information when you:

  • Contact CHUMS Charity.
  • Complete a website form.
  • Make a donation.
  • Take part in fundraising.
  • Register for an event or campaign.
  • Volunteer or enquire about volunteering.
  • Sign up for our newsletter or other communications.
  • Communicate with us by email, telephone, post or social media.
  • Interact with our website.
  • Provide information to us for another legitimate Charity purpose.

We may also receive limited information from third-party fundraising, payment or event platforms where you have used those services and the provider is permitted to share that information with us.

4. How we use your personal information

We may use your information to:

  • Respond to enquiries.
  • Provide information about CHUMS Charity and the services we support.
  • Direct enquiries to the appropriate team or service.
  • Process and administer donations.
  • Support fundraising activity.
  • Administer events, campaigns and volunteering.
  • Manage relationships with supporters, fundraisers, volunteers and partners.
  • Send newsletters, fundraising communications and Charity updates where permitted.
  • Maintain records required for financial, regulatory or legal purposes.
  • Improve our website and communications.
  • Keep our website and systems safe and secure.
  • Protect the wellbeing and safety of individuals where appropriate.
  • Meet our legal, regulatory, safeguarding and governance responsibilities.

We will only use personal information where we have an appropriate lawful reason to do so.

5. Our lawful bases

Different lawful bases may apply depending on why we are using your information. These may include:

Consent

Where you have clearly agreed to us using your information for a particular purpose, for example where consent is required for certain marketing communications. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

Legitimate interests

We may use personal information where it is necessary for the legitimate interests of CHUMS Charity and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. This may include managing supporter relationships, responding to enquiries, improving our Charity activities, maintaining appropriate records and protecting our organisation and systems.

Legal obligation

We may need to use or retain information to comply with legal, financial, tax, regulatory, safeguarding or other statutory requirements.

Contract

We may use information where necessary to enter into or perform an agreement with you, for example in relation to certain events, volunteering arrangements or other activities.

Vital interests

In exceptional circumstances, we may use information where it is necessary to protect somebody's life or physical safety.

6. Health and other sensitive information

Information about a person's health is treated as particularly sensitive under data protection law. You may choose to provide information about mental health, emotional wellbeing, bereavement or other personal circumstances when contacting CHUMS Charity.

Where we need to use this type of sensitive information, we will only do so where we have both an appropriate lawful basis and an additional legal condition that permits us to process this information.

We will limit access to this information and only use it where necessary for the purpose for which it was provided, safeguarding, legal obligations or another appropriate purpose.

General website enquiry forms should not be used to provide detailed clinical or medical records unless specifically requested.

7. Children and young people

Some of CHUMS' work relates to children and young people, and we recognise the importance of protecting their privacy. We aim to explain how information will be used in a way that is appropriate and understandable.

Children and young people using general website contact forms should avoid providing more personal or sensitive information than is necessary.

Where personal information is collected as part of accessing a specific CHUMS service, separate information about how that service uses personal data may also be provided.

8. Donations and payment information

Donations made through the website may be processed by an external fundraising or payment provider. The provider will process payment information in accordance with its own privacy and security arrangements.

CHUMS Charity may receive information such as your name, contact details, donation amount, date of donation, Gift Aid information where applicable, and communication preferences.

CHUMS Charity does not normally receive or store your full payment card details where a third-party payment provider processes the transaction.

9. Gift Aid

If you make a Gift Aid declaration, we may need to collect and retain information required to administer and evidence your declaration and meet HMRC requirements. This information may be shared with HMRC where necessary.

10. Newsletter and fundraising communications

If you sign up to receive CHUMS Charity news and updates, we may use your contact details to send you information about our work, impact, fundraising, events, campaigns and ways to support us.

We currently use a specialist email marketing provider to help us manage newsletter communications.

Where appropriate, we may rely on your consent or another lawful route available to charities for supporter communications, provided the relevant legal conditions are met.

You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe option included in our emails or by contacting CHUMS Charity.

Stopping marketing communications will not prevent us contacting you where necessary about an existing donation, enquiry, event, volunteering arrangement or another non-marketing matter.

11. Who we may share information with

We do not sell personal information. We may share information where necessary with organisations that help us operate the Charity, including:

  • Website and IT providers.
  • Email and communications providers.
  • Fundraising and donation platforms.
  • Payment processors.
  • Event or fundraising service providers.
  • Professional advisers such as accountants, auditors or legal advisers.
  • Regulators, government bodies or law enforcement where required.
  • HMRC where relevant to Gift Aid or other legal obligations.
  • Other CHUMS teams or services where necessary to respond appropriately to an enquiry.

Where third parties process personal information on our behalf, we expect them to protect that information appropriately and only use it for the agreed purpose.

We may also share information where necessary to protect an individual from serious harm or where safeguarding or legal obligations require us to do so.

12. International transfers

Some organisations providing technology, communications or website services may process information outside the United Kingdom. Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer is lawful and that suitable safeguards are in place where required.

13. How long we keep information

We do not keep personal information for longer than we reasonably need it. How long information is retained depends on why it was collected, the nature of our relationship with you, legal and regulatory requirements, financial and Gift Aid record-keeping requirements, safeguarding requirements, and whether information is needed to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

When information is no longer required, we will delete, anonymise or securely dispose of it in accordance with our retention arrangements.

14. How we protect your information

We take appropriate organisational and technical measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, disclosure or destruction.

Access to personal information is limited to people who reasonably need it for their role.

No internet or electronic system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect the information entrusted to us.

15. Cookies and website analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies. Some are necessary for the website to operate properly. Others may be used to understand how visitors use the website, improve performance, display external content or support communications and fundraising.

Where required, non-essential cookies and similar technologies will only be used in accordance with your choices. You should be able to manage relevant choices through the website's cookie controls.

Third-party content, including embedded video, may also use cookies or similar technology.

16. Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

  • Ask for a copy of personal information we hold about you.
  • Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
  • Ask us to delete information in certain circumstances.
  • Ask us to restrict how we use information.
  • Object to certain uses of your information.
  • Ask for certain information to be transferred to you or another organisation.
  • Withdraw consent where we rely on consent.
  • Object to direct marketing at any time.

These rights are not absolute and may depend on the circumstances and applicable law. If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact CHUMS Charity.

17. Complaints

If you have concerns about how CHUMS Charity has used your personal information, please contact us first so that we have an opportunity to investigate and respond.

You also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator. Information about your rights and how to make a complaint is available on the ICO website.

18. Other websites

Our website contains links to websites operated by other organisations. CHUMS Charity is not responsible for the privacy practices of external websites. We recommend reviewing the privacy information provided by those organisations before giving them personal information.

19. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when our activities, website, suppliers or legal obligations change. The latest version will be published on this website and the date at the top of the page will show when it was last updated.

20. Contact us

For questions about this Privacy Policy or how CHUMS Charity uses your personal information, please contact us through our website Contact Us page, by telephone or by post.

CHUMS Charity
Wrest Park Enterprise Centre
Wrest Park
Silsoe
Bedfordshire
MK45 4HS
Telephone: 01525 863924
Registered Charity No. 1179048