What we collect

We will collect and process the following data about you:

Information you give us. This is information about you that you give us directly. You may do this by filling in forms on our website or by corresponding with us by phone, email or otherwise. Information you send to us may be stored and processed by The Lotus Flower. This will include any emails or other electronic messages and any documents, photos or other files stored on or processed through our systems or devices. Please be aware that by entering information onto these systems you are sharing that information with The Lotus Flower. 

Information we collect throughout our relationship. We will collect information throughout your time with us. This may include information about location, employees, projects, working hours and other relevant information.

The type of information we collect. This may include, but is not limited to the following (and may include Special Categories of Personal Data as defined below):

• Identification information - name, title.

• Contact details - address, telephone number, mobile telephone number, email address.

• Employment related information - job title, company, business contact information.

• Browsing behaviour - When you visit our site we may collect information about your online browsing behaviour and any devices you have used to access our site (including your IP address, browser type and mobile device identifiers).

• Location - We may collect your location data through your address.

• Other data which we may notify you of from time to time.

We most commonly collect personal information when you:

Engage with us in ways such as:

• In your normal communications with us, when you email, telephone us or give us your business card.

• Attend public functions, events, seminars, roadshows, conferences, training run by or at which The Lotus Flower is present.

• Make donations.

• Use our website.

• Participate in forums or use other social media tools through our website or in relation to our projects.

How we use the information we gather:

We only collect and process personal information for purposes which relate to our business, functions and activities. Without your personal information, we may not be able to deliver or give you access to, or provide you with updates on our projects.

We collect personal information in relation to the following purposes:

• Registering or activating one or more of our Services;

• Verifying and authenticating your donation

• Invoicing;

• Providing support, assistance, services and/ or training;

• improving our products and the Services; and

• Generally, to enable us to provide the product and information needed to ensure you are able to enjoy the maximum benefit of our services.

• Where you provide us with personal information about someone else, for example other authorised users of our product(s), and employees, you must have their consent to provide their personal information to us based on this Privacy Policy.

We may also collect and use your personal information to:

• Promote our Services to you;

• To provide you with more relevant and personalised information to be more relevant to you and your business;

• We use a third-party provider, Squarespace, to deliver our newsletter. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter. For more information, please see Squarespace’s privacy notice. You can unsubscribe to general mailings at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any of our emails or by emailing our data protection officer.

Donation processing

• When you make a donation through our website, we use Donorbox to process your payment securely. Donorbox collects and processes your payment information, contact details, and donation amount. We receive confirmation of your donation and basic contact information to send you a receipt and keep you updated on our work (if you've opted in). Donorbox's own privacy policy applies to how they handle your payment data. You can read their privacy policy at https://donorbox.org/privacy.

• We retain donation records for financial compliance purposes, including your name, donation amount, and date. This is necessary for our obligations as a registered charity.

Direct marketing

• We will only use your personal information for direct marketing where we have obtained your consent, directly or indirectly and in compliance with the UK and EU legislation. In the absence of express consent from you, we will only use the information in a way that you would reasonably expect your personal information to be used in relation to our business and Products. For example, if you provide your business card to one of our employees at an event, we may communicate with you about our Products or future events, unless you instruct us not to do so. In all our direct marketing to you, you will always have the ability to request us to discontinue sending to you any further of such direct marketing material to you.

Online shop

• We link to our merchandise shop hosted by Teemill. When you purchase items through the Teemill shop, Teemill processes your order, payment, and delivery information directly. We do not receive your payment details. Teemill may share order information with us for fulfilment purposes. Teemill's privacy policy applies to any purchases made through their platform. You can read their privacy policy at https://teemill.com/privacy-policy/.

Meeting scheduling

• We use Calendly on our Connect page to allow you to book meetings with our team. When you book a meeting through Calendly, they collect your name, email address, and any other information you provide in the booking form. This information is shared with us so we can prepare for and conduct the meeting. Calendly's privacy policy applies to how they handle this data. You can read their privacy policy at https://calendly.com/privacy.

Security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from the data protection officer.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

Recruitment and job applications

When you apply for a position at The Lotus Flower, we collect the information you provide in your application, which may include your CV, cover letter, contact details, and any other information you choose to share with us.

We use this information to:

• Assess your suitability for the role

• Contact you about your application

• Comply with employment law requirements

How we handle your application:

• Applications should be sent to careers@thelotusflower.org

• We keep applications for successful candidates as part of their employment records

• For unsuccessful candidates, we retain applications for 6 months after the recruitment process ends, in case a similar role becomes available or in case of any disputes about our recruitment process

• After 6 months, we securely delete unsuccessful applications unless you've asked us to keep your details for future opportunities

If you'd like us to delete your application sooner, or if you'd like us to keep it for longer to consider you for future roles, please email careers@thelotusflower.org.

How long do we keep hold of your information?

We only store your information for as long as is required for the purpose it was collected. Should you wish to have more information about how long we retain your data, please contact us.

Information stored generally on IT systems, such as email history, will be deleted regularly in line with our policies. 

How we use Cookies:

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added, and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

When someone visits thelotusflower.org we use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Links to other websites

Controlling your personal information:

You are entitled to view, amend, or delete the personal information that we hold. Email your request to our data protection officer. We will aim to process this request within 14 days.