privacy policy

INTRODUCTION

Ubuntu Pathways (“Ubuntu”, “we”, “us”, and/or “our”) is committed to respecting your privacy and any personal data you share with us, or that we get from other organizations. We will not sell, trade, or share your personal information with anyone except as described in this privacy policy (“Policy”), nor send donor mailings on behalf of other organizations. We aim to be clear when we collect your data and not do anything you wouldn’t reasonably expect.

Developing a better understanding of our supporters through their personal data, such as contact details, allows us to make better decisions, fundraise more efficiently and, ultimately, enables us to transform the lives of orphaned and vulnerable children in the townships of Gqeberha, South Africa. We will continue to make improvements to this policy as needed to make it more understandable to our supporters.

Our marketing communications include updates on our life-changing work and information on our campaigns and events. If you would like to receive such communications but have not opted in, please contact us on +44 (0) 207 612 7680 or at info@ubuntupathways.org. You may always change your mind and opt out of such communications. 

In developing our approach to data privacy and data processing practices, including how we collect and use your information, we have considered a range of international privacy and data protection frameworks, including principles reflected in the EU and UK GDPR, as well as South Africa’s POPIA, among others. These frameworks inform our practices regarding transparency, data minimization, and purpose limitation.

WHERE WE COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU FROM

We collect information in the following ways:

  • When you give it to us DIRECTLY

You may give us your information in order to sign up for one of our events, make a donation, or communicate with us. We also collect your information via our website when you make a donation or sign up to join our mailing list there.

  • When you give it to us INDIRECTLY

Your information may be shared with us by independent event organizers, online platforms, and payment processors, for example, GoFundMe (formerly Classy), Stripe, Squarespace, EmmaLIVE, Paystack, Zapier, Github, or Vercel. These independent third parties will only do so with your consent and only when you have indicated that you wish to support Ubuntu Pathways. You should check these third parties’ respective privacy policies when you provide your information to understand fully how they will process your data.

  • When you give permission to OTHER ORGANIZATIONS or INDIVIDUALS to share or when it is available publicly

We may combine information you provide to us with information available from external sources in order to gain a better understanding of our supporters and improve our fundraising methods, products, and services. The information we get from other organizations may depend on your privacy settings, the responses you give, or consent options, so you should regularly check them. Further, these other organizations and services are not bound by this Policy, and we are not responsible for their information practices. Prior to providing personal data through third-party organizations or services, we recommend first reviewing their privacy policies. This information comes from the following sources:

Third-party organizations and individuals

You may provide permission to a company or other organization to share your data with third parties, including charities. This could be when you buy a product or service, register for an online competition, or sign up with any third-party sites that connect you to us.

At times, specifically for events, Ubuntu hosts and host committee members provide us with contact information of people they want us to invite, and they enter our database this way. As everyone who receives our communication, these people are given the option of unsubscribing.

Social Media

Depending on your settings or the privacy policies for social media and messaging services, you may give us permission to access information from those social media and messaging accounts or services.

Information available publicly

This may include information found in places such as Companies House, Guidestar, and information that has been published in articles and/or newspapers.

Information collected as you use our website

Like most websites, we use “cookies” to help us make our site––and the way you use it––better. Cookies mean that a website will remember you. They are small text files that sites transfer to your computer (or phone or tablet). They make interacting with a website faster and easier––for example by automatically filling your name and address in text fields. When you submit contact forms on our website, we store this information for back-up on our content management system.

In addition, the type of device you’re using to access our website and the settings on that device may provide us with information about your device, including what type of device it is, what specific device you have, which operating system you’re using, what your device settings are, and why a crash has happened. Your device manufacturer or operating system provider will have more details about what information your device makes available to us.

Your web browser may offer settings that allow you to control how cookies and local storage are used, including managing access to information about your browsing activity. For details on how to restrict, disable, or remove cookies, you may refer to your browser’s “Help” settings. Be aware that restricting certain cookies may affect the availability or functionality of some features of our website or services. Android and iOS mobile operating systems provide controls that allow you to manage how your device’s advertising identifier is used for personalized advertising purposes. Please note that opt‑out choices are browser‑ or device‑specific and may not be supported on all devices. 

WHAT PERSONAL DATA WE COLLECT AND HOW WE USE IT

The type and quantity of information we collect and how we use it depends on why you are providing it.

Supporters, website visitors and other individuals

We may collect online identifiers or other information you choose to provide as you browse our website or get in touch with us. If you support us, for example make a donation, volunteer, register to fundraise or sign up for an event or buy Ubuntu merchandise, we may also collect:

  • Your name

  • Your contact details and address

  • Your date of birth

  • Your bank or credit card details (these are deleted as soon as payment has been made)

  • Other information that you choose to provide to us

As per nonprofit industry standards, donations that are public are included in our annual report, unless specified otherwise.

Where it is appropriate we may also ask for:

  • Why you have decided to donate to us. This will always be something you opt into––we will never make these questions mandatory, and only wish to know the answer if you are comfortable telling us.

We may use your data to:

  • Acknowledge your donation and ensure you receive the appropriate tax receipt

  • Administer your donation or support your fundraising, including processing gift aid

  • Provide you with the services, products or information you asked for

  • Send you information about events and other marketing materials

  • Keep a record of your relationship with us

  • Ensure we know how you prefer to be contacted

  • Understand how we can improve our services, products or information

  • Conduct analytics to understand how our website, offerings, or services are used, and determine the effectiveness of the content, programs and newsletters we offer

  • Detect abuse such as spam, malware, and illegal content

  • For any reason as permitted or required to comply with legal obligations

If you enter your details onto one of our online forms, and you don’t ‘send’ or ‘submit’ the form, we may contact you to see if we can help with any problems you may be experiencing with the form or our websites.

We may also use your personal information to detect and reduce fraud and credit risk.

BUILDING TARGET GROUPS OF SUPPORTERS FOR RELEVANT COMMUNICATIONS

We create targeted groups to ensure communications are relevant and timely, and to provide an improved experience for our supporters. This allows us to target our resources effectively, which donors consistently tell us is a key priority for them. We try to learn about the background of the people who support us because it helps us make appropriate requests to supporters who may be able and willing to give more than they already do. Most importantly, it enables us to raise more funds sooner and more cost-effectively than we otherwise would, helping us provide essential services to South Africa’s most vulnerable children.

When building a profile, we may analyze geographic, demographic, and other information relating to you in order to better understand your interests and preferences and contact you with the most relevant communications. This enables us to reach you with news, invitations, or updates based on your location, giving history, and age-specific campaigns, such as Ubuntu school clubs. In doing this, we may use additional information from third-party sources when it is available. Such information is compiled using publicly available data about you, for example addresses, listed directorships or typical earnings in a given area.

When we combine such information with your personal data, we will apply this Policy to the combined information.

DIRECT MARKETING AND EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS

With your consent, we will contact you to let you know about the progress we are making and to ask for donations or other support. Occasionally, we may include information from partner organizations or organizations who support us in these communications. We make it easy for you to tell us how you want us to communicate, in a way that suits you. If you don’t want to hear from us, that’s fine. Just let us know when you provide your data or contact us on +44 (0) 207 612 7680 or privacy@ubuntupathways.org.

SHARING YOUR INFORMATION

We do not sell personal details to third parties, and we only share data as described in this Policy. 

We may share personal data with service providers, third-party vendors, and companies that support our mission and help us provide and improve our offerings. These companies and vendors may assist us with our operations and needs, such as with managing our relationships with donors, processing donations, supporting fundraising efforts, and facilitating engagement with our supporters. They may also assist us with our marketing activities. If we run an event in partnership with another named organization, your details may need to be shared. We will be very clear what will happen to your data when you register. 

We may use the information we collect, including personal data you provide or that is generated through your use of our services, in the context of, or to test and improve, artificial intelligence and machine learning models and technologies. This may include using such data to enhance existing features, build new products or services, and improve the accuracy, safety, and performance of our offerings. We take reasonable steps to safeguard any data used in this manner and, where feasible, may de-identify or aggregate data prior to use in AI training.

When we use external companies to collect or process personal data on our behalf, we do comprehensive checks on these companies before we work with them, and enter into contractual terms around data privacy and security as relevant.

We may also disclose information, including non-public personal information, where we have a good faith belief that such action is necessary to conform to legal requirements or protect and defend our rights.

Sharing your story

Sometimes people––both clients and donors––may choose to share their story, including testimonials of their involvement with Ubuntu, participation in an event, promotion, and/or campaign with us. We will never share details of your story and why you’re involved with this organization without your explicit consent. If we have the explicit and informed consent of the individuals, or their parent or guardian if they are under 18, this information may be made public by us at events, in materials promoting our campaigning and fundraising work, on our website, or in documents such as our annual report. We often have photographers and videographers at our events, and we may post what they have captured on our social media and website, unless specifically requested otherwise.

CHILDREN’S DATA

We collect and manage information from donors and supporters under 18, and aim to manage it in a way which is appropriate to the age of the child. Information is usually collected when children fundraise for us and/or support us through Ubuntu Clubs at their schools and colleges. In such cases, we always reach out and seek consent from the appropriate guardian or supervisor before engaging with children. Our events have specific rules about whether children can participate, and we‘ll make sure advertising for those events is age-appropriate. If you have any concerns or questions about our processing of data related to children, you may always contact us at privacy@ubuntupathways.org. 

HOW WE KEEP YOUR DATA SAFE

We exercise reasonable care and rely on world’s leading management platforms to protect your information. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. So while we strive to protect your non-public personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us or receive from us. This is especially true for information you transmit to us via email. We have no way of protecting that information until it reaches us. Once we receive your transmission, we maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information.

We also rely on suppliers of software and services specifically designed for nonprofit organizations, to ensure that there are appropriate technical controls in place to protect your personal details. For example, our online forms are always encrypted and our network is protected and routinely monitored. 

We undertake regular reviews of who has access to information that we hold to ensure that your information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff, volunteers, and contractors.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF DATA

We may transfer, use, or store your personal information outside of your home jurisdiction and, therefore, the laws of some of these destination jurisdictions may not offer the same standard of protection for personal data as your home country.  By submitting your personal information to us you agree to this transfer, storing or processing at a location outside of South Africa, the UK and European Economic Area (EEA). For transfers of personal data outside the UK and the EEA to jurisdictions that do not have an adequacy decision from the European Commission, and where necessary for transfers of personal data outside of South Africa, we will ensure that there is a legal basis for this transfer and that we have put in place mechanisms that ensure appropriate safeguards are in place so that personal data is treated in a manner that is consistent with, and respects the South African, EU, UK and other applicable laws and regulations relating to data protection.

YOUR DATA PROTECTION RIGHTS

You may have certain rights pertaining to your personal information, subject to applicable law. In particular, you may (1) request access to the personal data we have about you, or receive a portable copy of it; (2) request that we update, correct or delete your personal information; or (3) request restriction of processing, object to the processing, or request not be subject to automated decision making. Some of these rights are described in further details below.

Keeping your information up to date

Where possible we use publicly available sources to keep your records up to date; for example, LinkedIn, company profile, and information provided to us by other organizations as described above.

We would really appreciate it if you let us know if your contact details change.

Your right to know what we know about you, make changes or ask us to stop using your data

You have the right to get a copy of the information that is held about you. This right of subject access means that you can make a request under the Data Protection Act to any organization processing your personal data. You also have the right to ask us to stop processing your personal data, and if it’s not necessary for the purpose you provided it to us for (e.g. processing your donation or registering you for an event) we will do so. If there are any discrepancies in the information we provide, please let us know and we will correct them. 

Please note that we reserve the right to take steps to verify your identity in connection with any requests regarding personal data. If you would like to exercise a right afforded under applicable law, you may contact us on +44 (0) 207 612 7610 or privacy@ubuntupathways.org. 

If you have a concern about any aspect of our privacy practices, including the way we have handled your personal data, we would welcome the opportunity to address them directly. Please contact us using the details provided in this Policy.

RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Ubuntu will retain your personal data for as long as is reasonably necessary to achieve the purposes described in this Policy, unless a longer retention period is permissible or required under applicable law.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We may change this Policy from time to time. If we make any significant changes in the way we treat your personal information, we will make this clear on the Ubuntu Pathways Website or by contacting you directly.

CONTACT DETAILS

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know by contacting us at privacy@ubuntupathways.org.

For our commitments regarding the safety and privacy of the children and clients we serve, please refer to our Child Safeguarding Statement.