Privacy Policy

We are grateful for the support we receive through prayers, gifts and time, and we thank God for each of our supporters without whom we could not carry out our work.

We want to affirm our commitment to protecting and respecting your privacy, and we promise to respect your personal information and do all we can to keep it safe. We aim to be clear about how we obtain your details and only process them in ways we believe you would reasonably expect. This includes not selling or sharing personal details with third parties for the purposes of their marketing.

We always aim to communicate with you respectfully, effectively, and efficiently. Our forms give clear choices and we include information on how to change your communication preferences whenever we contact you. This helps us send you news of our work only if you have explicitly stated you would like us to do so in ways that are most convenient to you.

If you don’t want to hear from us, please let us know. You can find all our contact details here.

How we collect information about you

We collect information in the following ways:

1- When you give it to us DIRECTLY, including:

• When you contact Transform Iran to make a donation, register to receive news about our work, sign up for online content, contact us via phone, email or post, engage with us via social media channels, sign up for one of our events or order resources online (through 222 Publications)
• When you attend a meeting or an event, fill out a questionnaire or have a conversation with us and provide us with information about yourself.

2- When you give it to us INDIRECTLY

For example, information about you may be shared with us by independent fundraising organizations, such as Stewardship Services, CAF, etc. These organizations will only do so with your consent if you have indicated that you wish to support Transform Iran. You should check their Privacy Policies when providing your information to understand how they process your data. Any data that Transform Iran may receive from these sources will be treated with the same levels of care as all other personal information that we receive.

3- When other organizations have permission to share or it is available PUBLICLY

In addition to the details you give us, we may seek further information about you that is publicly available from external sources. We use this to gain a better understanding of our supporters to help us update you about our work and how you can get involved in the most appropriate ways.

Information we get from other organizations may depend on your privacy settings or the responses and permissions you give, so you should check them regularly. This information comes from Social media (depending on your settings or the privacy policies for social media and messaging services like Facebook, WhatsApp, or Twitter, we might have permission to access information from those sources; we will not add this information to your personal details) or any other information that is available publicly (this may include information found in publicly available sources such as Government websites, grant-making trusts, biographical directories and information that has been published by reputable media.)

4- When we collect information as you use our websites

Like most websites, we use ‘cookies’ to help make our site and the way you use it, better. Cookies are small text files that sites transfer to your device (computer, phone, or tablet) and make interacting with a website faster and easier.

Transform Iran may store digital information about you and your activity in cookies. If you want to delete any cookies that are already on your computer, please refer to the instructions for your file management software to locate the file or directory that stores cookies. If you wish to restrict or block web browser cookies that are set on your device, you can do this through your browser settings; the Help function within your browser should tell you how. Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org, which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of desktop browsers.

We may also collect digital information about your computer including, where available, your IP address, operating system, and browser type for system administration. This is statistical data about our supporters’ browsing actions and patterns and does not identify individuals.

What personal information might we collect from you?

If you support us – for example, make a donation, sign up to receive our newsletter, volunteer, take part in an event, or order our resources – we will usually collect where it is available:

• Your name
• Your contact details, including postal address, email, telephone numbers, along with your preferences as to which of these we should use to contact you in the future.
• Your date of birth
• Bank account details if you make a regular donation by standing order (or direct debit)
• Details of payments provided by Paypal – if you pay by card for a donation or to purchase resources we do not hold that information as that is held by Paypal and is subject to their Terms of Use and Privacy Policies
• Your Gift Aid status (only for UK taxpayers who choose to use this facility)
• Your position within an organization or charitable trust (if relevant)
• In some cases, we may also gather additional personal information which may include your interests in so far as they may pertain to your relationship with Transform Iran.
• Other personal information or sensitive data you may share with us, such as information on your family or your home church and any appropriate health issues you may have told us about that help us to communicate with you in the most appropriate way.

How do we use this information?

The information we gather helps us to send you what you want when you want it, to fulfill orders for resources, and send you updates and information about our work.

It also helps us to shape our fundraising activities to ensure that our communication is relevant and timely and provides you with a good experience of supporting Transform Iran. Importantly, having accurate information that we can analyze enables us to tailor approaches and to be wise stewards of the resources entrusted to us, ensuring that the maximum amount possible goes towards the work of our Farsi-speaking ministries.

We will use your personal information to:

• Provide you with information, resources, or services you have requested
• Keep you up to date with the work you are supporting and ask for financial and non-financial support
• Administer your donation, including the processing of Gift Aid (where applicable)
• Ensure we know how you prefer to be contacted
• Keep a record of your correspondence, donations history, questions you have asked us, or comments or complaints you have made
• Understand how we can improve our supporters’ experience based on your interests and interaction with us
• Understand how we can improve our services, and the resources or information we send out
• Contact you in your capacity as a representative or an organization, such as a church, business or charitable organization
• Ensure that potentially vulnerable people are treated appropriately, particularly with regard to financial giving and legacies
• If you make a substantial gift to our work, we may contact you to thank you and to discuss how you might want to develop your interest in our work. This would include having a discussion with you about the methods of contact most suitable for you

We do not sell or share personal details to third parties for the purpose of their marketing.

Legal bases for processing your data

1- Consent.  From May 2018 we will process any new supporters’ data based on the consent you have given us.

2- Legitimate interest for existing supporters. If you are an existing supporter, we will use your support for us over the previous three-year period as a legitimate interest reason to continue sending you the communications you receive from us. This includes if you have made a donation or updated us with new information to help us send you the right communications for your needs. If you have previously asked us not to contact you, we will continue to respect your wishes.

3- Legitimate interest for potential supporters. We may rely on legitimate interest:

• If you publicly share information about your interests and concerns that overlaps with an area or activity of Transform Iran’s work
• If we identify you as a match to our work during our research to locate new supporters through our use of publicly available information

We would use any information we gather to help us plan an appropriate approach, such as a meeting or an event invitation, where we could share further information about Transform Iran and explore your interest and opportunities for support.

4- Opting out. You can change or stop what you receive from us by following the instructions at the bottom of our communications or you can contact us by post phone or email at any time. Our contact details can be found here.

Protecting your personal information

The security of your information is very important to us.  We ensure that there are appropriate controls and procedures in place to protect your personal details. For example, the information you submit on a physical form or when filling out online forms is entered, encrypted and stored on a secure server.

However, despite all the security and protection, we put in place, the Internet cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Therefore, you submit your data at your own risk.

We undertake regular reviews of who has access to the information we hold to ensure that your details are only accessible by appropriately trained and authorized staff.

Your information may occasionally be passed to service providers that provide functions on our behalf, such as analyzing data. We will carry out comprehensive checks on these companies before we work with them and put a contract in place that sets out our expectations and requirements, especially regarding how they manage the personal data they have collected or to which they have access. These companies may only use your information to perform these functions and may not use it for any other purposes, and they will also be required to destroy this information once the function for which it has been transferred has been completed.

If required, we may need to disclose your details to police, regulatory bodies, or legal advisors. Due to the nature of servers and cloud-based storage all over the world, this may mean that, during the processing of your data, it leaves the European Economic Area (EEA). Although they may not be subject to the same data protection laws as in the EU, we will take steps to make sure they provide an adequate level of protection in accordance with UK data protection law, such as through model contract clauses, binding corporate rules, or mechanisms like the EU-US Privacy Shield framework. By submitting your personal information, you are agreeing to this potential transfer, storing, or processing at a location outside the EEA.

We will only ever share your data in other circumstances if we have your explicit, informed, and unambiguous consent.

Keeping your information up to date

When possible, we use publicly available sources to keep your records up to date and accurate. We also take appropriate measures to ensure that information is only kept for as long as is necessary and only for the purpose for which it was given. We will also only use it when regulations permit us to do so. However, we would really appreciate it if you would let us know if your contact or personal details change, as this gives us consent to use the updated information and continue to communicate with you.

How long we will keep your information for:

• We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary to carry out the activity relevant to your relationship with us
• We will keep a record of any donations you have made for at least seven years
• For legacy gifts, we may keep information provided by you or your solicitor indefinitely, both to administer the gifts and to communicate with the families of people leaving legacies
• If you ask us to cease communicating with you, we will keep a record of your contact details and appropriate information to enable us to comply with your request.

Right of access

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you. If there are any discrepancies in the details we provide, please let us know and we will correct them. If you want access to your information, send us a description of the information you want to see and proof of your identity by post to:

Transform Iran
P.O.Box 890
Camberley, Surrey
GU15 9AU
United Kingdom

We do not accept these requests by email as we need to ensure that we only provide personal information to the right person. If you have any questions, please contact us.  For further information, see Information Commissioner’s guidance at www.ico.org.uk

Changes to this notice

We may change this Privacy Notice 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 Transform Iran website and/or by contacting you directly.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about this notice, please contact:

Data Protection Officer
Transform Iran
P.O.Box 890
Camberley, Surrey
GU15 9AU
United Kingdom

or phone +44 (0)1276 676520, or email us via this form.

Jurisdiction 

All our Terms and Policies are governed by English law and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.