Cheltenham Music Society Data Protection and Privacy Policy

This policy statement describes the way the Society manages the personal information it holds. It was approved by Trustees at their meeting on 21 February 2018.

The Society holds the following categories of personal information.

  • Names, postal addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of members, supplied when they apply for annual subscriptions.
  • A list of members making donations.
  • A list of non-members’ emails for mailing about concerts, obtained by inviting them to fill in a form to join our mailing list.
  • The names and postal addresses of non-members who wish to receive annual brochures.

The information is stored by the Membership Secretary and Treasurer on desktop computers. Email address lists are stored in MailChimp and managed by the Webmaster.

Personal data is used for the following purposes:

  • To produce mailing lists (name/address labels) for brochures and for AGM papers.
  • To email members on administrative matters.
  • To email members and non-members about concerts, events and programme changes.
  • To generate annual Gift Aid returns for HMRC.

The Society does not share any of the information with other organisations. Information about members is used on the basis of Legitimate Interest: that is, its use is part of the natural process of running the organisation and serving its members, and consent to use the data in this way is implicit in its provision. The addresses of nonmembers are used only with their explicit consent.

Information about members is retained as long as they continue their membership. When members cease membership, we ask them whether they wish to continue to receive communications from us. If they do, we add their details to the lists of non-members. If they do not, we delete their information from all our lists. Information about non-members is retained as long as they wish to receive communications from us. Every email sent through MailChimp contains an unsubscribe link. We ask for explicit confirmation that recipients wish to remain on our lists after 5 years.

The Chair is responsible for this Policy, in consultation with the other Trustees, and for ensuring that it is observed. The Trustees who act as Membership Secretary, Treasurer and Webmaster manage the information databases in accordance with this Policy.