Who we are
Wild Flower Society (Registered Charity Number 271694)
Privacy Notice
The Society is an organisation which collects, stores and uses personal data such as the names and addresses of members in order to pursue its aims. It must do so in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation. This notice explains what personal data we hold, why and how we use it and your rights in relation to that data. Any queries should be addressed to Robin Blades, WFS Treasurer, 32 Ashfield Road, London, N14 7JY. E-mail address wfs.finances@gmail.com . Information about the General Data Protection Regulation and your rights under it can be found on the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.
The Aims of the Society
- To promote a greater knowledge of field botany among the general public and in particular among young people.
- To advance education in matters relating to the conservation of wild flowers and of the countryside.
- To promote the conservation of the British flora.
Membership Administration
The Society operates a membership scheme in order to involve people in the pursuit of our aims, inform them about our activities and raise money through subscriptions and donations. In order to do so we hold names, addresses and other contact details and records of payments received for the current and previous years. Addresses are used to send members the Wild Flower Magazine, information about our activities, enclosures relevant to our aims and correspondence about subscriptions. You can opt out of receiving the Magazine and other information. Contact details are not sold or otherwise passed on for use by other organisations for their own purposes. The lawful basis for using personal data for membership administration is the legitimate interests of the Society and of its members.
Gift Aid
As a registered charity the Society is able to invite members and other donors to make a declaration allowing us to make Gift Aid claims to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in respect of your subscriptions and donations. We have legal obligations to provide HMRC with the names and addresses of people who have made Gift Aid declarations and the date and amount of their payments to us and to retain these for six years. The lawful basis for using personal data in connection with Gift Aid claims is legal obligation.
Branch and Competition Activities
To help members learn about and develop their interests in wild plants we encourage you to send records of the plants you have seen to our branch and competition secretaries. These records include personal data as they show where you were on the date you saw the plant. These records may be retained while you participate in branch and competition activities and may subsequently be anonymised.
Branch and competition secretaries provide a report on the records which they have received for publication in the Wild Flower Magazine. If members send records it is customary for the report to include the number of species of plant and examples of particularly interesting finds for each person. If you are not happy to be mentioned in this way please make this clear when sending your records.
Branch secretaries are provided with contact details for members in the geographical area they cover and secretaries of other branches and competitions may retain contact details for members who have submitted records previously. These contact details may be used to inform members about Society activities and other matters likely to be of interest to them and will be kept up to date. You can opt out of being contacted in this way.
The lawful basis for using personal data in connection with branch and competition activities is the legitimate interests of the Society and of its members.
Field Meetings
The Society organises field meetings for members to see and learn about wild plants. If you apply to attend a field meeting your contact details may be used for making the arrangements, ensuring participants get the most out of the meeting and passing on health and safety information. If you object to your participation in a field meeting being mentioned in a published report of the meeting you should inform the leader. The lawful basis for using personal data in connection with field meetings is the legitimate interests of the Society and the members attending the meetings.
Online Field Meetings
The Society arranges online talks on botanical subjects. The e-mail addresses of members who have expressed interest in them are used to send them the links for joining online or watching the talks later or details of forthcoming talks. Members who no longer wish to be sent these details can opt out by e-mailing wfs.meetings@gmail.com. The lawful basis for using personal data in connection with the online meetings is the legitimate interest of the members who have expressed an interest in them.
WFS Newsletter
Members and others are invited to sign up for the WFS Newsletter via the website in order to be made aware by e-mail of updates to WFS meetings and other botanical news relevant to WFS members. You can opt out at any time, using the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email, or by contacting website.wfs@gmail.com. The lawful basis for using e-mail addresses for this purpose is the legitimate interest of the members who have signed up to the service.
Committee Members and Branch and Competition Secretaries
If at some point you volunteer to be a committee member, act as a branch or competition secretary, lead a field meeting or take on some other role in the Society, it may be necessary to publish contact details so that members and others can contact you in connection with Society business and in order to participate in Society activities. The lawful basis for using personal data in this way is the legitimate interests of the Society and of its members.
If you become a trustee of the Society we have to provide your personal data to the Charity Commission. We are required to provide personal data of trustees who act as signatories for our bank and building society accounts and investments to the financial institution concerned. The lawful basis for providing personal data for these purposes is our legal obligations.
Grants
The Society offers grants to organisations and individuals in pursuit of its aims. Names and contact details and details of background and qualifications may be obtained from applicants and potential applicants and shared with members of the Executive Committee who consider applications. The lawful basis for this use of personal data is the legitimate interests of the Society and of the applicants.
Your Rights
If you have provided personal data to the Society you have the following rights under the General Data Protection Regulation. If you would like further information about these rights or to exercise them please contact Robin Blades, WFS Treasurer, 32 Ashfield Road, London, N14 7JY. E-mail address wfs.finances@gmail.com.
Right of access. You have the right to obtain confirmation that your personal data is held by the Society, access to that data and information about why and how the Society processes that data.
Right of rectification. You have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified.
Right of erasure. You have the right to have personal data erased. There are exceptions including where data is held to comply with a legal obligation.
Right to object. You have the right to object on grounds relating to your particular situation to the Society’s holding or use of your data under the legitimate interests lawful basis.
Right to restrict processing. You have the right to request that the Society limits what it does with your personal data in particular where requests under the rights of rectification, erasure or to object are under consideration.