Ocean Generation’s Privacy Policy
Who we are
Ocean Generation (formally Plastic Oceans UK) is a charitable organisation registered in England. Registered charity number 1139843.
This Privacy Policy applies to information we collect from people who are aged 16 and over and covers the ways in which we may use that information. At Ocean Generation we take your privacy very seriously and we are committed to protecting your personal information.
If you have any comments or questions about this policy, please contact the Ocean Generation team via email at hello@oceangeneration.org or write to: Ocean Generation, One Bartholomew Close, London, EC1A 7BL
This policy includes:
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- Why we collect personal information
- How and when we collect personal information
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- What personal information we collect
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- Sensitive or Special Personal Information
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- Children’s Data
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- Media Content (photo, video and audio content)
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- How we use your data
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- When we share your data
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- How long we keep your data
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- Rights you have over your data
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- Cookies & usage tracking
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- Changes to this policy
Why we collect personal information
We collect data in order to administer, deliver and monitor our services effectively. The data we collect enables us to support young people within our outreach and education programmes; to fundraise and generate funds to support our work and our mission to stop plastic reaching the ocean within a generation; to support our campaigns; respond to enquiries; and to meet our contractual and legal obligations.
How and when we collect personal information
We may collect and store some personal information about you when you engage with us – this could be directly, indirectly, or when you have allowed other organisations permission to share it with us.
For example, it can be collected when you:
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- Contact us through email, phone or online
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- Interact with us on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram etc. (the information we receive will depend on the privacy preferences you have set within each platform)
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- Kindly donate to us (directly or indirectly via platforms such as JustGiving, Work for Good)
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- Sign up to receive updates from us, such as our e-newsletter
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- Volunteer, or enquire to volunteer with us
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- Take part in our community and event activities and/or outreach programmes
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- Sign up and download our online educational materials
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- Visit our website (further detail provided in ‘cookies & usage tracking’ section below)
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- Apply for a job with us (sometimes through third-party job application platforms, such as recruitment agencies)
We may also receive and store information about you from third parties, if you have provided consent and permission for them to share this. We will only use this information for marketing purposes if you have given your consent for us to do so. We recommend that before you give consent to third party organisations to share your personal data, you fully understand their Privacy Policy and how they will process your data.
What personal information we collect
The type of personal information we collect depends on how and why you have provided it to us. All personal information we obtained through consent (explicit or implied where appropriate), relevant, necessary, and legitimate for the engagement.
If you interact with us in any of the ways highlighted above, we may collect your:
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- Name
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- Age
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- Contact details (such as address, email, and phone number)
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- Payment information such as bank and/or credit card details (if you are donating)
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- Organisation or school you are associated with (when downloading resources)
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- Employment history and references, eligibility to work in the UK (if applying for a role with us)
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- UK taxpayer status (if you are donating and choose to include Gift Aid)
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- Specific interests/reason for enquiry/reason for donating
The information we collect is used exclusively to fulfil your request or to provide you with a service; if you choose to withhold requested information it is important to note that we may be unable to provide you with specific services.
Sensitive or Special Personal Information
In some cases, with your consent, we may collect certain personal information which the data protection laws deem to be ‘sensitive’ or ‘special’.
Sensitive or special information can include data revealing racial or ethnic origin; religious or philosophical beliefs and political opinions; trade union membership; genetic or biometric data; information concerning health; or data concerning a person’s sex life or sexual orientation. This information will only be collected where it is deemed relevant and necessary. For example, when an individual takes part in our inclusive Youth Outreach Programmes.
As part of our commitment to intentional inclusivity, we may also request such information throughout our recruitment processes.
Children’s Data
We will only collect data for children under 13 years of age with consent from their parent or legal guardian. We do not knowingly accept online donations from those under 13 years of age, or up to 18 years of age without a parent or legal guardians’ consent. If interacting with us through social media, it is important to adhere to their policies.
Media Content (photo, video and audio content)
To promote our work at Ocean Generation, and to share the contribution of those we engage with via our outreach programmes authentically, we may take a range of photographic, video and audio content. This content may be used in our website, publications, press releases, social media platforms and promotional materials.
When an individual is clearly identifiable in such content, we will ask for explicit consent from the individual (aged 13 and above) or from the parent/guardian of the individual (under 13 years of age) before this is shared publicly. Consent can be withdrawn at any time and we will take action to remove the content where possible (we may not be able to remove publications already in the public domain). To withdraw consent or request further information, please contact the Ocean Generation team at hello@oceangeneration.org
How we use your data
We will only use your data in a manner that is appropriate considering the basis on which that data was collected.
For example, we may use your personal information for the following purposes:
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- Replying to enquiries and requests – we may use your personal data to ensure a relevant response.
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- Handling donations or other transactions that you initiate – we will process necessary personal information to allow us to fulfil your intention of donating, claiming Gift Aid or delivering a confirmation message.
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- To fulfil our tax obligations (sections 413 to 430 Income Tax Act 2007) and charity law – we will use your address and UK taxpayer status for Gift Aid declarations
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- Sending you marketing communications by email (such as e-newsletters) relating to our work which we think may be of interest to you – this will only be actioned when you have given us specific consent to do so. Please note you can opt out at any time, please contact hello@oceangeneration.org if this is something you wish to do.
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- For administration purposes we may process and use your personal data – this could include ensuring we have the most up-to-date marketing preferences, recording what schools, organisations or individuals have done for us (fundraising, market research etc) or dealing with a complaint etc.
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- Taking part in events and outreach programmes, we will process your personal information to contact you about the events and programmes you are involved in or interested to get involved with. We might contact you in the future to see if you would like to take part again.
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- To inform you of changes to our services – we may contact you if we have a significant or meaningful change within our charity, that we believe will be of legitimate interest to you.
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- When you have downloaded our educational resources – we may occasionally contact you via email to understand how effective our educational materials have been and what impact they have had – as an example.
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- To help us improve our service offering, outreach, and digital campaigns
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- If you have agreed to receive communication from us, we may invite you to participate in interactive features of our website such as building a profile, complete a survey or take part in a gamification aspect.
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- We may use your personal information to provide you with access to our website, to help analyse, develop, and improve the operation further and in some cases personalise your experience.
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- Occasionally, as we are a charity and have an obligation to ensure we carry out a level of due diligence to those we accept high-value donations from or engage in partnerships. With this in mind, we may use your personal information to profile, ethically screen or analyse as appropriate.
When we share your data
We will only ever use your personal information for the purpose that it was obtained. We will never, under any circumstances, sell your information to a third party.
We will only pass your data to third parties in the following circumstances:
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- you have provided your explicit consent for us to pass data to a named third party;
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- you have provided your explicit consent for us to pass data to a name third party relating to a specific appeal or event;
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- we are using a third party purely for the purposes of processing data on our behalf and we have in place a data processing agreement with that third party that fulfils our legal obligations in relation to the use of third party data processors; or
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- we are required by law to share your data (HMRC for tax regulation purposes, Fundraising Regulator or Charity Commission).
In addition, we will only pass data to third parties outside of the EU where appropriate safeguards are in place as defined by Article 46 of the General Data Protection Regulation.
In some scenarios we may share anonymised data with funders and partners – to demonstrate the impact and reach of our work.
How long we keep your data
We take the principles of data minimisation and removal seriously and have internal policies in place to ensure that we only ever ask for the minimum amount of data for the associated purpose and delete that data promptly once it is no longer required. Even so, we will hold onto your personal information in our systems for as long as it is deemed relevant for example when a financial transaction has taken place, we will securely store your personal data for as long as the law requires us for tax and/or accounting purposes (this could be up to 7 years).
Information associated with Gift Aid declarations for example, must be kept for 7 years. If you request to stop receiving marketing materials, we may need to keep a record of some contact details and information to enable us to comply with your request. If you apply for a volunteering role or job with us, we will keep your data for 6 months after it has been received or if you are unsuccessful. If successful, we will retain your data for the duration of your employment and deleted 2 years after you leave. Where data is collected on the basis of consent, we will seek renewal of consent at least every three years.
Ocean Generation endeavours to ensure the data we hold is clean and up to date. Please let us know if the personal information that we hold about you needs to be updated or corrected. You can do so by reaching out to hello@oceangeneration.org.
Rights you have over your data
You have a range of rights over your data, which include the following:
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- Where data processing is based on consent, you may revoke this consent at any time and we will make it as easy as possible for you to do this (for example by putting ‘unsubscribe’ links at the bottom of all our marketing emails)
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- You have the right to ask for rectification and/or deletion of your personal data
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- You have the right of access to your data
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- You have the right to lodge a complaint to a supervisory authority such as the Information Commissioner’s Office if you feel your rights have been infringed.
A full summary of your legal rights over your data can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website here: https://ico.org.uk/ If you would like to access the rights listed above, or any other legal rights you have over your data under current legislation, please get in touch with via email on hello@oceangeneration.org or at Ocean Generation, One, Bartholomew Close, EC1A 7BL, London.
Please note that relying on some of these rights, such as the right to deleting your data, will make it impossible for us to continue to deliver some services to you.
Cookies & usage tracking
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that are placed onto your device (e.g. your computer or smart phone) when you visit a website and monitors your interactions with the site.
Cookies are used by many websites and can do several things, e.g., remembering your preferences, recording what you have put in your shopping basket, and counting the number of people looking at a website. At Ocean Generation, we use cookies to understand which pages you visit, which services you interact with etc. We use this information to continuously improve our website and to keep the content relevant. When you first visit our website, you have the ability to accept (consent) to cookies which will monitor your interactions. You will be provided with the option to manage your cookie preferences, which provides the capability to select certain settings and reject and block these cookies. It is important to note, that doing so might impact your use of the full functionality on our website.
When you visit a page that has content embedded within it (e.g. YouTube etc), you may be presented with cookies from those sites. We recommend that you check the third party websites for more information about how they use cookies and/or your data.
Google Analytic cookies are also used throughout our website to help us understand the interaction on our website. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website usage by means of cookies, which are stored on users’ computers. The information collected by Google Analytics about usage of our website is not personally identifiable. The data is collected anonymously, stored by Google and used by us to create reports about website usage. Google’s privacy policy is available at http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html.
Changes to this policy
We may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time and will publish the most current version on our website. If a modification meaningfully reduces your rights, we will notify people whose personal data we hold and is affected.