Privacy Policy

Authentic Business Group CIC is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal data and to complying with applicable data protection and privacy laws. We will respect any personal data you share with us and keep it safe. We have provided this privacy policy statement to help you understand how we collect, use and protect your information when you visit our websites and use our services.

Who we are

Authentic Business Group CIC (ABG CIC) is a not-for-profit community interest organisation. It incorporates:

  • Authentic Business (AB) – the corporate training arm of ABG CIC
  • Authentic Lives (ABG AL) – the non-profit social enterprise arm of ABG CIC

ABG CIC is the data controller. Our registered address is 5 Eastern Avenue, Reading, RG1 5RU, UK.

What sort of personal data do we collect?

The type of information we may collect and hold about you includes:

  • Your name
  • Email address
  • Phone number(s)
  • Gender
  • Biographical description
  • The country you live in
  • Survey results
  • Photographs, film and digital images*
  • Bank or credit card details (if you make a payment or donation directly to ABG CIC)
  • Records of your correspondence or interaction with us
  • Information you enter into our websites and details of how you use them
  • Information gathered by the use of cookies in your web browser (see our cookie policy)

*Written permission from a parent or guardian will be sought before we take or publish any photos, film or digital images of workshop participants under the age of 18.

Facilitators/volunteers – If you help facilitate our workshops or volunteer for us in another capacity, we may collect extra information about you (such as accreditation status for facilitators)

When and how will we collect your personal data?

We collect data from you:

  • When you register for an in-person workshop
  • When you create a user profile with us on our website and use it to take part in one of our workshops
  • When you register for any other services we offer
  • When you use our website and we capture information through cookies and similar technologies (see our cookie policy)
  • When you engage with us on social media
  • When you contact us with enquiries, complaints or to register for information or our services
  • When you agree to allow us to send you marketing information
  • When you respond to surveys or questionnaires
  • When you make a donation directly to ABG CIC
  • When we take photos and film during our workshops*

*We will ask for your permission to do this at the start of a workshop. You can request that we do not take or publish photos and videos of you.

How and why do we use your personal data?

We will use your personal data to:

  • Provide you with the information or service you have requested from us or signed up for, including the attendance of workshops, surveys, information on our work, upcoming events, volunteering opportunities and fundraising or a response to a query
  • Analyse and understand how people are using our websites, digital products and social media so we can improve the service and experience we offer
  • Keep a record of and manage our relationship with you
  • Administer and maintain our attendance records
  • Administer and process donations made directly to ABG CIC
  • Manage our employees and volunteers
  • Comply with our legal or contractual obligations to share data with law enforcement
  • Manage our databases, websites and donations. Sometimes this will involve sharing your data with a related third party who is providing a service to us, for example to process donations.

What legal bases do we rely on to collect and use your data?

Consent – in certain situations we collect and process your data with your consent, for example when you have signed up to attend or facilitate one of our workshops. You have the right to withdraw this consent at any time. We will ask for your consent to use your information to send you marketing emails.

Performance of a contract – in certain circumstances we need your data to comply with our contractual obligations, for example when you have registered for any ABG CIC workshops or activities.

Legitimate interest – in certain situations we require your data to pursue our legitimate interests and to run our business, for example when you have registered for a workshop or have agree to allow us to send you marketing emails.

How do we protect your personal data?

We treat your personal data with the utmost care and take all appropriate steps to protect it.

It will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be shared with ABG CIC staff, contractors and facilitators who are bound by appropriate policies and procedures to protect it.

Where we share details with related third party service providers we have confidentiality agreements in place that restrict the use of your information to the purpose for which it is provided and to ensure it is stored securely and is not kept for longer than is necessary.

We will not disclose any personal information to third parties unrelated to ABG CIC without your consent. We may, however, be obliged to disclose your personal information to meet any legal or regulatory requirements or obligations in accordance with applicable UK or European or international law.

We are committed to ensuring that there are appropriate technical controls in place to protect your personal data, including protection from misuse and unauthorised access.

How long will we keep your personal data?

Whenever we collect or process your personal data, we will only keep it for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.

At the end of that retention period, your data will either be deleted completely or anonymised so it can be used in a non-identifiable way for statistical analysis and business planning.

What are your legal rights over your personal data?

You have the right to request:

  • The restriction of the use or processing of your personal data
  • That your personal data is deleted
  • Access to your personal data
  • Corrections or updates to your personal data
  • That we stop using your personal data for marketing purposes
  • That we stop any consent-based processing of your personal data

In cases where we process your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest, you can ask us to stop for reasons connected to your individual situation. We must then do so unless we believe we have a legitimate overriding reason to continue processing it.

You can write to us at any time to obtain details of the personal information we hold about you or to make a complaint if you are unhappy with the way in which we have handled it. Please write to:

Administration Department,
Authentic Business Group CIC
5 Eastern Avenue,
Reading RG1 5RU

Please quote your name and address together with your phone number or email address. We will take all reasonable steps to confirm your identity before providing you with details of any personal information we may hold about you.

International transfer of data

ABG CIC is a global organisation and as such, the personal data we collect from you may be transferred to, shared with and/or otherwise processed by individuals, such as facilitators or organisations or companies outside the country in which you live. Where your personal data is transferred in this way, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient implements appropriate measures to protect your personal data.

Fundraising

For ABG AL, the not-for-profit social arm of ABG CIC, donations are essential to our work. The majority of donations are made via charitable organisations which are then granted to ABG CIC to support this work. Such donations made via our website are handled by a third-party service provider, CAF Bank. We therefore do not hold any financial information on these donors. Financial information on donations made directly to us will be kept strictly confidential and deleted after the relevant retention period has passed.

Changes to this privacy policy

We review our privacy policy regularly. It was last updated in November 2021.

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