Privacy Policy

Last updated: March 2026

Friends of the Ochils ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting your personal information and being transparent about how we use it. This policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, and your rights under UK data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

Friends of the Ochils is the data controller. We are a Scottish charitable organisation registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) under charity number SC022034.

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, please contact us.

What data we collect and why

Membership applications (Join us form)

When you apply for membership we collect your name, address, postcode, email address, telephone number (optional), membership type, payment method, and Gift Aid declaration. We use this information to process your membership, send you our newsletter and campaign updates, and — where you have declared Gift Aid — to reclaim tax from HMRC on your subscription. Our lawful basis is the performance of a contract (your membership) and, for Gift Aid, compliance with a legal obligation.

Contact enquiries (Contact us form)

When you contact us via the website we collect your name, email address, telephone number (optional), and the content of your message. We use this solely to respond to your enquiry. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in communicating with people who contact us.

Website analytics

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand how visitors use our website. This service is privacy-focused: it does not use cookies, does not track individual users across sites, and does not collect any personally identifiable information. Only aggregate statistics (such as page view counts) are recorded.

Facebook embedded content

Our Latest News page includes an optional Facebook feed showing posts from our Facebook page. This content is not loaded automatically — it is only loaded if you choose to click the "Show Facebook posts" button. When you do, Facebook's plugin connects to Facebook's servers and may set cookies on your device in accordance with Facebook's privacy policy. If you prefer not to load the feed, you can visit our Facebook page directly.

Cookies

This website does not use cookies of any kind. No consent banner is required.

How we store and protect your data

Contact and membership forms are processed by Formspree (Formspree Inc., USA), which delivers form submissions to us by email and deletes the data from its servers thereafter. Formspree processes data under Standard Contractual Clauses approved for transfers from the UK and EU to the USA. Our website is hosted by Cloudflare Pages (Cloudflare Inc., USA), which acts as a data processor under its Data Processing Addendum.

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with any third party except as described above, or where required by law.

How long we keep your data

Membership records are retained for the duration of your membership and for seven years afterwards, as required for Gift Aid and financial record-keeping purposes. Contact enquiry records are kept for up to two years. You may ask us to delete your data at any time (see Your rights below).

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you; ask us to correct inaccurate data; ask us to delete your data; ask us to restrict how we use your data; object to our use of your data; and receive a copy of your data in a portable format. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us. We will respond within one month. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with a revised date at the top.