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Privacy notice

Youth Music (The National Foundation for Youth Music, UK registered charity number 1075032) is committed to safeguarding your personal information. Our Privacy Policy explains how we hold and use personal information and your rights and options in relation to it, so please take a moment to read it carefully.

Please note that we have an additional privacy notice that applies if you apply for and/ or receive a grant from us. You can access the Grantholder Privacy Notice here.

1) Changes to this Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice may change from time to time so it's a good idea to come back and read through it again regularly. Where necessary, for example if there are significant changes, we may also notify you of the changes to this Privacy Policy by email where possible.

This Privacy Policy was last updated in May 2018.

2) Third Party websites

Our websites contain hyperlinks to websites controlled by third parties. This Privacy Policy does not cover those websites and we are not responsible for their privacy practices or content - they will have their own privacy policies and we urge you to review them if you choose to follow those hyperlinks.

3) How is my personal information collected?

We collect personal information in the following ways:

  • Directly from you - For example, by filling in forms on our websites (such as to sign up to our newsletter or register an account, or making a donation) or offline (including taking part in our events), or communicating with us by phone, email or letter or completing a survey or when you meet with us.
  • Indirectly, via third parties - For example, information we receive from beneficiaries via the organisations we support. Sometimes they may ask for your consent to share this personal information with us, such as where we would like to include your personal information (including photographs) in case studies to publish on our websites or offline.

    We may also receive information from analytics providers (such as Google), contact, financial and transaction information from technical, payment and delivery services.

    Depending on your settings and the relevant policies and terms of service, you might give us permission to access information about you from social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

    If we have not done so already, we will notify you when we receive personal information about you from other sources and tell you how and why we intend to use that personal information. 

    When you visit our websites - When you visit our websites, we automatically collect some technical information from your computer or mobile device such as IP address, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions and operating systems and platforms, and information about your visit to the website and your use of it.

    We also collect cookies – see our Cookie Policy for more information.

4) What personal information will Youth Music collect about me?

We collect, store and use the following kinds of personal information:

  • Identity data such as your name, username (and other profile data such as your password, preferences, social media profiles, feedback and survey responses)
  • Photographs, video and/ or audio recordings.
  • Contact data such as your address, email and telephone numbers.
  • Financial data such as bank account and payment details, and Gift Aid information.
  • Transaction data, including details of payments and donations.
  • Technical data such as your IP address when you browse our websites.
  • Communication preferences.
  • Any other information you provide us as above (“3 How is my personal information collected?”).

5) Youth Music’s websites use cookies and collect IP addresses

Cookies are small pieces of information stored by your internet browser on to your computer or mobile device when you visit our websites. Like most website providers, Youth Music uses cookies and these collect information and identify you – please see our Cookies Notice for further information.

6) How and why will Youth Music use my personal information?

Youth Music will use your personal information for purposes specified in this Policy. In particular, including:

  • for "service administration purposes", which means that Youth Music may contact you for reasons related to the service you have signed up for (e.g. to provide you with password reminders or to notify you that a particular service has been suspended for maintenance);
  • to provide you with information or support;
  • to administer grants (as further explained in our Grantholder Privacy Notice);
  • to contact you about a submission you have made to the websites, including any content you provide.
  • to personalise the way Youth Music content is presented to you 
  • IP addresses are used to identify the location of users, the number of visits from different countries and also to block disruptive use; and
  • to analyse and improve the services offered on Youth Music websites e.g. to provide you with the most user-friendly navigation experience, and to administer our websites.
  • to enable us to review, develop and improve the products, services and special offers online.
  • to occasionally carry out market research.
  • to send you details of Youth Music’s work, activities, promotions, products, services, special offers and rewards that we think will be of interest to you. It's up to you to decide whether or not you want to receive this information.
  • to process donations.
  • to communicate with you in general and to manage relationships with our supporters and stakeholders.
  • to audit and administer our accounts.
  • to satisfy legal and regulatory obligations, and for the prevention of fraud or misuse of services.
  • for the establishment, defence and/ or enforcement of legal claims.

Where Youth Music proposes using your personal information for any other uses we will ensure that we notify you first. You will also be given the opportunity to withhold or withdraw your consent for your use other than as listed above.

7) When and how will Youth Music contact me?

Youth Music may contact you for a number of different purposes using the contact details you have provided. The basis on which we do so differs depending on the purpose of the communication, and specifically whether it is a marketing communication or not.

Marketing communications

We may use your contact details to provide you with information about our work and campaigns which we consider may be of interest to you. Where we do so by email we will obtain your consent to do so (which can be withdrawn) – for example, if you sign up to receive newsletters from our website. Where we do so by post, we are doing so on the basis of our legitimate interests, unless you opt-out.

Generally, we send the following types of marketing communications:

  • Updates about our work or the work of partner organisations and projects that we support.
  • Campaigns and fundraising appeals.
  • Information about events. Note that if you sign up to an event we will then send you administrative communications about the event. On occasion we may also send you a reminder about the same event in future years in case you want to participate in it again.
  • Surveys about Youth Music’s services (participation is always voluntary).

​You control how we use your personal information for these purposes, and can update your preferences at any time – please contact us at data@youthmusic.org.uk if you would like to do so.

If you opt out of these communications we may retain some appropriate information to enable us to comply with the request not to be contacted in the future.

Administrative and other communications

We will communicate with you using the contact details you have provided for essential administrative and other non-marketing purposes, such as to respond to queries, administer a donation or provide you with services or information you have requested, or contact you about an event you are attending, or for research purposes.

Note that we may still need to communicate with you for these purposes even where you have opted-out of receiving marketing communications from us.

8) Will Youth Music share my personal information with anyone else?

Generally, we will only use your personal information within Youth Music and share with third parties to the extent required to achieve the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We require these third parties to respect and safeguard your personal information and only in accordance with our instructions.

Those third parties may include:

  • consultants.
  • suppliers and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we have with them – for example for IT services such as website hosting
  • insurers and professional service providers such as accountants and lawyers
  • financial companies that collect or process donations on our behalf, and external fundraising platforms
  • regulatory authorities, such as HMRC. 

We also reserve the right to disclose your information to third parties for their own purposes in some cases. For example:

  • If we sell or buy all or part of a business, in which case we may disclose it to the potential seller or buyer.
  • If we are under a legal or regulatory duty to do so.
  • To protect the rights, property and/ or safety of the charity, its personnel, supporters, users or others (including you).

9) Protecting your personal information

We take appropriate and proportionate measures to keep your personal information secure and to prevent the loss, destruction or misuse of it. For example, information is stored on a secure server and can only be accessed by authorised personnel.

Please note that the transmission of information via the internet is never completely secure, and although we do our best to protect it, we cannot guarantee the security of personal information transmitted over the internet.

Generally, the personal information we collect is stored at a destination within the UK or European Union. We use agencies and/ or suppliers to process personal information on our behalf and so personal information may therefore be transferred, stored, or accessed outside the UK or EU. In these cases we take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place (for example, by entering into an agreement approved by the European Commission for this purpose).

10) Children aged 16 or under

As a grant funding organisation, we do not directly collect information from under-16s. However, due to the nature of our work many beneficiaries of our partner organisations are children. Where that information is collected and shared with us, we will always have in place appropriate safeguards and any necessary consent. Where possible and appropriate (for example where using personal information for case studies), we or our partners will also seek consent from a parent or guardian for those under 16.

Users of our services, such as our Network, are asked to confirm that they are over 16 years of age when signing up and creating an account and we require parental or guardian consent for those under 16 – we may carry out checks to ensure this has happened.

11) How long will Youth Music keep my personal information?

We will hold your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purpose(s) for which it is being held, and to satisfy any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. This length of time may vary depending on those purposes, and if you would like further information please contact us (see details below).

In general terms, we keep contact information for three years following the last contact or engagement for marketing/ fundraising contact.

12) Our legal basis for collecting and using your personal information

The law requires us to have one or more of the 6 lawful grounds to collect and use your personal information. The following are relevant to the purposes set out above:

  1. Where you have given your consent (for example, to receive marketing emails and text messages). This consent can be withdrawn.
  2. Where there is a contract and the use is necessary for the performance of the contract or to take steps at your request prior to entering into it (though the majority of our relationships are voluntary).
  3. Where there is a legal obligation. For example, to share your personal information with HMRC to process Gift Aid.
  4. Where it is in your/somebody else’s vital interests (for example in the case of a medical emergency suffered at an event).
  5. Where Youth Music or others have a “legitimate interest” in the collection and use. The law allows personal information to be collected and used if it is necessary for a legitimate interest – ours are set out here in general terms.

    Sometimes it is not practical to ask for consent and we will rely on this legal basis. Where these situations relate to marketing and fundraising, note that you can change your preferences by contacting us (see details below).

    We consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights when relying on this ground.

What are Youth Music’s legitimate interests?

Where we rely on legitimate interests, depending on the activity those might be Youth Music’s interests or those of a partner organisation.

These legitimate interests, ultimately, are in the running of a commercial entity in pursuit of our charitable objectives, and include the following:

  • Charity governance, including delivery of our purposes, statutory and financial reporting and other regulatory compliance.
  • Administration and operational management, including responding to solicited enquires, providing information, research, donor due diligence, events management, the administration of our projects and employment and recruitment requirements.
  • Fundraising, marketing and campaigning, including administering campaigns and donations, and sending direct marketing by post (and in some cases making marketing calls).
  • Providing our services, and this can include your interests, such as when you have requested information or services from us, or the interests of beneficiaries.

13) Can I find out what personal information Youth Music holds about me?

You can contact us asking what personal information Youth Music holds about you and to request a copy. Once we are satisfied with your identity and that the right applies we will have 30 days to comply.

14) Your privacy rights

In addition to the right of access, you have a number of rights in relation to our use of your personal information. These include the right:

  • to withdraw consent – where we are relying on your consent to use your personal information, you can withdraw that consent at any time.
  • to object to processing (use) – you have the right to object where we are (i) relying on the legal basis of our legitimate interests (ii) using your personal information to send direct marketing or (iii) using it for statistical purposes.
  • to erasure – in some cases, you can ask us to delete your personal information from our records (or anonymise it). We may retain some (limited) information in order to ensure you are not contacted by us in the future.
  • to restrict processing – instead of deletion, you may ask us to restrict our use of your personal information if there is disagreement about its accuracy or legitimate usage.
  • to rectification – if you believe our records concerning you are inaccurate, you can ask us to update them. You can ask us to check the personal information we hold about you if you are unsure.
  • to ‘data portability’ – this means that, where we are processing your personal information using automated means on the basis of consent, or to perform a contract, you can ask us to transfer it to you or another service provider in a usable format.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us (details below) with an explanation of the rights you wish to exercise. Note that we may ask for proof of ID or further information.

These rights only apply in limited circumstances. If you would like more information, you can contact us (details below) or consult guidance from the Information Commissioner (the UK regulator) here - https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/

Contact us (including complaints)

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our use of your personal information please let us know by contacting us in one of the following ways:

Angela Linton, Chief Operating Officer

By post: Youth Music, Studio LG01, The Print Rooms, 164-180 Union Street, London, SE1 0LH 

By email: data@youthmusic.org.uk

By phone: 020 7902 1095

You are entitled to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK regulator for data privacy – www.ico.org.uk/global/contact-us. We are always grateful for the opportunity to resolve your concerns before you feel the need to speak to the ICO.