Who We Are
BUDS-UK (Batticaloa Underprivileged Development Society – United Kingdom) is a charity registered in England and Wales under charity number 1081305. Our registered address is 98 Kings Road, Harrow, HA2 9JQ, United Kingdom. For any privacy-related enquiries, contact secretary@budsuk.org.
What Information We Collect
- Contact details you provide via forms — name, email address, phone number, postal address.
- Donation information — amount, date, programme of choice, and Gift Aid declaration where applicable. Card details are processed by our payment provider and never stored on our servers.
- Volunteer enquiries — skills, availability, and references where provided.
- Correspondence — emails, letters, and messages you send to us.
- Technical data — IP address, browser type, device type, and pages visited (via standard server logs and privacy-respecting analytics).
How We Use Your Information
- To process and acknowledge donations, including claiming Gift Aid from HMRC where eligible.
- To respond to enquiries, volunteer applications, and partnership requests.
- To send programme updates, newsletters, and event invitations — only where you have opted in.
- To meet our legal obligations to the Charity Commission, HMRC, and other regulators.
- To safeguard our work — for example, checking for suspicious activity or fraud.
Legal Basis for Processing
We process your data under one or more of the following lawful bases under UK GDPR: (a) your consent, (b) the performance of a contract or your request, (c) compliance with a legal obligation, or (d) our legitimate interests as a charity, balanced against your rights.
How We Share Your Information
- Payment processors — to securely take card and PayPal donations.
- HMRC — to claim Gift Aid on eligible donations.
- Independent examiner / auditor — for accounts review where legally required.
- IT and email service providers acting on our instructions and bound by confidentiality.
We will never
- Sell your personal data to third parties.
- Share your data with commercial marketers.
- Pass donor lists to other charities.
How Long We Keep Your Data
- Gift Aid records: retained for a minimum of 6 years after the end of the tax year (HMRC requirement).
- Donation records: typically 7 years for accounting and audit purposes.
- Mailing list contacts: until you unsubscribe.
- General enquiries: up to 2 years.
Your Rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
- Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Ask us to delete your data, where there is no overriding legal reason to retain it.
- Ask us to restrict or object to processing.
- Withdraw consent at any time for processing based on consent.
- Lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
Security
We use industry-standard security measures to protect personal data. The website is served over HTTPS. Donation payments are processed by PCI-DSS compliant providers. Access to personal data within BUDS-UK is restricted to trustees and authorised volunteers on a need-to-know basis.
Cookies
Our website uses a small number of cookies. See our Cookie Policy for full details.
Changes to This Policy
We review this policy at least annually. Updates will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.