WHT– Alumni and Supporters Privacy Notice

The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust is the largest philanthropic scholarship programme at the University of Oxford.  Since 2007 it’s mission has been to enable early career professionals from emerging and developing economies to pursue graduate study at the one of the World’s leading Universities with an accompanying Leadership Programme which provides the skills, tools and global  network to  enable alumni to return to their home countries and regions and make a difference.  WHT has relied upon friends and benefactors to help realise this mission. WHT is committed to maintaining your confidence and trust with respect to your privacy and to be transparent about what data we are collecting about you, where that data comes from, how we use the information we hold about you.

As a partner of the University of Oxford the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust has endeavoured to ensure that its privacy notice is in line with that of the University.

Information the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust Collects:

WHT collects information directly from you during your ongoing relationship with us or via the University or Colleges or from publicly available sources.

The amount of data we collect, and hold depends on the frequency and nature of your interactions and engagement with us. Information may be gathered across the lifetime of our relationship with you and from many different forms of interaction.

We may hold and process the following types of personal data about you:

Biographical information, which may include:

  • Name, title, contact details, date of birth, gender, marital status, spouse, partner and family details.

  • For current students: student ID, programme of study, department, college, matriculation or start date, graduation date, degree conferred.

  • Awards received whilst studying at Oxford, other education history and professional qualifications.

  • Involvement in sports teams, clubs and societies whilst at Oxford and subsequently.

  • Employment details, career history, professional activities.

  • Interests, activities and accolades, incl. honours, life achievements.

  • Profile pictures which come from publicly accessible sources (where copyright allows).

  • Links to your public social media presence e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter, website or blog.

Details of our ongoing relationship and your engagement with us, which may include:

  • Records of your personal interactions with us (e.g. correspondence, notes of meetings or conversations).

  • Your communication preferences: records of communications you have received from us, (e.g. copies of letters, emails or newsletters sent, and of fundraising activities in which you have been included including attendance at dinners/events).

  • A record of offers of voluntary support you have made, e.g. offers of expertise, advice, mentoring, internships, coaching, accommodation/support for students visiting your area.

  • A record of volunteer work you have undertaken. 

Information about your giving, which may include:

  • Current and past donations and pledges, documentation relating to these donations and records of the Scholarships/Leadership Programme activities and Humanitas Visiting Professorships and activities you have supported.

  • Financial information required to process your donations.

  • Any requests you have made for anonymity in relation to your giving.

  • Thank-you letters, donor reports relating to gifts you have made, correspondence and notes of meetings.

  • Plans for activities and future interactions.

  • Your relationship to any relevant trusts, foundations and corporates, e.g. membership on board of trustees.

WHT use your personal data for the following purposes to support:

WHT alumni and supporter engagement

  • To manage our ongoing relationship with you and to provide a record of your interactions and contributions.

  • To offer and manage a varied programme of events tailored to your interests, including networking events, year reunions, regional meet ups, concerts, lectures.

  • To provide information on other opportunities at Oxford University or through other institutions which may be of relevance to your subject area or professional sector and which we believe that you may have an interest in attending or engaging in.

  • To keep you up to date with general news from the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust.

  • To provide you with information about WHT alumni benefits and services like online or face-to-face training.

  • To let you know of volunteering/mentoring opportunities including linking current scholarships with alumni or mentors for careers advice and internships or speaking opportunities.

  • To identify and profile potential volunteers/mentors, alumni ambassadors and event attendees.

  • To accept and process commercial revenue, e.g. for event tickets where applicable.

  • To undertake surveys and market research to develop and enhance the work of the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust.

  • To create classifications and groupings (manual or automated) in order to best direct engagement activities.

  • To analyse the success of our engagement activities, collect feedback, and manage complaints.

  • To ask you for your support for our fundraising programmes – Scholarships, Leadership Programme and Humanitas, always mindful of fundraising best practice.

  • To accept and process philanthropic revenue and to provide acknowledgement, recognition and stewardship of your gift according to your wishes. 

WHT Alumni and supporter donations, which may include:

  • Current and past donations and pledges, documentation relating to these and records of scholarships and Leadership Programme activities and Humanitas VPs supported.

  • Financial information required to process your gifts.

  • Any requests you have made for anonymity in relation to your donations.

  • Thank-you letters, donor reports relating to your donations and related correspondence and notes of meetings.

For reporting, management and governance

We may use your personal data for the purposes of operational reporting, to produce management information, and for other relevant purposes relating to the governance of WHT. We will use only the data required and, unless necessary, we will use anonymised or pseudonymised data.

In our external communications

With your permission, we may publish your name in our Annual Report, in donor/supporter listings, as part of a guest list, or we may work with you to create press releases or case studies to be included in our publications or on our website.

If you do not wish your data to be used in any of the ways listed above, or have any questions, please contact WHT.

Sensitive personal data held may include:

Health information, including any medical conditions - we may use health information provided by you or (for scholars the University/Colleges) so we can make reasonable adjustments to improve the service we are able to offer you (e.g. seating or access at an event, dietary requirements, provision of disabled parking, or allocation of accommodation ). With your permission, we may also hold health data to ensure our engagement with you is based on a suitable understanding of your circumstances.

How we share your data

We receive scholars/applicants’ data via the University and share this data within the collegiate University of Oxford or with third-parties working on our behalf as part of the Scholarship application process, and activities within the Scholarships and Leadership Programme. We will only do this in appropriate circumstances, by secure means, and with the relevant data sharing agreements in place. We do not, and will not, sell your data.

Third parties will only process your personal data on our instructions and where they have agreed to treat your data confidentially and to keep it secure. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes nor to keep your data after the processing is complete. All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies.

Whenever your information is shared, we will always seek to share the minimum amount of information necessary to fulfil the purpose, this includes the use of anonymised or pseudonymised data where that is sufficient.

Your data may be shared in the following ways:

Within the collegiate University of Oxford

For supporters we may share your data with the University Administration or with colleges and departments that make up the collegiate University. We will do this only where it is necessary in order to carry out any of the purposes listed in this privacy notice. For example, where the University is coordinating with one or more colleges to organise shared events to which you are invited; to manage and coordinate relationship management activities with you; to ensure your contact information is up-to-date, to distribute to the University or colleges any gifts received via WHT’s payment methods.

We benefit from a network of organisations and individuals who volunteer their support to WHT. We may share relevant data with them, in appropriate circumstances, by secure means, and with the relevant data sharing agreements in place. These may include:

Volunteers offering their expertise by serving on our boards or otherwise advising on or assisting with scholar or alumni or Trust activity.

Recognised University or college networks or other institutions, for example when they are helping to organise a dinner or host an event to which you are invited.

With partner organisations that accept gifts in support of the WHT Scholarships and Leadership Programme

Mailing houses, printers, event organisers or venues.

Organisations providing tools such as relationship- or event-management systems; databases and reporting/analysis tools; alumni networking or crowdfunding platforms; email or survey tools; payment services (e.g. direct debit, online donation processing).

How we protect your data

WHT takes precautions to safeguard your personal information against loss, theft and misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure and destruction through appropriate administrative, physical and technical security measures.

Where you have provided us with your credit or debit card information or bank account details, over the phone, or on a printed giving form, that data is stored securely and destroyed after your payment has been processed. Online donations are processed via our third-party payment service providers and your credit or debit card information is not collected or stored by us.

Transfers of your data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) - although most of the information we collect, store and process stays within the UK, some information could be transferred to countries outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) and this would only occur if in specific cases and if its security was guaranteed.

How long do we keep your data?

The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust considers its relationship with alumni and supporters to be life-long and we will retain much of your data indefinitely unless you request otherwise. When determining how long we should retain your personal data we take into consideration our legal obligations and tax or accounting rules. When we no longer need to retain personal information, we ensure it is securely disposed of. We may keep anonymised statistical data indefinitely, but you cannot be identified from such data.

We will only use your personal data where the law allows us to do so. We rely on the following legal bases for processing your personal data:

  • Where we have a legitimate interest to do so for purposes listed within this privacy notice. Where we use legitimate interest as the basis for our processing we have carefully considered each of the ways we process your data to ensure that we carry out our activities with a focus on the interests of our alumni and supporters, and in the most efficient and effective way.

  • Where we need to perform the contract we have entered into with you. Information processed for this purpose includes, but is not limited to, the information you provide when you register for an event, or to enable us to process a donation.

  • Where we are required to comply with our legal obligations, such as for: reclamation of Gift Aid on your donations; the Charity Commission or ICO; Survey; responses to the Charity Commission or ICO in relation to audits or official investigations; responses to FOI Requests, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

  • Where your consent is required, for example where sensitive personal data is recorded. You can withdraw your consent at any time, and we will stop any processing of your personal data requiring your consent

We will only process your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another related reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will seek your consent to use it for that new purpose. Please note that we may process your data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

If you want to exercise any legal rights in relation to your data by the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust please get in touch with the Scholarships and Leadership Programme Manager jane.baldwin@whtrust.org

We will seek to deal with your request without undue delay, and in any event in accordance with the requirements of the GDPR. Please note that we may keep a record of your communications to help us resolve any issues which you raise.