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Samaritan’s Purse
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Privacy Notice

Samaritan’s Purse International UK Privacy Notice

 

Samaritan’s Purse International Ltd (“we”, “our”, “us”, “SPI UK”) is committed to keeping your personal information safe and meeting our responsibilities under privacy law. Given that your personal information can be used to identify you, we want you to be confident that we are using it responsibly.

This Privacy Notice gives you detailed information about why and when we collect your personal information when you use our website (https://www.samaritanspurse.org.uk/) and other services, how we use your personal information, how we keep it secure, and how you can let us know if you would like us to change how we manage it.

1. Who we are

Samaritan’s Purse International Ltd is a registered charity within England and Wales (1001349), and in Scotland (SC039251), and an incorporated company registered by guarantee in England and Wales (2462257). We are a nondenominational evangelical Christian organisation providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The organisation serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

If you have questions regarding your personal information or its use, please contact us using the details set out in the ‘Contact us’ section below.

 

2. What personal information we may hold about you

Personal information is any information that relates to an individual. It does not include information where the identity of the individual has been fully and effectively removed (anonymous data). 

We may collect the following personal information about you: 

  • Identification information, such as your name;
  • Contact information, such as your email address, telephone number or home address;
  • Age and gender information;
  • Financial information, such as payment card details, billing address and donation information;
  • Application information, such as the information you provide in applying for an employment, volunteer position or occasional volunteering at SPI UK (please note that, in relation to employment or volunteer positions, further information will also be collected and processed in accordance with SPI UK’s separate Privacy Notice, as detailed below); any other information you provide us in the course of our interactions with you. 

If you contact us, we may keep a record of our interaction with you, as well as your name and contact details. 

When you access our website, we also collect information about your computer, including, where available, your IP address, operating system, and browser type. We do this for system administration purposes, including to analyse trends and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use so that we can improve the site, and deliver customised, personalised content.

Occasional Volunteering and Volunteer Positions

Occasional volunteering refers to informal, ad-hoc support provided without compensation by individuals who assist with one-off or short-term activities (such as shoebox packing and processing). These individuals are not subject to a formal volunteer recruitment or onboarding process. Any personal data collected via our website from those expressing interest in occasional volunteering is processed solely for coordination, communication, and safeguarding purposes, in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

A volunteer position refers to a more formal unpaid role that may involve specific responsibilities and training. Individuals applying for a volunteer position are subject to a structured volunteer recruitment and onboarding process, including reference checks and safeguarding procedures. Personal data provided during this process is not collected via our website, and is instead managed directly by our Human Resources (HR) team. A separate Privacy Notice outlining how such data is processed will be provided by HR at the appropriate stage of the onboarding process.

Sensitive Personal Information

Under data protection legislation, certain personal information is considered more ‘sensitive’ (e.g., information relating to race, ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data (where used for identification purposes), health data, sex life, sexual orientation, and criminal offence data).

We may collect the following sensitive personal information about you:

  • Information about religious or philosophical beliefs. 

 

3. Where we obtain your personal information

We collect and retain personal information about you that you have given us in different ways, for example where you:

  • Make a donation or purchase order;
  • Register for or attend an event;
  • Register for occasional volunteering;
  • Request information and/or resources about our ministry and programs;
  • Participate in our surveys and research;
  • Use our website;
  • Create an account on our website;
  • Subscribe to our mailing lists;
  • Contact us via email, phone, in person or by post;
  • Complete an application form for occasional volunteering.

We may collect personal information about you from third parties, including:

  • Partners we work with (such as social media platforms and networks that share or allow you to share information with us);
  • From our existing staff, volunteers, workers, contacts, as part of our ‘Invite a Friend’ feature, which invites people to participate in events for occasional volunteering at SPI UK.  By sharing someone else's personal information, by using our website, you confirm that you have their permission to do so and that you have informed them of the SPI UK Privacy Notice;
  • Any other third parties where we have consent to use your personal information.

 

4. How we use your personal information

We may use your personal information to:

  • Enable you to access and make use of our ministry services;
  • Facilitate any transactions you wish to make with us, including donations;
  • Organise and manage events;
  • Conduct surveys;
  • Send you updates and information about SPI UK, our ministry and events we organise, or other services that we think might be of interest to you;
  • Contact you regarding fundraising events;
  • Contact you with important information relating to an event that you’ve booked;
  • Comply with your requests;
  • Learn from your experiences and feedback to develop our work;
  • Maintain the accuracy and relevance of our database;
  • Protect SPI UK against error, fraud, theft and damage to our property;
  • Comply with applicable laws and regulatory requirements.

Direct marketing

Where you have provided consent, we will send you any email/mail marketing, newsletters or other communications about topics and events which we think might interest you. 

We might also send you e-mail marketing, newsletters or other communications about topics and events which we might think interest you in other circumstances, including where you have expressed an interest in one or more of our charitable purposes or have offered or are offering support to further one of our charitable purposes. In these cases, we will always give you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving these communications at the time that we collect your information.

Irrespective of the circumstances in which we send these communications to you, you may unsubscribe from our email communications by following the instructions in any email that we send you, or you can withdraw your consent and request us to remove your personal information at any time by emailing us using the details in the “Contact Us” section below.

 

5. Our lawful bases

We will only use personal information when the law allows us to (i.e., where we have a ‘lawful basis’). Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances: 

  • Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests;
  • Where you have provided your consent;
  • Where the processing is carried out in the course of our legitimate activities, with appropriate safeguards, as a not-for-profit body with a religious aim;
  • Where it is necessary for the performance of a contract with you;
  • Where it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation (for example, reporting to HM Revenue and Customs or the Charity Commission).

We do not carry out any automated decision-making using personal information which produces legal effects or otherwise significantly affects individuals. 

 

6. Retaining your personal information 

We will not keep personal information for longer than necessary, and the appropriate retention period will vary according to the intended purpose for which we collected the personal information. 

The criteria we use to determine the retention period of personal information are: 

  • The respective statutory retention period;
  • Our contractual and/or business relationships with you;
  • Potential disputes;
  • Any guidelines issued by relevant regulators. After expiration of the retention period, the relevant information is routinely deleted, as long as it is no longer necessary for the fulfillment of a contract, the initiation of a contract or to protect or defend our position or that of a third party. If you have any questions about our retention periods, please contact us using the details in the “Contact Us” section below. 

 

7. How we process and share your personal information 

SPI UK is the data controller for the personal information we collect and process. We may share your personal information with third parties, including the following:

  • with our ministry partners around the world, including Samaritan’s Purse International Headquarters or the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in the United States;
  • with contractors, suppliers, or other third parties that provide services on our behalf (such as organisations that allow us to communicate with our donors, including instant and text messages platforms, website host providers and third-party advertisement companies);
  • as part of a sale, merger or acquisition, or other transfer of all or part of our assets including as part of a bankruptcy proceeding;
  • pursuant to a subpoena, court order, or other legal process or as otherwise required or requested by law, regulation, or government authority programs, or to protect our rights or the rights or safety of third parties;
  • with our professional advisors, lawyers, accountants and auditors; or
  • with your consent or as otherwise disclosed at the time of data collection or sharing.

We use a customer relationship management system (CRM) hosted and operated by Samaritan’s Purse International Headquarters in the United States, which acts as a data processor under our instruction. Samaritan’s Purse International Headquarters in the United States does not use personal data for its own purposes without explicit permission and controls implemented by SPI UK.

 

8. International data transfers

In some cases, and as noted above, we may transfer your personal information out of the UK (for example to our partners located abroad and/or to service providers that are located or store data in other jurisdictions). Where we do this, we take steps to ensure that your information is protected in accordance with appropriate safeguards. In particular, we will rely on the appropriate safeguards under data protection legislation, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement entered into by us and the overseas recipient, or where the Secretary of State has permitted the free flow of data to the relevant jurisdiction.

 

9. How we keep your personal information safe

To protect your privacy, we make sure your personal information is kept securely and disclosed only to relevant organisations or representatives who need to access it to perform their roles. While we seek to use appropriate organisational, technical and administrative measures to protect personal information within our organisation, unfortunately no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contact us” section below.

 

10. Your rights 

Under certain privacy laws, you have rights relating to your personal information. You may have a right to the following:

  • to request access to the personal information we hold about you;
  • to request that we rectify or erase your personal information;
  • to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information;
  • to object to our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;
  • under certain circumstances, to ask us to transfer personal information to you or to a third party; and
  • where we previously obtained your consent, to withdraw consent to processing your personal information.

To exercise these rights, contact us via the “Contact us” section below. Please be aware that we may be unable to comply with your requests, example if we are legally prevented from doing so or can rely on exemptions.

Additionally, you have the right to lodge a complaint against us, which you can do by contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk/concerns. 

 

11. Other websites 

Our website contains links to other websites. Please note that when you click on one of these links, you are accessing another website for which we have no responsibility (even if you access the website via a link to one of our websites). We encourage you to read the privacy notices on all such websites. 

 

12. Cookies

Our website uses cookies to enhance your experience while using the site. Cookies are pieces of information that some websites transfer to the computer or device that is browsing that website and are used by many websites for record-keeping. SPI UK uses the following cookies:

  • Essential cookies, which are necessary to provide the services, applications or resources you request from us;
  • Functional and performance cookies, which enhance our website’s features and help us to improve our website by collecting aggregated information about how you interact with our site (these cookies are optional); and
  • Advertising cookies, which are set by our advertising partners to provide behavioural advertising and re-marketing analytical data (these cookies are optional). 

 

13. Updates to this Notice

This Notice may change from time to time – for example, to take into account changes at SPI UK or to reflect changes in regulation or legislation. It was last updated on 4 of August 2025. 

Updates to this Notice will be posted on this page – please check back from time to time. We will also use reasonable efforts to inform you of any significant changes by email where appropriate.

 

14. Contact us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Notice or the way in which we handle your personal information, please email us at info@samaritans-purse.org.uk.

You can also contact us at the following address: 

For the attention of the Data Protection Officer 

Samaritan's Purse International Limited

Richardson Way

Cross Point Business Park

Coventry CV2 2TA