Privacy Policy

INTRODUCTION

We want everyone who supports us, or who comes to us for support, to feel confident and comfortable with how we look after your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and store your personal information. Personal information means any information that could identify you.

Who we are

In this policy, whenever you see the words ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’, it refers to the Matthew’s Friends Ketogenic Dietary Therapies organisation, which is made up of our registered charity and our KetoCollege training programme.

Your acceptance of this policy

By using our websites, social media pages, entering a competition or providing your information you consent to our collection and use of the information you provide in the way(s) set out in this policy. If you do not agree to this policy please do not use our sites, social media pages or services.

Changes to this privacy statement

We regularly review our privacy statement. Any updates will be posted on our website and will apply from when they are updated on the website. Supporters that we are in contact with will be informed if there are major changes.

This privacy policy was last updated on 17 February 2025.

HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

Everything we do, we do to ensure that we can help people using Ketogenic Dietary Therapies get support. We want to make sure you receive the communications that are most relevant to you, be it through visiting our website or receiving emails, post or phone calls. We want to make sure you receive the best attention when you book on an event, join our forums or make a donation.

We collect information from you in the following ways:

When you interact with us directly: This could be if you ask us about our activities, register with us for training or an event, make a donation to us, ask a question about the Ketogenic Diet, purchase something, complete a survey providing feedback on our services, apply for a job or volunteering opportunity or otherwise provide us with your personal information. This includes when you phone us, visit our website, make a purchase from our shop, or get in touch through the post, or in person.

When you interact with us through partners or suppliers working on our behalf: This could be if you access a service which is delivered through a trusted organisation working on our behalf and always under our instruction.

When you interact with us through third parties: This could be if you provide a donation through a third party such as Just Giving or one of the other third parties that we work with.

When you visit our website: We gather general information which might include which pages you visit most often and which services, events or information is of most interest to you. We may also track which pages you visit when you click on links in emails from us.

We use this information to personalise the way our website is presented when you visit to make improvements and to ensure we provide the best service and experience for you. Wherever possible we use anonymous information which does not identify individual visitors to our website.

From other information that is available to the public: In order to tailor our communications with you to your background and interests we may collect information about you from publicly available sources.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND WHY WE USE IT

Personal Information

Personal information we collect includes details such as your name, date of birth, email address, postal address, telephone number and credit/debit card details (if you are making a purchase or donation), as well as information you provide in any communications between us. It may include IP addresses and other technical identifying information.

You will have given us this information while making a donation, registering for an event, placing an order on our website or any of the other ways to interact with us.

We will mainly use this information:

To process your donations or other payments, to claim Gift Aid on your donations and verify any financial transactions.

To provide the services or goods that you have requested.

To update you with important administrative messages about your donation, an event or services or goods you have requested.

To comply with the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 and follow the recommendations of the official regulator of charities, the Charity Commission, which require us to identify and verify the identity of supporters who make major gifts so we can assess any risks associated with accepting their donations.

If you do not provide this information, we will not be able to process your donation, sign you up for a particular event or provide goods and services you have requested.

To keep a record of your relationship with us.

Where you volunteer with us, to administer the volunteering arrangement.

We may also use your personal information:

To contact you about our work and how you can support Matthews Friends (see section 8 on ‘Marketing’ below for further information).

To invite you to participate in surveys or research.

Sensitive Personal Information

Data Protection Law recognises that some categories of personal information are more sensitive. Sensitive Personal Information can include information about a person’s health, race, ethnic origin, political opinions, sex life, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

For example, If you contact our keto support line we may record the following.

Your interests in Ketogenic Dietary Therapy and what affects you in your daily life. This helps us to monitor the demand for our services. It also helps us to plan the future content of our information booklets, fact sheets and web pages.
Your age, epilepsy/medical condition status and ethnicity. This helps us to identify trends in the range of people using our services and to plan improved access to them.
Information about your condition and Ketogenic Diet and the way it impacts on your day-to-day life.
Information like your age and your personal experiences, to help us to match your story with media enquiries or our campaigns. If you share your personal experience or the experiences of a friend or relative, we may also collect this health information

If you provide us with any Sensitive Personal Information by telephone, email or by other means, we will treat that information with extra care and confidentiality and always in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We will ask for your explicit consent to record and process sensitive information. If you provide us with any Sensitive Personal Information by telephone, email or by other means, we will treat that information with extra care and confidentiality and always in accordance with this Privacy Policy

We have legally-backed reasons for collecting sensitive data. It helps us to achieve one or more of our charitable aims. None of this data will be used in a way that could harm you as an individual.

We will not pass on your details to anyone else without your explicit consent except in exceptional circumstances. Examples of this might include anyone reporting serious self-harm or posing a threat to others or children contacting us and sharing serious issues such as physical abuse or exploitation.

Information about Children and Young People

We sometimes receive limited data about children if they decide to fundraise for us, and we will collect data about children for events we organise specifically for young people or where they agree to volunteer for us. Wherever possible, we will ask for consent from parents to collect information about children and young people under the age of 16.

PROFILING

We may use profiling and screening techniques to ensure communications are relevant and well timed. We may also use them to provide an improved experience for our supporters. Profiling also allows us to target our resources effectively. We do this because it allows us to understand the background of the people who support us. This helps us to make appropriate requests to supporters who may be able and willing to give more than they already do. It also helps us to raise more funds, sooner, and more cost-effectively, than we otherwise would.

When building a profile we may analyse geographic, demographic and other information relating to you. This is so we can understand your interests and preferences better in order to contact you with the most relevant communications. In doing this, we may use additional information from third-party sources when it is available.

This information can be appended to the information that you have provided which allows us to use our resources more effectively by better understanding the background of our supporters and making appropriate requests based on what may interest them and their capacity to give.

You can of course opt out of this activity at any time. To do this, email enq@matthewsfriends.org, for the attention of Julie Fountain CEO with the subject line ‘Please stop analysis of my data’ or by contacting our office on 01342 836571.

LEGAL BASIS FOR USING YOUR INFORMATION

Data Protection Act principles require Matthew’s Friends to process personal data fairly and lawfully. We will offer you choices about the way you are contacted. We will also be clear about how we will use your information. We will make sure that the reason for collecting information is lawful.

As required by law, Matthew’s Friends has informed the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) why we collect and process data.

We only hold data about you that is enough for our purpose, nothing more.

We only hold personal data as long as necessary.

However, we may need to keep personal data from you even if you have requested no further contact. This is so that we can make sure we don’t contact you about an activity. For example, it means we won’t include you when we send promotional communications to people in a particular geographic area.

We have systems in place to safeguard your personal data. Access to written and electronic personal data is restricted and has a level of security depending on the sensitivity of the data. No sensitive data linked to a person’s name or address is taken off-site from our offices unless it is either password protected or encrypted.

Matthew’s Friends websites do not use Cookies

MARKETING

If you have given us permission to contact you about ketogenic news and information, our work or ways to support us, we will make sure that you can opt out of receiving marketing communications. At the first reasonable opportunity, you will be offered the chance to opt out of hearing from Matthew’s Friends. You will be able to say ‘no’ to contact by mail, telephone, text or email.

If at a later date you complete another form, giving different contact preferences, we will use those you have given most recently.

Every time we contact you in the future we will give you the chance to update your communication preferences.

Note on email marketing

Email messages are also covered by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. Every time your email address is recorded, you will be offered email updates. You will have to tick a box to agree to your details being used for marketing emails.

Also, any marketing emails sent by Matthew’s Friends will include the opportunity to unsubscribe from future emails.

You can also update your choices or stop us sending you these communications at any time by contacting enq@matthewsfriends.org . for the attention of Julie Fountain CEO. Please note that when you update your communication preferences it can take up to 28 days to take effect across all of our systems.

SHARING YOUR INFORMATION

The personal information we collect about you will mainly be used by our staff (and volunteers) so that they can support you.

We will never sell or share your personal information with organisations so that they can contact you for any marketing activities. Nor do we sell any information about your web browsing activity.

We may however share your information with our trusted partners and suppliers who work with us or on our behalf to deliver our services, but processing of this information is always carried out under our instruction. We make sure that they store the data securely, delete it when they no longer need it and never use it for any other purposes. Some examples of where we may share your information are with our fulfilment partners who help to create and send information to you to reduce our costs, with our partners who help us to process donations and claim Gift Aid and our partners who help us to manage our social media accounts.

We enter into contracts with these service providers that require them to comply with Data Protection Laws and ensure that they have appropriate controls in place to secure your information.

Legal disclosure

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law (for example, to comply with applicable laws, regulations and codes of practice or in response to a valid request from a competent authority); or, in order to enforce our conditions of sale and other agreements.

KEEPING YOUR INFORMATION SAFE

We take looking after your information very seriously. We’ve implemented appropriate physical, technical and organisational measures to protect the personal information we have under our control, both on and off-line, from improper access, use, alteration, destruction and loss.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information using the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information sent to us this way, we cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to our site.

Our websites may contain links to other sites. While we try to link only to sites that share our high standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the content, or the privacy practices employed by other sites. Please be aware that advertisers or Web sites that have links on our site may collect personally identifiable information about you. This privacy statement does not cover the information practices of those websites or advertisers.

Any debit or credit card details which we receive on our website are passed securely through JustGiving or PayPal our payment processing partners, according to the Payment Card Industry Security Standards.

HOW LONG WE HOLD YOUR INFORMATION FOR

We only keep it as long as is reasonable and necessary for the relevant activity, which may be to fulfil statutory obligations (for example, the collection of Gift Aid).

YOUR RIGHTS

You have various rights in respect of the personal information we hold about you – these are set out in more detail below. If you wish to exercise any of these rights or make a complaint, you can do so by contacting Julie Fountain CEO at julie@matthewsfriends.org. .You can also make a complaint to the data protection supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office, https://ico.org.uk/

Access to your personal information: You have the right to request access to a copy of the personal information that we hold about you, along with information on what personal information we use, why we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it for and whether it has been used for any automated decision making. You can make a request for access free of charge. Please make all requests for access in writing and provide us with evidence of your identity.
Right to object: You can object to our processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes. Please contact us as noted above, providing details of your objection.
Consent: If you have given us your consent to use personal information (for example, for marketing), you can withdraw your consent at any time.
Rectification: You can ask us to change or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal information held about you.
Erasure: You can ask us to delete your personal information where it is no longer necessary for us to use it, or you have withdrawn consent, or where we have no lawful basis for keeping it.
Portability: You can ask us to provide you or a third party with some of the personal information that we hold about you in a structured, commonly used, electronic form, so it can be easily transferred.
Restriction: You can ask us to restrict the personal information we use about you where you have asked for it to be erased or where you have objected to our use of it.
No automated decision making: Automated decision-making takes place when an electronic system uses personal information to make a decision without human intervention. You have the right not to be subject to automated decisions that will create legal effects or have a similar significant impact on you, unless you have given us your consent, it is necessary for a contract between you and us or is otherwise permitted by law. You also have certain rights to challenge decisions made about you. We do not currently carry out any automated decision-making.

Please note, some of these rights only apply in certain circumstances, where one of your rights does not apply, we will communicate the reason to you.

MONITORING

Your communications with our teams (including by telephone or email) may be monitored and/or recorded for training, quality control and compliance purposes to ensure that we continuously improve our customer service standards.

To find out more about this policy and how we look after your personal information contact Julie Fountain, julie@matthewsfriends.org.