Privacy Notice
How Horizons looks after your personal information. Last updated 25 August 2026.
Who we are
Horizons is run by Horizons Community Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 10600381, registered office 33 Glasshouse Street, London, W1B 5RT). We operate horizons.org.
We are the “controller” of the personal information described in this notice, which means we decide how and why it is used. If you have any questions about this notice or your information, contact Victoria, Chief Operating Officer: victoria@horizons.org.
The information we collect
We only collect what we need, and you’ll always know when you’re giving it to us:
- When you contact us: your name, contact details, and whatever you include in your message.
- When you join our mailing list: your name and email address.
- When you register for our activities or events: your name, contact details, and anything we need to run the activity safely, such as emergency contacts and any dietary or access needs you choose to tell us about.
- When you volunteer with us: your contact details, availability, references, and, where the role requires it, right-to-work or DBS check information.
- When you donate or pay us: your name, contact details, and payment details (card payments are handled by our payment provider — we never see or store full card numbers), plus Gift Aid declarations if you make one.
- When you apply to work with us: your application, CV, and references.
- When you visit our website: basic technical data (such as IP address and browser type) in our host’s server logs, used for security. See Cookies below.
Children. Where children take part in our activities, we collect their details from a parent or guardian, and only what we need to run the activity safely.
How we use it, and our legal grounds
UK data protection law requires us to have a legal ground for each use. Ours are:
| What we do | Legal ground |
|---|---|
| Run the activities, events, and services you’ve signed up for | Performing our contract with you |
| Reply to your enquiries and manage our day-to-day relationships | Our legitimate interest in running Horizons |
| Send you our newsletter and updates | Your consent to unsubscribe any time via the link in every email or by contacting us |
| Collect dietary, access, or health details to run activities safely | Your explicit consent |
| Keep financial, Gift Aid, and employment records | Our legal obligations (HMRC, Companies Act, employment law) |
| Keep our website and systems secure | Our legitimate interest in security |
We do not sell your information, and we do not make automated decisions about you a person is always involved in any decision that affects you.
Who we share it with
We share personal information only with:
- Service providers who work for us: our website host, our email and document tools (Google Workspace), our newsletter provider, and our payroll and accountancy providers. They may only use your information on our instructions, under contracts that protect it. If you’d like to know which specific companies we use, just ask.
- Authorities: HMRC and others where the law requires it.
- Professional advisers: where we need their advice.
Some of our providers store information outside the UK (for example, in the EU or the US). When they do, the transfer is protected by UK-approved safeguards: either the UK’s adequacy arrangements (including the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework) or approved contract terms.
How long we keep it
Only as long as we need it. Our main periods:
| Information | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Enquiries and correspondence | 2 years from our last contact |
| Mailing list | Until you unsubscribe (or 2 years of inactivity) |
| Activity and event registrations | 2 years after the activity |
| Donations, Gift Aid, and other financial records | 6 years (required by law) |
| Unsuccessful job applications | 6 months after the decision |
| Staff and volunteer records | Up to 6 years after leaving (required for legal and tax reasons) |
After that, we delete or anonymise the information.
Your rights
You have the right to:
- access a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
- correct anything that’s inaccurate or incomplete;
- delete your information, in certain circumstances;
- restrict or object to how we use it: including an absolute right to stop us sending you marketing;
- withdraw consent at any time, where consent is our legal ground; and
- receive the information you gave us in a portable format, in certain circumstances.
To use any of these rights, contact victoria@horizons.org. It’s free, and we’ll respond within one month. We may need to check your identity first.
If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, please tell us so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the UK regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office: ico.org.uk, 0303 123 1113, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Cookies
Our website uses only essential cookies: small files needed to make the site work. We don’t use them to track you, and we don’t use analytics or advertising cookies. Because they’re essential, we don’t need to ask your permission to set them.
Changes to this notice
We’ll update this notice when our practices change, and show the date at the top. Significant changes will be highlighted on our website.