Maisha Foundation ITEN (“Maisha”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is a UK-registered charity supporting students in Iten, Kenya through education and athletics. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, what we rely on legally to do so, and how we look after it.
We are committed to protecting your privacy and being transparent about how we use your information.
1. Who we are
Maisha Foundation ITEN is a registered charity in England and Wales.
- Registered address: 15 Rodney Road, Backwell, Bristol, BS48 3HR
- Contact email: info@maisha-iten.org
- Website: www.maisha-iten.org
If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, please contact us at the email above.
2. What information we collect, and why
We collect personal information in a few different ways, depending on how you interact with us:
a) When you donate or fundraise for us
- Names and contact details (email, postal address if given)
- Payment or banking details (handled securely by our payment provider — we do not store card details ourselves)
- Donation history and amount
- Tax payer information, where you ask us to claim Gift Aid
We do not process or store your card details ourselves. Payments are handled securely by our donation platform provider (e.g. Donorbox, or our bank’s payment processor), who have their own privacy policies.
b) When you sign up to our newsletter or service updates
- Name and email address
- Donation history, so we can tailor updates if relevant
c) When you contact us, or raise a query or complaint
- Name and contact details
- Payment details, if your query relates to a donation
- Correspondence between you and us
In some cases, a query or complaint may involve sensitive (“special category”) information — for example, if you tell us something about your health or circumstances while explaining your query. We only collect this if you choose to share it with us, and we handle it with extra care and only for the purpose of resolving your query.
d) To comply with legal requirements
- Name, contact information, and financial transaction information, where needed for accounting, tax, or charity law obligations
e) When you browse our website
- Basic technical information such as browser type and pages visited, collected through cookies (see our Cookie Policy for details)
3. Our lawful bases for using your information
Under UK data protection law, we must have a “lawful basis” for every way we use personal information. Here is what we rely on:
Donations and fundraising
- Legal obligation — for example, keeping financial records as required by charity and tax law
- Legitimate interests — processing your donation, saying thank you, and keeping basic records, in a way that doesn’t override your own interests or rights
Newsletter and service updates
- Consent — we only send you newsletter updates if you’ve signed up, and you can withdraw this consent at any time
- Legitimate interests — keeping past donors informed about the impact of their support
Legal compliance
- Legal obligation — where we must collect or use information to comply with UK law (e.g. Gift Aid, charity accounting)
- Public task — where relevant to our role and reporting as a registered charity
Queries, complaints, or claims
- Consent — where you’ve given us permission, such as sharing extra detail to help resolve a query
- Legal obligation — where we must keep a record to comply with the law
- Legitimate interests — responding to and resolving your query fairly
You can ask us at any time which lawful basis applies to a particular use of your information, using the contact details above.
4. Photos and stories of our students
Some of the young people we support are minors. We take their privacy and safety seriously, and handle their information differently from general donor or website data.
- We only use a student’s photo, name, or personal story on our website, social media, or in fundraising materials after we have received signed written consent from their parent or guardian.
- Parents and guardians can withdraw this consent at any time by contacting us, and we will remove the relevant content as soon as reasonably possible.
- We aim to present each student’s story with care and dignity, focusing on their achievements and goals rather than only their hardship.
Our lawful basis for using student photos and stories is consent, given directly by a parent or guardian rather than by the student or by site visitors.
5. Where we get information from
- Directly from you — for example, when you donate, sign up, or contact us
- From parents and guardians, in the case of student photos and profiles
- From our payment and donation platform providers, where they pass on transaction confirmations
6. How long we keep your information
- Donor and Gift Aid records: kept for as long as required by HMRC and UK charity law (currently up to 6 years after the relevant tax year)
- Newsletter contacts: kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove your details
- Contact form enquiries and complaints: kept only as long as needed to resolve the matter and meet any legal record-keeping duty, then deleted
- Student photos and profiles: kept while consent remains in place, and reviewed if a parent or guardian withdraws consent
7. Sharing your information
We may share limited personal information with:
- Trusted service providers who help us operate the charity, such as our donation platform, email newsletter provider, or bookkeeping software — only to the extent needed for them to do their job
- HMRC, where required for Gift Aid claims
- The Charity Commission, where required for regulatory reporting
We do not transfer your personal data outside the UK or EU except where our service providers require it, and in that case we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place.
8. Your data protection rights
Under UK data protection law, you have a number of rights. Which of these apply to you can depend on the lawful basis we’re relying on, so we’ve noted the main exceptions below:
- Right of access — you can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and details of how we use it.
- Right to rectification — you can ask us to correct or complete information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.
- Right to erasure — you can ask us to delete your information. This doesn’t apply where we’re legally required to keep it (for example, financial records for tax purposes).
- Right to restriction of processing — you can ask us to limit how we use your information.
- Right to object — you can object to us using your information, particularly where we rely on legitimate interests. This right doesn’t apply to information we must keep by law.
- Right to data portability — where we rely on consent, you can ask us to transfer your information to you or another organisation.
- Right to withdraw consent — where we rely on consent (such as newsletter sign-up or student photo use), you can withdraw it at any time.
If you make a request, we will respond without undue delay and in any event within one month. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@maisha-iten.org.
9. Cookies
Our website may use cookies to understand how visitors use the site and to improve your experience. You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings. For more detail, see our Cookie Policy.
10. How to complain
If you have any concerns about how we’ve used your personal data, please contact us first at info@maisha-iten.org — we’ll always try to put things right.
If you remain unhappy after raising a complaint with us, you also have the right to complain to the UK’s data protection regulator:
- Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
- Helpline: 0303 123 1113
- Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time, for example as our website or systems change. The “last updated” date at the top of this page will reflect the most recent version.
12. Contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your information, please contact us:
