Fundraising and Marketing Privacy Policy | Erskine Veterans Charity

Last updated: July 2026

Introduction

Erskine Veterans Charity is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store and protect your personal information, and sets out your rights under UK data protection law.

This notice applies to supporters, donors, volunteers, event participants, and members of the general public who interact with Erskine Veterans Charity's fundraising and marketing activities. It should be read alongside our full organisational Privacy Policy.
We may update this notice from time to time. Where changes are significant, we will inform you directly. We encourage you to check this notice periodically. You have the right to object to direct marketing at any time.

The Laws and Regulations

The laws that govern personal data in the UK are:

The Data Protection Act 2018
The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)

The independent authority that upholds information rights in the public interest is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Further information can be found at https://ico.org.uk.

Who is Erskine?

Erskine is the trading name of Erskine Veterans Charity incorporated in Scotland as a non-profit making company limited by guarantee (Company No. 174103, Scottish Charity No. SC006609).

Erskine is Scotland's leading charity for veterans and their spouses, providing an unrivalled range of care, community and accommodation services.

Erskine Veterans Charity is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as Data Controller.

ICO Registration Number: Z7459440

Data Protection Officer (DPO)
The Erskine Home, Erskine Veterans Village, Bishopton, PA7 5PU
Telephone: 0141 812 1100
Email: dpo@erskine.org.uk
Website: www.erskine.org.uk

Information We May Collect From You

Erskine collects personal information where we have a lawful reason to do so, or where you have given us your consent for a specific purpose.

Information You Give Us Directly

You may provide information to us when you:

Fill in a form or send us an email
Attend one of our events
Register as a volunteer
Make a donation or a Gift in Kind
Leave Erskine a gift in your will
Purchase Erskine merchandise

This information may include personal, financial, or health-related details (for example, if you are participating in a high-risk event), as well as information about your connection to or interest in Erskine.

Information You Give Us Indirectly

Your information may also be shared with us by third parties, including:

Independent event organisers, online ticketing or event platforms
Independent marketing agencies
Online survey providers
Mail order, publishing or lifestyle companies

These third parties will only share your information where you have consented or where there is a legitimate interest basis for doing so. We will only work with reputable organisations that take data protection as seriously as we do, and we will always give you the opportunity to opt out of further communications.

Information We Collect Automatically

If you visit our website or interact with us via social media, we may automatically collect:

Technical information such as your IP address
Information about the device and browser you are using
Information about how you interact with our website

We use cookies to improve your experience on our website. You can find more details in our Cookie Policy.

Social Media and Tracking Technologies

Where we run campaigns on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, we may use tracking technologies including pixels -- small pieces of code placed on our website -- to measure the effectiveness of our advertising and to build audiences for future campaigns. This may involve those platforms collecting information about your visit to our website, including pages viewed and actions taken, and linking that information to your social media profile where one exists.

This processing is carried out on the basis of your consent, which you can manage through our cookie banner or through your social media platform's privacy settings. You can withdraw your consent at any time by adjusting your cookie preferences on our website.

Information From Public Sources

Where you are an existing supporter, we may update your records using publicly available sources, such as the Post Office National Change of Address database, to keep contact details current.

Children's Data

We do not collect children’s data.

Why Does Erskine Collect Personal Information?

We collect and use your personal information for some or all the following reasons:

To provide services, products or information you have requested
To register your donation or gift in will information
To support your fundraising activity, and send thank you communications
To keep you updated on Erskine's work and how your support is making a difference
To invite you to events and inform you about campaigns
To record and honour your contact preferences
For administration and legal compliance purposes
To process Gift Aid with HMRC
To improve our services, products and communications

Wealth Screening, Profiling and Data Modelling

As a fundraising organisation, we carry out targeted activity to ensure we are contacting you with communications that are relevant, timely and appropriate and to help us allocate our resources effectively.

To support this, we may use automated or manual processes such as wealth screening to analyse and segment our data, working with trusted third party partners. Information compiled in this way draws on publicly available sources, for example Companies House, charity registers, directories and professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn. This may include information such as property values, company directorships, or similar publicly available indicators. We use this information to tailor our communications and ensure fundraising requests are appropriate and proportionate. You have the right to object to this processing, including profiling for fundraising purposes, at any time.

We use predictive modelling tools to help us identify which supporters are most likely to respond to a particular communication, and to inform the frequency and content of those communications. This may include analysis of factors such as donation history, engagement patterns and geographic information to generate a likelihood score. These scores are used by our fundraising team to make decisions about how and when to contact you. This processing is carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests in communicating with supporters in a relevant and proportionate way. It does not result in solely automated decisions - our team always reviews model outputs before any action is taken. You have the right to object to this type of processing at any time by contacting fundraising@erskine.org.uk.

We may also share your details with carefully selected third party organisations who help us identify new supporters with a similar profile to our existing donors. In these cases, your data is used as a modelling input only you will not receive any additional contact as a result, and those third parties will not use your data for their own marketing purposes. We ensure that any organisation we work with in this way is bound by a formal data processing agreement and meets our data protection standards.

Where we work with external data analysis or modelling partners, some processing may take place outside the UK. In such cases, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data.

We may also carry out research using publicly available information to identify individuals who may have an affinity to our cause but with whom we are not already in contact.
We may also use publicly available sources to carry out due diligence on donors in line with our Gift Acceptance Policy and to meet anti-money laundering obligations.

If you object to any of these types of processing, please contact our Supporter Care Team on 0141 814 4555 or email fundraising@erskine.org.uk.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Erskine may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support internal business processes, including administration, data analysis, and supporter communications. For example, AI may be used to analyse supporter data and identify individuals more likely to respond to communications. Where AI tools are used to process personal data, we remain the data controller and are responsible for ensuring that processing is carried out in accordance with UK GDPR.

Any third party AI tool provider that processes personal data on our behalf is appointed as a data processor under a formal data processing agreement, and is required to meet our data protection standards. Your personal data will not be used by AI tool providers to train or improve their own AI models.

We do not make solely automated decisions about you that have a legal or similarly significant effect. Where AI tools contribute to any decisions or outputs, there is always human review before any action is taken.

If you have any questions about how AI tools are used in relation to your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@erskine.org.uk.

What Legal Basis Does Erskine Have for Processing My Information?

For the purposes of fundraising and direct marketing, Erskine relies on the following legal bases under UK GDPR:
Legitimate Interests – for postal fundraising, live telephone calls (screened against the TPS), and for profiling and data analysis activity, where the impact on your privacy is proportionate to our fundraising objectives. You retain the right to object to this processing at any time.
Consent – for email and SMS marketing, automated or recorded telephone marketing, and for the use of tracking technologies including social media pixels. We will only contact you through these channels, or place non-essential tracking on your device, if you have explicitly agreed.

The table below maps our main fundraising and marketing activities to the lawful basis we rely on and the rights available to you. It should be read alongside the fuller description of your rights set out later in this notice.

Activity	Lawful basis	Your rights
Postal (direct mail) fundraising and marketing	Legitimate interests	Object at any time (absolute for direct marketing); access; rectification; erasure; restriction
Email and SMS marketing	Consent	Withdraw consent at any time; access; rectification; erasure
Live telephone fundraising calls (screened against the TPS)	Legitimate interests	Object at any time; access; rectification; restriction
Automated or recorded telephone marketing	Consent	Withdraw consent at any time
Cookies, pixels and similar tracking technologies on our website	Consent	Withdraw consent at any time via your cookie settings
Building or matching advertising audiences on platforms such as Meta and Google	Consent	Withdraw consent at any time; object
Processing and administering your donation, sending thank-yous and supporter care	Legitimate interests (contract where you have requested a service)	Object where based on legitimate interests; access; rectification; erasure; restriction
Claiming Gift Aid and keeping the related tax records for HMRC	Legal obligation	Access; rectification. We must keep these records to meet HMRC rules, so erasure, portability and objection do not generally apply
Wealth screening, profiling and predictive modelling (including Dataro)	Legitimate interests	Object to profiling for fundraising at any time; access; rectification; restriction
Using your data only as an input to identify potential new supporters (no contact to you)	Legitimate interests	Object at any time
Updating your contact details from public sources (e.g. National Change of Address)	Legitimate interests	Object; rectification
Donor due diligence under our Gift Acceptance Policy and anti-money-laundering checks	Legitimate interests and legal obligation	Access; rectification (limited where we are under a legal duty)
Health or other special category data you give us for a high-risk event	Explicit consent	Withdraw consent at any time
Use of AI tools to support the activities above (always with human review)	Same basis as the underlying activity	The rights for the underlying activity apply; object where that activity relies on legitimate interests

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have carried out a Legitimate Interests Assessment (LIA) to ensure that your rights and interests are not overridden by our own.

When assessing our legitimate interests, we consider your reasonable expectations, the nature of our relationship with you, and the potential impact on your privacy. We apply safeguards such as limiting the data used, restricting access, and providing clear opt-out options.

Our electronic marketing activities also comply with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

Who Might Erskine Share Your Information With?

We value your support and promise to respect your privacy and keep your details safe. We do not sell your data. We only share it with organisations acting on our behalf or where required by law. We may share your information with third parties in the following circumstances:

To comply with a legal obligation
With regulatory bodies where required
With subcontractors and third parties involved in delivering services or fulfilling a contract
With organisations providing shipping or publishing services where you have purchased goods
With third parties providing campaign fulfilment services such as mailing and telephone appeals
With social media platforms such as Meta where you have consented to tracking technologies on our website
With HMRC to process Gift Aid
For crime prevention and fraud detection purposes

With carefully selected data modelling partners who help us identify prospective supporters, subject to appropriate data processing agreements

Any third party we work with is required to handle your data in accordance with UK GDPR and our own data protection standards.

Erskine may also provide third parties with data that has been fully anonymised or aggregated so that individuals cannot be identified.

How We Keep Your Data Safe

International Transfers of Personal Data

Some of the organisations we work with to support our services — including fundraising platforms, data analysis tools, AI service providers and marketing partners — may process your personal data outside the United Kingdom.

This can include transfers to countries that may not have the same level of data protection as the UK.

Where this happens, Erskine ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with UK data protection law. These safeguards may include:

Transfers to countries formally recognised by the UK as providing adequate protection (adequacy regulations)
The use of approved legal mechanisms such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or International Data Transfer Addendum to Standard Contractual Clauses
Additional technical and organisational safeguards, such as encryption and access controls

We take these steps to ensure that your personal data remains protected and that your rights are upheld wherever your data is processed.

If you would like more information about international transfers, or to request a copy of the relevant safeguards, please contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@erskine.org.uk.

Security of Your Personal Data

We take the security of your data seriously and use a range of measures to protect it, including encryption, access controls and regular checks on who can access your information. We also regularly assess the organisations we work with to ensure they apply equivalent security standards.

Will You Be Contacted for Marketing Purposes?

Email and Electronic Channels
We will only contact you by email or other electronic means (such as SMS or messaging apps) if you have given us your explicit consent to do so.

Telephone
We may contact you by telephone for fundraising or marketing purposes unless you have told us you do not wish to receive calls, or you are registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

Post
We may send you correspondence by post about our work and fundraising appeals unless you have told us you do not wish to receive postal communications.

To update your preferences, please contact our Supporter Care Team on 0141 814 4555 or email fundraising@erskine.org.uk. Most changes will be actioned immediately, but please allow up to one month for all systems to be updated.

How Long Will We Keep Your Personal Information?

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, accounting and reporting obligations, in line with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

We store and manage supporter information securely in our customer relationship management (CRM) system, Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, which helps us maintain accurate records and support compliance with data retention best practices.

Data Type	Purpose	Retention Period
Contact details (e.g. name, email, address, phone), donation records and Gift Aid, consent and communication preferences	Communications, fundraising, updates, financial reporting, HMRC compliance, lawful marketing	Up to 7 years from last meaningful interaction (e.g. donation, event attendance, email engagement)
Legacy pledges	Managing and administering legacy gifts	Until the gift is received plus 7 years, or pledge withdrawn

When data is no longer required, we either delete it securely or anonymise it so that individuals can no longer be identified. For more information, please contact dpo@erskine.org.uk or request a copy of our Data Retention Policy.

Your Rights

Erskine respects your legal rights in relation to your personal data. The table below summarises those rights and how we protect them.

Your Right	What Erskine Does to Protect Your Rights
The right to be informed	Erskine publishes this Privacy Notice to keep you informed about how we use your personal information. We strive to be transparent and clear about our data practices.
The right to access	You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you (a Subject Access Request). Please contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@erskine.org.uk.
The right to rectification	If information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to ask us to correct it. Where data has been shared with a third party, we will also ask them to make the correction.
The right to erasure	Sometimes called the ‘right to be forgotten’. If you wish us to delete your personal data and we have no legal reason to retain it, please contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@erskine.org.uk.
The right to restrict processing	You have the right to ask us to restrict how we process your data. We will retain just enough information to honour your request. Contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@erskine.org.uk.
The right to data portability	You have the right to obtain and reuse your personal data across services in a safe and secure way. This applies to data provided by you and processed on the basis of consent or contract. Contact dpo@erskine.org.uk for more information.
The right to object	You have the right to object to Erskine processing your data, including for direct marketing, profiling, or statistical purposes. Contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@erskine.org.uk.
The right to withdraw consent	Where we rely on your consent to process your data, you have the right to withdraw it at any time. Contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@erskine.org.uk.
The right to complain to a Supervisory Authority	If you have concerns about how your personal data is being processed, you can contact Erskine’s Data Protection Officer in the first instance. You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at any time.

If you have any concerns or questions about your rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@erskine.org.uk.

Useful Contact Details

Erskine Data Protection Officer
Data Protection Officer
The Erskine Home, Erskine Veterans Village, Bishopton, PA7 5PU

Telephone: 0141 487 9681
Email: dpo@erskine.org.uk

Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) - Scotland
45 Melville Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7HL
Email: scotland@ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1115
Website: https://ico.org.uk

Changes to This Privacy Notice

Erskine may update this notice from time to time. Where changes are significant - for example, where we introduce new uses of your personal data - we will notify you directly rather than relying solely on a website update. We encourage you to review this notice periodically.

This notice was last updated in July 2026.