Supporters – children and young people

Who are we?

We’re a UK woodland charity that helps children and young people learn about woodlands, wildlife and nature. Whether you’re taking part in our Green Tree Schools Award, outdoor events, our Nature Detectives membership, or using our website, we care about keeping your information private and safe. 

Our privacy policy will give you more of the official details should you want to read about us further. 

General privacy policy

We were established in 1972 and are the UK's largest woodland conservation charity. This means we have been around for a very long time doing what we do. We really care about woods and trees and work to make the UK a greener place to live. We want everyone to have access to woodland, and we want to make the UK a healthier, better place to live, especially for you as the new generation. 

We take our duty to process your personal data very seriously. We make sure that we follow the law which tells us the rules on how we can use and keep data about you. The law tells us that we should:  

1. use your information in a fair and honest way
2. collect your information only for good reasons, and we’ll always tell you what those reasons are
3. only collect the information we need, and only use it for the reasons we told you
4. try to make sure your information is correct and up to date
5. only keep your information for as long as we need it
6. keep your information safe and secure. 

Sometimes we have to update some of the information in this policy to make sure that it is correct. Please check back from time to time so you can see if changes have been made by the date it was last updated. 

You should always make sure that your parent or guardian knows about the activities and information you are sharing both offline and online.

If you give your information to people, this could mean that you are contacted in a way your parent or guardian hasn’t consented to. We suggest that you make sure you don’t give anyone your information without asking your parent or guardian's permission first.  

What information do we collect and how do we use it?

If you're joining the Woodland Trust as a Nature Detectives member, attending an event or getting involved in one of our activities, we will collect and use the following information.

Full names and contact details

We collect and use this information to make sure that if you have a Nature Detectives membership with us, we can make sure it is addressed to you. It also lets us see who your parent or guardian is, because your records will be linked on our system.

Address

We collect and use this information to make sure that if you have a Nature Detectives membership with us, we can deliver your fun and exciting membership pack.

Date of birth (when you were born)

We use this information to make sure that we don’t send things to you that we are not supposed to, like marketing.

Photographs and video recordings

Sometimes, with your parent or guardian's consent, your parent or guardian might send us photographs or videos of the activities you have been doing in our woodlands or the activities in our Nature Detectives membership packs.

Old information

We use older information to make sure you have received your Nature Detectives membership packs, to see how long you have been getting them and if you have ever responded to any of our activities, but we only keep this information for as long as we need to.

Our website and social media channels (including things like Facebook and Instagram)

Please refer to our cookie policy for more information.

Emergency contact details

This is normally information about your parent or guardian. We only collect and use this in case there is an emergency and we need to get hold of them. This is only collected if you are attending events.

We never ask for your phone number, or personal social media accounts, unless your parent or carer says it’s okay. 

Sensitive category data

Sometimes we will collect other information called sensitive or special category data. This is secret information about you that the law tells us we must keep very safe. This is things like allergy information (if you are allergic to anything) or if you need any extra help to move around. This information is normally collected when you are attending an event where your parent or guardian gives it to us. This is collected so we can make sure we provide you with everything you need at the event and keep you safe. We will keep this until the event is over and then we will delete it, as we won't need it anymore. 

Sometimes when we are collecting research information we may request information about sexual orientation, health information, racial or ethnic origin and religious or philosophical beliefs. If we ask you for this in a survey, we make sure that we can't tell it is you that has filled it in, unless we have your parent or guardian's consent to do so. We will always explain why and what we are wanting to collect and use the data for.  

How do we get your personal information?

We collect your details from the person applying for a membership or registering you for an event or activity. This will be from a parent or guardian because you are under the age of 18. This means that we make sure your parent or guardian gives their permission for us to use your information in the way we have said we will, and for nothing more, unless we have a legal reason to do so.

How long do we keep your information?

We only hold your personal information for as long as we have a genuine reason to keep it. This is so we can answer any questions you may have during or after your membership with us. The law may tell us we have to keep some of your information but most of that is information about your parent or guardian. This includes things like payments, donations or gift aid contributions that have been made to us. 

Will we send you marketing?

No, at the Woodland Trust we do not send you direct marketing (letters or emails selling stuff or asking you for money). This is to make sure we follow the law and keep your interests safe. We also make sure that we do not process any donations or money from you knowingly.

How do we share your personal information?

We will never sell or rent your information to anyone. But sometimes, we might need to share it, and we’ll only do this when:

• you’ve said it’s okay

• we need help from other companies to do things such as deliver things to you, answer your questions or send you letters or emails about your membership

• another part of the Woodland Trust is helping us

• you come to an event we’re running with another group. If this happens, we’ll explain clearly how your information will be used when you sign up. 

We also get some help to look after our information from other companies. Some of these are based outside of the UK in places like India. Whenever we share information or give anyone access to your information, we always make sure we have the right things in place to keep your information safe, like contracts and legal agreements. 

How do we keep your information safe?

We take good care of your information and work hard to keep it safe. We have special systems to stop it from getting lost or being used in the wrong way. 

Only people who really need to see your information — like Woodland Trust workers — are allowed to use it. They have to follow our rules and treat your information with care. 

If we ever think someone has seen your information when they shouldn’t have, we’ll let you know, if the law says we have to. 

What are your rights?

As we have said previously, we always make sure that your parent or guardian has given us consent to use your personal information, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t get to have a say. You can ask your parent, guardian or responsible adult to let us know if you would like to: 

• ask us for a copy of your personal information and how we use it
• ask us to correct your personal information if we’ve got it wrong
• ask us to stop using your personal information
• ask us to change or limit how we use your personal information
• ask us to delete your personal information 
• ask us to transfer your personal information to another person. 

For more information about how to contact us to ask for any of the things above, please see our privacy policy.

What do you do if you are not happy with how we have used your information?

If you're worried or upset about how we've used your information, you (or your parent or guardian) can talk to our data protection officer — their contact details are below.

If you’re unhappy with our response, or you think we’re breaking the law, you can send a complaint to the Fundraising Regulator or Information Commissioner’s Office. But please talk to us first before you contact them and we’ll try our best to help.