Privacy Policy

Last updated: 4 September 2026

FIRE AID and International Development respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This privacy policy explains what information we collect, why we use it, who we may share it with and the rights you have in relation to your information.

1. Who we are

FIRE AID and International Development (“FIRE AID”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is a registered charity in England and Wales.

Registered charity number: 1171935
Address: 24 Grimshill Road, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 4LJ
Email:info@fire-aid.org
Website:www.fire-aid.org

For the purposes of UK data protection law, FIRE AID is normally the data controller responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is used.

2. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies when you:

  • visit our website;

  • contact us or submit an enquiry;

  • make a donation or Gift Aid declaration;

  • subscribe to our newsletter;

  • fundraise for FIRE AID;

  • apply for membership or to volunteer with us;

  • donate equipment;

  • attend one of our events or training activities;

  • work with us as a partner, sponsor, supplier or contractor;

  • appear in photographs, films, interviews or case studies produced by or for FIRE AID; or

  • otherwise interact with FIRE AID.

We may provide an additional privacy notice where a particular project or activity involves more detailed or sensitive processing.

3. Information we may collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

Identity and contact information

This may include your name, organisation, job title, postal address, email address, telephone number and social-media contact details.

Donation and financial information

This may include the amount and date of a donation, payment method, transaction reference, donation history and information required to administer Gift Aid.

Complete payment-card details are generally collected directly by our payment provider. FIRE AID does not normally receive or store your complete card details.

Enquiry and correspondence information

This includes information you provide through our contact forms, emails, telephone calls, letters, surveys or social-media messages.

Supporter and partnership information

This may include your fundraising activities, communication preferences, membership information, equipment donations, sponsorship interests, partnership history and other involvement with FIRE AID.

Event and training information

This may include registration details, attendance records, travel information and any accessibility, dietary or health information you choose to provide.

Recruitment and volunteering information

This may include employment history, qualifications, references, right-to-work information, experience, availability and information relevant to safeguarding or suitability checks.

Photographs, films and stories

We may collect photographs, video or audio recordings, interviews, quotations, biographical information and personal accounts connected with our projects and charitable work.

Where this information concerns people who may be vulnerable or at risk, we apply additional consent, confidentiality and safeguarding procedures.

Website and technical information

When you use our website, we may collect your internet protocol address, browser type, device information, operating system, pages visited, approximate location, referral source and information collected through cookies or similar technologies.

Sensitive information

In limited circumstances, we may need to process information about health, disability, ethnic origin, religious beliefs or other information protected as “special category data”.

We will only process this information where it is necessary and where we have both a lawful basis and an additional legal condition allowing us to do so. Where appropriate, we will ask for your explicit consent.

Please avoid including sensitive personal information in a general website enquiry unless it is necessary and we have asked you to provide it.

4. How we obtain information

We usually receive personal information directly from you. We may also receive it from:

  • someone acting on your behalf;

  • a FIRE AID member or delivery partner;

  • your employer or organisation;

  • an event or fundraising platform;

  • our payment or Gift Aid provider;

  • publicly available sources, including professional websites and social media;

  • referees or recruitment agencies; or

  • emergency services, public bodies and project partners where this is necessary and lawful.

5. How and why we use your information

We only use personal information when we have a lawful reason to do so.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider whether our use of the information is necessary, proportionate and reasonably expected, and whether your rights override our interests.

6. Fundraising and marketing communications

We may contact you with news about our work, fundraising appeals, events and opportunities to support FIRE AID.

We will only send electronic marketing communications where you have consented or where applicable law otherwise permits us to do so. You can unsubscribe at any time by:

FIRE AID does not sell personal information. We will not give your information to another organisation for its own marketing without your permission.

If you unsubscribe, we may retain limited information on a suppression list so that we can respect your request and avoid contacting you again.

Your right to object to direct marketing

You have the right to object at any time to our use of your personal information for direct marketing, including any related profiling. If you object, we will stop using your information for this purpose.

7. Cookies and website analytics

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to:

  • make the website function correctly;

  • remember your settings;

  • protect the website from misuse;

  • understand how visitors use the website;

  • measure the effectiveness of our communications; and

  • display content hosted by third parties, such as videos or social-media content.

Strictly necessary cookies may be used without consent. We will ask for your permission before using non-essential cookies where consent is required.

You can accept, reject or manage non-essential cookies through the controls displayed on our website. You can also change your browser settings, although blocking some cookies may affect how the website works.

Third-party content may allow its provider to collect information about your visit. Those providers process information under their own privacy policies.

8. Who we may share information with

Where necessary and lawful, we may share personal information with:

  • payment, donation and Gift Aid service providers;

  • website hosting, email, cloud-storage and IT providers;

  • newsletter and communications providers;

  • professional advisers, auditors, insurers and banks;

  • event, training, fundraising and logistics providers;

  • FIRE AID members, project partners and delivery organisations;

  • HM Revenue and Customs, the Charity Commission and other regulators;

  • law-enforcement agencies, courts or public authorities where required; and

  • suppliers and contractors working on our behalf.

Our service providers may only use information for the agreed purpose and must protect it appropriately.

In some circumstances, another organisation may be an independent or joint data controller. Where this applies, that organisation may provide its own privacy notice.

9. International transfers

FIRE AID works internationally, and some of our service providers or project partners may be located outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take appropriate steps to protect it. Depending on the destination, these may include:

  • transferring information to a country covered by UK adequacy regulations;

  • using approved contractual safeguards;

  • carrying out appropriate risk assessments; or

  • relying on another lawful transfer mechanism.

We limit information shared with international partners to what is reasonably necessary for the relevant project or activity.

10. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as it is required for the purpose for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting, tax, safeguarding, regulatory and reporting obligations.

Retention periods depend on:

  • the nature and sensitivity of the information;

  • the purpose for which it is used;

  • the length of our relationship with you;

  • legal limitation periods;

  • charity, tax and Gift Aid record-keeping requirements;

  • safeguarding considerations; and

  • whether the information is required to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

When information is no longer required, we securely delete, destroy or anonymise it.

11. How we protect your information

We use appropriate organisational and technical measures to protect personal information against accidental loss, unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction.

Access is limited to people who require the information for their work. Staff, volunteers, contractors and service providers with access to personal information are required to handle it confidentially and securely.

No internet-based system is completely secure, but we regularly review our arrangements and respond appropriately if a suspected data breach occurs.

12. Your rights

Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used, you may have the right to:

  • ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;

  • ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;

  • ask us to delete your information;

  • ask us to restrict how your information is used;

  • object to our use of your information;

  • receive certain information in a portable format;

  • withdraw your consent at any time; and

  • challenge a decision made solely by automated means where it has a legal or similarly significant effect.

These rights do not apply in every situation, and the law may allow or require us to retain certain information.

FIRE AID does not currently use solely automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

To exercise your rights, email info@fire-aid.org. We may need to confirm your identity before responding. We will normally respond within one month, although the law allows additional time for particularly complex requests.

Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of anything done before consent was withdrawn.

13. Children’s information

We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children through general website forms.

Where our charitable work involves children, we use appropriate safeguarding measures and provide suitable privacy information. Where required, we obtain permission from a parent, guardian or another authorised person while taking account of the child’s own views and best interests.

14. External websites

Our website may contain links to websites operated by other organisations. FIRE AID is not responsible for how those organisations collect or use personal information. You should read the privacy notice of any external website you visit.

15. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we use your personal information, please contact us:

Email:info@fire-aid.org
Post: FIRE AID and International Development, 24 Grimshill Road, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 4LJ

You also have the right to complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s data-protection regulator:

Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

You do not have to contact FIRE AID before approaching the Information Commissioner’s Office, although we would welcome the opportunity to address your concern.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when our activities, service providers or legal obligations change. The latest version will be published on this page, together with its revision date.

If a change significantly affects how we use your information, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to your attention.