Privacy policy

Sex Matters is a charitable incorporated organisation (charity number: 1207701). The organisation is a data controller of your information under the conditions of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. To the extent that this notice imposes obligations on anyone it does so on all staff, trustees, consultants and volunteers acting for the organisation.

Our contact details

[email protected]

Sex Matters, 63–66 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8LE (no packages or signed-for deliveries, please)

Information for supporters

Sex Matters engages with supporters who sign up for our email list, undertake campaign actions such as emailing their MP, provide feedback via surveys or donate to the organisation. 

What type of information we collect 

We only collect information about you that you choose to give us, which may include:

• your name 
• your email address
• your postal address
• your MP or constituency
• payment details and donation amounts, if you make donations to us
• which of our campaigns you have got involved with, and how you have contributed 
• what kinds of information you are happy to receive from us, and how
• responses to surveys and comments sent to others, such as MPs, via our tools
• information you send to us by email or direct message.

How we get the information and why we have it

We get this information from you when you provide it to us by:

• donating to us
• emailing us, phoning us or contacting us using another form of communication
• signing a petition
• attending a meeting
• filling in a survey
• using a campaign email tool
• participating in our social-media activities
• doing another campaign action
• sharing your information directly on other platforms like Facebook to sign up for our campaigns or marketing.

We collect this information in order to:

• conduct campaigns
• communicate with you about our work
• ask for your help with our work
• invite you to participate in surveys or research
• provide you with information that is relevant to your interests
• process donations received from you
• make enquiries or inform you about your interactions with us, for example resolving issues with donations, or inform you of changes to events
• respond to any complaints from you
• inform you of volunteering opportunities
• analyse and refine our social-media, campaigning and other operations to increase our effectiveness
• monitor your information to prevent fraud.

You may opt out of our campaigning, fundraising and marketing communications at any time. To unsubscribe from emails, click the unsubscribe link at the end of our marketing emails.

Ways in which we use your personal information

We will never sell your details to other organisations.

We will not disclose your personal data to another organisation unless you’ve given your specific consent for us to do so, or we are legally obliged to do so. 

If you sign a letter or petition, or send an email to be passed on to the government, your MP or another organisation, these details will be handed on to the recipient of the letter, email or petition. These details will not be shared further, unless you give permission for them to be published.

We will sometimes use approved third-party data processors to process information on our behalf, such as Mailchimp for our email list, Stripe for donations and Zapier to automate data transfers. Data processors with which we share your information are only authorised to use that information to fulfil their contractual obligations to us. They are not permitted to use it for any other purpose.

To ensure that we communicate with you through your preferred channels, you can update your preferences at any time.

Lawful basis for processing personal data

All the data that we use is held in accordance with the requirements laid out in current data-protection legislation. 

We will generally rely on the following lawful purposes when we collect and use personal data:

• contract – we may process personal data in order to perform our contractual obligations where our contract is with you as a data subject
• consent – we may rely on your freely given consent at the time you provided your personal data to us
• legitimate interests – we may rely on legitimate interests based on our evaluation that the processing is fair, reasonable and balanced. These include research and publication to deliver relevant, timely insights and specialist knowledge in pursuit of our mission, and to support those who interact with us.

If you have any questions about your personal information, or how we manage our data, contact [email protected].

Security

We have put appropriate technical and organisational security policies and procedures in place to protect personal data from loss, misuse, alteration or destruction. We aim to ensure that access to your personal data is limited only to those who need to access it. Those individuals who have access to the data are required to maintain its confidentiality.

This website and our donation page use industry-standard software protection for secure financial transactions. Your personal information, such as your credit card number, is securely encrypted so that it cannot be read as the information travels over the internet. We do not store any card information on our servers.

Individuals who contact us with personal experiences and concerns

We take particular care when we work with people who share personal experiences with us. 

We may use the information you share with us in case studies and stories that we share with the media, on our website, in our email campaigns or on our social-media channels.

We would share identifying information outside Sex Matters only with your consent. 

If you take part in a campaign action to target someone in power, such as your local MP, we may forward your email, together with your contact information, to the relevant target. We will also collect and store your message and personal information. We may also use this information to further develop the campaign, for example by sharing your anonymised message to your target on our social-media channels.

Sometimes people contact us seeking our help and support or get in touch to bring our attention to a specific issue within an organisation. This may be because we have made an appeal for particular types of information or because they are seeking advice. 

Information you provide us with includes your name, contact details, place of work if relevant and any information that you share with us about your particular experience or situation. 

We collect information about you in the following ways:

• when you email us directly or use a contact form or survey on our website
• when you contact us on social-media channels
• when you call us by phone or messaging application.

We use our legitimate interest to collect and retain this data. 

Journalists, officials, MPs, other professionals and campaigners

We collect and maintain personal details of journalists, officials, MPs and other professionals and campaigners with whom we wish to maintain a working relationship. We use this information to decide when to contact you, and to contact you to share information or to invite you to collaborate. 

We rely on our legitimate interest in order to retain and use this information. 

If you do not wish us to contact you or retain your personal information for this purpose contact [email protected].

Other data subjects

In conducting research, developing case studies and responding to enquiries, and developing stories for publication or broadcast in the media, we may record information on other individuals who have not submitted this information to us. This may be information that has manifestly been made public, such as that they have published themselves, or that has been reported in the media. It can also include information that has been shared with us by individuals concerning situations they are involved in with others, such as colleagues at work. 

It is generally not possible to contact such individuals directly, but, having regard to Article 14(5) of the UK GDPR, we take all reasonable steps to protect their rights and freedoms, and we make the required information on our processing policy publicly available by way of this notice.

We rely on our legitimate interest in order to retain and use this information. This is based on our evaluation that the processing is fair, reasonable and balanced. 

These interests include research and publication to deliver relevant, timely insights and specialist knowledge in pursuit of our mission, working with journalists, making official complaints and referrals or providing information to officials and politicians, and to support those who interact with us.

Special-category data 

Special-category data includes personal data revealing political opinion and personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs. It also includes data concerning health, a person’s sex life and their sexual orientation.

Sex (whether someone is male or female) is not special-category data. 

The Information Commissioner’s Office says that information on a person’s transgender status or “gender identity” may involve special-category data, depending on the circumstances. This might arise if the information reveals specific details about the person’s health status or medical care. The basic fact that someone who is male publicly declares himself to be a woman (or vice versa) is not special-category data. 

Information that someone believes or does not believe in the idea of gender identity relates to beliefs, and is therefore likely to come under the definition of special-category data.

Where we process information on the gender-critical beliefs of our supporters we rely on Article 9(2)(d), the “not for profit condition”. In other cases we rely on 9(2)(e), that it has been made public by the data subject.

Use of cookies

Cookies are small pieces of information sent by a web server to a web browser, which enable the server to collect information from the browser. This website uses cookies to provide you with a more personalised web service.

This website uses Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics, which are two of the most widespread and trusted analytics solutions on the web for helping us to understand how you use the site and how we can improve your experience. These cookies may track information such as how long you spend on the site and the pages that you visit. However, they will be enabled only if you choose “Accept all” on the cookie banner presented when you first access our website. 

You may also avoid the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings in the cookie consent popup or in your browser.

Information retention

We will hold your personal information only for as long as or no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed (for example, participating in a campaign or making a donation to support our work). If you ask for your personal information to be deleted we will manage your request in a transparent way.

Your rights

You have various rights under data-protection law, including: 

• Access: You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. This right always applies. There are some exemptions, which mean you may not always receive all the information we process. 
• Rectification: You have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete. This right always applies.
• Erasure: You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
• Restriction: You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances.
• Objection to processing: You have the right to object to processing if we are able to process your information because the process is in our legitimate interests.
• Portability: You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

You can make a request concerning your own data via our contact form or via an email to [email protected]. We will take steps to confirm your identity before processing your request. We will respond to your request within one calendar month of the request, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Privacy notice for minors

The protection of minors is very important to us, so we won’t actively seek to collect personal information from under-18s.

Minors should always ask a parent or guardian for permission before sending personal information to anyone online.

Making a complaint

If you think your rights have been breached or you are not happy with the ways we handle your data, you can raise a complaint by contacting [email protected] with Data Protection Complaint in the subject line.

Any questions or concerns that may not require a formal complaint can also be sent to this address. 

You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office by writing to: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, or by telephone on 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745.

Changes to our privacy notices

This privacy notice is kept under regular review. 

This privacy notice was last updated on 3rd November 2024.