We respect your privacy and take the protection of your personal information seriously.

This is a quick guide to how MARLENS collects, uses and protects your personal information. It covers information we receive through our website and our wider charitable activities, including Friends (our regular giving scheme that gives membership rights), donations, volunteering, our lottery, events and our online shop.

For full details, please see our MARLENS Privacy Notice and Data Protection Policy.

What information do we collect?

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

  • your name and contact details;
  • information about your Friends membership and regular giving;
  • Gift Aid information;
  • volunteer information, such as your interests, attendance and relevant qualifications;
  • lottery entry information;
  • information you provide when contacting us or attending an event;
  • information about purchases made through our online shop; and
  • photographs in which you may be identifiable.

We only collect information that we need for the relevant purpose.

What do we use your information for?

We may use your information to:

  • manage Friends (our regular giving scheme that gives membership rights);
  • process donations and Gift Aid;
  • organise and support our volunteers;
  • run our lottery;
  • organise events;
  • respond to enquiries;
  • send newsletters and, where permitted, fundraising or other direct marketing communications;
  • process and deliver online shop orders;
  • manage our website and social media;
  • use photographs for promotional, informational or historical purposes where we have an appropriate lawful basis; and
  • maintain the financial, governance, safeguarding and regulatory records we need to run the charity.

What about emails and fundraising?

We will only send you electronic marketing communications where we have an appropriate legal basis to do so.

Depending on the circumstances, this may include your consent or another basis permitted under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), including the charitable purposes soft opt-in where applicable.

You can unsubscribe from our newsletters at any time using the link in the email, or by contacting us.

Who do we share your information with?

We do not sell or rent your personal information.

We use trusted organisations to provide services on our behalf. These include our supporter database and online forms, lottery administration, email newsletters, website hosting, online shop payments and delivery.

Our current service providers include:

  • Beacon – supporter database and forms
  • Digital Consultation Ltd – website hosting and email services
  • EmailOctopus – newsletter distribution
  • WooCommerce – online shop
  • Stripe – online shop payments
  • Royal Mail – delivery of online shop orders
  • Google Analytics – website usage statistics

These organisations may process personal information on our behalf and are required to handle it securely and in accordance with applicable data protection law.

We may also disclose information where we are legally required to do so.

How do we keep your information safe?

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss or misuse.

We also take steps to ensure that organisations processing information for us have appropriate security measures in place.

MARLENS will not request supporters’ bank account numbers or sort codes by ordinary email. Where such information is genuinely required, it will be collected using an appropriate secure method.

What about payments?

MARLENS does not store customers’ payment-card details.

Payments through our online shop are processed securely by Stripe. MARLENS retains the transaction information needed to administer your purchase, such as the amount paid, date, payment status and transaction reference.

What about cookies and website analytics?

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies.

Some are necessary for the website to operate. Where consent is required for other technologies, we will ask for it and provide appropriate controls.

We use Google Analytics to help us understand how people use our website and improve it.

Some pages also contain content from YouTube, including our live lake camera. YouTube content is not loaded until you choose to enable it.

You can find more information about the cookies and similar technologies we use on our website.

How long do we keep your information?

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or where we are required to retain it by law.

We periodically review the information we hold and securely delete or anonymise information that is no longer required.

What are your rights?

Depending on the circumstances, you have rights concerning the personal information we hold about you, including the right to:

  • ask to see the information we hold about you;
  • ask us to correct inaccurate information;
  • ask us to delete information in certain circumstances;
  • ask us to restrict how we use your information;
  • object to certain uses of your information, including direct marketing;
  • withdraw consent where we rely on consent; and
  • request your information in a portable format in particular circumstances.

To exercise your rights, or if you have a question about how MARLENS uses your information, please contact:

[email protected]

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe we have not handled your personal information appropriately.

Want to know more?

This page is only a quick guide.

Our full MARLENS Privacy Notice and Data Protection Policy explains in more detail:

  • what information we collect;
  • why and how we use it;
  • our legal bases for processing;
  • how we use third-party service providers;
  • how we manage our website, cookies and analytics;
  • how long we retain information; and
  • your data protection rights.

Read the full MARLENS Privacy Notice and Data Protection Policy.

Adopted: August 2026 | Review date: August 2027