Privacy policy
About us
In this privacy policy, references to “we” or “us” or “society” are to the Fabian Society, registered office is at 61 Petty France London, SW1H 9EU.
The Fabian Society includes all subordinate parts of the Fabian Society, including democratically-constituted sections (the Young Fabians, Fabian Women’s Network and the Scottish Fabians) and informal networks of members (eg the International Policy Group, the Welsh Fabians, Young Fabian policy networks).
Your information and privacy
As an independent left-leaning think tank and a democratic membership society, we understand the importance of maintaining your privacy, keeping your personal information secure and complying with data protection laws.
We are the data controller of any personal information about you. This means that we are responsible for complying with data protection laws. This privacy policy describes what personal information we may collect from you, why we use your personal information and more generally the practices we maintain and ways in which we use your personal information.
By providing your personal information to us, you acknowledge that we may use it in the ways set out in this privacy policy. We may provide you with further notices highlighting certain uses we wish to make of your personal information. We may also give you the ability to opt-in or opt-out of selected uses such as electronic marketing communications when we collect your personal information.
If you are registering other people (eg for one of our events or membership types) and are providing personal information, you must ensure this privacy policy has been drawn to the attention of those individuals and that you have permission to share their information with us.
From time to time we may need to make changes to this privacy policy, for example, as the result of government regulation, new technologies, or other developments in data protection laws or privacy generally. You should check the Fabian Society website periodically to view the most up to date privacy policy.
Our Privacy Policy is divided into 13 sections to help you concentrate on the area that you are interested in.
Section 1: Who do we collect personal information about?
- present and past Fabian Society members
- individuals who attend or register for Fabian Society events
- individuals who subscribe to receive Fabian Society communications
- individuals who enquire into Fabian Society membership
- users of the Fabian website
- members of the public who contact the Fabian Society with inquiries
- individuals whose employment, profession or political position is connected with the work of the Fabian Society (eg politicians, journalists, trade union officers, civil servants)
- participants in social research projects
- job applicants, employees and former employees
- customers of our products and services
- members of local Fabian Societies
Section 2: When do we collect personal information?
We might collect your personal information if you:
- apply (or someone on your behalf applies) to be a Fabian Society member and throughout such membership; and similarly in the case of members of local Fabian Societies
- apply for a job with the Fabian Society and if you are employed throughout and beyond the period of your employment
- register (or someone on your behalf registers you) to attend a Fabian Society event
- subscribe (or someone on your behalf subscribes for you) to receive marketing communications and/or news from the Fabian Society
- enquire into the Fabian Society membership but do not sign up
- make another inquiry about the work of the Fabian Society
- participate in a research study conducted by us or our agents
- use our website (for more information please see section 11 on Cookies)
We might also collect personal information not supplied directly by you, if:
- we have collected the information from sources in the public domain (eg websites)
- third parties supply us with the information, in a way that is compatible with both their and our privacy policies
Section 3: What personal information do we collect about you?
We may collect the following personal information:
- full name;
- email address;
- business and/or personal phone number;
- business address and/or personal address;
- job title and company name;
- gender;
- date of birth;
- IP address;
- financial information (for example credit card or bank details for events or membership);
- password to the Fabian Society website members’ section; and
We may also collect the following sensitive personal data about you (known as special category data):
- racial or ethnic origin;
- political opinions;
- whether you are a member of a trade union;
- information about your health;
Section 4: How do we collect your personal information?
We may collect your non-sensitive personal and sensitive personal information:
- face-to-face (directly from you);
- by telephone;
- by email;
- via our website (including through the use of cookies – please see section 11 on Cookies);
- via membership forms (submitted directly by you);
- via various event registration and attendance forms;
- via direct debit forms and expenses claim forms;
- via surveys sent or commissioned by the Fabian Society;
- from survey data collected through third party surveys;
- via an individual at your organisation who is responsible for registering all applicable employees as members;
- from individuals or colleagues who have registered you for an event;
- from event organisers, exhibitors and any other such third parties who are involved in organising or contributing to Fabian Society events and/or conferences;
- from third parties to verify your identity and the accuracy of the information you have provided;
- from publicly available sources including but not limited to internet search engines, public records and registers and social media (e.g. LinkedIn and Twitter);
- from third parties including but not limited to public affairs agencies and industry databases that maintain information on professional stakeholders (journalists, politicians etc)
- through cookies placed on our website (see section 11 on Cookies).
Section 5: Purposes for which we process your personal infotmatioin
We use your personal information for a number of different purposes. Under data protection law, for each purpose we must be able to rely on a lawful basis for processing your personal information. The lawful basis that we may rely on are:
Members, representatives of affiliates and commercial subscribers
- Purpose: membership administration, and providing you with membership benefits. Lawful basis: to fulfil our contract with you
- Purpose: to market products and services related to your membership; political education and influence. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests as a political society
Electronic communication that constitutes direct marketing is provided to market products and services to existing customers. Any electronic communication that constitutes direct marketing unrelated to promoting a product or service is based on you consenting to receive communications from us. You can opt-out of electronic communications that constitute direct marketing at any time.
Any sensitive data about you is used in the course of our legitimate activities as a political society (and with appropriate safeguards).
Former members
- Purpose: to market products and services. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests as a political society
- Purpose: political education and influence. Lawful basis: your consent
- Purpose: retaining historic membership data. Lawful basis: archiving for historical research
Electronic communication that constitutes direct marketing is provided to market products and services to existing customers. Any electronic communication that constitutes direct marketing unrelated to promoting a product or service is based on you consenting to receive communications from us. You can opt-out of electronic communications that constitute direct marketing at any time.
Any sensitive data about you is used in the course of our legitimate activities as a political society (and with appropriate safeguards).
People who attend or register for events
- Purpose: for the administration of events. Lawful basis: to fulfil our contract with you and our legitimate interests as a political society
- Purpose: marketing of future related products and services; political education and influence. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests as a political society.
Electronic communication that constitutes direct marketing is sent on the basis of your consent to receive communications from us. You can opt-out of electronic communications that constitute direct marketing at any time.
Any sensitive data about you is used in the course of our legitimate activities as a political society (and with appropriate safeguards).
People who subscribe for communications
- Purpose: for marketing of products and services; political education and influence. Lawful basis: your consent.
Electronic communication that constitutes direct marketing is sent on the basis of your consent to receive communications from us. You can opt-out of electronic communications that constitute direct marketing at any time.
Any sensitive data about you is used in the course of our legitimate activities as a political society (and with appropriate safeguards).
Other customers of goods and services
- Purpose: fulfillment of purchase order. Lawful basis: to fulfil our contract with you
- Purpose: for marketing of related products and services. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests as a political society
Electronic communication that constitutes direct marketing is provided to market products and services to existing customers. You can opt-out of electronic communications that constitutes direct marketing at any time.
Professional contacts
- Purpose: for marketing of products and services; political education and influence. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests as a political society
Electronic communication that constitutes direct marketing is provided to professional contacts as the representatives of businesses and other corporate bodies. This does not require your direct consent but you can opt-out at any time.
Any sensitive data about you is only used if it is information you have manifestly made public.
Job applicants, employees, former employees
Purpose: employment administration and compliance with employment legislation. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests as a political society
Any sensitive data about you is only used for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Members of local Fabian Societies
- Purpose: membership and affiliation administration. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests as a political society
- Purpose: to market products and services related to your membership; political education and influence. Lawful basis: your consent
Electronic communication that constitutes direct marketing is sent on the basis of your consent to receive communications from us. You can opt-out of electronic communications that constitute direct marketing at any time.
Any sensitive data about you is used in the course of our legitimate activities as a political society (and with appropriate safeguards).
Website users
- Purpose: optimising the operation of our website; monitoring use of our website. Lawful basis: your consent
Research participants
- Purpose: social, economic and political research; lawful basis: your consent
Any sensitive data about you is used only with your consent.
Members of the public
- Purpose: administration and fulfilment of public inquiries. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests as a political society
Section 6: Who do we share you personal information with?
We may disclose your personal information to the third parties listed below for the purposes described in this privacy policy. You can contact us for details of specific disclosures made in respect of your personal information. The third parties listed below will only use your personal information under our strict instruction and are under an obligation to ensure appropriate security measures are in place.
- Local Fabian Societies (who provide membership benefits to national society members)
- Our commercial agents (eg cloud computing system providers; payments agents; mailing house)
- The London School of Economics (historical records)
We may also disclose your personal information to other third parties where:
- the disclosure is required by law or by a regulator with authority over us or you, such as where there is a court order, statutory obligation and
- we believe that such disclosure is necessary in order to assist in the prevention or detection of any criminal action (including fraud) or is otherwise in the overriding public interest.
Section 7: How do we protect your personal information?
The Fabian Society is committed to keeping your personal information secure. We keep your personal information in secure computer systems and have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities. Personal data is always transmitted using secure means. We require high security standards from our commercial suppliers and agents and anyone else who receives data from us. All representatives of the society with access to personal data are required to follow our security and privacy policies.
Whilst we strive to protect your personal information, due to the nature of the internet we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us. With this in mind, any transmission is at your own risk and we urge you to take every precaution to protect your personal information while you are online.
Section 8: How long do we keep your personal information?
We only keep your personal information for as long as is reasonably necessary to fulfil the relevant purposes described in this privacy policy or if required by law we may keep your information for longer.
Section 9: Your rights
1. The right to access your personal information
Subject to any relevant exemptions, you are entitled to see a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to request details of how we use your personal information including any disclosures made. To exercise your rights to access your personal information, please contact us. There will not usually be a charge for dealing with these requests.
Your personal information will usually be provided to you in writing, unless otherwise requested or where you have made the request by electronic means, in which case your personal information will be provided to you by electronic means where possible.
2. The right to rectification
We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is reliable and as accurate and complete as is necessary for its intended use but you are entitled to ask us to update or amend any inaccuracies in the personal information that we hold about you. To request us to update or amend any personal information we hold about you, please contact us.
3. The right to object to marketing
You are entitled to object to receiving marketing material from us at any time. You can exercise this right by clicking ‘unsubscribe’ on any marketing email you receive from us or by contacting us.
4. Other rights
Under certain conditions, you may also have the right to require us to:
- delete any personal information that we no longer have a legal ground to rely on;
- where processing is based on consent, to withdraw your consent so that we stop that particular processing;
- object to any processing based on the legal ground of legitimate interests unless our reason for undertaking that processing outweighs any prejudice to your data protection rights;
- provide you or another provider with a copy of your personal information that you provided us with; and
- restrict how we use your personal information whilst a complaint is being investigated.
If you contact us to exercise any of these rights we will confirm your right to do so and respond in most cases within 30 days.
Section 10: Your right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office
If you are not satisfied with our use of your personal information, our response to any exercise of your rights set out in section 10 on your rights, or if you believe us to be in breach of our data protection obligations, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office here.
Section 11: Website cookies
What are cookies?
As is common practice with almost all professional websites this site uses cookies, which are tiny files that are downloaded to your computer, to improve your experience. This page describes what information they gather, how we use it and why we sometimes need to store these cookies. We will also share how you can prevent these cookies from being stored however this may downgrade or ‘break’ certain elements of the sites functionality. For more general information on cookies see the Wikipedia article on HTTP Cookies.
How we use cookies
We use cookies for a variety of reasons detailed below. Unfortunately in most cases there are no industry standard options for disabling cookies without completely disabling the functionality and features they add to this site. It is recommended that you leave on all cookies if you are not sure whether you need them or not in case they are used to provide a service that you use.
Disabling cookies
You can prevent the setting of cookies by adjusting the settings on your browser (see your browser Help for how to do this). Be aware that disabling cookies will affect the functionality of this and many other websites that you visit. Disabling cookies will usually result in also disabling certain functionality and features of the this site. Therefore it is recommended that you do not disable cookies.
The cookies we set
Google Analytics: This site uses Google Analytics which is one of the most widespread and trusted analytics solution on the web for helping us to understand how you use the site and ways that we can improve your experience. These cookies may track things such as how long you spend on the site and the pages that you visit so we can continue to produce engaging content. For more information on Google Analytics cookies, see the official Google Analytics page.
Embedded content: Some of the content on our site is provided by third parties. This includes but is not limited to: Google Maps for interactive mapping, YouTube or Vimeo for hosted video and Flickr for images. When you visit a page containing content from one of these sites a cookie may be set. We do not have any control over these cookies and you should check the relevant third party website for more information about these.
More information
Hopefully that has clarified things for you and as was previously mentioned if there is something that you aren’t sure whether you need or not it’s usually safer to leave cookies enabled in case it does interact with one of the features you use on our site.
Section 12: Other Websites
The Fabian Society’s websites may contain links to other third party websites. If you follow a link to any of those third party websites, please note that they have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies or processing of your personal information. Please check these policies before you submit any personal information to such third party websites.
Section 13: How to contact us
Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or the information we hold about you.
You can contact us by email or letter
Phil Mutero
Fabian Society
61 Petty France
London SW1H 9EU