Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

StartGiving is an online fundraising and donation platform that connects donors with charitable causes. When we refer to “we”, “us” or “our” in this policy we mean StartGiving and its operators.

2. Information We Collect

We may collect the following personal data:

• Identity data — name, salutation, and username.
• Contact data — email address, phone number, and postal address.
• Financial data — payment card details (processed and stored by Stripe; we never store full card numbers).
• Transaction data — details of donations you make, including amounts, dates, and associated projects.
• Technical data — IP address, browser type, operating system, and referring URLs collected automatically when you visit the platform.
• Marketing preferences — whether you have opted in to receive communications from us.
• Gift Aid declarations — your taxpayer status where you choose to apply Gift Aid.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data to:

• Process one-off and recurring donations.
• Send donation receipts and confirmation emails.
• Administer Gift Aid claims with HMRC on behalf of charities.
• Communicate updates about campaigns and causes you have supported (only where you have opted in).
• Detect and prevent fraud or misuse of the platform.
• Comply with legal and regulatory obligations.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your data on one or more of the following bases:

• Contract — to fulfil the donation transaction you have initiated.
• Consent — for marketing communications and Gift Aid declarations.
• Legitimate interest — to improve our platform, prevent fraud, and provide customer support.
• Legal obligation — to comply with tax, charity, and financial regulations.

5. Sharing Your Information

We share personal data only where necessary:

• Stripe — to process payments securely.
• Charity partners / tenants — we share donor name, email, and donation details with the charity you donate to so they can acknowledge your gift and claim Gift Aid where applicable.
• Sentry — for error monitoring (anonymised technical data only).
• Law enforcement — where required by law.

We never sell your personal data to third parties.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined above, or as required by law. Donation records are retained for a minimum of 7 years for tax and audit purposes. You may request deletion of your account data at any time by contacting us.

7. Your Rights

Under applicable data protection law you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectify inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Request erasure of your data (subject to legal retention requirements).
• Restrict or object to certain processing.
• Data portability — receive your data in a structured format.
• Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, please email us at privacy@startgiving.com.

8. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit (TLS), secure payment processing via Stripe, and role-based access controls for our team.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via email or a notice on the platform. The “last updated” date at the top reflects the most recent revision.

10. Contact

For privacy-related enquiries, contact us at privacy@startgiving.com.