Privacy Policy
References to 'we', 'us' and 'our' in this Privacy Policy are to Arsha Vidya UK, an educational organisation, established in the UK, that has registered charity status. Our Registered Charity Status number is 1127020. Visit our About Us and Background pages to learn more about us.
1. Protecting your personal information
Our Code of Conduct commits us to protecting any personal information you provide to us. If we store and use that information we do so in compliance with all relevant UK laws concerning its protection and use.
2. Personal information we collect
We hold only four forms of personal data: name, email, phone and address. When you contact us we may, on receiving your permission (via our Mailing List form) store as a minimum your email address. You may, where necessary and as you choose, use our Personal Data form to add your name and/or a phone number and perhaps a partial or full street address to our record (such additional information can help in the administration of events/retreats).
3. When we use personal information
We use it when you contact us via this website or by email, indicating that you wish to:
- Enquire about our discourses and/or study groups
- Attend our discourses or groups
- Be added to our Mailing List
- Register interest in a future event or public talk
- Make a booking for an event/retreat
However, we'll create a record of your data if, and only if, you grant us prior permission to do so via either our Mailing List form or our Personal Data form. These forms show what data you allow to be stored and used when telling you of talks, news and events/retreats and their administration.
4. How we use personal information
4.1 Enquiries: If you simply contact us (via, for example, our Contact page) we do not store your personal details. We use them solely to respond to you.
4.2 Attending discourses: In order to communicate efficiently with all who regularly attend our discourses, talks or study sessions, whether online or in person, we need at least a name and email address. A mobile number (and use of WhatsApp) further improves communication.
4.3 Keeping in touch with you: If, having completed our online form, you subscribe to our Mailing List, we will keep you informed about Arsha Vidya UK talks, news and events.
To remove your contact details from our List, follow the unsubscribe link that appears at the end of every email from us and at the foot of our online forms. Continued absence from our talks, etc, for six months or more also removes you from our Mailing List. The entire personal record of those who no longer attend talks or events is permanently removed after twelve months of inactivity.
4.4 Event registration and bookings: Personal details of those who register online a prior interest in an event, such as a retreat or a public talk, or who book online or by email, are stored in a secure Arsha Vidya UK database. Such details — name, email (and where necessary, phone and address) — are used solely for administering the event. Our database systems are accessible only to the Arsha Vidya UK event co-ordination team. However, sufficient of that data (carefully anonymised by default) to ensure efficient provision of appropriate event services (e.g. head counts for accommodation and catering) may be given to service providers. Your registration for such events demonstrates your consent to this.
Please note: Recordings from our extensive library of discourses and guided meditations are available via our Login page to those who register. Registration (which is free) merely allows us some idea of the level of interest in the recordings. It does not put you on any database or list. Registration merely generates a notifying email, which is viewed by just two people and then immediately discarded.
The free availability on our site of the whole or part of our recordings of selected discourses does not mean we relinquish ownership or copyright. (See our Copyright Declaration)
5. Restrictions on use
Your data will be used only with your prior written permission. Neither will it ever be used for any purpose not stated in this Privacy Policy.
We have never sold or rented our Mailing List or any form of personal data – either in whole or part – and never shall.
We will never show or send your personal information to other organisations, companies or people without your prior written consent unless efficient event administration necessitates it (and even then only to the extent strictly necessary, e.g. a list of names for accommodation).
6. Viewing, correcting or removing information
You have the right to request (without charge) a copy of the information we hold about you and to receive it within one month. We want to ensure your personal information is accurate and up-to-date and are happy for anything to be corrected or deleted.
To remove your email address from our Mailing List, use our unsubscribe form.
To correct or modify any other data we hold, use our Personal Data form.
To completely and permanently delete all personal data, please Contact us.
Complete and permanent erasure of all personal data, whether from our Mailing List or elsewhere, occurs within 24 hours of the request being received. Please also see the second paragraph of 4.3 above.
7. Security
Arsha Vidya UK takes security seriously. Our members who handle personal information are made aware of our privacy and security procedures and must follow them when handling personal information.
Please note that since no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, absolute security of data cannot be guaranteed. Nevertheless, we take all reasonable steps to ensure its maximum security.
8. Storing personal data
No personal data is stored on this site. It is held elsewhere in a manner that properly protects its privacy.
9. Financial data
This website does not store and has no access to personal financial data of any kind. Any such data (typically from those making donations) is handled by a trusted third party (currently PayPal) on its own site. Naturally, the Arsha Vidya UK bank account carries details of donations received, whether singly or by Standing Order. Our Treasurer is required by law to securely maintain minimum details of donors who write granting us permission to claim Gift Aid.
10. Cookies
Websites (including ours) place very small text files on devices in order to recognise their browsers each time they visit. These tiny files are known as 'cookies'. Recognising browsers helps anonymously measure how sites are used, which in turn shows how best to meet visitors' needs. For instance, they show which pages are viewed most often and whether error messages occur. Knowing this helps improve a site's usefulness and efficiency. Cookies can also be used to store any preferences visitors set for using our site and to help provide security and efficiency in online forms and login areas.
Being mere text files and not programs, cookies cannot read devices or make any information they help collect available to any third party. They can be read only by the site that installs them. Although unique to each browser, our cookies are anonymous: they hold no personally identifiable data.
If you wish, you can set your browser not to accept cookies. AboutCookies.org tells you more, including how to remove them, but then some of this site's features will be unavailable.
11. Third parties
This Privacy Policy applies only to Arsha Vidya UK and not to any third party to whom we or our website may be linked. While we take all reasonable steps to ensure that we have good security and data handling practices, we are not responsible for those of others.