Apprenticeships for America maintains a database of alumni/ friends/ supporters/ parents/ professionals in order to stay in touch with our community and keep you updated about news, events, careers initiatives and fundraising activities. 

Some of our database (but not all) choose to join our online community by registering on this website and creating an online profile. In both instances (individuals with offline database records and individuals with online profiles), we collect and store personal information (or “data”) about you. We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and this Policy sets out what information we collect about you, where and how we use (“process”) it.

We may change this Policy from time to time. If we make any significant changes we will advertise this on the website or contact you directly with the information. Please check this page occasionally to make sure you are happy with any changes. 

If you have any questions about this Policy or concerning your personal information, please contact communications@apprenticeshipsforamerica.org.

What type of personal information we collect

The information we have about you depends on where we collect it, but may include:

• First name
• Last name
• Email 
• Address
• Photographs
• Gender
• Date of birth
• Family relationships
• Years at [organisation]
• Higher education and work details
• Participation in our events, emails, competitions, surveys and other activities 
• Donations made to [organisation]
• Geo-location data (your geographical location based on your IP address)
• Log-ins and activity on the website
• A record of payments made via the website (but we do not store your credit/ debit card details as these are processed securely externally by a third-party payment provider) which could include event tickets, shop purchases or online donations
• Consent options and communication preferences
• Content (such as announcements, stories, photos, documents, comments, events, jobs) that you post on this website or provide to us by other means
• Messages that you send to other community members via the direct messaging system when logged in to this website

Where we collect information from

We collect personal information when you:

• visit this website
• create or update your online profile
• post content on to this website or other websites and social media sites managed by XXXXXXXXX
• take part in an event
• attend a meeting with us and provide us with information
• contact us in any way including online, email, phone, SMS, social media or post
• open an email sent from this website
• send a message via the direct messaging system on this website

How we use your information

We will use your personal information in a number of ways, always with a legal basis for processing your data. These may include:

• providing you with the information or updates that you have asked for
• sending you communications (with your consent if required) that may be of interest, including invites to events, newsletters and fundraising campaigns
• delivering our obligations under any contract between us
• seeking your views on the services or activities we carry out, so that we can make improvements
• updating our database records and ensuring we know how you prefer to be contacted
• analysing your engagement with our website and other content to help us improve our services for you
• running our mentoring programme/ club activities/ reunion events/ sports fixtures
• displaying your name as a list of potential ‘matches’ when you (or someone with similar details) signs-up for an event, makes a donation or joins the online community and the system is trying to match your information to an existing record stored in our database

Our legal basis for processing your information

The use of your information for the purposes set out above is lawful because one or more of the following applies:

• you have given us your consent for the information to be used
• it is necessary for us to hold and use your information to carry out our obligations under a contract entered into with you
• it is necessary for our legitimate interests to hold and use your information and we are not impacting your privacy by doing so

Updating your consent preferences

If you have an online profile on this website you can update your consent options by logging-in and clicking on “My Settings” in your profile.  Scroll down to find your ‘Consent options’ where you will see a list of consents and the options “opt-in”, “opt-out” and “unspecified”. 

Via ‘My Settings’ you can also choose to hide your profile from Google, limit access to your profile so that it’s only viewable to your connections and adjust some of the automatic notifications that you receive from this website.  Please note that your name (but not full profile) may appear in various places around the community website, such as a ‘Recent Joiners’ box and in ‘Search’ results irrespective of the privacy settings you have selected.  

If we are using consent as our legal basis for processing your data, we must have an explicit “opt-in” from you for this specific type of processing. 

If we are using legitimate interests as our legal basis for processing your data, we will process your data responsibly in a way that you would reasonably expect, and you can opt-out at any stage.

If you click ‘unsubscribe’ at the bottom of one of our emails sent you will be automatically opted-out of these types of email communications in the future.

If you want to contact us about your consent preferences please contact [details] by telephone/ email [details].

How we keep your information safe

We understand the importance of keeping your personal information secure and take appropriate steps to safeguard it.

Your data is stored on a dedicated, secure cloud server hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the EU and managed by our website provider, ToucanTech.  Industry standard firewalls, anti-virus, encryption and back-up methods are in place, as well as strict data handling protocols.

We always ensure only authorised persons have access to your information, which means only our approved employees and contractors, and that everyone who has access is appropriately trained in data management.   

If you have an online profile for this website you are responsible for keeping your login details (email and password) confidential and we ask that you do not share your password with anyone.

No data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. So, whilst we strive to safeguard your information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you provide online and you do this at your own risk.

Who has access to your information?

Third parties who provide services for us. We select our third-party service providers with care. We provide these third parties with the information that is necessary to provide the service and we will have an agreement in place that requires them to operate with the same care over data protection as we do

Third parties if we run an event in conjunction with them. We will let you know how your data is used when you register for any event

Web hosting, email hosting, analytics and search engine providers that enable us to run our community database and improve our website and its use

Third parties in connection with restructuring or reorganisation of our operations, for example if we merge with another business. In such event, we will take steps to ensure your privacy rights will be protected by the third party

Other than this, we will not share your information with other organisations without your consent.

Keeping your information up to date

Please would you let us know if your contact details change. Online members can update your details directly by logging-in to the website and clicking on ‘My Settings’ under your profile.  You can also update your details by contacting us at communications@apprenticeshipsforamerica.org.

Use of aggregated data

Where data can be aggregated and anonymised, our website provider (ToucanTech) might use this for research purposes without restriction. For example, they may monitor traffic patterns, site usage, response rates and data trends to help make improvement to the website software. They are entitled to do this because the resulting data will not personal identify you and will therefore no longer constitute personal data for the purposes of data protection laws.

How long we keep your information for

We will hold your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the relevant activity.

Where we rely on your consent to contact you for direct email marketing/ fundraising purposes, we will treat your consent as lasting only for as long as it is reasonable to do so. This will usually be for [two] years. We may periodically ask you to renew your consent.

If you ask us to stop contacting you, we will keep a record of your contact details and limited information needed to ensure we comply with your request. If you ask us to remove your personal data from our database we will delete all the information we hold out apart from your name and the dates and archive your record in our database.

Your rights

You have the right to request details of how we use your personal information through making a subject access request.  Such requests have to be made in writing by contacting communications@apprenticeshipsformamerica.org.

You also have the following rights:

• to request rectification of information that is inaccurate or out of date;
• to erasure of your information (the “right to be forgotten”);
• to restrict the way in which we are dealing with and using your information; 
• to request that your information be provided to you in a format that is secure and suitable for re-use (the “right to portability”);
• in relation to automated decision making and profiling.

All of these rights are subject to certain safeguards and limits or exemptions.  To exercise any of these rights, you should contact communications@apprenticeshipsformamerica.org at the above address.

If an individual believes that Apprenticeships for America has not complied with this policy or acted otherwise than in accordance with Data Protection Laws, please contact us immediately.

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This Policy was last updated in November 11, 2024