Data Protection Statement

How we use your personal information – Alumni and other supporters

This statement explains how Downing College Alumni & Development Office ('we' and 'our') handles and uses data we collect about alumni and our past, current and future supporters ('you' and 'your'). In broad terms, we use your data to keep in touch with you as alumni (and life-long members of the College) and supporters, in order to keep you apprised of our activities and developments, to provide services to you, and to identify ways in which you can support us, through donations and/or other forms of financial and non-financial support.

We will retain your data indefinitely or until you request us to do otherwise. When changes are made to this statement, we will publish the updated version to our website and notify you by other communications channels as we deem appropriate or necessary.

The controller for your personal data is Downing College, Cambridge, CB2 1DQ. The person responsible for data protection at the time of issue, and the person who is responsible for monitoring compliance with relevant legislation in relation to the protection of personal data, is the Data Protection Officer. Please contact us at data.protection@dow.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this statement or how we manage your personal data.

The legal basis for processing your personal data is that it is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests, where we have concluded that our interests do not impact inappropriately on your fundamental rights and freedoms, except where elsewhere in this statement we have indicated otherwise. You may ask us to explain our rationale at any time.

How your data is used by the Alumni & Development Office

We collect and process your personal data, as specified below, for a number of purposes, including:

  1. Maintaining a formal record of your academic progress and achievements of the College and the University of Cambridge and elsewhere;
  2. Retaining a formal record of your academic, career or other life achievements in order to promote and improve the reputation of the College and help you to network with other College members effectively;
  3. Engaging you in College and University events that we believe will be of interest to you, including alumni and open events, volunteering opportunities, and other ways you can contribute to the life of the College;
  4. Providing you with information about the development of the College, including major initiatives and programmes relating to either the academic endeavour or the provision of services and facilities to members and the wider public;
  5. Encouraging you to make a financial contribution to the College and/or the University, and processing any such contributions;
  6. Assessing the likelihood that you will, now or in the future, make a financial contribution (gift) to the College;
  7. Promoting third-party services and products we believe will be of interest to you.

Further details are provided in the Annex. If you have concerns or queries about any of these purposes, or how we communicate with you, please contact us at the address given below.

Communications

If you are a new contact for our Alumni & Development Office, we will ask you at the outset how you would like to receive news and other communications from us. If you are already receiving such communications, you are able to change your preferences (or ask us to stop sending you news and other communications completely) by contacting the Alumni & Development Office. You may request changes at any time.

How we share your personal data

We believe that most alumni understand in detail the complex and many interactions of the College with the University of Cambridge. Personal data of our members is shared with the University routinely throughout any course of study, and it is our strong preference to continue such collaborative working thereafter.

The University and its partners (including Downing College) have a data-sharing agreement to govern the sharing of personal data of alumni and other supporters. This is necessary because they are distinct legal entities. The agreement outlines that, depending on constraints set by you, and which you may change at any time, the University and College may share any of the above categories of personal data (details in the Annex) with the University. Any transmission of data to or from the University is managed through agreed processes, which comply with UK data protection legislation. The University has its own data protection statement and procedures.

For clarity, the College has a separate database from the University, but has access to the University’s database: additionally, we maintain other electronic and paper records.

Furthermore, we share data on a considered and confidential basis, where appropriate, with:

  • Cambridge in America (the University’s affiliate alumni office in the USA),
  • third-party agencies that provide us with data in the public domain about alumni and supporters, as outlined above,
  • selected companies that provide College-branded or College-endorsed products and services, as outlined above,
  • volunteer partners closely related to us (e.g. Downing College Alumni Association, College trustees, development board members, alumni group representatives), and
  • contractors providing services to you on our behalf or services to us (our 'data processors'), as outlined above.

We employ consultants to guide us in appropriate fundraising best practice, and to advise us on donation amounts for fundraising appeals.  Consultants would be provided with the above categories of personal data (details in the Annex) in order to ascertain an individual’s ability to donate. All third parties are asked to sign confidentiality agreements with us. We do not sell your personal data to third parties under any circumstances, or permit third parties to sell on the data we have shared with them.

We also facilitate communication between individual alumni (of the College or the University), but in doing so we do not release personal contact details without prior permission.

Any transfers of your data overseas or to international organisations, as set out above, are protected either by an adequacy decision by the European Commission or by standard data protection clauses adopted by the European Commission (which are available from our Data Protection Officer) or, before 25 May 2018, by a self-assessment of adequacy.

Your rights

You have the right: to ask us for access to, rectification or erasure of your data; to restrict processing (pending correction or deletion); to object to communications or direct marketing; and to ask for the transfer of your data electronically to a third party (data portability). Some of these rights are not automatic, and we reserve the right to discuss with you why we might not comply with a request from you to exercise them.

Where you opt out of all future communications or exercise your right to erasure, we will continue to maintain a core set of personal data (name, subject(s), matriculation and graduation details, unique University identification number and date of birth) to ensure we do not contact you inadvertently in future, while still maintaining our record of your academic achievements. We may also need to retain some financial records about you for statutory purposes (e.g. Gift Aid, anti-fraud and accounting matters).

You retain the right at all times to lodge a complaint about our management of your personal data with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Alumni & Development, Downing College, Cambridge CB2 1DQ. Telephone 01223 334850· Email development@dow.cam.ac.uk