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Privacy Statement - Bodhi College

Privacy Statement

At Bodhi College we respect your privacy and understand how important it is that your personal information remains secure.
We will not reveal information about you without your permission and will never disclose your attendance on a Bodhi College course unless we are required to do so for legal reasons or by the emergency services.
We hope that this statement answers any questions you may have regarding our care of your information but if you have any further questions please contact:
Aline Petit on admin@nullbodhi-college.org

1. What information does Bodhi College collect about me?


Registering for an event
In order to complete your booking we ask for the following information from you:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Year of birth
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • Gender identity
  • Whether you have any specific needs relating to a disability or health condition, physically or mentally
  • Your dietary requirements
  • Contact details for someone we can get in touch with in the event of an emergency

When appropriate, we may also ask for more detailed information such as:

  • Information about sleeping patterns relevant for room allocation
  • Your previous meditation experience
  • A personal motivational essay

We need this information in order to communicate with you about your booking and to help with room allocation. We do not collect sensitive information about you unless there is a clear reason for doing so, such as ensuring we meet specific needs you may have.
Making a donation
In order to process your donation we ask for the following information from you:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • Whether we can apply for Gift Aid on your behalf

We need this information in order to communicate with you about your donation and for financial auditing purposes.

2. Who at Bodhi College has access to my data?


Event booking information
The information we store on our booking system is accessed by our core staff members as required as part of their duties.
The information you provide regarding your previous experience and any other practice-related needs is accessed by the relevant teachers and mentors, and occasionally the Course Coordinators.
In addition, our IT Consultants have access to our systems in order to provide us with the support we need.
We ensure that any third party we employ has a robust privacy policy and that appropriate compliance contracts are in place.
All of our staff and our IT Consultants are aware of the importance of confidentiality and your right to privacy, and receive appropriate training on this issue.
Donation information
Donation information is accessed by our Finance Officer and Bookkeeper as required as part of their duties, and our Communications Team for the purposes of issuing thank you communications.

3. How do you use my information to keep me up-to-date with Bodhi College’s news and activities?


In line with our commitment to best practice around data protection, we will only contact you about our news, activities and fundraising appeals if you have specifically said you agree to us doing this, and we will only contact you in the way(s) you have agreed to.
Our communications consist of quarterly e-newsletters and occasionally other ad hoc communications via email.
If you want us to keep you updated on our news, activities and fundraising appeals but haven’t yet opted in, you can do so here:  Opt in to Newsletter
What if I want to change my communications preferences at a later date?
Every email message we send includes a link to opt out of receiving future emails.
You can also let us know of any changes to your communications preferences by emailing admin@nullbodhi-college.org.
You can contact us at any time to notify us of changes such as a new address or email address.
If you opt out of receiving our communications at any point, we will record this request on our database. This will ensure that you do not receive any further communications from us, unless in relation to any bookings or donations you make.

4. Do you ever share my information with third parties?


We will not at any time sell or exchange your information. We may use other companies to provide services on our behalf, such as venues or caterers. These are trusted partner organisations that work with us in connection with our charitable purposes. We only provide these partners with the information they need to deliver the required service. We ensure that any third party we employ has a robust privacy policy and that appropriate compliance contracts are in place. Apart from venues and caterers, the third parties that we currently use are:

We do not share your information for any other purposes. And we do not transfer your personal data to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

5. How is my credit/debit card information processed?


Online transactions
If your booking or donation payment is processed through the Bodhi College website we do not have access to your payment card details. These are processed by Stripe or Paypal. You can find information about their privacy policies and practices at:
Paypal’s Privacy Policy
Stripe’s Privacy Policy
If you give consent for us to apply for Gift Aid, this is recorded on our database.
Transactions made over the phone or via a Dana form following your event
If you use your credit or debit card to pay for a retreat/course, donate to us, we will ensure that this is done securely and in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Only staff authorised to process payments are able to see your card details.
After your transaction has gone through, your payment details are detached from the form and securely disposed of. We keep a paper record of your name, address and consent for Gift Aid (if applicable) for 7 years for financial auditing purposes. This information is stored with our accounts in secure locations.
Standing Order forms
If you send us a Standing Order form by post, your form is stored in a secure location for as long as your payments are active, after which point your form is securely disposed of.

6. How secure is the information I give you?


Bodhi College takes the care of your data seriously and undertakes to protect your personal information by putting in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the data we collect.
In today’s cyber environment it is unfortunately not possible to completely guarantee against loss, misuse or alteration of data, for example in the event of a successful cyber-attack. However, should this scenario arise, we have a robust data breach notification procedure in place and will contact you as soon as possible giving full details of any data that has been compromised.

7. How long will you keep my information?


Event booking information
The basic information you disclose in relation to your booking such as name, contact details, gender, and year of birth, is held on our database to assist with your current booking and any future bookings. Building up historic information on the events you have attended helps us fulfil our duty of care to you and make your experience more enjoyable.
The course specific information you disclose such as diet, information on health, your background and (when applicable) personal essay is held in our database for a maximum of one year after the end of the course. After this date we will delete this information.
Donation information
Your donation information is held on our database for financial auditing purposes and so that we can keep a record of your support for us.

8. The right to be forgotten


You have the right to be ‘forgotten’, which means that if you request us to, we will remove all the data that we hold on you from our systems. Complete removal of information from our systems will result in the loss of all historic data. If you decide to attend a Bodhi College course at a later date, we will re-start the booking process and, if necessary, ask you to provide us with your previous Bodhi College related experience again.
If you have made a booking or donation within the last 12 months we are required to retain your details for two years for administrative purposes. Records of financial transactions will need to be held for seven years for accountancy and audit purposes. 

9. How can I see what information you hold on me?


Under the General Data Protection Regulation you can request a report detailing the information we hold about you. To obtain a report, please contact us:
(a)       by post, to the postal address:
Bodhi College, c/o Gaia House, West Ogwell, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6EW, UK
(b)       by email using ask@nullbodhi-college.org
(c)        by using the contact form on our website
We aim to issue an initial response to all enquiries within five working days, and will offer a full response to all information access requests within a month from when we receive your ID information (details below).
The following information will be required before access is granted:

  • Your full name and contact details
  • Your relationship to Bodhi College
  • A copy of your passport or national ID card

We reserve the right to charge a reasonable admin fee for additional copies of the same information.
You also have the right to have your details updated or corrected in case of error.

10. Cookies on the Bodhi College website


Our website uses cookies – small text files that are placed on your device to provide you with a better user experience when using our site. In general, cookies are used to retain user preferences, store information for things like shopping carts, and provide anonymous tracking data to third party applications such as Google Analytics. Google’s privacy policy.
If your browser settings accept cookies, and you continue to use our website, we take this to mean that you accept our use of cookies.
However, you may prefer to disable cookies on this and other sites. The most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser. Consult the Help section of your browser or take a look at the About Cookies website  which offers guidance for managing cookies.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. YouTube videos etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if you have visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

11. Who can I contact for further information?


This website is owned and operated by Bodhi College.
We are registered in England and Wales under company incorporation number 9561665, charity number 1163320 and our registered office is at 4 Dartside, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5HL, UK.
You can contact us:

(a)       by post, to the postal address:
Bodhi College, c/o Gaia House, West Ogwell, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6EW, UK
(b)       by email using ask@nullbodhi-college.org
(c)        by using the contact form on our website

Our processing of data is overseen by the Trustees of Bodhi College. The person to contact regarding day-to-day data protection issues is Coordinator and Data Protection Officer Aline Petit: admin@nullbodhi-college.org.
If you are unhappy with our organisation’s data practices and do not feel that we have addressed your concerns, please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office or call the helpline on 0303 123 1113.



Any alterations to our statement on the collection or use of data will be posted on this website.