Privacy Policy

Our Future – Privacy Policy

This Privacy Notice explains how we use the personal information that Our Future collects or generates both in relation to the Our Future website (https://www.our-future.io/) and in connection with the charity activities which we undertake.

Background

Our Future, with its registered office at 1st Floor, 88 Baker Street, London W1U 6TQ and with company number 14831946, collects and uses certain Personal Data. Our Future is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZC140900.

Our Future is responsible for ensuring that it uses that Personal Data in compliance with data protection laws, including (but not limited to) the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”) and any other national, implementing or supplementing Data Protection Legislation including but not limited to the Data Protection Act 2018.

At Our Future we respect your privacy and we are committed to keeping all your Personal Data secure. This Privacy Notice governs the handling of Personal Data by Our Future in the course of carrying on its charitable activities.

We use the following definitions in this Privacy Notice:

Cookie means a small text file that includes a small quantity of information sent to the browser of website Users, by a web server, and stored on the hard disk drive of a computer for purposes of archiving, collecting navigation data for statistical analysis purposes, and offering Users services related to their interests or location.

User(s) or You means the users of the Our Future Website.

Our Future Website means the Our Future website at https://www.our-future.io/.

Our Future, OF, we or us means Our Future and other entities of the Our Future group.

Personal Data means any data which relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data or from that data and other information which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, Our Future (or its representatives or service providers). In addition to factual information, it includes any expression of opinion about an individual and any indication of the intentions of Our Future or any other person in respect of an individual.

Privacy Notice means this website privacy notice.

1. The Activities We Undertake

1.1 We may collect and process your Personal Data for the following activities:

• Carrying out activities in line with our charitable purposes, including community engagement, place-based change programmes, participatory funding activities, and partnerships with public sector and voluntary sector organisations
• Operation, ongoing review and improvement of the Our Future Website
• Conducting analysis required to detect malicious data and understand how this may affect your IT system
• Statistical monitoring and analysis of current attacks on devices and systems and for the ongoing adaptation of the solutions provided to secure devices and systems against current attacks
• Compliance with and in order to assess compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, and internal policies and procedures
• Carrying out legitimate activities relating to our charity
• Responding to public enquiries
• Distributing newsletters
• Making payments to you, if you are a supplier of ours or if we have an obligation to pay you
• Carrying out other activities, such as charity partner verification in accordance with anti-money laundering (“AML”) legislation
• Management of IT infrastructure and systems
• Assessment of your suitability for employment for current and former staff
• Recruitment
• Using social media
• Commissioning of videos or photographs of events

2. The Types of Personal Data We Collect

2.1 We may collect and process the following Personal Data about you:

Information that you provide to Our Future. This includes information about you that you provide to us. The nature of the activities we undertake will determine the kind of Personal Data we might ask for, though such information may include (by way of a non-exhaustive list):

• Basic Personal Data (such as first name; family name; nationality; citizenship; race/ethnicity; education and qualification details; marital status; gender identity and sexual orientation; position in the organisation; organisation name; organisation email address; phone number; postcode; and country)
• Online information, such as your IP address; your location; the domain name of your Internet service provider; information regarding when you access or how you use the Our Future Website
• Information regarding how long you use various pages or aspects of the Our Future Website
• Emergency contact details, family members’ and dependents’ details
• Any information that you choose to share on the Our Future Website, or when signing up to our newsletter, which may be considered Personal Data

Information that we collect or generate about you. This includes (by way of non-exhaustive list):

• Any information regarding our interactions with you on the Our Future Website
• A file with your contact history to be used for enquiry purposes so that we may ensure that you are satisfied with the services which we have provided to you
• Through our cloud security and web analytics services, traffic and security reports that include information on the internet usage of the organisation’s computer users
• CV details (including previous experience and qualifications)
• Information obtained through an exit interview with you (upon your departure from our organisation), including your reasons for leaving
• Diversity monitoring information (including race, ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation)

Information we obtain from other sources. This includes the Personal Data provided to us by third-party service providers, agencies or other publicly available sources where applicable.

Cookies. When you visit the Our Future Website, cookies are used to collect technical information about the services that you use, and how you use them. For more information on the cookies we use, please see Section 4 below.

Anonymised data. In addition to the categories of Personal Data described above, Our Future will also process further anonymised information and data that is not processed by reference to a specific individual.

3. How We Use Your Information

3.1 We use Personal Data for a variety of reasons. These include the following:

• We need to do so in order to perform our contractual obligations with our customers and third-party providers
• We have obtained your consent
• We have legal and regulatory obligations that we have to discharge
• We may need to do so in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights or for the purpose of legal proceedings
• The use of your Personal Data as described is necessary for our legitimate business and charitable interests, such as:
  • Allowing us to effectively and efficiently manage and administer the operation of our charity
  • Maintaining compliance with internal policies and procedures
  • Monitoring the use of our copyrighted materials
  • Enabling quick and easy access to information regarding our charitable work
  • Offering optimal, up-to-date security solutions for mobile devices and IT systems
  • Obtaining further knowledge of current threats to network security in order to update our security solutions

3.2 We will take steps to ensure that the Personal Data is accessed only by employees of Our Future that have a need to do so for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice.

3.3 Where we use Personal Data we make sure that the usage complies with law. The law allows us and requires us to use Personal Data for a variety of reasons. These include:

• We need to do so in order to perform our contractual obligations with our customers and third-party providers
• We have obtained your consent
• We have legal and regulatory obligations that we have to discharge
• We may need to do so in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights or for the purpose of legal proceedings
• The use of your Personal Data as described is necessary for our legitimate business and charitable interests

3.4 Where we process personal data in connection with funded programmes, retention periods are set out in the relevant programme-specific section of this notice or in the applicable Data Sharing Agreement.

4. Cookies

4.1 We will ask for your consent to place cookies or other similar technologies on your device, except where they are essential for us to provide you with a service that you have requested.

4.2 You can withdraw any consent to the use of cookies or manage any other cookie preferences by clicking on the cookie preferences icon at the bottom of any page on our site. You can then adjust your settings by using the toggle switches provided. It may be necessary to refresh the page for the updated settings to take effect.

4.3 The table below provides more information about the cookies we use and why:

4.4 If you do not want to accept any cookies, you may be able to change your browser settings so that cookies (including those which are essential to the services requested) are not accepted. If you do this, please be aware that you may lose some of the functionality of our website.

4.5 For further information about cookies and how to disable them please go to the guidance on cookies published by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, or www.allaboutcookies.org.

5. Disclosure of Your Information to Third Parties

5.1 We may share your Personal Data within the Our Future group of companies for the purposes described above. We will take steps to ensure that access to Personal Data is restricted to Our Future employees who have a legitimate interest in the purposes described in this Privacy Notice.

5.2 We may also share your Personal Data outside of the Our Future group for the following purposes:

• With our partners. For example, this could include our partners that help us deliver our projects. Personal Data will only be transferred to a partner who is contractually obliged to comply with appropriate data protection obligations and the relevant privacy and confidentiality legislation.
• With public sector delivery partners or commissioners – for example North East Lincolnshire Council, in connection with the Growing Together Fund programme.
• With programme delivery partners – for example Key Fund Investments Limited, in connection with the Growing Together Fund programme, under a Data Sharing Agreement governing the use of personal data.
• With third party agents and contractors for the purposes of providing services to us (for example, Our Future’s accountants, professional advisors, IT and communications providers and debt collectors). These third parties will be subject to appropriate data protection obligations and they will only use your Personal Data as described in this Privacy Notice.
• With third-party marketing and CRM platforms such as Mailchimp and HubSpot to manage subscriptions, distribute newsletters, and communicate with our supporters. By subscribing to our updates, you acknowledge that your personal data will be transferred to these providers for processing in accordance with their respective privacy policies. These providers are contractually bound to protect your data and will not use your information for any other purposes.
• With trusted third-party platforms to support the organisation and analysis of event participation, engagement data, and operational information. These may include services such as Eventbrite (for event registrations), Airtable (for secure data organisation and analysis), and Zapier (for automated data flows between systems). These providers act as data processors and handle personal data only on our instructions and under appropriate contractual safeguards, including data processing agreements.
• With The Change Arc Limited, our communications consultancy, who support us in distributing newsletters, managing event invitations and attendance lists, and communicating with our supporters and contacts. The Change Arc acts as a data processor on our behalf and handles personal data only on our instructions and under appropriate contractual safeguards. They will not use your personal data for any purpose other than delivering these services for Our Future.
• To the extent required by law, for example if we are under a duty to disclose your Personal Data in order to comply with any legal obligation (including, without limitation, in order to comply with tax reporting requirements and disclosures to regulators), or to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.
• If we sell our assets, in which case we may need to disclose your Personal Data to the prospective buyer for due diligence purposes.
• If we are acquired by a third party, in which case the Personal Data held by us about you will be disclosed to the third party buyer.

6. International Transfers of Personal Data

Some of the third-party service providers we use may process or store personal data outside the United Kingdom. Where this occurs, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data in accordance with UK data protection law.

These safeguards may include the use of Standard Contractual Clauses approved for use under UK GDPR, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA), or reliance on adequacy regulations such as the UK extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where applicable.

If you would like more information about how we safeguard international transfers of personal data, please contact us using the details in Section 10.

7. How We Safeguard Your Information

7.1 We have extensive controls in place to maintain the security of our information and information systems. Charity partners’ files are protected with safeguards according to the sensitivity of the relevant information. Appropriate controls (such as restricted access) are placed on our computer systems. Physical access to areas where Personal Data is gathered, processed or stored is limited to authorised employees.

7.2 As a condition of employment, Our Future employees are required to follow all applicable laws and regulations, including in relation to data protection law. Access to sensitive Personal Data is limited to those employees who need it to perform their roles. Unauthorised use or disclosure of confidential charity partners’ information by an Our Future employee is prohibited and may result in disciplinary measures.

7.3 When you contact an Our Future employee about your file, you may be asked for some Personal Data. This type of safeguard is designed to ensure that only you, or someone authorised by you, has access to your file.

8. How Long We Keep Your Personal Data

8.1 How long we will hold your Personal Data for will vary and will be determined by the following cumulative criteria:

• The purpose for which we are using it – Our Future will need to keep your Personal Data for as long as is necessary for that purpose
• Legal obligations – laws or regulation may set a minimum period for which Our Future has to keep your Personal Data

Where Our Future processes personal data in connection with funded programmes, retention periods are set out in the relevant programme-specific section of this notice or in the applicable Data Sharing Agreement.

9. Your Rights

9.1 In all the above cases in which we collect, use or store your Personal Data, you may have the following rights which you can exercise free of charge:

• The right to obtain information regarding the processing of your Personal Data and access to the Personal Data which we hold about you
• The right to withdraw your consent to the processing of your Personal Data at any time. Please note, however, that we may still be entitled to process your Personal Data if we have another legitimate reason for doing so
• In some circumstances, the right to receive some Personal Data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or request that we transmit those data to a third party where this is technically feasible
• The right to request that we rectify your Personal Data if it is inaccurate or incomplete
• The right to request that we erase your Personal Data in certain circumstances
• The right to object to, or request that we restrict, our processing of your Personal Data in certain circumstances
• The right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection regulator if you think that any of your rights have been infringed by us

9.2 You can exercise your rights by contacting us using the details listed in Section 10 below.

9.3 Further information about your rights may be obtained by contacting the supervisory data protection authority located in your jurisdiction. You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

10. Questions and Concerns

10.1 For further information regarding the processing of your Personal Data by Our Future, this Privacy Notice, questions relating to consent, or in order to exercise the rights mentioned above, please contact our data protection lead using the following contact details:

Address: 1st Floor, 88 Baker Street, London W1U 6TQ

Email: trupti@our-future.io

10.2 We are usually able to resolve privacy questions or concerns promptly and effectively. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from our data protection lead, you may escalate concerns to the applicable privacy regulator in your jurisdiction. You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

11. Specific Activities: Long Term Plan for Towns and Plan for Neighbourhoods with North East Lincolnshire Council

This section supplements this Privacy Notice in relation to the Plan for Neighbourhoods project and the Long Term Plan for Towns work carried out for North East Lincolnshire Council.

Both projects have concluded. Personal data collected under this project is retained in accordance with our standard retention policy and the terms of the relevant data sharing agreement with North East Lincolnshire Council. If you have questions about data collected under this project please contact us at trupti@our-future.io.

12. Specific Activities: Growing Together Fund

This section supplements this Privacy Notice in relation to the Growing Together Fund programme, delivered in partnership with North East Lincolnshire Council and Key Fund Investments Limited.

About the programme

The Growing Together Fund is a participatory funding programme supporting community-led activity in Grimsby and North East Lincolnshire. Our Future leads the design and facilitation of the programme, including the recruitment and management of community Decision Makers and the design of funding mechanisms.

Data we collect and why

In connection with this programme Our Future collects and processes personal data in two main contexts:

Grant applicants – personal data collected from individuals and organisations applying for funding. This includes contact details, project descriptions, budget information and equality monitoring data. This data is collected and processed jointly with Key Fund Investments Limited and North East Lincolnshire Council under a Data Sharing Agreement. Key Fund is the primary data contact for applicant data queries.

Decision Makers – personal data collected from community volunteers who sign up to review and allocate funding through the participatory process. This includes contact details, demographic information (age, gender, ethnicity and employment status) and availability information. Our Future is the lead data controller for Decision Maker data, which is shared with North East Lincolnshire Council under a separate Data Sharing Agreement.

Legal basis

Our Future relies on the following legal bases for processing personal data in connection with this programme:

• Legitimate interests – for processing applicant data for programme learning and fund design purposes, for sharing proposal summaries with Decision Makers, and for running the sortition process fairly. Legitimate Interests Assessments have been completed by Our Future for each of these processing activities and are retained in Our Future’s compliance records.
• Explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a) UK GDPR – for processing special category demographic data collected from Decision Maker sign-up applicants.
• Legal obligation – for regulatory compliance, audit and subsidy control purposes.

Special category data

Our Future collects special category demographic data (including ethnicity, gender and age) from Decision Maker sign-up applicants solely for the purpose of selecting a broad and representative group. This data is collected only with explicit consent, is voluntary, and does not affect whether an individual is selected. It is deleted at the end of the funding process or on withdrawal of consent, whichever is earlier.

Voting records

Our Future does not retain individual voting or allocation decisions made by Decision Makers during the participatory process. Only anonymised aggregate outcomes are retained for programme learning purposes.

Retention

• Grant applicant records are retained for a minimum of 7 years from the date of the final payment, in line with standard grant management practice.
• Decision Maker contact and sign-up data is retained for the duration of the relevant funding round plus 12 months, then securely deleted.
• Special category demographic data collected from Decision Maker sign-ups is deleted at the end of the relevant funding round or on withdrawal of consent, whichever is earlier.
• Anonymised aggregate data may be retained for longer for programme learning purposes.

Your rights

For data held by Our Future in connection with this programme, contact Our Future at trupti@our-future.io.

Full privacy notices for the Growing Together Fund are available at www.growingtogetherfund.org.uk

This notice was last reviewed in May 2026.