Privacy Policy
Suffolk Naturalists’ Society Registered charity no. 206084
Last updated: 2026
Who we are
The Suffolk Naturalists’ Society (SNS) is a registered charity based at The Hold, 131 Fore Street, Ipswich, Suffolk IP4 1LR. We are the data controller for the personal information we hold about you.
For any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, please contact us at: admin@sns.org.uk
What information we collect and why
Membership When you join or renew your membership, we collect your name, postal address, email address, and phone number. We use this information to manage your membership, send you publications and renewal reminders, and keep you informed about SNS events and activities. The legal basis for this processing is the performance of a contract (your membership).
Payments When you pay for membership or purchase books, your payment is processed by BASs, PayPal or GoCardless. SNS does not store your full payment card details or bank account information – these are handled entirely by those third-party processors. We retain a record of the transaction (amount, date, membership category) for financial and accounting purposes. The legal basis is legal obligation (charity accounting requirements).
Event bookings When you book a place at an SNS event, your name and contact details are collected via Beacon Forms and used to manage attendance and communicate any changes. The legal basis is the performance of a contract.
Grant applications When you apply for an SNS research grant, we collect the personal information contained in your application, including your name, contact details, and details of your proposed project. We use this to assess and administer your application and, if successful, to manage the grant. Successful applications may be referenced in SNS publications. The legal basis is legitimate interests (administering the Society’s charitable grant programme). We retain grant application data for 7 years.
Wildlife records If you submit wildlife records to SNS county recorders, your name is retained alongside those records when they are passed to the Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service (SBIS) for inclusion in the county biological database. This is consistent with standard practice across the biological recording community and allows records to be verified and attributed. SBIS has its own privacy policy, available at suffolkbis.org.uk.
Email communications We use Mailchimp to send occasional emails to members about SNS news and activities beyond standard operational messages such as renewal reminders. You can unsubscribe from these emails at any time using the link in any email we send. Unsubscribing will not affect your membership or your receipt of physical publications. The legal basis for this processing is legitimate interests.
How we receive correspondence SNS uses a single administrative email address, admin@sns.org.uk, for general enquiries. Other contact addresses listed on this site — including those for editors, recorders, and officers — are forwarding addresses that route messages directly to the personal email accounts of volunteer members acting in their SNS capacity. SNS does not hold central copies of correspondence received in this way. Grant applications are submitted through Beacon Forms and are retained by SNS. For any query about correspondence or data held about you, please contact us at admin@sns.org.uk.
Website analytics
Our website uses WP Statistics, a privacy-focused analytics tool that runs on our own server. It records general information about visits to the site – such as pages viewed and approximate geographic region – but does not use tracking cookies or share data with third parties. IP addresses are anonymised and not stored in an identifiable form.
Who we share your data with
We share personal data only where necessary:
- PayPal and GoCardless – to process payments
- Beacon Forms – to manage membership, grants and event bookings
- Mailchimp – to send member communications
- SBIS – recorder names are retained against wildlife records deposited in the county database
- Suffolk Bird Group – for joint SNS/SBG members, relevant membership details are shared to administer the joint membership arrangement
We do not sell or share your personal data with any other third parties for marketing purposes.
How long we keep your data
| Data type | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Active membership records | For the duration of your membership |
| Lapsed membership records | 1 year after membership lapses |
| Financial transaction records | 7 years (legal requirement) |
| Event booking records | 1 year after the event |
| Grant application data | 7 years (legal financial requirement) |
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Correct any inaccurate or incomplete data
- Request deletion of your data, subject to any legal obligations we have to retain it
- Object to processing based on legitimate interests
- Withdraw consent for any processing based on consent, at any time
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the address above. We will respond within one month.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on this page, with the date it was last updated shown at the top.