LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement Privacy Statement

Our alumni, donors, friends and strategic partners are very important to us and we value the relationship we have with you. You are valued members of the wider LSE community and we aim to keep you up to date with School and community news, events, opportunities and benefits through our tailored communications. We want to ensure you only receive contact from LSE that is appropriate and relevant to you and your interests, via your preferred communication channels. The London School of Economics and Political Science ("LSE" or "School") is registered at the UK Information Commissioner’s Office as a Data Controller of personal data. We are committed to the safety and security of your personal data and to compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), 2018. Below we share with you how and why we use your data.

Who we are and what we do

LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement is the division of LSE which exists to engage and serve alumni, donors, friends and strategic partners of the School. We aim to build meaningful and long-term relationships with key constituents, including alumni, donors, friends and strategic partners, volunteers, students and staff, to provide a global network and alumni relations and philanthropy programmes that benefit past, current and future generations of LSE students. We also seek to further the strategic aims and legitimate interests of the School by encouraging volunteer and philanthropic support for agreed School priorities.

Find out more about the work of Philanthropy and Global Engagement online:

• for Alumni alumni.lse.ac.uk
• for Supporting LSE shapingtheworld.lse.ac.uk

If you are a corporate supporter, we are permitted to contact you unless you tell us that you would like no further contact from us.

What information do we collect?

The personal data which you provide to us and which is stored and processed by LSE may include:

• your name, title and contact details
• biographical information, such as your gender, nationality, date of birth and marital status
• information about your period of registration at LSE including your course of study, start and end date of your studies, hall of residence, student societies, etc.
• your education history and career activities
• your attendance at LSE events
• your communication preferences, and records of communications with LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement.
• details of any donations you have made to LSE
• records of meetings our staff have held with you

We may use additional information from external sources for the purposes referred to above. This may result in our holding information about you such as:

• your relationships to other alumni, LSE staff, donors and friends
• details, such as your employment, which you have shared on social media
• your known philanthropy
• our assessment of your capacity to support LSE

How we collect information

We collect information in a variety of ways.

If you are a student of LSE, your student record is automatically transferred to our LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement CRM.

As alumni, friends and supporters we also gather your personal data when
• you email, telephone or write to us
• you engage with our social media channels
• you register for LSE Library access as an alumnus/a via the alumni hub
• you register for an event
• you volunteer
• you make a donation
• you update your record online
• you meet with us face-to-face

To further the School’s strategic aim of encouraging philanthropic support, we may also gather information which is publicly available, for example from company websites and news media, in addition to information which you have provided to us. We use third party suppliers to obtain contact information about you where this is publicly available. For example, you may have given your address to a postal service when you moved house or have registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

We also gather information on your website activity and how you interact with online communications we send to you. For further information please see LSE's cookie policy at lse.ac.uk/lse-information/cookies

How we use your information

LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement uses the data it holds to support a range of activities and communications for and in relation to our community of alumni, friends and supporters.

This could include
• providing career guidance after graduation
• providing information about:
- mentoring and volunteering opportunities
- special interest groups that can enhance your career
- events held on campus and around the world
• sending you alumni magazines and newsletters
• contacting you with a request to help us raise money or for a donation to LSE
• administration and internal record-keeping purposes
• creating an account for you if you register with us
• analysing and improving the services offered on our website
• using anonymised personal data to benchmark our activity with other relevant organisations (e.g. CASE)
• processing Gift Aid claims with the HM Revenue and Customs
• assessing your information, when considering acceptance of major donations, as part of LSE’s legal obligation to prevent bribery and fraud, and to ensure that the University does not unlawfully collect the proceeds of crime

We may need to share limited data relating to complaints around bullying, harassment and assault with those involved in the complaint and third parties. This will be done in line with the UUK guidance on sharing personal data in harassment cases.
We use a system called Protopia to help us identify from our database alumni who may be able to offer advice and guidance to our community through our Ask an Alum programme; this tool uses automated decision-making based on known employment, location, indicated interests and LSE degree to find the most relevant alumni to provide support. You can opt out of this service on the Ask an Alum site or by sending an email with a request to be removed from Ask an Alum to PAGE.yourdata@lse.ac.uk
We may also use your data for in-house screening and research to gain a better understanding of our supporters, inform our fundraising strategy and target our communications more effectively and appropriately. This may involve us using additional information about you, including geographical and demographic information, where available from external sources. To do this we may use publicly available information, for example from company websites, news media and social media and combine it with information you have provided to us, for example your past donations, stated interests and career activities. Occasionally, we may employ 3rd parties to undertake this activity on our behalf, after putting the appropriate data controls in place. We use this information to help us understand better you as a supporter of LSE and to make appropriate requests for support. The School is registered as a levy payer with the Fundraising Regulator, demonstrating its commitment to good fundraising practice and to abiding by the Code of Fundraising Practice and Fundraising Promise.

If you do not wish LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement to undertake screening and research activities in relation to you, please send an e-mail with a request to opt out of data screening and research activities to PAGE.yourdata@lse.ac.uk

Security of your data

Personal data stored by LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement is held on the School’s secure server infrastructure and access is restricted to authorised personnel only.

For online content management, alumni engagement and mailing services LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement uses third party suppliers of systems. These suppliers store your personal data using appropriate technical and organisational security measures within a secure server infrastructure. The processing of your data is governed by contractual data protection assurance terms agreed between LSE and such suppliers. All personal data stored in this way is used exclusively for LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement’s purposes as detailed in this Privacy Statement.

We will never share your personal data with third parties for non-LSE purposes, or sell any of your information for any reason. Personal data is made available to academic and administrative departments and is used for a range of alumni activities and to encourage non-financial and financial support for the School, as set out in this Privacy Statement.

LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement has a North American office in New York and staff working in Asia. Data about alumni and friends living in those regions may be shared with those staff, though in accordance with the provisions of UK law.

If you give us your credit card details, for a donation or in payment for services such as events, we will process the payment immediately and securely shred the credit card details in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). All service suppliers used in such processing are compliant to PCI-DSS.

If you make payment by cheque or supply us with your bank details in order to set up a direct debit, your bank details are shredded securely once we are sure payment has been taken or the direct debit has been established.

The LSE Data Protection Officer is responsible for ensuring all areas of LSE are compliant with data protection regulations. A copy of LSE’s ‘appropriate policy document’ can be obtained from the Data Protection Officer. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at gldp.info.rights@lse.ac.uk

How long do we hold personal information for?

LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement considers the School’s relationship with alumni, friends and supporters to be lifelong and we will store your details until you inform us that you do not wish to hear from us or you ask us to delete some or all of your information. In the event that you advise us that you no longer wish to hear from us we will keep a sufficient record of your ID, name, date of birth and your communication preferences to ensure that your data is not further used for such processing. We will not retain any information about you which is no longer required.

Your choice – now and in the future

We hope that you will want to stay connected with LSE via our LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement communications. However, you have the right to change your contact preferences or unsubscribe from any or all of our communication channels – including post, email and telephone – at any time. You can do this by sending an email to us at PAGE.yourdata@lse.ac.uk with your request to opt out of communications by post, email or phone. We promise to treat your request sensitively and in a timely fashion.

You can opt back in to receive communications from us at any time.

Alternatively, you can notify us by writing to:

LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement
Houghton Street
London
WC2A 2AE
Phone number: +44 (0)20 7955 7361

Subject Access Requests (SAR)

You also have a right to

• request a copy of the information we hold about you
• update or change any incorrect information we hold about you
• ask us to stop processing your personal data in certain ways (unless it is necessary for the purpose you provided it to us, for example where you have asked us to register you for an event or process a donation)
• raise a concern or complaint about the way we use your information
• request the portability of your data
• object to any automated decision-making we carry out
• request information on publicly available sources used by Philanthropy and Global Engagement
• submit a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the supervisory authority.

You have a right to access all personal information that LSE Philanthropy and Global Engagement and/or the School holds on you at any time. If you would like to submit a SAR please put your request in writing to DPO gldp.info.rights@lse.ac.uk.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement, or would like to receive a copy of the information we hold about you, please contact us as outlined above.

We may amend this Privacy Statement from time to time. Any significant changes to this Privacy Statement or to the way we treat your personal data will be communicated via the LSE website or by contacting you directly.


Last updated: March 2024