Data Privacy Policy

WorldMerit’s mission is to unleash the upcoming generation to create waves of change.

This document sets out the data we collect about you, how it is used, with whom it is shared when you use our platform and your rights with respect to such data.

We are committed to processing your data lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner and to collect such data for the specified, explicit and legitimate purposes set out herein. We seek to minimise the data processed and need your help in ensuring that your personal data is accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.

Data will be kept in a form that permits your identification only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which the personal data is processed, provided that it may be stored for longer periods for archiving purposes in the public interest, research or statistical purposes, subject to the measures specified below. We are committed to processing your personal data in a way that ensures its appropriate security.

Our users use our services to create and share challenges, projects and events to help others and to make a difference on the social causes that matter to them and to raise awareness of the action they are taking, and the impact they are making, on such causes.

While using the World Merit Platform, Community Members will also share their identity; interact with other Community Members; view, create, post, interact with and comment upon content; offer and seek help to or from others; find career and volunteering opportunities, have discussions about several causes that they are involved in or are passionate about. Some of our content and data may be visible outside of our platform and Services

1. To what does this Privacy Policy apply?

1. This Privacy Policy applies to www.worldmerit.org and impact.worldmerit.org and the Services of which its platform is comprised. By accessing and using the Worldmerit website and platform, you consent to your data being collected, used and shared in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy (which includes our Cookie Policy and other documents referenced in this Privacy Policy), as the same is updated from time to time.

2. Data Controllers and Contracting Parties

1. All Community Members are entering into the Terms with WorldMerit Limited (“we” or “us”).

2. We will be the controller of your personal data provided to, or collected by or for, or processed in connection with our Services.

3. Making changes to this Privacy Policy

1. We may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. If you object to any changes, you must close your account.

2. By continuing to use our Services following publication of such notice, you agree that the collection, use and sharing of your personal data will be subject to such modified Privacy Policy.

4. Data we collect

1. When you create an account, you are required by this Privacy Policy to provide us with certain personal data, including your First Name, Last Name, Email, Gender, Date of Birth, Country of Birth, Country of Residence, City of Residence, Phone Number failure to do so will mean we cannot open an account for you. Your date of birth, gender identity, phone number, country of birth information is not publicly accessible through World Merit and will not appear on your profile page. By using the Services through Facebook, Google or LinkedIn you permit us to access information from your profile on those services in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

2. When creating your profile and using the platform, you can also opt to provide us with information such as your financial information, text regarding your motivations for using the Services and your website. It’s entirely up to you whether to include sensitive information (such as your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, your sex life, sexual orientation or any previous criminal record) on your profile or elsewhere on our platform and to make it public.

3. Every time you provide, post or upload personal data to our platform, we collect it.

4. If you choose to import your address book, we receive your contacts. If others import or sync their contacts with our platform, associate their contacts with their profiles or send messages via our Services, we receive personal data (including contact information).

5. We receive personal data about you when you use the services of our customers and partners.

6. We log usage data when you visit or otherwise use our platform, such as when you interact with content, search, apply for jobs or for volunteering opportunities. We use log-ins, cookies, device information and internet protocol addresses to identify you and log your use. We allow some others to use cookies, as described in our Cookie Policy.

7. We do not track you outside of our platform and Services, although we may receive information about your visits and interaction with services provided by others when you log-in with your profile details from other social networks or visit others’ services that include our plug-ins.

8. You can control cookies through your browser settings and other tools.

9. We receive data from your devices and networks, including location data, IP address, proxy server, operating system, web browser and add-ons, device identifier and features and/or ISP or your mobile carrier. We will ask you to opt-in before we use tools to identify your precise location.

10. We collect information about when you send, receive or engage with messages in connection with our Services. We may also use automatic scanning technology on messages.

11. We’ll retain your personal data for so long as your account is open and as needed to provide you with our Services. In some cases, we choose to retain certain information in depersonalised or aggregated form.

5. Use of your data

1. You can use our platform to connect with other Community Members. It’s your choice whether to invite other Community Members to connect with you and whether to accept invitations to connect from other Community Members.

2. You’ll be able to see the connections of other Community Members from their profile page and they’ll be able to see yours.

3. We will use the data about you on our platform to help other Community Members find you and your content.

4. Each time you add a tag to your posts, that tag will be added to your profile page. Your content will also be added to a channel of other posts that have used the same tag. Certain data relating to that post may also be aggregated to create anonymised, aggregated, statistics about content on our platform relating to that tag.

5. We aggregate data in numerous ways, e.g. by United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, hashtag and activity tag. We may use your data to generate statistics about our members, the company they work for, industry sector, causes and charities they support and more.

6. We may notify others of your activity on our platform.

7. Other Community Members can message you via our platform, either directly or via a group message.

8. We will contact you by email, notices posted on our websites or apps, messages to your World Merit platform inbox and other ways through our Services. You cannot opt-out of receiving service messages from us, including security and legal notices.

9. For now, we do not target adverts to Community Members.

10. We use data and content about Community Members for communications promoting membership and network growth, engagement and our Services.

11. We use data to conduct research and development with respect to our Services.

12. We use your data (including your communications) if we think necessary for security purposes or to investigate possible fraud or other violations of our Terms and conditions or this Privacy Policy and/or attempts to harm our Community Members, platform or business.

6. Sharing your data

1. Your profile is fully visible to all Community Members. It may also be visible outside of our platform (e.g. by search engines or platforms that we partner with to provide other services to community members).

2. When you share a post it can be viewed by everyone and shared anywhere. Community members will be able to find and see your content, including your name, profile photo, the tags you have applied to your previous posts and the help you are offering/seeking via the platform.

3. In a group discussion, your name or nickname will be shared.

4. When you interact with a post, that interaction can be seen by all other Community Members.

5. Some users may be required for regulatory reasons to store communications made within our Services outside of our platform. 6. You may log on to our platform using your account settings on other social networks. We will collect and store such log on data for the purposes of enabling you to access our platform through such data. We do not control these third-party websites or apps and are not responsible for their privacy statements.

7. We use others to provide our Services (e.g. IT build, maintenance and development, marketing, payments, audit, accounting, data analysis and other actions that we do not provide directly on our platform). They will have access to your information as reasonably necessary to perform such tasks on our behalf and are obliged not to use it for other purposes.

9. We may be required to share your data when we consider it necessary or required by law or to help protect you, us and other Community Members.

10. We can also share your personal data as part of a sale, merger, change in control, initial public offering, or in preparation for any of these events. Any other entity which buys us or a part of our business will have the right to continue to use your data, but only in the manner set out in this Privacy Policy unless you otherwise agree.

7.1 You can ask us:

a. for access to and correction or erasure of your personal data;
b. to stop using some or all of your personal data;
c. for a copy of your personal data and can ask for a copy of the personal data you provided in machine-readable form.

7.2 If you close your account, your personal data will stop being visible to other Community Members within 48 hours. We generally delete closed account information within one month of account closure, save for certain exceptions: we retain your personal data even after you have closed your account if reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations, meet regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, enforce our Terms or fulfil your request to unsubscribe from further messages from us. We may retain depersonalised information after your account has been closed. Information you have shared with others on the platform will remain visible after you closed your account or deleted the information from your own profile or mailbox, and we do not control data that other Community Members copied from our Services. Your profile may continue to be displayed in the services of others until they refresh their cache.

8. Other important information

8.1 We monitor for and seek to prevent security breaches. However, we cannot warrant the security of any information that you send to us. There is no guarantee that data may not be accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical or managerial standards.

8.2 We process data both inside and outside the United Kingdom and rely on legally-provided mechanisms to lawfully transfer data across borders. Countries where we process data may have laws that are different, and potentially not as protective, as the laws of your own country.

8.3 We will only collect and process personal data about you where we have lawful bases, including where you have given consent, by contract (if necessary for the performance of the contract) and legitimate interests (e.g. to protect you, us, or others from threats (such as security threats or fraud); comply with laws that apply to us; enable or administer our business, such as for quality control, consolidated reporting, and customer service; manage corporate transactions, such as mergers or acquisitions; understand and improve our business or customer relationships generally, and enable us and Community Members to connect with each other, find jobs and volunteering opportunities, express opinions, exchange information and conduct business). Where we rely on your consent to process personal data, you have the right to withdraw or decline your consent at any time and where we rely on legitimate interests, you have the right to object. If you have any questions about the lawful bases upon which we collect and use your personal data, please contact Worldmerit Limited at info@worldmerit.org.

8.4 We currently do not share personal data with third parties for their direct marketing purposes without your permission.

8.5 If you have any questions or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us first by email at info@worldmerit.org.

8.6 You can also reach us by post at England & Wales · 1161402 Calderstones Mansion Calderstones Rd · L18 3JD, Liverpool · United Kingdom.

8.7 You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues ( www.ico.org.uk).