Cambridge University Schola Cantorum

Data Protection Statement

6 October 2025

 

 

 

Cambridge University Schola Cantorum (“Schola”, “we” or “us”) is a mixed-voice University choir which brings together talented and committed young musicians with the aim of making music to the highest standard, supporting our members to fulfil their potential, maintaining a community of supporters, and fundraising to support our work.

 

We collect and use data about you when you visit and use this website, including when you sign up to our newsletter, make a purchase, register for an event or become a supporter. This statement explains how we process that personal data. We are committed to protecting your personal information and dealing with it fairly, lawfully and transparently.

 

We may collect, store, use and transfer data in the following categories:

  • Identity data, including your name, title, date of birth, gender and marital status; 
  • Contact data, including address, email address and telephone number;
  • Financial and transaction data, including bank account and payment card details, payments to and from you and details of products and services you have purchased from us;
  • Profile and usage data, including purchases and orders made by you, your interests and preferences, feedback and other information about your interaction with our website, products and services;
  • Marketing and communications data, such as your preferences in receiving marketing, your subscriptions and your communication preferences; and
  • Technical data concerning your browser(s) and device(s), IP address, time zone and location.

 

You may provide your personal data through your interactions with us, including filling in forms on our website, contacting or corresponding with us by phone, post or email, subscribing to email updates, creating a profile on our website, becoming a friend or supporter, making a donation, contacting us, attending one of our events, providing feedback, and communicating with us on social media.

As you use our website, technical data about your device and interaction with the site will be collected automatically through cookies and similar technologies. Technical data is received from analytics providers such as Google and Meta, advertising networks and search information providers. When you enter into a transaction, contact, financial and transaction data will be collected by providers of technical, payment and delivery services.

 

We collect and use your personal information for the following purposes:

  • Operating and improving our website;
  • Fundraising;
  • Organising performances and other events;
  • Selling tickets and products;
  • Advertising and running our events;
  • Communicating and engaging with our supporters and visitors to the website;
  • Improving our understanding of our audience, supporters and visitors to our website; and
  • Ancillary and peripheral activities directly related to the foregoing.

 

The law requires us to have a legal basis for collecting and using your personal data. We rely on the following legal bases to process your personal data:

  • Performance of a contract with you.
  • Compliance with a legal obligation.
  • Legitimate interests. We may use your personal data when it is necessary to conduct our business and pursue our legitimate interests, including to give you the best experience as friends and supporters, where this would not disproportionately impact you and your rights.
  • In limited circumstances, such as where you have subscribed to our email newsletter, we will rely on your specific, informed, express consent to process your personal data.

 

Data Sharing

We share data with third parties engaged by us for fundraising purposes, payment services, event organisation, our venues and our partner organisations.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. Our third-party service providers are only permitted to process your personal data for our specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. 

Your personal data will only be transferred outside the United Kingdom to countries that the United Kingdom has deemed to provide an adequate level of personal data protection or using specific standard contractual terms approved for use in the United Kingdom, which ensure personal data is protected to the same degree as it would be in the UK. 

 

Individual Rights

You have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

  • The right to access your personal data. You can make a subject access request to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and check that we are processing it lawfully.
  • The right to accuracy. The data we hold about you must be accurate and up to date. You can have any incomplete or inaccurate data about you corrected.
  • The right to request erasure of your personal data if there is no good reason for us to continue to process it, or where you have exercised your right to object to processing. You may request restriction of processing in certain circumstances.
  • You have the right to withdraw your consent to process data that we are processing on the basis of consent.

 

You have the right to object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on our legitimate interests or those of a third party.

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes at any time.

It is important that the data we hold about you remains accurate and current. Please keep us informed of any relevant changes, such as a new address or email address, during your relationship with us.

 

Direct Marketing

You may receive direct marketing communications from us if you have signed up to receive emails or newsletters from us, or if you have made a purchase or a booking through the website. You will be asked to indicate your preferences for receiving direct marketing communications from us when you sign up or register. We may analyse the data we hold about you to form a view as to which products, services and opportunities may be of interest to you and to ensure our communications are aligned to your interests.

You can opt out of receiving marketing communications from us at any time by following the “Unsubscribe” links within communications from us or through your profile on our website. If you opt out of receiving marketing communications, you will still receive service-related communications that are essential for administrative purposes, such as order confirmations and updates to our Terms and Conditions.

 

You have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (www.ico.org.uk). Before doing so, please make your complaint to us or address any query or request for clarification to us, in accordance with the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

 

Data Retention

We will only store your personal data for as long as we reasonably need it for the purposes we collected it for. When deciding how long to retain your data, we will take into account the amount, nature and sensitivity of the information and the risk of harm in the event of unauthorised use or disclosure. 

We are required by law to keep some data for longer in order to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations 

In some circumstances, you can ask us to delete your data. You always have the right to object to processing of your personal data.

 

Data Security

We have taken appropriate security measures to prevent accidental loss, alteration or disclosure and unauthorised use or access to your personal data.  We will only permit access to your personal data to employees, contractors or third parties where there is a business need to do so, subject to our instructions and to a duty of confidentiality. 

 

Data Controller and Contact Details

Cambridge University Schola Cantorum, is the data controller and responsible for your personal data. We have appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO). If you have questions about this privacy policy or about the use of your personal data or if you wish to exercise any of your privacy rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer using the details below.

 

Email address: manager@cambridgeschola.com

 

Postal address: Emmanuel College, St Andrews Street, Cambridge, CB2 2AP

This statement explains how Cambridge University Schola Cantorum ("we" and "our") handles and uses the personal data we collect about our members and our past, current, and future supporters ("you" and "your"). 

Developing a better understanding of our members and supporters allows us to keep in touch with you, in order to keep you apprised of our activities and developments, to provide services to you, and to identify ways in which you can support us, through donations or other forms of financial and non-financial support. 

We are committed to protecting your personal information and being transparent about what information we hold.

Personal data that we hold

We may hold information relating to you from a number of sources. A significant proportion of the information we hold is that which you provide to us (for example, you may give us information by filling in forms on our website, or by corresponding with us by telephone, email, or otherwise).

 Most records contain:

  • Details of your education (e.g., your University, the courses you have completed, dates of study).
  • Unique personal identifiers and biographical information (e.g., student number, date of birth).
  • Your contact details (and we update these whenever you let us know that they have changed).
  • Details of your interactions with us, including:
    • Your membership and achievements with us.
    • Your attendance at our events.
    • Other contact with us or our partners (as listed below).
    • Details of benefits and services provided to you.
    • Your relationships with other members or supporters.
  • Details about your family (e.g., your marital status, the name of your partner or spouse).
  • Personal data provided by you for a specific purpose (e.g., disability and dietary preferences for event management purposes).
  • Your communication preferences, to help us provide tailored and relevant communications.

We also record, where applicable, based on information which you provide to us and, in some cases, publicly available information and information from our partners (as listed below):

  • Financial information relating to you and your family, including:
    • Your history of donations made to us.
    • Your ability and willingness to make donations, including our assessment of your income and whether particular donations or funding appeals may be of interest to you.
    • Your philanthropy and other giving, including donations to other organisations and other support that you provide (e.g., details of volunteering roles).
  • Your career highlights and other life achievements.
  • Information about your areas of interest and extracurricular activities.

We augment the data we hold with data from our partners (as listed below) and publicly available data. We use targeted internet searches and may search the following websites (either directly or using search engines), where relevant in order to obtain and maintain the accuracy of the data listed above:

  • Public sources for individuals:
    • Sunday Times Rich List.
    • Other rich lists, including Forbes Magazine’s international rich lists.
    • Property websites.
    • The Queen’s Honours Lists.
    • National change of address services.
    • LinkedIn, to check business details.
  • Press sources, for negative press for due diligence purposes.

How we use your data

Your data is used by us for a number of interdependent purposes in support of alumni relations, supporter communications, and fundraising. These include:

  • Sending you publications (e.g., magazines and updates about our activities).
  • Conducting surveys, including research on when and whether particular donations or funding appeals may be of interest to you.
  • Providing services.
  • Sending you tailored proposals, appeals, and requests for donations.
  • Sending you details of volunteering opportunities.
  • Inviting you to our events.
  • Wealth analysis and research in order to improve our understanding of our members and supporters, inform our fundraising strategy, and target our communications more effectively.
  • Internal record keeping, including the management of any feedback or complaints.
  • Administrative purposes (e.g., in order to process a donation you have made or to administer an event you have registered for or attended).

Before seeking or accepting major donations, we are required to conduct due diligence, including reviewing publicly available personal data relating to the donor's criminal convictions and offences. 

Communications to you may be sent by post, telephone, or electronic means (principally by email), depending on the contact details we hold, the consent that you have provided, and the preferences expressed by you about the types of communications you wish to receive.

If you have concerns or queries about any of these purposes, or how we communicate with you, please contact us using the details listed below. 

We may use automated or manual analyses to link data together to help us identify your potential for supporting us, to provide you with an improved experience, to send you communications which are relevant and timely, to identify volunteering opportunities or opportunities for providing support which may be of interest to you, and to avoid approaching you with opportunities which are not of interest. All of this enables us to raise more funds, sooner, and more cost-effectively, in support of our strategic objectives. We always seek to ensure that any opportunities we present are aligned with your interests, based on the research we conduct.

We will always respect a request by you to stop processing your personal data, and in addition your statutory rights are set out below.

When we share your data with others (our partners)

We share the above categories of data with the University and the Colleges to provide you with a coordinated approach. Any transmission of data to or from the University and Colleges is managed through agreed processes which comply with relevant data protection legislation. The University and each College has its own data protection statement and procedures.

Additionally, we share the above categories of data on a considered and confidential basis, where appropriate, with:

  • Third parties engaged by us to provide fundraising-related services, such as:
    • Companies that provide us with data about alumni and supporters.
    • Consultants advising us on individuals’ capacity to donate.
    • Other contractors providing services to you on our behalf or services to us.
  • Selected companies who provide products and services that we endorse.

How we protect your data

We ensure we have appropriate data-sharing arrangements in place before sharing your personal data. We do not sell your personal data to third parties under any circumstances. We also facilitate communication between individual members, but in doing so we do not release personal contact details without prior permission. Any transfers of your data overseas (outside of the European Economic Area), as set out above, are protected either by an 'adequacy decision' by the European Commission (declaring the recipient country as a 'safe' territory for personal data) or by standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission (which give obligations for the recipient to safeguard the data). Further information about the measures we use to protect data when being transferred internationally is available from us (via the contact details are set out below).

Your rights

You have the right to:

  • Ask us for access to, or rectification or erasure of your data.
  • Restrict processing (pending correction or deletion).
  • Object to communications or direct marketing.
  • Ask for the transfer of your data electronically to a third party (data portability).
  • Lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

Further information

The legal basis for processing your personal data for the interdependent purposes set out above is that it is necessary for the pursuit of our legitimate interests. We always handle your personal data securely and minimise its use, and there is no overriding prejudice to you by using your personal information for these purposes. In addition, there is no statutory or contractual requirement for you to provide us with any personal data.

The controller for your personal data is Cambridge University Schola Cantorum, and we can be contacted at manager@cuschola.com.

Please contact us if you have any concerns or questions about the above information or you wish to ask us not to process your personal data for particular purposes. Where you have specific requests relating to how we manage your data, we will endeavour to resolve these, but please note that there may be circumstances where we cannot comply with specific requests.

We will retain your data indefinitely in support of your lifelong relationship with us or until you request us to do otherwise. We will publish any changes we make to this data protection statement and notify you by other communication channels where appropriate. Where you exercise your right to erasure, we will continue to maintain a core set of personal data (name, membership details, unique identification number, and date of birth) to ensure we do not contact you inadvertently in the future. 

We may also need to retain some financial records about you for statutory purposes (e.g., Gift Aid, anti-fraud, and accounting matters).