Privacy Notice

Who are we?

The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University BKWSU (UK) teaches Raja Yoga as a way of experiencing peace of mind and a positive approach to life.

The University provides opportunities for people from all religious and cultural backgrounds to explore their own spirituality and learn skills of reflection and meditation derived from Raja Yoga, which will help develop inner calm, clear thinking and personal well-being.

The BKWSU (UK) is registered as Data Controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration reference: Z6079264

Global Cooperation House
65-69 Pound Lane
London NW10 2HH
gdpr@uk.brahmakumaris.org
www.brahmakumaris.org

Scope

The scope of this Privacy Notice concerns all data subjects whose personal data is processed in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR UK). Personal data relates to a living individual (data subjects) who can be identified from that data.

Responsibilities

The BKWSU (UK) as Data Controller is responsible for ensuring compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The BKWSU (UK) appreciates that your data privacy and any personal data you share is important to you. We respect and value individuals and their data privacy and we also have special protections in place for children and vulnerable adults.

What is Personal Data?

Under Data Protection Regulations, personal data can be defined as follows:

“Any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person”

Purpose of BKWSU (UK) Processing Personal Data

The personal data we collect and process may be used for one or more of the following purposes:

to organise events (including online events) such as: seminars / workshops / courses / retreats / talks
to keep data subjects up to date with information about events (this can be via newsletters / E-flyers)
to comply with legal obligations of the Data Controller such as: health and safety regulations / financial regulations / immigration laws / child protection laws / requirements regarding wills and charitable legacies / for insurance purposes
to enable national and international travel coordination
data management such as backups, storage, security safeguards and transfer of personal data
to personalise our products and services
for marketing purposes
to manage the welfare and activities of Volunteers
to promote the activities of international Brahma Kumaris organisations and affiliate organisations
to promote events organised in collaboration with other organisations both in the UK and internationally.

Our legal basis for processing personal data is at least one of the following:

Consent: you, the data subject, has given clear consent for us to process your personal data for a specific purpose or purposes
Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with BKWSU (UK) or one of its affiliates
Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for us to comply with the laws (this excludes contractual obligations)
Vital interests: the processing is necessary to protect someone’s life
Public task: the processing is necessary for us to perform a task in the public interest or for our official tasks and purposes and the task or purpose has a clear basis in law
Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests.

The categories of personal data are:

We currently collect and process the following information:

contact details such as individual name, electronic mail, telephone numbers, business name, business physical address, passport and other travel related information as required, business telephone, business email and business phone number
health (to accommodate for guests / participants with special needs, diet requirements, access needs or other health information processed in the vital interest of the data subject)
lifestyle practices to (amongst other reasons) enable visits to the spiritual headquarters in India.

Sharing of Personal data

We may share your data within BKWSU (UK), international Brahma Kumaris organisations and affiliate organisations.

We may share your personal data with third parties to the extent necessary for the purpose, including without limitation:

contractors and service providers who we use for our services, such as external compliance and other services, DBS Services, HMRC, training providers, travel agencies, insurance companies, professional bodies, Home Office, Embassies and web hosting, platform and information technology services providers.
as necessary to comply with any legal obligation, such as tax reporting to HMRC or Charities Commission, complying with a court or other legally-binding order or decision by a competent authority.

Where legally required, we may need to share certain data held by us, which may include your personal information. We do not require any further consent from you in order to share your data in such circumstances and will comply as required by any legally binding request that is made of us by the relevant bodies, authorities and/or government.

Sharing data internationally (EU and non-EU)

As the BKWSU (UK) is part of a worldwide network in more than 100 countries, where necessary, personal data may be shared with independent international Brahma Kumaris establishments. In these cases, we will ensure that the appropriate legal basis and appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data, in accordance with data protection laws.

Your Rights as a Data Subject

At any point while we are in possession of or processing your personal data, you, the data subject, have the following rights:

Right of access – you have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.
Right of rectification – you have the right to ask us to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.
Right to be forgotten – in certain circumstances you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records.
Right to restriction of processing – where certain conditions apply, you have the right to restrict the processing.
Right of portability – you have the right to request the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation.
Right to object – you have the right to object to certain types of processing such as direct marketing.
Right to object to automated processing, including profiling – you also have the right to object to automated processing or profiling.
Right to judicial review: in the event that the BKWSU (UK) refuses your request under rights of access, we will provide you with a reason as to why.
You always have the right to withdraw any consent you have provided and to object to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes. You also have the right to request that your data is not used for direct marketing.
Right to data portability – you have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. Please contact us at gdpr@uk.brahmakumaris.org if you wish to make a request.

All of the above requests will be forwarded should there be a third party involved in the processing of your personal data.

Contacting Us

In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how your personal data is being processed by BKWSU (UK) you have the right to lodge a complaint directly with the Supervisory Authority, namely the UK’s Information Commission’s Office (ICO) or the BKWSU (UK) GDPR Team gdpr@uk.brahmakumaris.org.

Changes to this Policy

This policy may be updated from time to time, and these changes will be posted on the BKWSU (UK) website with an effective date. Where appropriate, we will also send you an email to confirm the updates. We encourage you to check this policy regularly to ensure you are up to date with any changes.

Updated 26 June 2023