PRIVACY POLICY
1.0 Introduction
Black Females in Architecture is a network and enterprise founded to increase the visibility of black and black mixed heritage women within the architectural design industry and other built environment fields. In this Privacy Policy “BFA” or “we” or “us” etc. refers to the Black Females in Architecture and its directors. “The wider BFA network” refers to other members like yourself who have subscribed to be members of the BFA community. At BFA, one of our main priorities is the privacy of our members. It is important to us to be transparent about the types of data we collect from you, the reasons why we collect it and how we intend to use this information. The collection of your data is vital to the functioning of our network and the community we are creating and allows us to provide you with the necessary support. The terms set out in this Privacy Policy apply when interacting with our network and utilising the services provided by the network. If you have additional questions or require more information about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us via email at hello@blackfemarc.com.
2.0 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The terms set out in this privacy policy have been created in conjunction with EU policies regarding data collection set out by the European Data Protection Board, 2018. Black Females in Architecture LTD are a Data Controller of your information. BFA’s legal basis for collecting and using the personal information described in this Privacy Policy depends on the personal information we collect and the specific context in which we collect the information, these may include the following:
• BFA needs to form a contract with you
• You have given BFA permission to do so
• Processing your personal information is in BFA’s legitimate interests
BFA is obligated to comply with the law and therefore BFA will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our policies. If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), you have certain data protection rights. Processing your personal data in these circumstances forms our legitimate interest to provide you with the best possible service we can, and to ensure that our website, events, network and forums continually evolve in line with these interests.
In certain circumstances, you have the following data protection rights:
• The right to access, update or to delete the information we have on you.
• The right of rectification.
• The right to object.
• The right of restriction.
• The right to withdraw consent.
2.2 This privacy policy describes:
• What information we collect, how we collect it, and why
• How we use that information and with whom we share it
• How you can access and update that information
• The choices you can make about how we collect, use and share your information
• How we protect the information we store about you.
If you do not want the BFA to collect, store, use or share your information in the ways described in this Privacy Policy, you may not be able to become a member of the BFA network. Please contact us directly to discuss further options.
3.0 Information We Collect
We collect the following types of information.
3.1 Information you provide us directly:
• Registration
In order to join the BFA Network/Community you’ll be providing us with data including your name, email address and mobile number. These identify you to us and allow us to contact you and point you out as an individual who is a member of our community. This information will not be shared with any members in the wider network or any third parties unless we have your consent to do so.
During registration you also provide data regarding your ethnicity, background, education and career. This information helps us to put together a detailed picture of the members of our community, so that we can ensure the BFA continues to provide the necessary support and service that benefit you most. Part of BFA’s core mission is to improve diversity within the built environment industry and to facilitate this mission, the information you provide us in relation to your ethnicity, background, education and career journey may be shared with the wider BFA network or third parties. This information will however always remain anonymous and untraceable to you as an individual.
In the future the BFA will be offering paid membership options which will require a subscription fee, we will however always maintain a free subscription option. Should you wish to subscribe to our paid membership option, it will be necessary to collect data regarding payment and billing, such as your address and payment details, in order to process your subscription fee. This information will never be shared with the wider BFA network or any third parties.
• Questionnaires and Surveys
During the course of your membership with the BFA we may at times ask you to fill out surveys or questionnaires related to the architectural industry and other built environment fields.
You do not have to partake in these surveys and it will not affect your membership if you choose not to do so. Providing data for these types of questionnaires will broaden our understanding of our members, our approach to the services we can provide and the types of information we share with third parties. This information may be shared with the wider BFA network or third parties but participants will always remain anonymous.
• Personal Interaction
BFA invites you to join in with membership activities, these may be either physical or digital. During the course of these activities, details may be recorded of the event (either by our members or a third party) such as: your participation, your experiences and photographs or videos of the event. This information will be used to historically detail our events and inform future events. You may withhold permission for us to share identifiable details of you partaking in these activities, such as your name, images of you or detailed retelling of your experience. We may, however, utilise non-identifiable data regarding your participation in these events, such as quantities of participants. This information may be shared with the wider BFA network
or third parties.
3.2 Information you provide us indirectly
When you interact with our website we receive information generated by your activity such as usage data, and other information automatically collected from your browser or mobile device. This information may include your IP address, browser type and version, preferred language, geographic location using the GPS, wireless or bluetooth technology on your device.
This information is automatically stored and available for our access. We may look at this information from time to time for analytical purposes. This information may be shared with the wider BFA network or third parties.
4.0 How we may use your Information
Other than the uses outlined in section 3.1 and 3.2 of this policy, BFA may also use the information you provide us with in the following ways:
• To notify you regarding important updates pertaining to the BFA network
• To notify you of relevant events, job opportunities, workshops etc that may be of interest.
• To respond to your requests, enquiries, comments or concerns.
• To collate your information as data for use in statistical profiling regarding the architectural and built environment industries.
• To improve content for users of the service.
• To comply with our legal obligations.
• To share with third party users who have a vested interest in the built environment or black women in the architectural design industry and built environments career opportunities, either in the form of non-identifiable data sets, or identifiable data. We may engage these selected third party companies and individuals to perform services complementary to our own. These third parties may include publications, local governments, or private sector companies.
• Your information may also be used for automated profiling by ourselves or third party users.
5.0 How you can access and update that information
As a member you have a right to request access to, view, update and erase the data we have stored about you.
Please submit a request in writing to hello@blackfemarc.com. The BFA Team will respond to data requests within a month (30 days).
6.0 The choices you can make about how we collect, use and share your information
You can always opt not to disclose information to us, but keep in mind some information may be needed to register with us or to take advantage of some of our features. You may add, update, or delete information at any time as described in 5.0. When you update information
however, we may maintain a copy of the unrevised information in our records. You may request deletion of your account by email via hello@blackfemarc.com. Some information such as information used in aggregated data may remain in our records after deletion of your account/unsubscription as a BFA member. We may use any aggregated data derived from or incorporating your Personal Information after you update or delete it, but not in a manner that would identify you personally.
7.0 How we protect the information we store about you.
We endeavour to protect the privacy of your account and other Personal Information we hold in our records, but unfortunately, we cannot guarantee complete security. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors, may compromise the security of user information at any time.
8.0 Data Retention
The time periods for which we retain your personal information will depend on the purposes for which we use it. BFA will keep your personal information for as long as you are a registered member of the network/community, or for as long as we have a legitimate business purpose to do so and, thereafter, for no longer than is required or permitted by law. Should our overall interest change in the future, you will be informed and asked to opt-in again.
9.0 Communications
Our primary forms of communicating with you will be via Whatsapp and email. When you send us an email, we will use your email address to thank you for your comment and/or reply to your question, and we will store your communication and our reply as a record of our correspondence. When you join our community you opt-in to the following: receiving our e-newsletter, information regarding events and correspondence via email and Slack. From time to time we may choose to contact you directly on one of these services regarding opportunities that we feel may be of direct relevance to you.
10.0 Disputes
If you have any complaints regarding our compliance with this privacy policy you should first contact us. We will investigate and attempt to resolve complaints and disputes regarding use and disclosure of Personal Information in accordance with this privacy policy. If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, please let us know and also feel free to contact a third party dispute resolution provider.
11.0 Changes to this privacy policy
The BFA may update this Privacy Policy as necessary to reflect changes we make and to satisfy legal requirements. We will post a prominent notice of material changes on our website and we will provide you with a link to the updated policy via email, prior to its implementation.
If you disagree with the updated terms of the policy, please notify us to raise your concerns.
If you wish to terminate your membership as a result of changes to this Privacy Policy, this will be arranged.
12.0 Use by Children
We do not knowingly collect or solicit Personal Information from anyone under the age of 16.
If you are under 16, please do not attempt to register for the Services or send any Personal Information about yourself to us. If we learn that we have collected Personal Information from a child under the age of 16, we will delete that information as quickly as possible.
13.0 Cookies
We and certain service providers may use cookies and similar tracking technologies throughout our services. These technologies are used mostly for stability, security, functionality, performance and marketing purposes.
Our Services and some of our Service Providers utilise “cookies”, anonymous identifiers and other tracking technologies which help us provide and improve our Services, personalise your experience and monitor the performance of our activities and campaigns. A “cookie” is a small text file that is used, for example, to collect data about activity on our Site. Some cookies and other technologies serve to recall Personal Data, such as an IP address, previously indicated by the user. While we do not change our practices in response to a “Do Not Track” signal in the HTTP header from a browser or mobile application, most browsers allow you to control cookies, including whether or not to accept them and to remove them. You may set most browsers to notify you if you receive a cookie, or you may choose to block cookies with your browser.
14.0 Third Party Disclaimer
Our website, newsletters, emails and messages via Slack may contain links to websites owned and operated by third parties. If you use these links, you leave BFA monitored platforms.
These links are provided for your information and convenience only and are not an endorsement by Black Females in Architecture of the content of such linked websites or third parties.
Black Females in Architecture has no control over the contents of any linked website and is not responsible for these websites or their content or availability.
15.0 Contacting Us
Black Females in Architecture is a Limited Company. If you have any comments or questions about this Privacy Notice or if you have any concerns regarding your Privacy, please contact us at hello@blackfemarc.com
PRIVACY POLICY UPDATED: 09 JUNE 2023