Your privacy

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Keeping you and your personal information safe

We take our duty and obligation to keep everyone safe extremely seriously. This includes how we treat any personal information you share with us.

Data Privacy Notice for the Open Table Network

1. Your personal data - what is it?

Personal data is any information relating to you, or any other living individual, which could be used to identify you, or them. You, or they, could be identified by that information on its own, or together with any other information we hold, or are likely to hold. The way we manage personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (‘the GDPR’).

2. Who are we?

We are the Open Table Network (OTN) - a growing partnership of communities across England & Wales which welcome and affirm people who are:

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, & Asexual (LGBTQIA)

+ our families, friends & anyone who wants to belong in an accepting, loving community.

OTN is registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) no. 1193868. Our contact details are at the end of this Notice.

OTN has been created by, and for, LGBTQIA+ people, who have too often found churches unsafe, unwelcoming places to be. So, we take very seriously our responsibility to respect your privacy and keep your personal data as safe and secure as possible.

When you share your personal data with us, we become what the GDPR calls a ‘data controller’. This means we decide, with your consent, how to protect and manage your personal data.

3. How do we process your personal data?

We meet our obligations under the 'GDPR' by:

  • keeping personal data up to date;

  • storing it securely;

  • destroying it fully if required;

  • only collecting and storing what we really need;

  • protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, and disclosure;

  • ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to make that happen.

We use your personal data to:

  • enable us to carry out our charitable object as stated in our constitution;

  • administer membership and subscription records;

  • fund-raise for, and promote the interests of, the charity;

  • manage our staff and volunteers;

  • maintain our own accounts and records (including Gift Aid applications);

  • inform you of news, events, activities, and services running throughout the Open Table Network and partner organisations.

4. How does the law expect that we will manage your personal data?

  • We must obtain your explicit consent to keep you informed about news, events, activities, and services;

  • We must obtain your explicit consent to manage your donations, and to process your Gift Aid claims;

  • We must manage personal data to carry out our legal obligations as an employer;

  • As a faith-based charity, we must keep personal data only of current or former members (or those with whom we have regular contact in connection with our charitable purposes);

  • We may not share your information with any other person or organisation (a ‘third  party’) without your knowledge and consent;

  • We must obtain your explicit consent to use your image in photographic or videographic material.

5. Sharing your personal data
Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be shared with other representatives of OTN in order to carry out purposes connected with OTN as described in point 3 above. We will only share your data with third parties outside of OTN with your consent.

6. How long do we keep your personal data?
We keep data in accordance with the Information Commissioner’s Office Guide to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

Specifically, we retain:

  • Email addresses for those who have subscribed to e-news distribution lists;

  • Gift Aid declarations and associated paperwork for up to six years after the calendar year to which they relate;

  • Contact details for staff and volunteers (including Trustees and Patrons);

  • Images, for as long as these are in use in promotional or other materials.

7. Your rights and your personal data 

Unless GDPR guidance mentions an exemption, concerning your personal data, you have the right to:

  • ask for a copy of the personal data which OTN holds about you;

  • ask that OTN corrects any personal data which is incorrect or out of date;  

  • ask that your personal data is deleted where OTN no longer needs to keep it;

  • withdraw, at any time, your consent for OTN  to manage your personal data;

  • require that OTN provide you with your personal data and, where possible, to share that data with the data controller of another organisation (where applicable);

  • ask for processing of your personal data to be restricted, if there is a dispute about its accuracy or processing;

  • object to the processing of your personal data (where applicable);

  • lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office (see contact details at the end of this Notice).

8. Further processing

If we wish to use your personal data for a new reason, not covered by this Data Protection Notice, we will provide you with a new notice explaining this and, if required by law, we will seek your consent before we begin.

9. Contact details

For queries or complaints about the privacy of your personal data:
Please contact the OTN Coordinator

  • by email: network@opentable.lgbt

  • by post: Open Table Network, URC Mersey Synod Office, 1 Fingall Road, Liverpool L15 9JE.

If OTN is unable to resolve your query or complaint:
You can contact the Information Commissioners Office

We may update this privacy notice from time to time and will take appropriate measures to notify you of any changes to the policies and governance of OTN if these affect your data privacy.


Revised by the Trustees of the Open Table Network, 14th September 2023. Download this Privacy Notice as a PDF file.