Privacy Statement (Development)

George Watson’s College, an Edinburgh Merchant Company School, is a charitable body registered in Scotland (registration SC009747).

The Development Office supports GWC’s community of alumni, donors, current and former parents, staff, volunteers, friends, and partners to develop mutually beneficial relationships; to provide alumni services, benefits and networks; and to fundraise in support of our School.

Development Office
George Watson's College
Colinton Road
Edinburgh
EH10 5EG

This policy also applies to the George Watson’s Family Foundation ( SC004818), and partner organisations where the school is a data controller, including The George Watson’s Endowment Trust (SC048956), and The Watsonian Benevolent Fund (SC001821).

Data we collect from you

As part of our alumni (former pupils, former parents, current parents, former staff)

What data we collect from you	Why we collect your data	Legal Bases
We will collect your name, postal address, email address and phone number (if provided) and the year attended.	To keep you up to date with GWC news, promotions/marketing, fundraising, events, jobs and volunteering opportunities.	If you have been in touch with the school, or have indicated an interest in news, alumni relations, fundraising, or are a current parent, we may contact you by email/text with information that we think you might like. We do this under the ‘soft opt‑in’ rule, which allows us to send marketing without prior explicit consent in certain circumstances. You can opt out of receiving these emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in our messages or by contacting us directly.

When you make a donation or pledge a legacy to George Watson’s College

What data we collect from you	Why we collect your data	Legal Bases
We will collect your name, postal address, email address and phone number (if provided).	We are required to keep a record of your name and postal address for audit purposes, and for Gift Aid Declaration.	This is a legal obligation; your information will be shared with HMRC for tax regulation purposes and may be shared with an auditor.
	To keep you up to date with our work, events, services, special offers and ways of supporting GWC.	If you have been in touch with the school, or have indicated an interest in news, alumni relations, fundraising, or are a current parent, we may contact you by email/text with information that we think you might like. We do this under the ‘soft opt‑in’ rule, which allows us to send marketing without prior explicit consent in certain circumstances. You can opt out of receiving these emails by contacting us at development@gwc.org.uk.
	If you donate to a specific project, we may contact you with an update on the project.	On the basis of legitimate interest.
Bank details.	To allow us to process your Direct Debit/Standing order donation.	This is required for the contract (sale of the product or service).

If you book to attend an event organised by the Development Team

What data we collect from you	Why we collect your data	Legal Bases
We will collect your name, postal address, email address and phone number (if provided).	To ensure that your name is included on the guest list and to inform you of any changes to the event.	This is required for the contract (sale of the product or service).
	To keep you up to date with our work, other events which might interest you, services, special offers and ways of supporting GWC.	If you have been in touch with the school, or have indicated an interest in news, alumni relations, fundraising, or are a current parent, we may contact you by email/text with information that we think you might like. We do this under the ‘soft opt‑in’ rule, which allows us to send marketing without prior explicit consent in certain circumstances. You can opt out of receiving these emails at any time by contacting us at development@gwc.org.uk
We might ask if you have any dietary or accessibility requirements.	To ensure that we are meeting your needs and expectations.	We will only record this information with your explicit consent and will delete this information immediately after the event.

If you complete a Gift Aid declaration

What data we collect from you	Why we collect your data	Legal Bases
We will collect your name, postal address, email address and phone number (if provided).	We are required to keep a record of your name and postal address.	This is a legal obligation; your information will be shared with HMRC for tax regulation purposes and may be shared with an auditor.
	To keep you up to date with our work, events, services, special offers and ways of supporting GWC.	If you have been in touch with the school, or have indicated an interest in news, alumni relations, fundraising, or are a current parent, we may contact you by email/text with information that we think you might like. We do this under the ‘soft opt‑in’ rule, which allows us to send marketing without prior explicit consent in certain circumstances. You can opt out of receiving these emails at any time by contacting us directly at development@gwc.org.uk.
		We may occasionally contact you by post and do so on the basis of legitimate interest.

If you leave us a gift in your will

We will collect your name, postal address, email address and phone number from you if you tell us you have left a gift in your will or are thinking of doing so; we will only process your information with your consent. We also collect data from executors, trustees, solicitors and other professions acting in the administration of a legacy. We process your information internally and will only use it for the purposes of legacy administration. We might ask if you would be happy for us to share the details of your pledge externally for promotional/marketing purposes; we would only share this information with your consent.

How we share your data

In some circumstances we will pass your personal data to agents who process data on our behalf. Where we do this, a written contract will be put in place between the GWC and the service provider to set out the purposes for which the information can be used and the security measures that must be in place. Recipients of personal data include:

Mailing houses to send our publications, such as Caritas Magazine, and fundraising appeals
Payment providers for the processing and collection of donations, including third party Direct Debit collection services
Providers of our software and platforms used to provide our services and bulk email communications
Volunteers who are working on behalf of the GWC or Watsonian Club
External service providers to supply a new address, telephone or email address for individuals with whom we have lost contact, or verify existing contact information
HMRC if required to give evidence for Gift Aid claims

We may buy anonymous external data (such as Experian’s Mosaic consumer data) and combine it with your personal data to improve our services and activities for the school.

Legitimate interests

In certain circumstances, we will use legitimate interest as our legal basis for processing your data. GWC is a charity reliant upon fundraising and we will use information from publicly available resources to engage you in alumni relations activities, and help us understand your philanthropic interests and ability to support GWC. Our legitimate interests do not override your statutory rights and processing your data in this way will always be subject to a balancing test to ensure that your rights are maintained.

How we analyse your information

We undertake research on a small proportion of current and potential supporters to enable us to use our resources effectively and raise philanthropic gifts more efficiently. When researching individuals, we will gather information from publicly available resources, such as the charity registers, LinkedIn, Who’s Who, Companies House and other information databases, newspaper articles and specialist resources based on public information.

We will analyse geographic and demographic information to help us understand the likelihood of engagement with GWC, including financially through philanthropic donations, or for volunteering opportunities and other areas that support GWC activities. We will use this data to build profiles on individuals who we believe may have an interest and the means, or the expertise, to become actively involved with GWC. If you do not wish your data to be processed in this way, please contact our Data Protection Lead: Su Breadner s.breadner@gwc.org.uk

Ethical fundraising

We carry out due diligence on current and potential donors to ensure that the sources and purposes of prospective donations and fundraising are ethically acceptable, and to protect GWC from financial and reputational harm. Due diligence research is carried out as a legal obligation, as specified in the Code of Fundraising Practice. We process information relating to criminal allegations, proceedings or convictions and do so in accordance with Schedule 1 Part 2 Paragraph 12 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Data retention periods

We will keep Gift Aid declarations for six years after receipt. We will keep other records (alumni contact details, dates of school attendance, correspondence, event administration documents, financial records and information) only as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected.

If you ask that we remove you from our records, or ask that we do not contact you in future, we will keep a skeleton record to ensure that we continue to respect your preferences and ensure we adhere to legal requirements.

Your rights

You have statutory rights relating to your own personal data:

Access – you have the right to know what data we hold relating to you and why, and to receive a copy of it;
Rectification – you have the right to have inaccurate information about you corrected;
Objection – you have the right to object to GWC using your information, and we would have to stop unless we have a sound overriding reason to continue. This right includes the right to object to our processing of your personal data for the purposes of direct marketing;
Erasure, restriction and portability – in specific circumstances, you have the right to have your personal data deleted, to put limits on what GWC will do with it or to receive a copy in machine-readable form to take to another organisation;
Automated decision-making including profiling – GWC does not use automated decision making. Profiling is used to identify new supporters and you have the right to tell us you do not want your data to be processed in this way

How to opt out of processing

This document was last updated on 16 March 2026.