We're a small charity and we don't do much with your personal information. But what we do, we want to be open about. This page tells you what we keep, why we keep it and what your rights are.

Laughter Africa, 124 Princes Boulevard, Bebington, Wirral, CH63 5LP

Registered charity no. 1154712 (England and Wales)

Email: info@laughterafrica.org.uk

Phone: 0151 645 7322

Any questions about your data come straight to our Director. Just email info@laughterafrica.org.uk.

If you give to us

We keep your name, address, email and a record of what you gave. We need this to thank you, to claim Gift Aid from HMRC and to keep our accounts right. If you'd like us to claim Gift Aid, we have to have your name, home address and a Gift Aid declaration. Without them we can't claim it, but we're still very grateful for your gift.

If you buy Laughter Gifts

We use your name, address and email to sort out your order and to send you the thank-you video from the children.

If you get in touch with us

We keep your message and your contact details so we can reply.

If you follow or message us on Facebook or Instagram

We can see your name, your comments and any messages you send us. We use them to reply to you, and we don't keep them anywhere else. Facebook and Instagram are run by Meta, which has its own privacy policy.

If you volunteer with us

We keep your name, contact details and your two references. If you'll be working with children, we do a DBS check through uCheck. We only keep a record that the check was done, the date and the result. If you volunteer in Sierra Leone, we also ask for an emergency contact and do a Misconduct Disclosure Scheme check with your past employers.

If you tell us about a safeguarding concern

We keep what you tell us private and only share it with the people who need to know to keep a child safe. That may include our safeguarding lead, our safeguarding focal point in Sierra Leone, and the police or social services. We keep safeguarding records securely, in line with our Safeguarding Children Policy.

Photos and stories

If you send us photos of your fundraising or volunteering, we'll only put them on our website or social media with your permission. Just tell us if you'd like one taken down.

• We don't send you marketing emails, letters or phone calls. We only get in touch if you've contacted us first, or to thank you for a gift.
• We never sell, swap or rent your details to anyone.
• We don't build profiles of our supporters or use your details for online adverts.

We only share it when we have to:

• HMRC, to claim Gift Aid.
• Our treasurer and independent examiner, who check our accounts each year.
• The companies that run our systems, like our website host, our email provider, Squarespace (for the gifts shop and one of our donation pages) and uCheck (for DBS checks). They can only use your details to provide that service to us.
• Our safeguarding lead, and the police or social services, if we're worried a child is at risk.
• The police or other authorities, but only if the law says we must.

Some of the companies we use, like Squarespace, PayPal, Facebook and Instagram, may store information outside the UK. They have to protect it to UK standards.

Our Director lives and works in Sierra Leone for much of the year, so sometimes reads and answers emails from there. We only share your details with our team in Sierra Leone when we need to, for example to arrange your visit if you volunteer there, or to deal with a safeguarding concern.

If you give through CAF, JustGiving, PayPal, Facebook, Give as you Live or easyfundraising, they collect your details first and pass some of them on to us. Our Laughter Gifts shop and one of our donation pages run on Squarespace. Each of these has its own privacy policy, which is worth a read.

We follow the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We only use your information when the law allows it:

• Legal obligation: keeping donation and Gift Aid records for HMRC and the Charity Commission.
• Contract: sorting out your Laughter Gifts order.
• Legitimate interests: replying to you, thanking you, and making sure our volunteers are safe to work with children.
• Consent: sharing your photos or story, when you've given us permission.
• Keeping children safe: for DBS and Misconduct Disclosure Scheme checks and safeguarding records, we rely on legitimate interests, which the Data Protection Act 2018 allows for keeping children safe.

• Donation and Gift Aid records: six years, because HMRC says we must.
• Gift orders: six years, for our accounts.
• Emails and messages: only as long as we need them to help you.
• Volunteer details: while you volunteer with us, and for one year after you stop, in case you need a reference.

Your details are kept on password-protected computers and accounts. Only the people who need them can see them. We never make decisions about you by computer alone.

Our team in Sierra Leone keeps a record for each child we help, so we can find their family and see how they're getting on. These records are kept securely and only our team can see them. We never share personal information about the children and young people we work with. We only use a young person's story or photo with their permission. We never say where our Interim Care Centre is.

You have the right to:

• ask for a copy of what we hold about you (free of charge)
• ask us to correct anything that's wrong
• ask us to delete your details (we may have to keep donation records for HMRC)
• ask us to stop using your details, or to limit how we use them
• ask for your details in a form you can take somewhere else
• object to us using your details because of our legitimate interests
• change your mind at any time if you've given us permission for something

Just email info@laughterafrica.org.uk. We'll reply within one month.

If you're not happy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to us. Email info@laughterafrica.org.uk, call 0151 645 7322 or write to us. We'll let you know we've got your complaint within 30 days, look into it, and keep you updated until it's sorted.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

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We'll update this page if anything changes.

Last updated: October 2026.