Privacy Policy

The Linnean Society of London is the world’s oldest active society devoted to natural history. We are a membership-based organisation with just over 3000 members. We are a UK registered charity (charity reference no: 220509) and we are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK.

(i) Members

We collect personal information to maintain and enhance your membership of the Society. We use this to send out our membership publication, The Linnean, information about our events, and other material linked to the activities of the Society and for which you have chosen to become a member. On becoming a Fellow, your Form of Recommendation will be held in perpetuity for research purposes. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this personal information is ‘Legitimate Interest’.

(ii) Non-members

We collect personal information to involve you in our work, or to inform you of our events, news, collections, educational activities, venue hire business and other activities. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this personal information varies depending on why you have given us your information, as explained below.

If you become a member, your personal information is collected in slightly different ways, depending on whether you wish to become a Fellow or Associate.

Becoming a Fellow

You will either fill out a ‘Certificate of recommendation’ yourself, or someone will nominate you. If the latter, they will need to obtain your permission first, but otherwise the information is processed in the same way. The form will ask for your title, full name, date of birth, qualifications, profession and interest in nature, as well as your address and contact details. Your title, full name, qualifications, profession, interest in nature and country are shown to other fellows to assess your candidacy and vote for you. If you are elected, we will ask you for payment details to process your membership fee and we will keep your form in perpetuity for archival purposes. If you are unsuccessful, we will destroy your form within one month of the vote.

Becoming an Associate

You will fill out an online form that may include the following details: title, full name, date of birth, education/study, qualifications, profession and interest in nature, as well as your address and contact details. Your form is kept on file for future reference in perpetuity. We will also ask you for payment details to process the membership fee.

Becoming a Trustee

If you are a fellow, you are eligible to put yourself forward to be elected as a Trustee. If you are successful, in addition to the fellowship information we hold about you, we will record any positions you hold (e.g. President, Treasurer, Vice President or Chair of one of our committees) and maintain a skills audit and conflict of interest statement. We need to share your details with our bank, and we are legally obliged to disclose details about you and your role to the Charity Commission.

When you become a member, we will ask you to register with our cloud-based membership relationship-management system. You will be asked to adjust your privacy settings and check the details we hold about you. The default setting allows only your name, postnominals, qualifications/accreditations to be viewed by other members. If you wish to share more details with other members (e.g. contact details), you must ‘opt in’ to this functionality. If you choose to terminate your membership, some of your details will be stored along with your Certificate of recommendation for archival purposes.

We will also need you to enter your payment details into this system so that we can process your annual subscription. These details will be stored securely in line with the requirements of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). The PCI-DSS is a collection of policies and procedures developed by the Payment Card Industry to improve the security of credit, debit and cash card transactions, and protect cardholders from identity theft. The site stores an encrypted reference to your card details, which are stored with a global secure third-party payment provider as is standard best practice.

With your agreement, we may hold other payment-related documents about you. These are:

• Gift Aid – This applies to UK members only and is optional.
• Direct Debit information for the automatic processing of your annual subscription.

We use Eventbrite to manage registration to some of our events. Our contact with you will normally be through the Eventbrite platform, and your data relating to the event will not be stored anywhere else. If you contact us via Eventbrite, or using either the events@linnean.org or library@linnean.org email addresses, information relating to your query will be stored on our secure email server.

By attending a Linnean Society event, audience members consent to being filmed, livestreamed, recorded and/or photographed. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this personal information is ‘legitimate interest’.

For more information, please see:

• Our events Terms and Conditions
• Eventbrite’s Privacy Policy

On occasion we host events in partnership with other organisations. Other organisations may also use the Society as a venue to host events. In these cases, the Privacy Policy of the organisation that handles audience registration will apply.

We use an electronic sign in process (and in the past/as back up a paper record) to track who is in the building for health and safety reasons. Member and non-member visitors must sign in and sign out, agreeing to our Terms and Conditions. Personal information such as your name is required in case of a roll call at an assembly point if the building is evacuated. We ask you to give a reason for your visit so we know who is where in the building in case of an emergency.

All data is securely stored in the cloud, is securely encrypted, both ‘in transit’ to Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers, and ‘at rest’ on those servers. This data belongs to The Linnean Society and will be removed from the servers after one year, once our security controls have been satisfied. Sign-in data will be used by the Society to report on visitor numbers and the reasons for visits in order to help us plan for and improve visitor experiences.

The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing required sign in information is ‘legitimate interest’. If you elect to supply any further personal information e.g. in order to sign-up to our email newsletter then the Society will collect, process and store information about you according to the nature of your chosen interaction.

Our Collections Team, which is responsible for the care and use of our archive, library and collections, collects personal information of members and non-members relevant to the Society. They need this to safeguard our precious material, and ensure our activities are recorded and preserved for future generations to enjoy. If you visit or use our collections, they will collect, process and store information about you depending on the nature of your interaction:

• Your enquiry about our collections, which will include your name, address or email address, will be retained for five years.
• Your reader registration form, which will include your name, address, email address, telephone number, affiliation and signature, will be retained for five years.
• Your record in our Library signing-in book will be retained for one year.
• Your record in our Library Loan register will be retained in perpetuity.
• Your request about image permissions, reprographics or photography will be retained for five years. This information will include your name, address, email, telephone number, signature, and publication details (where applicable).
• Your external loan request, which will include your name, professional address and telephone number, will be retained in perpetuity for archival purposes.
• Your request to undertake specimen sampling, which will include your name, professional address and email address, will be retained in perpetuity for archival purposes.

The Society awards medals and prizes for a variety of achievements in natural history. If you would like to nominate someone for a medal or prize, you must first inform the nominee before you submit their nomination. If you are a nominee, we will keep your application details (i.e. your name, address, contact details, profession and curriculum vitae) securely until decisions are made on the awards by Council. At that point all unsuccessful nomination forms will be destroyed. If you are successful, we will keep your details in perpetuity for archival purposes unless a request to not do so is received in writing. We would like to publicise your medal or award on our website and social media channels, but will obtain your consent first. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this personal information is ‘legitimate interest’.

We organise a portrait competition for young people. To run the competition, we keep contact details about young people and their guardians. After the competition cycle, we keep data about the winning entry for archival purposes. We then destroy the data relating to the other entries. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this personal information is ‘consent’.

The Society awards various grants aligned with our purpose. If you wish to apply for one of our grants, you must fill out the relevant application form, which may ask for details such as your name, address, institution and contact details. We will share the completed application form with a panel of internal and external assessors, and we will ask them to maintain confidentiality at all times. We will keep the applications securely until decisions are made on the awards, after which applications from unsuccessful candidates will be destroyed. If you are successful, we will keep a record of your application and work for archival purposes. We will need you to give us your bank details to process any payments, but will destroy this information as soon as you confirm receipt of the payment. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this personal information is ‘legitimate interest’.

We run a youth-based grant scheme called ‘Our Local Nature Grants’. As part of this, we invite applications to be part of the Youth Panel judging the grants. If you become a member of this panel, we will keep details such as your full name, email address, age, gender, ethnicity and UK region. We will keep these details for one year so that we can inform you about the grants you help us award. If you apply to be on the panel, but are unsuccessful, we will destroy your information after six months. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this personal information is ‘consent’.

The Society publishes four journals with Oxford University Press. Submission of papers to our journals, editing and peer review are all managed through the submission site Scholar One. For further information, read the Scholar One Privacy Policy. If you contact our Editorial Office email addresses, data relating to your query will be stored on our secure email servers. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this information is ‘legitimate interest’.

We depend on the generous support of individuals to carry out our charitable work. If you are interested in making a donation or leaving a legacy, we will collect your name, email, phone number and postal address, and store this information securely.

We will also collect and maintain information on our interactions with donors and prospective donors (e.g. events attended, publications sent, letters received), information on previous gifts to the Society, and information gathered from publicly available resources.

We maintain and use this information for the purposes of:

1. Gift recording and administration.
2. Gift aid claims.
3. Understanding a person’s interests and building a relationship.
   
4. Communicating our plans and activities.
5. Assisting with ongoing fundraising.
6. Reporting to applicable government agencies as required by law.
7. Maintaining an accurate domestic archive.

All information concerning donors or prospective donors shall be kept strictly confidential and stored securely. It is only shared within the organisation on a ‘need-to-know’ basis, unless permission is obtained from donors or prospects to release such information.

We may also record information about your donation, for example if you adopt one of our books or objects. Names of individual donors will be recorded in perpetuity for archival purposes unless otherwise requested. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this information is ‘legitimate interest’.

Further to your identified or anonymous donation you will be offered the option to Gift Aid your gift. Where a person opts to Gift Aid their donation additional data will be collected including the donor's name, first line of address and postcode, email address and confirmation that the relevant individual is a UK taxpayer. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this information is ‘consent’. We remain the data controller irrespective of the paper handing or digital processing method of administration.

The Linnean Society is subject to legal duties which may require the release of information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 1992, and any other legislation or codes brought into UK law at a later date. Such disclosures may include information relating to gifts and the purpose it concerns. Whilst the Linnean Society will not make such disclosure without prior consultation with the relevant donor, there may be circumstances where the Linnean Society may be under statutory duty to disclose details of a gift without consent.

We offer you the opportunity to purchase goods from our website and in person at Burlington House.

When you purchase in person, your credit or debit card information may be shared with order and payment processors. You may opt to provide an email address for us to send you a receipt of your order.

When you visit or make a purchase from our website we collect certain information necessary to process your purchases. We may also collect additional information if you contact us for customer support.

Examples of personal information we collect include name, billing address, shipping address, payment information (including credit or debit card numbers, Paypal account), email address, and phone number. Purposes of collection may include but not be limited to providing products or services to you to fulfil our contract, to process your payment information, arrange for shipping, and provide you with invoices and/or order confirmations, communicate with you, screen our orders for potential risk or fraud. For business purposes it may be necessary to disclose or share your information to provide our services and fulfil our contracts to you and to apply with applicable laws and regulations, including order and payments processors, fulfilment and/or delivery agents.

The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this information is ‘consent’. When you place an order through our website, we will retain your personal information for our records unless and until you ask us to erase this information.

When you visit our website we collect certain information about your device, your interaction with the website and personal information that we use to provide our services to you including offering products and tickets for sale and keeping you up to date on new products, services and updates from the Society.

We use cookies to optimise your website experience. A cookie is a small amount of information that’s downloaded to your computer or device when you visit our website. We use a number of different cookies, including functional, performance, advertising, and social media or content cookies. Cookies make your browsing experience better by allowing the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login and region selection). This means you do not have to re-enter this information each time you return to the website or browse from one page to another. Cookies also provide information on how people use the website, for instance whether it’s their first time visiting or if they are a frequent visitor. You can control and manage cookies in various ways. Please keep in mind that removing or blocking cookies can negatively impact your user experience and parts of our website may no longer be fully accessible.

We use Google Analytics cookies to track the performance of our website and understand how we can improve it. This includes information about the number of visitors to our website and how long, on average, users spend on a page. Read more about how Google uses information from sites using their services. You can change your cookie preferences on the website. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this information is ‘consent’.

We are on social media, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X and LinkedIn. If you follow us on one of these social media channels, or interact with our posts, you might give us access to information about you, depending on your own privacy settings. Any communication or engagement with us on these platforms are subject to the terms and conditions and privacy policies of those platforms. We recommend you use social media carefully and consider your privacy settings and the information you share on these platforms.

We send a monthly newsletter, Linnean News, to anyone who wants to hear more about our activities using Mailchimp. If you are not a member, you can subscribe, unsubscribe or change your preferences through Mailchimp. If you are a member, you can use the membership relationship-management platform to subscribe, but you need to manage any further changes to your preferences through Mailchimp. The legal basis for us to collect, process and store this personal information though our platform is ‘consent’.

We have a newsletter relating to our education work, Linnean Learning Update. You can subscribe, unsubscribe or change your preferences through Mailchimp.

For more information on Mailchimp see Mailchimp’s Privacy Policy.

We operate an onsite CCTV system for the purposes of crime prevention and detection for the safety of our staff and those who visit the Society. This video footage is stored for 30 days. In the event of a safety or security incident or near miss, details of the event are kept in an incident report by the Society. Such reports contain no personal information, but personal information may be kept by any emergency services called out to the incident. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this information is ‘legitimate interest’.

If you apply to work for us, we will use the information you provide to process your application and monitor recruitment statistics. If we need to release information to a third party, for example to take up a reference or to obtain disclosure, we will inform you beforehand. If you are successful, we will keep your employment records for six years after you leave us, unless we agree with you that your records should be held in perpetuity, or there are legislative interests. The legal basis for collecting, processing, and storing this information is ‘contract.’ If you are unsuccessful, we will destroy your application after three months.

There are many ways to volunteer for us. If you agree to volunteer for one of our activities or accept an invitation to sit on one of our committees, we will hold your personal contact details securely on our membership relationship-management system, and it will be administered by one of our members of staff. The legal basis for collecting, processing and storing this information is ‘legitimate interest’.

You have the right to view, edit and ask us to delete all the information that we hold on you. However, if you are a member and ask us to delete all of your information, the Linnean Society will not be able to maintain your membership as it will not be able to honour its obligation to you as a member.

We normally will contact you by email, but occasionally we will also contact you by post, if we need to send you any hard-copy documents. If you have any particular preferences on how you would like to be contacted, please let us know.

The Society is a scientific and historical body and is therefore allowed to further process your personal data for archiving activities and maintenance of the Society’s historical records. It is hoped that you will agree for your personal data to be further processed in this way. This however does not mean that your ‘right to be forgotten’ is taken away. Under the terms of the GDPR you have a right to request at any time a copy of the data we hold about you by using a subject access request to the Data Protection Officer.

Please note that some personal information from deceased Fellows will be securely stored for archival purposes in line with our charitable purpose.