Autism Initiatives Group
Trusts & Foundations Reporting Privacy Notice
Autism Initiatives Group of Companies (AIG) receives funding from Trusts, Foundations, and sometimes public organisations. This allows us to provide particular services, facilities and opportunities. As a condition of providing funding, many funders require us to report back and show how their money has helped people we support and others. In some cases, they will ask us to highlight their funding publicly, or we may choose to do so as an organisation. To do this, we need to collect information and about people who take part in activities paid for by these funders. This helps us show the difference our support makes and allows us to keep receiving important funding for our services.
Throughout the rest of this document we will refer to you as a person supported simply as ‘you’. If you are a parent or carer acting on behalf of a person supported by Autism Initiatives Group of Companies, then ‘you’ will refer to the person you are acting on behalf of.
Information we use
The information we may collect and use includes:
- Basic details such as age or general location (e.g. the service you attend).
- Quotes, testimonials, or feedback about your experience.
- Case studies that explain how support has helped you.
- Occasionally, your first name.
- Information recorded by staff during activities or conversations.
- Video recordings or audio recordings (which may be used directly, or transcribed), or photographs of you – we will never do this without first making you aware this will happen. In some cases, information about your health or other sensitive details — but only when necessary and this information is usually anonymised or pseudonymised.
We aim to use anonymised or pseudonymised information wherever possible.
Anonymised means information has been changed so that it is impossible to identify the specific person it belongs to. It implies that names, addresses, or other unique details have been removed or altered, and it is no longer possible to link that data back to an individual.
Pseudonymised means personal details (like names) have been replaced with a false name or code (a pseudonym) to hide someone's identity. Data will look anonymous at first glance, but it is not permanently hidden. The original identity can still be ‘unlocked’ using a separate ‘key’ or additional information that is kept secure.
How we collect it
Information is collected:
- Directly from you
- From your school/college if you are in education
- From your family/carer
- From Autism Initiatives Group of Companies staff who work directly with you
The information may be:
- Entered on to internal electronic forms,
- Written on paper forms that are scanned and stored securely,
- Obtained via case notes written by staff,
- Obtained through conversations with you.
How we use your information
Your information is used for creating the reports we must submit to funders, and in some cases for promoting the funding and its impact, as well as in future funding applications to demonstrate the difference that funding our services and facilities can make to people we support.
This includes:
- Showing the difference the funding has made
- Demonstrating outcomes and impact
- Sharing anonymised statistics
- Sharing stories or testimonials
- Meeting the reporting requirements set out in our funding agreements
We will not use your information for any other purpose unless a new assessment is completed, and it is both lawful and fair to you.
Who will see the information
Your information may be seen by:
- AIG fundraising staff and selected other staff applying for grant funding.
- Service managers and staff supporting the reporting process. Trusts & Foundations and selected public-sector bodies (funders) who receive the final reports.
Most information sent to funders is anonymised or presented as part of a group. If a funder requests identifiable information that they may publish, we will only provide this if you have given clear, explicit consent.
In limited cases information may be made publicly available:
- Occasionally funders may wish to publish case studies publicly (for example, on websites, on social media or in press releases). We will only share identifiable information with them if you have given explicit consent.
- As a condition of funding some funders also ask that we acknowledge their support publicly. In doing so we may use selected information to convey what was funded, who benefitted and how they benefitted (for example, on websites, on social media or in press releases). Again, we will only share identifiable information if you have given explicit consent.
Autism Initiatives cannot control how funders store or publish information once shared, so we take great care to limit what we share.
Lawfulness
All children have their own data protection rights, just like adults. If a child is able to understand what these rights mean, they can use them on their own. In Scotland, anyone aged 12 or over is usually seen as mature enough to make these decisions. In England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man (IoM), there isn’t a set age but as a general rule this is anyone aged over 13.
As you have your own rights about your personal information. Where consent applies, you can give consent (say yes) or withdraw consent (change your mind later) if you understand what it means and what could happen.
When parents / carers can decide
Your parents can apply these rights for you only if:
- You ask them to, or
- You don’t understand enough yet, or
- It is clearly best for you.
The rights always belong to you, not your parents.
The legal bit
We will use and may share your information under one of the following lawful bases, depending on where you live, this will either be under United Kingdom (UK) or European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK Data Protection Act 2018 or IoM GDPR & Law Enforcement Directive Implementing Regulations 2018.
- Consent
Used when identifiable information (such as your name, image or case study) may be shared with funders, who have stated they may want to use your story in the public.
- Article 6.1(a) – Consent
- Article 9.2(a) – Explicit consent
- Legitimate Interest / Substantial Public Interest
Used when sharing anonymised or pseudonymised information required for reporting.
- Article 6.1(f) – Legitimate interest
- Article 9.2(g) – Substantial public interest
Your rights
You have the right to:
- Withdraw your consent at any time. It is important to understand that once images and / or stories have been shared outside of AIG, particularly where the funder has released this into the public domain, this information may not be as easily withdrawn.
- Request to Object to the processing of your information when legitimate interest is used.
- Ask questions about how your information is used.
- Ask to see the information we hold about you.
If you tell us or show us in any way that you do not want to be included, we will treat this as:
- Not giving consent
- Withdrawing consent
- Objecting to the use of your information.
How your information is stored and for how long
- All information is stored securely on AIG internal systems.
- Paper forms are scanned and securely destroyed.
- We keep the information only for as long as necessary, but for no longer than 15 years. Fundraising currently retains information for audit evidence and to illustrate impact.
- Information will not be shared outside the European Economic Area without Data Protection approval.
You can contact us
You can speak to any staff member you like about the information in this Privacy Notice, or you can contact the Data Protection Officer:
Data.Protection@autisminitiatives.org
Postal address:
Data Protection Officer
Autism Initiatives Group,
Sefton House,
Petersfield,
Bridle Road,
Bootle,
Merseyside,
L30 4XR.
This document should be read in conjunction with the Autism Initiatives Group main privacy policy which can be found here: https://autisminitiatives.org/privacy-policy/
Date of last review 18/03/26
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