Alumni and Supporters Privacy Notice

This privacy notice applies to all alumni and to past, current and future supporters (“you” and “your”) of the University of Warwick (“Warwick”, “us”, “we” and “our”), including without limitation, donors, volunteers, participants and attendees at events and groups organised by us. This notice explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR (“data protection law”). In accordance with data protection law, Warwick is the data controller for your personal data, and we are committed to protecting your data and being transparent about the data we hold and the ways in which it may be used.

We collect and use your personal data to better understand our alumni and supporters, enabling us to stay connected with you, share updates about our activities and developments, provide relevant services, and identify opportunities for you to support us through financial or non-financial contributions.

What personal data do we collect and use?

As part of our relationship with you, we may collect, store, and process a range of personal data. This includes, but is not limited to:

name, title, gender and date of birth;
student number(s);
contact details including postal address, email address, phone number and links to social media accounts;
information about your education, including time with us and at other academic institutions you have attended;
your occupation and professional activities/memberships;
your recreations and interests;
family information including spouse/partner details and your relationship to other alumni and supporters;
details of pledges, donations and Gift Aid status, where applicable (as required by HMRC);
records of communications sent to you by us or received from you;
details related to events or groups you have attended;
details related to your volunteering and other philanthropic activities;
estimated information about your (and your family’s) financial status and your wealth;
media articles about you;
information about your use of university, services, resources and facilities;
details of any businesses and other organisations with which you are involved; and/or
details of your achievements and accolades.

We may also collect and use sensitive personal data where necessary and for a clear purpose, including (but not limited to) the following:

criminal offence data to inform due diligence;
data related to religion, race, ethnicity, political opinion, health and sexual orientation.

How do we obtain your personal data?

We may obtain (or verify) your personal data from several sources, however a significant proportion of the data we hold is that which you provide to us (for example by filling in forms on our website, or by corresponding with us by telephone, email or otherwise). Furthermore, if you are a student or have studied at Warwick, your personal data may be transferred from your student records to our alumni database. To the extent you interact with any other departments, divisions, or faculties at Warwick, we may receive your personal data from these areas too.

We may also seek contact details for alumni with whom we are not in contact, to ensure we can remain in touch with as many of our alumni as possible. As a result, some of your data may have been obtained from publicly available sources. We may also use information from publicly available sources, to carry out research to assess your inclination and capacity to support us financially or otherwise, and for due diligence purposes.

How do we use your personal data, and which legal bases do we rely on?

Purpose	Legal Basis
To maintain our records and keep in touch with you	Legitimate interest
To invite you to relevant events, groups and programmes	Legitimate interest and/or consent
To send you communications about the university (e.g. newsletters, updates and publications)	Legitimate interest and/or consent
To manage our fundraising activities (including requests for/processing donations)	Legitimate interest and/or consent
To conduct surveys and research to improve our services	Legitimate interest and/or consent
To comply with our legal obligations (e.g. health and safety at events)	Compliance with legal obligations
To provide/promote services and opportunities to you (e.g. access to Warwick facilities and discounts, mentoring/networking/careers services and to suggest engagement in academic/research activities)	Legitimate interest and/or consent
Research (including wealth analysis) to support fundraising and engagement activities and to fulfil legal requirements such as due diligence.	Legitimate interest and/or compliance with legal obligations
Asking for your support regarding higher education monitoring and reputation building activities (e.g. surveys, rankings, interviews and input into marketing materials).	Legitimate interest and/or public interest task
To safeguard vulnerable individuals (e.g. children and vulnerable adults)	Recognised Legitimate Interests
To protect public/national security and defence (e.g. measures to help prevent harm and support safety)	Recognised Legitimate Interests
Emergency response (e.g. where there is a need to act in relation to events or situations that pose a threat or risk to human welfare and/or the environment)	Recognised Legitimate Interests
To detect, investigate or prevent crime, or apprehend or prosecute offenders To assist public bodies and bodies carrying out public tasks	Recognised Legitimate Interests

Which third parties may we share your personal data with and what legal bases do we rely on?

Third parties	Legal Basis
CRM providers; Data cleaning and validation providers	Legitimate interest
Event management platforms; venues and catering services	Legitimate interest and/or consent
Mailing houses; designers	Legitimate interest and/or consent
Fundraising and donation processing services; HMRC (for Gift Aid)	Legitimate interest and/or consent
Survey and research organisations	Legitimate interest and/or consent
Prospect research, due diligence and wealth screening consultancies and resources	Legitimate interest and/or compliance with legal obligations
Government regulatory bodies for Higher Education; University Ranking surveys	Legitimate interest and/or public interest task
Emergency services	Recognised Legitimate Interests
Law enforcement bodies/agencies	Recognised Legitimate Interests
Local authorities	Recognised Legitimate Interests
Healthcare providers	Recognised Legitimate Interests
Environmental protection and regulatory bodies	Recognised Legitimate Interests
Specialist safeguarding, welfare, security, or crisis management service providers	Recognised Legitimate Interests
Government departments, public bodies and other bodies carrying out legally authorised public tasks.	Recognised Legitimate Interests

We will only share your personal data with third parties where there is a lawful basis for doing so and appropriate safeguards are in place. We will never sell your personal data or share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes. Please note that, where we rely on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If we need to transfer your personal data outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are put in place where required by data protection law. Further details of these safeguards can be provided upon request to Legal and Compliance Services.

How long do we keep your personal data?

The University retains personal data in accordance with its Records Retention Schedule.

Personal data will be kept only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including meeting legal, regulatory, accounting or reporting requirements.

Further information on retention periods can be found in the University Records Retention Schedule.

What rights do I have in relation to my personal data?

Data protection law gives you specific rights over your personal data, as follows:

the right to access personal data held about you;
the right to be informed about how and why your data is used;
the right to have your data rectified, erased or restricted;
the right to object to the processing of your data;
the right to portability of your data; and
the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing.

If you have concerns about how we use your personal data, you have the right to make a data protection complaint directly to us.

If you would like to make a data protection complaint directly to us, please complete and submit the form below providing as much information as possible:

https://warwick.ac.uk/services/legalandcomplianceservices/dataprotection/complaints/complaintform/

Once we have received your complaint, we will:

acknowledge receipt of your complaint;
review the matters raised and make appropriate enquiries; and
keep you informed (where appropriate) and, without undue delay, report the outcome of your complaint to you.

If you are dissatisfied with the University’s response to your complaint, you have the right to escalate your complaint to the Information Commission's Office (the ICO). You can contact the ICO at www.ico.org.uk.

How can I obtain more information about this privacy notice?

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, please do not hesitate to contact our Data Protection team and/or Data Protection Officer at: infocompliance@warwick.ac.uk.

This privacy notice was last updated on 5 October 2026. We reserve the right to update or modify this notice at any time to reflect changes in legal requirements, operational needs, or best practices. Any significant changes will be communicated to relevant individuals through appropriate channels (e.g. on our website and via alumni and supporter communications). The most recent version of the notice will always be available for your reference.