Privacy Policy

The American Friends of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (AFRPO) takes the responsibility of handling your personal data seriously. We respect your privacy and are committed to ensuring proper use of personal data and that only relevant information is processed according to your wishes.

We use the personal information held about you in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, any replacement laws and the Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

What does ‘your personal data’ really mean?

Your personal data may include:

• Your name and title
• Contact information, such as your address, email and telephone number
• Payment details
• Background personal information, if you provide this to us, for example when applying to work with us or giving us a donation
• Information about gender, date of birth or age, ethnicity, religion, medical information, disability and sexual preference (sensitive personal data) which we may collect for diversity monitoring and diversity reporting to our principal donor, Arts Council England
• Photographic, audio or film images, which we use for promotional purposes or recording community and education project outcomes

How do we collect your data?

You provide personal details when you interact with us. For example, when you register with the AFRPO to receive email updates, make a donation, purchase tickets or join as a Friend.
We may also receive your information from a friend, family member or current supporter. We will provide you with access to our privacy policy, or ask the person who provided us with your information to do so.

What cookies do we use? 

You can view the full list of cookies used on the AFRPO website on our Cookies webpage. You can also update your consent to cookies at anytime via this page. 

Why do we process your data and what do we use it for?

Our aim when processing your data is to use it only in ways that you would reasonably expect and to provide you with the best possible service.

We may process your personal data because we need to fulfil a contract with you:

• Process donations you have generously given
• Fulfil ticket requests

We may process your personal data because it is in our legitimate interests to do so:

• To understand your interests and to make communications
• To conduct due diligence on major donors
• For market research, specific only to the RPO
• To invite potential supporters to special events or to join a supporter group
• To notify you of participatory workshops and record if you attend

We may also ask for your consent to process your personal data:

• To monitor diversity
• To provide you with information about products, services and fundraising activities from the RPO and AFRPO
• To notify you of live and digital performances by the RPO

You can tell us how you would like to hear from us and the information that you want to receive at any time. Contact details can be viewed below.

We will always ask for parental or a carers consent to process a child’s data. Young people aged 16–18 may give consent themselves for us to process their image data.

Do we share your information?

Your details will not be sold to any third party, but will be shared with our partners when necessary to ensure your engagement with us is as efficient and secure as possible. Your data will be shared with the RPO who act as a Data Processor for the AFRPO. The term ‘partners’ includes venues with which we work and technical services used by the AFRPO to serve a particular purpose, for example the AFRPO’s customer relationship management (CRM) system, mailchimp, our website management company Surrey Web Solutions and any venues where AFRPO events may take place.

Is your data in safe hands?

Your personal details will be securely held on the AFRPO’s CRM system. If you have purchased a ticket, then your details will be securely sent to the venues’ box offices to an appointed member of box office staff.

If you have provided your data on paper or by telephone, it will be transferred onto the AFRPO’s CRM system and all paper records will be shredded and securely disposed of.

Is your data used by the AFRPO for fundraising?

American Friends of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a 501(c)(3) public charity with federal tax ID number (EIN):98-0059382. The AFRPO, established in 1983, supports the RPO’s biennial tours of the U.S. and performances by RPO ensembles in the intervening years. The AFRPO also provides funds for the Orchestra’s music outreach programs in the U.S., including the sharing of research and methodology with American colleagues as part of The Lilia Bloom Music Outreach Program. raise money to support the artistic programmes of the Orchestra, to make access to performances widely available and to enable projects in community, health and education settings.

We communicate to donors and potential donors about fundraising appeals, special events and joining supporter groups. As a charity, we have a legitimate interest in using your personal data for these communications. We will only email these invitations to support the AFRPO if you have given us permission to do so. We may use background information you have previously given us, to enable us to make our communications and invitations tailored to your interest

How long do we keep your personal data?

We retain personal data only for as long as is needed. This can be for up to seven years after your engagement with us, or for longer for historical, analysis or research purposes, or to enable us to answer your enquiries.

What are your rights?

You have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• The right to access the data that we hold about you
• The right to require us to correct inaccuracies
• The right to request us to stop processing your personal data or to restrict it
• The right to require us to erase your personal data
• The right to withdraw consent
• The right to request a copy of personal information held about you in a reasonable format, for the purposes of sharing it to another data controller
• The right not to be subject to automated decision making or profiling
• The right to lodge a complaint, with the RPO, the Information Commissioner's Office or the Fundraising Regulator
• There are some exceptions to the above rights and the RPO may be entitled to refuse requests if exceptions apply.

Contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy, the information that we hold about you, or general data protection queries. You can also change your information preferences:

• Write to: The American Friends of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 655 Madison Avenue, 11th Fl., New York, NY 10065.
• Email americanfriends@afrpo.com