Privacy & Cookies

Privacy & Cookies Notice

Effective date: 1 September 2026

Who we are
Open for Business (“we” or “us”) is a UK charity, operating as Open for Business Limited (our registered company and charity numbers are shown in the footer of this page). We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data in line with UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

1. The information we collect

We may collect and store:

• Your contact details (e.g. name, email address, phone number) when you sign up for updates, newsletters, or events.

• Information you share in surveys, feedback forms, or correspondence with us.

• Technical data from your visit to our website (via cookies or similar technologies) such as IP address, browser type, and pages viewed.

2. How we use your information

We use your data to:

• Send you updates, reports, research, and opportunities to get involved in our work.

• Manage our relationship with you, including responding to your questions or feedback.

• Improve our website and communications.

• Understand which of our communications and website content are of interest to you – for example using email open-tracking and website analytics – so we can keep our contact lists relevant and improve what we send you. This may involve building a profile of your interests; you can object to this at any time (see Section 7).

• Fulfil legal obligations or protect our rights.

We only send you marketing communications if you have given consent, if you have previously supported or shown interest in our work (the “soft opt-in”), or where we otherwise have a legitimate interest (and your rights are not overridden). You can unsubscribe or opt out at any time, free of charge.

3. Lawful basis for processing

We process your data under one or more of the following legal grounds:

• Consent – when you have actively agreed we can contact you.

• Legitimate interests – for example, when we send relevant updates to people who have an existing relationship with us, including under the charity “soft opt-in” for electronic marketing to people who have supported or shown interest in our work.

• Legal obligation – when we are required by law to keep records.

4. Sharing your data

We do not sell your personal data.
We may share your information with trusted third-party providers (e.g. email newsletter and CRM platforms, website hosting or analytics providers, and accounting or invoicing platforms) but only so they can deliver services on our behalf. All such providers are contractually bound to keep your information secure and use it only for the agreed purpose. We do not take donations or other payments through this website: where organisations choose to support our work, this is arranged separately by invoice, not through an online payment page. If that changes, this notice will be updated to name the payment provider(s) involved.

Some of our providers may process your data outside the UK. Where this happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure your data continues to be protected to a UK standard, for example because the destination country has an adequacy decision, or through approved safeguards such as a UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Standard Contractual Clauses with the UK Addendum.

5. Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies to make our website work and to understand how it’s used. Cookies that are strictly necessary for the website to function do not require your consent. For all other (non-essential) cookies, such as analytics or marketing cookies, we ask for your consent through the cookie banner when you first visit the website, and you can change your choice at any time via Cookie Preferences, which can be found at the bottom left of any webpage's footer. Cookies used solely for first-party statistical purposes to improve our website may instead be used on an opt-out basis, provided we give you a clear and easy way to opt out, as permitted by law since 5 February 2026.

Cookie Preferences opens our Manage Cookies panel, where you can turn each category of non-essential cookies on or off. The categories are Necessary (always on), Performance and Analytics, and Advertising, and the purpose of each is explained in the panel. If you would like details of the individual cookies we set, what each one does and how long it lasts, please contact us at info@open-for-business.org and we will provide them. See below for a list of all Cookies we use.