1. Who we are
ChurchOS Studio provides practical operations, communications, creative, digital systems and project support for churches. ChurchOS Studio is responsible for deciding how personal information collected through this website and our services is used.
If you have a question about this notice or how we use your information, contact us at hello@churchosstudio.com.
2. Information we collect
Depending on how you interact with ChurchOS Studio, we may collect:
- your name, email address, role and church or organisation;
- information you include in an enquiry or other message to us;
- your answers, scores, priority areas and recommendations generated through the ChurchOS Health Check;
- whether and when you chose to receive ChurchOS Insights marketing emails;
- records of emails we send and your subscription or unsubscribe status; and
- basic technical information generated when our website and online services are used, where this is provided by our hosting or service providers.
We do not ask you to provide special category information, such as health information, religious beliefs or other particularly sensitive personal information through the Health Check or enquiry forms. Please avoid including this unless it is genuinely necessary.
3. How and why we use your information
| What we use information for | Typical information | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Responding to enquiries and discussing potential ChurchOS support | Name, email, church, role and enquiry details | Legitimate interests in responding to people who contact us and developing our services, and steps at your request before entering into a contract where applicable |
| Providing the ChurchOS Health Check and emailing a Health Report you request | Church, name or role if supplied, email, assessment answers, scores and recommendations | Legitimate interests in providing the tool and responding to your request |
| Sending ChurchOS Insights and other optional email marketing | Name, email, church or organisation and marketing preferences | Consent where you have actively opted in |
| Managing client work, records and payments | Contact, service, project and transaction information | Contract, legitimate interests in running ChurchOS Studio, and legal obligations where applicable |
| Protecting our website and services, troubleshooting and preventing misuse | Relevant technical, form and service records | Legitimate interests in operating secure and reliable services |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, those interests are to respond to genuine enquiries, provide requested services and reports, operate and improve ChurchOS Studio, keep appropriate business records and protect our systems. We consider whether these uses are proportionate and consistent with what you would reasonably expect.
4. The ChurchOS Health Check
The Health Check uses the answers you provide to calculate an operational score, identify lower-scoring areas and generate suggested next steps and ChurchOS services. This is an automated calculation designed to provide a diagnostic and prioritisation tool. It does not make a legal or similarly significant decision about you.
You can use the Health Check without joining our marketing list. If you ask us to email your Health Report, we use your email address to fulfil that request. You are only added to ChurchOS Insights if you separately choose the optional marketing checkbox.
5. Email marketing
If you opt in to ChurchOS Insights, we may send occasional emails containing practical ideas, resources, ChurchOS news and information about services that may be useful to churches.
You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the unsubscribe link in a marketing email or by contacting hello@churchosstudio.com. Unsubscribing from marketing does not prevent us from sending a service email that you specifically request, such as a Health Report, or necessary communications relating to work you have asked us to carry out.
6. Who we use to process information
We use trusted service providers to operate ChurchOS Studio. These currently include:
- Netlify for website hosting, website forms and server-side website functions;
- Brevo for transactional emails, contact management and email marketing; and
- Fasthosts for our domain and business email services.
These providers process information on our behalf in order to provide their services. We may also share information where required by law, or with professional advisers and other service providers where genuinely necessary to operate ChurchOS Studio.
We do not sell your personal information.
7. International processing
Some of the technology providers we use may process or store information outside the UK. Where personal information is transferred internationally, we expect our providers to use the safeguards required by applicable UK data protection law, such as an adequacy regulation or appropriate contractual safeguards.
8. How long we keep information
We keep personal information only for as long as it is reasonably needed for the purpose for which it was collected, including appropriate business, legal and record-keeping requirements. As a working retention approach:
- enquiry and Health Check records may normally be kept for up to 24 months after our last meaningful interaction, unless they become part of an ongoing client relationship;
- marketing contact information is kept while you remain subscribed. If you unsubscribe, we may retain the minimum information needed to record and respect that choice;
- client, contract, invoice and transaction records may be kept for longer where required for legal, tax or accounting purposes; and
- information may be deleted sooner where it is no longer needed.
9. Cookies and website technology
ChurchOS Studio does not currently use advertising or behavioural tracking cookies on this website. Our hosting and security providers may process basic technical information needed to deliver and protect the website.
If we introduce analytics, advertising technology or other non-essential cookies in future, we will review this notice and, where required, ask for consent before using them.
10. Your data protection rights
Depending on the circumstances, UK data protection law gives you rights over your personal information. These can include the right to ask for access to your information, correction of inaccurate information, deletion, restriction of processing, data portability, and to object to certain uses of your information.
Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that was lawful before you withdrew it.
To exercise a right or ask a privacy question, email hello@churchosstudio.com. We may need to confirm your identity before responding to some requests.
11. Complaints
If you have concerns about how we use your information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve them. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator.
Information Commissioner's Office - make a complaint
12. Changes to this notice
We may update this Privacy Notice as ChurchOS Studio develops, our technology changes or legal requirements change. The latest version will be published on this page with the date it was last updated.
This notice is intended to explain ChurchOS Studio's current handling of personal information in clear language. It is not a substitute for tailored legal advice about your particular circumstances.