Privacy policy
This notice explains how Quest for Education Foundation (QEF, “we”, “us”) collects and uses personal information when you visit our website, contact us, sign up to our newsletter, or give or fundraise for us. Last updated: October 2026.
Who we are
Quest for Education Foundation is the controller of the personal information described in this notice. We are a registered charity in England and Wales (no. 1142569) and a company registered in England and Wales (no. 07557132).
Registered address: 16 Glencoe Avenue, Ilford, IG2 7AJ.
You can contact us about this notice or about your information by email at contact@qef.global or through the form on our Get in touch page.
What we collect and why
When you contact us
If you use the contact form on our website, we collect your first name, last name, email address and message. The form sends your message to our email inbox. If you email us directly, we receive your email address and whatever you include in your message.
We use this information to reply to you and to deal with your enquiry. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in responding to people who contact us.
If you give Zakat
If you give Zakat through our Zakat-only JustGiving checkouts or by bank transfer with the reference “Zakat”, or contact us about Zakat, this may reveal your religious beliefs. This is special category data under data protection law. We use it only to keep your Zakat separate from other gifts and to handle it as you ask, with your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time by emailing us.
Our newsletter
If you sign up to our newsletter, we collect your name and email address. We use MailerLite to keep our mailing list and send the newsletter; MailerLite acts on our instructions as our processor. Our lawful basis is your consent. Every newsletter includes a link to unsubscribe, or you can email us to be removed.
Donations and fundraising through JustGiving
Our online donations and fundraising pages are provided by JustGiving. When you give or set up a fundraising page, JustGiving collects your details, including your payment details, as a separate controller under its own privacy policy. We never see your card details.
Depending on the choices you make on JustGiving, it shares some information with us, such as your name, the amount you gave and any message you left. If you make a Gift Aid declaration on JustGiving, it is used to claim Gift Aid on your donation. If you agree to hear from us, JustGiving also shares your contact details with us.
We use this information to record and thank you for your gift, to keep the financial records the law requires, and, if you have agreed, to keep in touch. Our lawful bases are our legitimate interests in managing donations, our legal obligations, and your consent for any updates you asked to receive.
Other donations and Gift Aid
If you give by bank transfer or standing order, our bank statements show your name and payment reference. If you make a Gift Aid declaration directly with us, we keep it with your name, home address and donation records because HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) requires us to. Our lawful basis is our legal obligations, together with our legitimate interests in managing donations.
Website analytics
We use Google Analytics, provided by Google, to understand how our website is used: for example, which pages are visited and how visitors arrive at the site. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects information such as your device, browser, approximate location and the pages you view. We use it to improve the website, not to identify you. We set analytics cookies only if you accept them in the cookie banner. Our lawful basis is your consent, which you can withdraw at any time using cookie settings.
Protecting our forms from spam
Our contact and newsletter forms use Google reCAPTCHA v3 to check that they are being used by people rather than automated programs. reCAPTCHA runs on our web pages and sends information such as your IP address, browser and device details and how you interact with the page to Google. Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in keeping our website secure.
Hosting, security and fonts
Our website is hosted by Hostinger. Like most websites, our servers record technical information such as IP addresses in log files so that the site can run securely. Some fonts on the site are loaded from Google Fonts, which means your browser connects to Google’s servers. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in running a secure and readable website.
Who we share information with
We do not sell or rent your personal information. We share it only with:
- service providers that act on our instructions: Hostinger (website hosting), MailerLite (newsletter), Google (analytics, reCAPTCHA and fonts) and our email provider;
- JustGiving, which handles online donations and fundraising pages as a separate controller;
- HMRC, when we claim Gift Aid; and
- others where the law requires us to.
International transfers
Some of our service providers, including Google, may process information outside the UK, for example in the United States or the European Economic Area. Where they do, we rely on safeguards recognised under UK data protection law, such as UK adequacy regulations (including the UK-US data bridge for certified companies) or the International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum to the standard contractual clauses.
How long we keep information
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Enquiries through the contact form or by email | Up to two years after our last contact with you, unless we need it for longer to deal with your enquiry |
| Newsletter sign-ups | Until you unsubscribe. We then keep your email address on a suppression list so that you are not emailed again |
| Donation and Gift Aid records | Six years after the end of the financial year they relate to, as HMRC requires |
| Website analytics | In line with the data retention setting in our Google Analytics account |
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
- ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete;
- ask us to delete your information;
- ask us to restrict how we use your information;
- object to our use of your information where we rely on legitimate interests;
- ask for information you gave us to be transferred to another organisation; and
- withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent.
To use any of these rights, email contact@qef.global. You do not usually need to pay a fee, and we will reply within one month. We do not make decisions about you by automated means.
Cookies
Cookies are small files that a website stores on your device. Our website uses these cookies:
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ga, _ga_<ID> | Google Analytics | Distinguish visitors so that we can count visits and see how the site is used | Up to two years |
| _GRECAPTCHA | Google reCAPTCHA | Help tell people and automated programs apart, to protect our forms from spam | Up to six months (strictly necessary) |
| wordpress_*, wp-settings-* | WordPress | Keep site administrators logged in; not set for other visitors | Session to one year (strictly necessary) |
| qef_cookie_consent (stored in your browser, not a cookie) | This website | Remember whether you accepted or rejected analytics cookies | Until you clear your browser storage (strictly necessary) |
Analytics cookies are not needed for the website to work, and we set them only if you accept them in the cookie banner. You can change your choice at any time using cookie settings. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, and Google offers a browser add-on to opt out of Google Analytics.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have used your information, please contact us first at contact@qef.global so that we can try to put things right.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
Changes to this notice
We may update this notice from time to time. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last changed.