Privacy policy

Last updated: 7 September 2026

Who we are

Ben Hollebon, trading as Church Digital Strategy, is the data controller. The website is churchdigitalstrategy.com. If you have questions about this policy, email ben@churchdigitalstrategy.com. If you need a postal address, ask and we will give you one.

What data we collect

We collect personal data only when you actively provide it:

  • Newsletter signup: your email address. Processed by beehiiv (the newsletter platform). You can unsubscribe at any time.
  • Email: your email address, plus whatever you choose to include in your message. We do not run a contact form: the contact page simply opens your own email client.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand which guides people find useful and how they reach the site. We ask for your consent before it stores anything on your device, and you can withdraw that consent at any time using Cookie settings at the bottom of any page.

If you decline, we still count the page view, but without cookies and without anything that identifies you or recognises you on a later visit. We have turned off Google Signals, so your analytics data is not combined with your Google account or used for advertising audiences.

Cookies

If you accept analytics, two first-party cookies are set (_ga and _ga_T14EDDB014). If you decline, none are set. The cookie policy lists them in full.

How we use your data

  • To send you the Wired for Good newsletter (if you subscribe)
  • To respond to your enquiries
  • To understand how the website is used, and whether it works

Legal basis

Different things here rest on different bases, and it is worth being precise about which.

  • The newsletter: your consent (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(a)), and separately the consent that regulation 22 of PECR requires for marketing email. Withdraw it by unsubscribing from any issue - one click, no reason needed.
  • Analytics cookies: your consent. Where PECR requires consent to store something on your device, consent is also the basis for the processing that follows. Change your mind with Cookie settings at the foot of any page.
  • Measurement when you decline, and answering your emails: legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)). If you decline, we still receive a record that a page was viewed, carrying no cookie but including your IP address and browser. We balance that against knowing whether the site works at all, and you can object at any time by emailing us.

Who we share data with, and where it goes

  • beehiiv - stores the mailing list and sends the newsletter. Their privacy policy
  • Vercel - hosts this site and handles form submissions in transit. Their privacy policy
  • Google Analytics 4 - website measurement. Google Signals is turned off, so nothing here is joined to anyone's Google account.

All three are US companies, so your data is transferred outside the UK. Those transfers rely on the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or on the International Data Transfer Addendum. Ask and we will tell you which applies to which, and send you a copy of the safeguards.

We do not sell your data, and we share it with nobody else.

A word about "anonymous"

We have deliberately not called the analytics anonymous, because it is not. Even with no cookie, a page view sends your IP address and browser details to Google, and an IP address is personal data in the UK. What is true is narrower and more useful: We never receive your name or email address through analytics, we have turned off the setting that would join it to your Google account, and we cannot pick you out of it.

Data retention

  • Newsletter: while you are subscribed. If you unsubscribe we keep a record that you did, so you are not added again by mistake.
  • Enquiries: up to 12 months.
  • Analytics: user-level and event-level data for 14 months, then deleted automatically. Google keeps aggregated reporting data longer, and that is not tied to individuals.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you can ask us to:

  • give you a copy of what we hold about you
  • correct it, or delete it
  • restrict what we do with it, or object to it
  • send it to you in a portable format
  • stop, where we rely on your consent

Ask, and we will do it. There is no form and no fee. Email ben@churchdigitalstrategy.com.

If you are unhappy

Tell us first. Since 19 June 2026 you have had a statutory right to complain directly to an organisation about how it has handled your data, under section 164A of the Data Protection Act 2018. We must acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and respond without undue delay.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office under section 165 of the same Act, and you do not have to come to us first. Their helpline is 0303 123 1113.