Legal

The contents of this website, including text and images, are the property of and © The Equestrian, Secular and Chapterial Order of Saint Joachim (“The Order of Saint Joachim” or “The Order”) and may not be used or reproduced without written permission of Grand Chapter. This site does not use cookies or other tracking software.

Privacy Policy

The Order of Saint Joachim collects information from prospective and current members of The Order for the following limited purposes:

  1. To assess suitability for admission to The Order, including verification, if required, of biographical data,
  2. To contact prospective and current members for the purposes of maintaining their membership and to provide updates regarding the activities of The Order, and,
  3. To collect membership dues.

Data is collected and preserved in several formats. Applications for membership and supporting documentation are provided to The Order by members in both paper and digital formats. Hard copy documentation may be wholly or partially digitized by The Order to facilitate sharing among members of Grand Chapter responsible for review. When provided in hard copy, member documentation is stored and secured centrally by Grand Chapter or by the relevant National Commandery. Digital submissions are stored locally on relevant Grand Chapter officers’ personal hard drives and disseminated by email during the review process. Occasionally, member petitions may be shared with members of Grand Chapter through password-protected file sharing services like Google Docs or Dropbox, which may also contain a summary in spreadsheet or other format of members’ contact information. The Order does not maintain an online digital repository of The Order’s membership documents, and any documents temporarily shared digitally are deleted following review.

All information is provided to The Order voluntarily by members and prospective members with their express consent. The Order may operate online forums or other social media channels such as Facebook, but any individual members’ use of these channels is entirely at the option of the member and any information they may choose to share is entirely voluntary and within their direction, and is governed by the rules of that social media or other online channel and outside the control of The Order.
The Order restricts access to member data to those members of The Order’s governing body (“Grand Chapter” or, in the case of National Commanderies, that Commandery’s executive or designates) required to review and use the data in their normal course of duties, namely, reviewing applications for membership, updating the membership records of The Order, collection of dues, and communicating with and answering the inquiries of the membership. The use of membership information for any other purpose is strictly prohibited.

Except for the limited purpose set out below, The Order does not share the information collected with third parties outside The Order or its respective national commanderies where the member may reside. The Order may use, from time to time, third party service providers, such as Constant Contact, PayPal or other membership management or payment systems (“service providers”) to facilitate communications with its members and the operation of The Order. In such case, the information provided to such service providers consists of the bare minimum necessary to provide such services, generally limited to name, email address and country of residence. In the case of service providers, The Order’s data and accounts are password protected and rely on the service providers’ security and data protection. The Order does not collect or maintain financial information from its members. Any financial information provided by a member or prospective member to The Order (for example, in the form of banking information contained in a cheque payable to The Order) is not retained. No financial information belonging to members is ever provided by The Order to third parties or service providers.

Members with questions regarding The Order’s data collection or privacy policies or practices are invited to contact Grand Chapter.

EU General Data Protection Regulation

As an international organization, The Order of Saint Joachim has members in different countries governed by different privacy laws, including PIPEDA in Canada and, effective May 25, 2018, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). On May 25, 2018 the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect for all companies and organizations that collect data from EU residents. Below is the UK Commandery’s Data Privacy Notice to our members.

DATA PRIVACY NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF THE EQUESTRIAN, SECULAR AND CHAPTERIAL ORDER OF SAINT JOACHIM AND APPLICANTS FOR MEMBERSHIP THEREOF:

1. The UK Commandery of The Equestrian, Secular and Chapterial Order of Saint Joachim collects and holds personal information (data) provided by the following groups of people: 
a. applicants for membership of the Order who may subsequently be assigned to the UK Commandery, and,
b. full members of the UK Commandery
2. The data concerned are specifically: 
a. names and addresses 
b. telephone numbers 
c. email addresses
3. The data are collected in order to process membership applications, to correspond with the people concerned (including requests for payments and donations) and to advertise events organised by the Order.
4. The data we hold about you is collected from the application form (Petition and supporting documents) which is completed when you apply for membership in the Order: 
a. for a membership application received by the UK Commandery, the data are passed directly to Grand Chapter in Canada, where they are used for the purposes described in 3 above, being held on a separate database. 
b. for a membership application forwarded to Grand Chapter in Canada the data are shared with the UK Commandery for the purposes described in 3 above and are held on the UK Commandery database.
5. The data are stored by the UK Commandery in the following manner: 
a. as Petitions held in paper files located in domestic premises which are normally locked; 
b. on simple computer databases in Word, Excel or other format which are regularly and securely backed-up; and,
c. as a list of contacts held in an electronic mail system (such as gmail, etc).
6. Access to the data held by the UK Commandery is restricted to the UK Commander and the Secretary/Treasurer of the UK Commandery.
7. The data are held for each person for the whole time that person remains a member of the group concerned and are removed immediately it is known that they are no longer required.
8. The data are considered by the UK Commandery as relevant to its efficient operation.
9. The data are copied from the databases or mail system on to new items of correspondence or new emails. They are not used for any other purposes and it is not envisaged that this will change in the future. We also guarantee that we will not release your data to any third party for any purpose whatsoever.
10. When you provide us with your personal information (data), you will be asked whether you agree to its continued storage as indicated in the foregoing.
11. If we introduce any changes to this privacy notice, we will give you notice and provide a means by which you can either agree or revoke the changes.
12. Members of the relevant group may inspect the data held about them and request changes to it only by application to the Secretary/Treasurer to the UK Commandery.
13. Requests for personal data about members of each group identified in 1 above that are either (i) directed to someone other than the Secretary; or (ii) come from anyone other than the relevant member of that group will be declined.
14. Management of the data will conform to the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulations and training will be given to those who need it. Any breach of the General Data Protection Regulations or the Data Protection Act as a whole will be dealt with severely.