We take your privacy very seriously and we ask that you read this privacy notice carefully. It contains important information about who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share your information and your rights in relation to this.

Who we are and what we do

Action for Happiness is a Registered Charity providing a range of services to help people take action for a happier and more caring world. Everything we do is in support of our mission and we have no commercial or political aims.

When you interact with Action for Happiness, you may choose to share some personal information with us, such as your name and contact details. Action for Happiness acts as the Data Controller for the data you provide and this Privacy Policy outlines when and how we use any information that you give us, in line with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. When you provide us with information, it will only be used in accordance with this Policy. Action for Happiness may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. This updated Policy is effective as of 17 May 2018 and gives you more control over your information and more clearly explains how we use it.

How This Policy Applies

This Policy describes the information we collect from you, how we use that information and our legal basis for doing so. It also covers whether and how that information may be shared and your rights and choices regarding the information you provide to us. By choosing to share your personal data with us and using the services offered by Action for Happiness, you're acknowledging you have understood and agreed to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

When and how we collect your data

We do not collect any personal information about you except when you specifically and knowingly provide such information. You may choose to share your data with us in various ways, including:

By signing up to join our movement
By booking to attend one of our events or courses
By supporting one of our online campaigns
By registering your interest to hear about opportunities to get involved with our work (e.g. to discover courses near you or find out how to be a course leader)
By ordering our resources (e.g. our postcards or school Toolkits)
By interacting with us in other ways where you choose to share your data

When you provide your personal data in this way you are giving us permission to hold this data and process your information in appropriate ways, in line with this Privacy Policy.

You may provide this information to us via various online platforms which we use to fulfil our charitable objectives, including our website and a small number of trusted and secure third-party services we use for managing event bookings and capturing data via online forms and surveys.

Your data will be held and processed in a limited number of carefully controlled systems, which we use to fulfil our charitable objectives. These include trusted third-party platforms used for communications (such as email and content platforms), relationships management and secure data storage and backup. 

Where appropriate, we may communicate with you using different platforms over time, while continuing to use your information only for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy and in ways you would reasonably expect.

We only collect information for legitimate purposes in ways which are adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in support of our charitable aims. We endeavour to ensure that the information we hold is accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date. And we take steps to ensure that any personal data that is inaccurate is rectified or erased without delay.

If you wish to access, update or request deletion of your personal information we will ensure that such requests are always acted on in a timely and appropriate way (see details below).

What do we do with the data you provide

We use the information you share with us to provide you with useful and relevant information in support of our mission. This includes:

Sending you relevant information about the specific part of our work that you have engaged with (e.g. a course you are attending or the resources you have ordered)
Sending you updates about our work which we feel are relevant and appropriate.
Letting you know about upcoming events, courses or activities near you, where these are considered to be relevant and appropriate

These updates may come addressed from Action for Happiness directly, or from relevant members of our staff team, for example our Director Dr Mark Williamson. These communications may be delivered using a range of trusted platforms and tools (for example email or digital publishing platforms), and may evolve over time as we improve how we share our work. This does not change the purpose for which your data is used, which will always remain aligned with your engagement with Action for Happiness.

Understanding whether our work helps 

We may also use the information you share to understand whether what we offer is helping, and how we can improve it. This includes the answers you give whenever we ask you questions, for example in a survey or as part of a programme you have joined. Where we invite you to write something, we may analyse what you write to spot common themes, and a member of our team may read it as part of that. We report what we learn only in anonymised or grouped form, and we will not quote you by name without asking you first.

When we are concerned about someone 

Our Safeguarding Policy sets out how we respond when we become aware that someone may be at risk or struggling. Where a programme asks how you are feeling, we may look at what you tell us, and if something concerns us we may pass it to our safeguarding team so that someone can check you are okay. If a volunteer or another member of our community raises a concern about you, we may record it and use your contact details to get in touch. Where we believe someone is at immediate risk of serious harm, we may share information with the emergency services. We keep safeguarding records separately from the information we use to understand whether our work helps.

The legal bases for using your information 

We use your information under one or more of the following: 

• Legitimate interest. It covers providing the things you have signed up for, such as sending you the emails that make up a course you have joined; understanding whether our work helps, so we can improve it; and acting when we are concerned about someone’s wellbeing or safety. We do this only where it is what you would reasonably expect and does not materially affect your rights. 
• Consent. Where something is genuinely optional, we ask you first and you are free to say no. You can withdraw your consent at any time. 
• Legal obligation. Occasionally we must keep or share information because the law requires it, for example where we hold a safeguarding record. 
• Vital interests. In an emergency, where we believe someone is at immediate risk of serious harm, we may share information in order to help keep them safe.

We have procedures in place to ensure that information you provide is processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way. We will only hold your information on our systems for the period necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy or until you request it is deleted.

Opting out from our communications

You can opt out from our communications at any time. This can be done by clicking on the "Unsubscribe" link at the bottom of our emails or by replying to any of our communications and asking to opt out from receiving these updates.

Accessing your data and keeping it up to date

If you would like to find out what information we hold about you, or let us know about any changes to your information, you can do this at any time by writing to us at [email protected]

When sending you an email we will also often include a link where you can see the data you have provided to us and make changes to this if needed to keep it up to date.

How we keep your data secure

We take your privacy very seriously and we are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect.  This includes protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage.

When and how we may share your data

In order to carry out our charitable aims, your data may be processed by one or more trusted service providers which we use to operate elements of our service and process data on our behalf. For example, if you order printed materials from us, we may need to share your address with a shipping company, so they can deliver these resources to you.

We may use various trusted service providers to send communications and updates via email, including platforms like Mailchimp, Twilio, SendGrid or Substack. Where such data is provided to third parties it will always be on a limited and controlled basis, and may include transferring your contact details between trusted platforms where necessary to support our communications with you. These providers will not have permission to contact you for any other purposes.

The information you provide to us will never be shared with any other entity or organisation for other uses without your explicit consent.

AI service providers

We may also use carefully selected, third-party AI-based service providers (such as OpenAI) to help us deliver certain features or programmes, for example to analyse or respond to written input as part of an interactive tool or digital service. Where this applies, data will only be shared in a secure and controlled manner, strictly limited to what is necessary, and never used for any other purpose by the provider. For more information about our approach to AI, please refer to our AI policy.

Sharing with other parts of Action for Happiness global movement

Action for Happiness is a global movement and includes some separate national chapters and local hubs, all united in working towards our shared mission. Some of these bodies are formally constituted and others not. We may share your information with these entities who may then use your personal information in connection with their activities. For example, if you join Action for Happiness and let us know that you are based in Germany, we may share your contact details with the AfH Germany team. If sharing your information in this way requires us to transfer your personal information outside of the EU, we will have arrangements in place to ensure that your data is shared and processed by the recipient organisation to an EU standard.

Links to other websites and resources

Our website contains links to other websites and resources of interest. Once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over these other websites. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this Privacy Policy. You should exercise caution and look at the Privacy Policy applicable to the website in question.

Asking for your personal data to be deleted

As described above, you are able to opt out of receiving our general updates emails or invitations to courses and events at any time by clicking "Unsubscribe" or by writing to us.

Where we rely on legitimate interest, we aim to use your information only in ways you would reasonably expect, and only where doing so does not materially affect your rights. If you would like to object to any of the ways we use your information, please write to us. We will always consider your request seriously and do our best to uphold it. Where we are not able to separate one use of your information from another, we will explain that, and you can then ask us to delete your data entirely. 

If you ask us to delete your data, or withdraw your consent to us processing it, we will remove your personal data from the systems we use to manage our relationship with you, within one month. 

Some information cannot be removed in this way. Where the law requires us to keep a record, such as a safeguarding record, we keep only what is necessary. Where your information forms part of a shared record, such as an email conversation involving other people, or sits within a secure backup, removing it would mean destroying information belonging to others or damaging the integrity of our records. In those cases we stop using the information and keep it only for as long as we would normally keep records of that kind. Where your answers have already been included in analysis of how a programme is working, we remove your name, your contact details and the link between you and your answers, so that what remains cannot be connected to you  

Data Protection Officer

To contact our Data Protection Officer, please email [email protected] Or you can contact us in writing via post at:

Action for Happiness, WeWork, 3 Waterhouse Square, 138 Holborn, London EC1N 2SW.

Complaints or queries

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or any of the procedures set out in it, please contact Mark Williamson at [email protected].

We take your privacy very seriously and aim to respond quickly and flexibly to any queries or complaints that are raised.

You also have the right to raise concerns with Information Commissioner's Office on 0303 123 1113 or at https://ico.org.uk/concerns

Changes to this policy

Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. The amended version will be published on our website and any significant changes will be communicated to supporters either on the website or directly (for example by email or via our communications platforms). This will replace any previous privacy policy wording and all conditions and terms of use will be in force from the date of publication.

Last updated: 06 August 2026