These are the different types of personal data we hold at Church Mission Society, and the period of time we will hold them for:

Individual donors

We will remove your record 15 years after your last gift to CMS.

Community members

We will delete your details when you cease to be member of the community, if we hold no other reason to keep your data.

Leaders of churches, and other organisations, who support Church Mission Society

We do not hold details for you as an individual supporter but as a contact/representative for the organisation we are partnering with. When the partnership ends or you cease to be part of a supporting organisation we will delete your data.

Unsuccessful job applicants

If you apply for a post with CMS, but are unsuccessful, we will delete your data six months after you apply for the post.

Staff/mission partners/volunteers

After your service is ended, as staff member or mission partner with CMS, selected data will be stored in the CMS Archives indefinitely. (See the archives’ closure periods.) Any remaining data will be deleted.

Pioneer students

After your training has ended, as a student with CMS, data which is of historical value – such as ministries and stories pioneers have been involved in – will be stored in the CMS Archives indefinitely. (See the archives’ closure periods.) Any remaining data will be deleted.

Legacies

• Pecuniary files – these will be archived for seven years and then securely destroyed after the retention period expires. 
• Residuary files – these will be archived for 15 years and then securely destroyed.
• Substantial legacy files restricted to projects/work in a particular country will be kept for 15 years or for as long as it takes for the legacy funds to be utilised. They will then be securely destroyed.
• All legacy files where CMS has entered into a deed of indemnity will be kept for a period of 50 years.

An individual data subject will often fall into one or more of the above categories. In these instances we will retain data for the longest time indicated in the applicable retention period. They will then be securely destroyed.

Archive material

CMS as an organisation has been in existence since 1799, and its archives have long been of interest to historians and other academic researchers. Please see more details concerning how CMS information is archived.

Changes to CMS data retention policy

This Data Retention Policy may be updated from time to time so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to CMS. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page.

This version – May 2018