Privacy policy

This page explains what personal information Alley Cats Ripon collects through this website, why we collect it, and what we do with it. Last updated 9 August 2026.

Who we are

Alley Cats Ripon is a small, volunteer-run cat rescue based in Ripon, North Yorkshire. We are the data controller for the information described on this page. You can reach us at alleycatsripon@gmail.com.

What we collect and why

We only collect information you choose to give us. We do not buy personal information from anyone else, and we never sell or rent yours.

When	What	Why
You send us a message through the contact form	Your name, email address, phone number if you give one, and your message	So we can read your message and reply to you
You enquire about a cat	Your name, email address, phone number if you give one, your message, and which cat you asked about	So a volunteer can talk to you about adopting that cat
You ask about volunteering or fostering	Your name, email address, phone number if you give one, and your message	So we can get back to you about helping out
You join our mailing list	Your email address	To send you news about cats looking for homes, events and appeals
You submit any form on the site	Your IP address	To limit how often the forms can be submitted, which keeps automated spam out

Our legal basis for using it

For messages, adoption enquiries and volunteering enquiries, our basis is legitimate interests — you have contacted us and expect a reply, and we need to keep a record of who we have spoken to about which cat. The same basis covers using your IP address to protect our forms from abuse.

For the mailing list, our basis is consent. We use double opt-in, so you will be asked to confirm by email before we send you anything, and you can unsubscribe from any email we send.

Who else can see it

Your information is seen by the Alley Cats Ripon volunteers who need it to reply to you. We also use a small number of service providers who process it on our behalf:

Supabase — stores our website database and cat photos
Vercel — hosts this website
Resend — delivers the email alerting us to your message
Kit — manages our mailing list and sends our newsletter

We do not share your information with anyone else, and we never sell it. We may disclose information if we are required to by law.

Cookies and storage

This website does not use advertising or analytics cookies, and does not track you across other websites.

We store one small item in your browser to remember that you have already seen or dismissed the mailing list pop-up, so it does not keep reappearing. Volunteers who sign in to manage the site also get a login cookie, which is only set once you sign in.

How long we keep it

We keep messages and enquiries for as long as we need them to reply to you and to keep a record of a cat's rehoming, then delete them when they are no longer needed. Mailing list details are kept until you unsubscribe. If you would like us to delete something sooner, just ask.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to or restrict how we use it, and to withdraw your consent to our mailing list at any time. To do any of these, email us at alleycatsripon@gmail.com.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle personal information, we will update this page and the date at the top.

Any questions about your information? We are happy to explain.