Who are we?
The Rothschild Foundation is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. The work of the Foundation has two distinct remits: as an operating charity responsible for the care and management of Waddesdon Manor on behalf of the National Trust and undertaking other philanthropic activity in support of the arts and heritage, the environment, education, and social welfare by awarding grants, and fostering dialogue and debate.
The Rothschild Foundation is the primary data controller, and our registered address is: The Rothschild Foundation, Windmill Hill, Silk Street, Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, HP18 0JZ. RWL (Rothschild Waddesdon Ltd.) is a joint data controller for the processing activities of the trading company. RWL’s address is: Rothschild Waddesdon Ltd, Estate Yard Office, Queen Street, Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, HP18 0JW.
The National Trust is the Data Controller for processing activities relating to National Trust membership and volunteers. Their registered address is: The National Trust, Heelis, Kemble Drive, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN2 2NA.
What personal data do we process, how do we collect it, and how do we use it?
When you visit our website, information is collected using cookies and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for more information.
We use Auto Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology and Closed-Circuit TV (CCTV) for the security and protection of our site. When you visit us, CCTV will record your image. When you use our car parks ANPR will record your vehicle registration number during your visit.
Applicants, current and former employees or volunteers
When individuals apply to work or volunteer with us, we only use the information they supply to process their application, to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for, to shortlist you , to invite you for assessments/interviews, to carry out pre-employment checks and to notify you of the outcome.
Once a person has taken up employment with us, we create a staff file relating to their employment. This information is only used for purposes directly relevant to that person’s employment.
Our staff GDPR Policy is available to all our current employees via HR or on SharePoint. This contains further information about what data we collect and how we process it.
Once a volunteer has been appointed, we manage your volunteering through the National Trust Volunteering systems – MyVolunteering and YourVolunteering. All personal information will only be used to manage their volunteer role. Emergency contact details will only be used in the event of an emergency.
Visitors, clients, and customers
We collect information about you when you register with us, book a visit or event, or place an order via the website or telephone.
We also collect information when you voluntarily sign up for our newsletter, complete customer surveys, provide feedback, participate in competitions, or apply for a job or volunteer role with us.
What information do we collect about you?
We will collect personal information such as your name, address, telephone number, date of birth, age, your photo and email address, and any other information that you provide to us freely when you register with us either in person or online when you purchase our tickets, register for free Waddesdon Wi-Fi, apply for your Local Resident’s Annual Pass, provide feedback or when you send us an email.
We will only collect data relating to a child which is provided and consented to by the parent or someone with parental responsibility.
How will we use the information about you?
We collect information about you to process and manage your orders and bookings, contact you in the event of an emergency or closure, manage your account, process your applications and, if you agree, to email you about other products, services, and promotions we think may be of interest to you.
Personal information collected while making group bookings, events, weddings, or conferences is used to administer the event and your account only. You will not receive any marketing emails unless you subscribe to our newsletter.
Researchers visiting the Waddesdon Archive or Waddesdon Manor collections
We collect information about you when you enquire with us or book a research visit. This information may include your name, email address, phone number, affiliated institutions, topic of research, and scans of identification documents where necessary. Certain archive collections may require consulting third party organisations to prove your identity and acquire permission for access.
Suppliers
We hold information about our Suppliers where it is necessary for us to conduct our business activities and purchase supplies. We do not share our suppliers’ information with any third party unless previously agreed in advance. Suppliers include our contractors and subcontractors.
Tenants
If you are a tenant in a property managed by the RF then we collect information about you to manage your tenancy, manage your account, and process your applications. If you agree we may email you about other services, we think might be of interest to you.
Tenanted properties are owned by several landlords, including the Rothschild Foundation and the Waddesdon Estate LLP, however all tenancies are managed by the Rothschild Foundation Property team.
If you are interested in renting a property from Waddesdon we will hold your details on a prospective tenancy list to provide you with information about suitable properties when they become available. You have a right at any time to opt out of contact from us for marketing purposes or from giving your information to any third parties as detailed above.
Grant applicants and recipients
We collect information about you when you register with us, contact us, or apply for a grant. We also collect information when you voluntarily sign up for our newsletter, complete customer surveys, provide feedback, or participate in competitions.
How will we use the information about you?
We may use such information to process your application(s), manage your account, and, if you agree, to email you about other grants or services we think may be of interest to you. We keep a record of applications to enable us to maintain records of your application history should you apply again, including assessment notes. In addition to application data, we will retain all personal data related to the administration or operation of the grant, including (not limited to): applicant name, email address and phone number.
Personal data supplied by Grant applicants, and current or former grant recipients.
We will only ask for as much information as we need to effectively consider a grant application, to manage an awarded grant, and to monitor its progress. By applying, you are agreeing to us processing your data for these purposes. Grant applications are saved within our grants database (Blackbaud Grantmaking), which is compliant with UK GDPR. The Blackbaud privacy policy can be viewed on the Blackbaud website.
Data about what we fund.
The Rothschild Foundation publishes limited information in its annual accounts which are submitted to Companies House and the Charity Commission. We also publish grants data on the 360Giving website under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, please visit the Creative Commons website. Published information will include: the title and description of the funding, name of the recipient, date of the award, its duration and the amount awarded. We will not publish address details of individuals who are awarded funding except where these are also the registered addresses of organisations we fund.
We may also include information on funding awarded in presentations about our work or as case studies, with permission, on our website.
There may be times we share information with a third-party organisation, such as a charity or other funder who may contact us for a reference. Most information will be organisational and not personal, but at times personal data (for example the names of senior staff) may be included. This is a legitimate interest as it will improve funding to the sectors we offer grants too.
Data sharing
Our use of personal data relating to grants and tenancies may involve sharing the data with employees, contractors, agents and professional advisors of the Rothschild Foundation, Waddesdon Estate LLP, and other carefully selected organisations. Written agreements exist with such parties stating that there must be no further disclosure of such personal data or usage for direct marketing by those organisations unless you consent.
How long do we keep your personal data?
We will retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we collect it. After this time, the data we hold will be held securely on our networks in accordance with our statutory obligations. It will then be deleted in line with our Retention and Disposal Schedule.
If you have any questions about how long we will keep your data for, or to see a copy of the Retention and Disposal Schedule, please contact [email protected].
How is personal data stored and kept secure?
Waddesdon Manor (Rothschild Foundation) holds your personal data in accordance with the security provisions of the UK Data Protection legislation. We use industry standard Secure Server Software (SSL) for your transactions with us. It encrypts all your personal information, including credit card number, name, and address, so that it cannot be read as the information travels over the internet.
What are your individual rights?
You have the following rights relating to the processing of your personal data. You can exercise these rights at any time by contacting [email protected].
- Right of Access – the right to request details as to how we use your information and to be provided with a copy of that information.
- Right to Rectification – the right to have inaccurate data corrected.
- Right to Restriction – the right to request us to limit the use of your personal information.
- Right to Object – the right to object to us using your information.
- Right to Withdraw Consent – if we have asked for your consent to process some of your personal information, you have the right to withdraw this at any time. We will never ask for consent for providing a service to you or if you would be disadvantaged if you did not want to consent.
- Right to complain to the Data Controller.
Changes to our privacy policy
We keep our privacy policy under regular review, and we will place any updates on this web page.
This privacy policy was last updated on: 21 May 2026