Privacy Policy

Cookies policy

What are cookies

When you use our websites, we place a small text file called a 'cookie' (made up of letters and numbers) on your computer, tablet or mobile phone's storage device. Using cookies is a really common practice and helps us to give you the best experience possible on our websites. Cookies are completely harmless and can't be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer.

You can find out more about cookies on the Information Commissioner's Officer (ICO) website.

What's a pixel

We also use pixels, which are snippets of code that enable cookies to be downloaded to your device. Pixels identify a device as it browses different websites, so that targeted advertisements can be shown to that user. We don’t receive any personally identifiable information from pixels.

What cookies we use

We use a variety of cookies across our different websites depending on what the website does. We use them to:

•    make website features work;
•    analyse how you're using the websites so we can make it even better and relevant to you;
•    count the number of visitors and see how visitors move around the websites to improve the way the websites work; and
•    help us advertise to you on other websites, like Facebook.

Below we run through the cookies we use on our different websites and list them all so you can find out more about each one specifically if you'd like to.

Cookies we use on all our websites

We use the following cookies on all of our websites – the Girlguiding website, GO, our donation platform, our activity centre websites and our online shop:

•    ga, _gid, _gat_UAxxxxxxxx-x, __utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmz, __utmv, __utmx and __utmxx
o    All of these are cookies from Google Analytics, a tool that analyses how people use our websites and helps us make changes to the websites which will improve your experience when you use them. It's widely used across the internet and all the data is anonymised so that the data cannot be identified as yours. Find out more about how Google uses cookies.
•    Doubleclick.net
o    This cookie is set by Google Adwords to track what people do on our websites, for example, registering to become a volunteer. This helps us analyse how our Google Adwords advertising is performing. Find out more about how Google uses cookies.
•    Fbevents.js and <!--Facebook Pixel Code -->
o    This cookie is set by Facebook to track what people do on our websites, for example, if someone signs up for an event. This helps us analyse how our Facebook advertising is performing. The Facebook pixel is a piece of code that matches you to your Facebook user ID when you do something on our websites. This data is anonymous, and we can't see any information that identifies you on Facebook. We can use the pixel to build custom audiences to advertise to you on Facebook about things that might be of interest to you.
o    For example, we may want to let people know that they can book tickets for an event. So we may build a custom audience of people who have shown an interest in the event by visiting the event webpage before booking was open and run adverts to those people to tell them that booking is now open. Find out more about Facebook's cookies and interest-based advertising and how to opt out.
•    PREF, VSC, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE and remote_sid
o    These cookies are set by YouTube when you watch a YouTube video that's embedded on our websites. They collect information about how and where people have watched the video. The data is anonymised so that the data cannot be identified as yours. Find out more about how Google and YouTube use cookies.
•    Uwt.js and <!-- Twitter universal website tag code -->
o    This cookie is set by Twitter to track what people do on our websites, for example if someone fills out a webform. This helps us analyse how our Twitter advertising is performing. The Twitter tag is a piece of code that matches you to your Twitter user ID when you do something on our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot see any information that identifies you on Twitter.
o    Similar to the Facebook pixel code, we can use this tag to build custom audiences to advertise to you on Twitter about things that might be of interest to you. Find out more about Twitter's cookies and interest-based advertising and how to opt out.
•    Hotjar Tracking Code
o    We use Hotjar in order to better understand our users' needs and to improve our website. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand how people use our website. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users' behaviour and their devices. Neither Hotjar, or Girlguiding, will ever use this information to identify individual users or to match it with further data on an individual user. For further details, please see Hotjar’s privacy policy https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy/.

Cookies we use on our activity centres online booking portal

To read about and manage your cookie preferences for cookies we manage within our booking portal please visit our cookie preference panel by clicking the 'Manage cookies' link on the bottom of any webpage.

The cookies we use on our activity centres online booking portal are:

•    cookie_preferences
o    This is a strictly necessary cookie which asks you to accept or reject cookies and remembers your decision.
•    cinolla_portalv2_userfrontend
o    
•    ga, _gid, _gat_UAxxxxxxxx-x, __utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmz, __utmv, __utmx and __utmxx
o    All of these are cookies from Google Analytics, a tool that analyses how people use our websites and helps us make changes to the websites which will improve your experience when you use them. It's widely used across the internet and all the data is anonymised so that the data cannot be identified as yours. Find out more about how Google uses cookies.
•    Doubleclick.net
o    This cookie is set by Google Adwords to track what people do on our websites. This helps us analyse how our Google Adwords advertising is performing. Find out more about how Google uses cookies.

Third party cookies 

Other websites may set cookies while you browse our websites, usually if you’re already logged into your accounts with them. These are often, but not always, social media accounts and part of the reason they use cookies is so that you can use the buttons on our website to share pages that interest you. These cookies also help us understand how people are using and interacting with our websites and we use this information to improve our websites and online advertising. 

Please note that we have no control over these third party cookies and pixels, and you should check the relevant third party websites for more information about these.

Third party cookies and pixels we use 

We use the following third party cookies on all of our websites – the Girlguiding website, GO, our donation platform, our activity centre websites, , our activity centres online booking platform and our online shop. Please visit the relevant third party websites to find out more about how they’re used: 

•    Google Adwords – Doubleclick.net 
o    Find out more about how Google uses cookies. 
•    Facebook – Fbevents.js and <!–Facebook Pixel Code –> 
o    Find out more about Facebook’s cookies and interest-based advertising and how to opt out. 
•    YouTube – PREF, VSC, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE and remote_sid 
o    Find out more about how Google and YouTube use cookies. 
•    Twitter – Uwt.js and <!– Twitter universal website tag code –> 
o    Find out more about Twitter’s cookies and interest-based advertising and how to opt out.

How to manage your cookies 

You can view and delete the cookies stored on your computer, tablet or mobile phone and if you want to you can prevent cookies from being stored in future. There’s information about how to do this in your internet browser’s ‘Help’ pages or you can find out more about how to manage your cookies on the ICO’s website. 

Please note that if you decide to prevent cookies from being stored on your device (especially essential cookies) you’ll still be able to use our websites, but some functionality may be restricted. 

Managing cookies in your browser

You can control which types of cookies you allow in your web browser. You can turn cookies on or off using your browser's settings. You can also remove cookies and clear your browser's history.

The following links describe how you can change your cookie settings in the popular browsers:

•    Chrome
•    Firefox
•    Microsoft Edge
•    Opera
•    Safari

How to manage your cookies on this website

You can update your cookie settings for this website at any time clicking the 'Manage cookies' link on the bottom of any webpage.

This cookie policy was last updated on 17 June 2022.