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.
[By continuing to browse our websites, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.]
You can find out more about cookies on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website.
What’s a pixel
We also use pixels, which are snippets of code that enable cookies to be downloaded to your device. Pixel tags identify a device as it browses different websites, partly so that targeted adverts can be shown to that user. We don’t receive any identifiable data from pixels. If you disable cookies, your visit to our website will just register as an anonymous visit.
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
- 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
- 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 –>
- 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. 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 web page 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
- 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 –>
- 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. 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.
Cookies we use on our activity centre website
The only cookie we use on the Girlguiding Activity Centres website (www.girlguidingactivitycentres.org.uk) that’s not already been listed is:
Privacy-notice
- This cookie is necessary to let us know if you’ve accepted how we use cookies in the pop-up banner when you first access the website. It’s added to your device when you first access our website and expires after 10 years.
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 and our online shop. Please visit the relevant third party websites to find out more about how they’re used:
Google Adwords – Doubleclick.net
Facebook – Fbevents.js and <!–Facebook Pixel Code –>
YouTube – PREF, VSC, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE and remote_sid
Twitter – Uwt.js and <!– Twitter universal website tag code –>
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.
This cookie policy was last updated on 25 May 2018.