1.           Introduction

World Mission Agency – Winners Chapel International operate websites through which the church’s services and other information can be accessed by members of the church and the general public. The website of the Winners Chapel International, Dartford is www.winners-chapel.org.uk.

2.           What are cookies

It is imperative for most modern website to collect some sort of information from its users so as to function properly. To do this, a site will create files known as cookies – which are small text files – on its users’ computers. Cookies are designed to allow the website identify its users on subsequent visits, or to authorise other designated websites to recognise these users for a particular purpose.

Cookies may be deployed in such a manner that will improve customer’s experience on the Charity’s website to improve. This can be done by making the website more responsive to the need of the visitor and making the user interaction interactive and very smooth. Cookies are widely used to track your preferences on sites you visit often, to remember your user ID and the contents of your shopping baskets, and to help you navigate between pages more efficiently. They also help ensure that the advertisements that you see online are more relevant to you and your interests. Much, though not all, of the data that they collect is anonymous, though some of it is designed to detect browsing patterns and approximate geographical location to improve user experience.

Some websites may also contain images called ‘web beacons’ (also known as ‘clear gifs’). Web beacons only collect limited information, including a cookie number, a timestamp, and a record of the page on which they are placed. Websites may also carry web beacons placed by third party advertisers. These beacons do not carry any personally identifiable information and are only used to track the effectiveness of a particular campaign (for example by counting the number of visitors). Information collected by cookies and web beacons is not personally identifiable.

3.           How do we use cookies

We collect a number of cookies from our users for various reasons, not least to track our own performance – but also to let us serve you content tailored to your own specifications, hopefully improving your overall experience of the site. Amongst other things, the cookies we use allow users to interact and send us comments, allow us to calculate how many visitors we have – anonymously, of course – and how long they stay on our site.

We do our utmost to respect users’ privacy. We use cookies to monitor and improve our services.

We believe that your experience of the site would be adversely affected if you opted out of the cookies we use.

4.           The Types of Cookies we use

There are two types of cookies that we use:

• Persistent cookies: These remain on a user’s device for a set period of time specified in the cookie. They are activated each time that the user visits the website that created that particular cookie.
• Session cookies: These cookies are temporary and allow website operators to link the actions of a user during a browser session. A browser session starts when a user opens the browser window and finishes when they close the browser window. Once you close the browser, all session cookies are deleted.

Cookies also have, broadly speaking, four different functions and can be categorised as follow: ‘strictly necessary’ cookies, ‘performance’ cookies, ‘functionality’ cookies and ‘targeting’ or ‘advertising’ cookies.

Strictly necessary cookies are essential to navigate around a website and use its features. Without them, you wouldn’t be able to use basic services like registration or shopping baskets. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you’ve been on the internet.

Examples of how we use ‘strictly necessary’ cookies include: Setting unique identifiers for each unique visitor, so site numbers can be analysed. Allowing you to sign in to The Independent website as a registered user.

Performance cookies collect anonymous data for statistical purposes on how visitors use a website, they don’t contain personal information, and are used to improve your user experience of a website.

Here are some examples of how we use performance cookies:

Gathering data about visits to the Website, including numbers of visitors and visits, length of time spent on the site, pages clicked on or where visitors have come from.

5.           How do I Control My Cookies

Most browsers accept cookies automatically, but you can alter the settings of your browser to erase cookies or prevent automatic acceptance if you prefer. Generally you have the option to see what cookies you’ve got and delete them individually, block third party cookies or cookies from particular sites, accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is issued or reject all cookies. Visit the ‘options’ or ‘preferences’ menu on your browser to change settings, and check the following links for more browser-specific information.

6.           User Agreement

By continuing to use our site, you agree to the placement of cookies on your device. If you choose not to receive our cookies, we cannot guarantee that your experience will be as fulfilling as it would otherwise be.