Privacy statement The Power of Sports

This privacy statement explains which personal data The Power of Sports processes, why we do so, who we share it with and how long we keep it. It applies to everyone who registers for volunteering, an internship or a trip, to our partners and to visitors of our website. We process personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK GDPR.

Who is responsible

The Power of Sports is responsible for processing your personal data. We organise our projects together with our partner organisation The Power of Sports in the Netherlands, and we use a shared booking system. Do you have a question about your data? Email mike@thepowerofsports.org.

Which data we process

  • Registration. Your name, email address, phone number, whether you join as a volunteer or intern, the countries and period you are interested in, your school or study, your motivation, how you found us and any comments.
  • Your account and My Trip. After the first conversation we create a personal account for you. There you fill in, among other things, your address, gender, an emergency contact, your arrival and departure date, flight details, your travel insurance details with the policy document, the expiry date of your passport, dietary requirements and information about your study, motivation and sports experience. You can also add a profile photo.
  • Documents. A copy of your passport, and you sign our terms and conditions and code of conduct. Dutch participants also provide a Dutch certificate of conduct (VOG). If you travel to a country where you need a visa in advance, such as Indonesia, we also ask for the documents needed for your visa application.
  • Payments. Your invoices, the amounts and whether you have paid. Payments through the website are handled by Mollie; we do not see your full bank details. For each payment we keep the reference, the amount and the date, so we can match the payment to your booking.
  • Contact. The emails and messages we exchange with you.
  • Website visits. Technical data such as your IP address and browser type, to keep the website secure and to keep visitor statistics.

Sensitive data

If you share dietary requirements or a medical detail with us, we only use it to make your trip safe and responsible, and we only share it with the local partner when that is needed. Your passport copy is sensitive too: please cover any personal numbers we do not need, such as a national identification number, before you upload it.

Why we use your data

  • To prepare and carry out your volunteering, internship or trip together with our partner in the destination country. This is necessary for the agreement we make with you.
  • To create your invoices, process payments and keep our records as the law requires.
  • To stay in touch with you before, during and after your trip.
  • To put you in touch with fellow travellers, but only if you choose this yourself in My Trip.
  • To keep our website secure and to improve it.

We do not make decisions about you that are made by a computer alone.

Who we share your data with

We never sell your data. We only share it when necessary:

  • Our partner in the destination country. The local partner welcomes you, arranges your placement and supports you. In our secure booking system a partner only sees the participants of their own country, and only the data they need, such as your name, contact details, travel dates, flight details, emergency contact, dietary requirements and passport. Our partners are based in, among others, Argentina, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Ghana, Indonesia, Nepal, Ukraine, Saint Lucia and South Africa. These countries are outside the European Union and the United Kingdom. We only transfer your data there because this is necessary to carry out your trip.
  • Our sister organisations. The Power of Sports (Netherlands), Die Kraft des Sports (Germany) and El Poder del Deporte (Spain) work with us in the same booking system.
  • Service providers who help us. Our website is hosted by Kinsta (on Google Cloud servers) and protected and sped up by Cloudflare. Payments are handled by Mollie; our booking system has a read only connection with Mollie to match payments to the right booking. Our bank account is with Revolut Business. We do our bookkeeping in Exact Online. We use Google Analytics for visitor statistics. They only use your data to provide these services to us.
  • When the law requires it, for example to the tax authorities.

How long we keep your data

  • Passport copy. It is automatically and permanently deleted from our website one month after your return. If your return date is not known, six months after your departure.
  • Certificate of conduct (VOG). For Dutch participants we handle this the same way: it is automatically and permanently deleted one month after your return, or six months after your departure if your return date is not known. If you have several trips planned, the last one counts.
  • Visa documents. We handle these the same way as your passport copy: they are automatically and permanently deleted one month after your return, or six months after your departure if your return date is not known.
  • Travel insurance policy document. This is also automatically and permanently deleted one month after your return, or six months after your departure if your return date is not known.
  • Signed terms and conditions. We do not keep these on the website, but safely in our own records, because they are the proof of our agreement.
  • Invoices and payments. For each payment our bookkeeping in Exact Online contains your name, the amount and the invoice or order number. We keep this for seven years, because tax law requires us to. This still applies after your passport, certificate of conduct and policy document have long been deleted.
  • Other data. We do not keep your data longer than needed for the purpose we received it for. If you would like us to delete it sooner, let us know.
  • Backups. Our website is backed up automatically. Deleted data may remain in these backups for a few more weeks, after which it is removed there too.

How we protect your data

  • Your account and our booking system can only be accessed with a personal login, and our website uses a secure connection (https).
  • Passports and other documents are stored in a protected folder on the server with unpredictable file names. Only you, our team and the partner of your destination can open them, and only after logging in.
  • We do not forward your passport as an email attachment. Our team and partners receive a notification with a secure link.
  • Our team and partners log in with two factor authentication. Besides their password they also need a code from their phone, so nobody can reach your data with a stolen password alone.
  • A partner only sees the participants of their own destination. Only team members and partners who need your data for their work have access to it.

Do you think your data is not properly protected, or do you see signs of misuse? Please email mike@thepowerofsports.org straight away.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies. A cookie is a small file stored on your computer, tablet or phone. We use:

  • Necessary cookies, for example to keep you logged in, remember your basket and save your language choice.
  • Analytical cookies from Google Analytics, to see how visitors use our website so we can improve it.
  • Third party cookies, when you use the WhatsApp button or when posts from our Instagram account are shown.

You can refuse or delete cookies in your browser settings. The website will keep working, although perhaps not every part of it.

Minors

Are you under 18? Then your parent or legal guardian registers you, as stated in our terms and conditions. If you believe we hold data of a minor without that permission, email mike@thepowerofsports.org and we will delete it.

Your rights

You have the right to access, correct or delete your data. You can object to its use, withdraw your consent and ask us to send your data in a file to you or to another organisation. You can also view and change much of your data yourself in My Trip. Data we are legally required to keep, such as invoices and payments, cannot be deleted before that period ends.

Send your request to mike@thepowerofsports.org. We respond as soon as possible and within four weeks at the latest. To be sure the request comes from you, we may ask you to confirm your identity. Never send us an unedited copy of your passport: in that case cover your photo, the strip of numbers at the bottom, your document number and any national identification number.

Not happy with how we handle your data? You can lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the United Kingdom via ico.org.uk, or with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) via autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl.

Changes

We update this privacy statement when the way we work changes. The latest version is always on this page. Last updated: 27 September 2026.