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 and Pinterest.
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 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
- 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.
- Howuku cookies
- Howuku is an analytics, feedback and user experience optimisation tool that helps us better understand your needs and experiences on our website. We use this information to make improvements to the content and navigation on our site so that it's easier to use; this may be through the use of a question widget which 'peeps' from the bottom of the page, or collecting mouse click/scrolling behaviour from multiple visitors to our website. Howuku collects data on user behaviour and devices (in particular device's IP address (captured and stored only in anonymized form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), preferred language used to display our website), storing your information in a pseudonymised user profile. Neither Howuku nor 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 Howuku's privacy policy and their data processing agreement.
- _hid, created_at, first_session, howuku_session, pageview, unique_session
- View the full list of cookies and their functions used by Howuku. You can opt-out of being tracked by Howuku by following the instructions in their cookie policy.
Cookies on our online shop
To read about and manage your cookie preferences for cookies we manage within our online shop please visit our cookie preference panel by clicking the green 'cookie' icon on the bottom left of any webpage.
We never store credit/debit card details in a cookie as these are not secure.
- GGC.SessionDataKey
- This cookie ensures that any temporary data (such as form submissions) is stored for use during the session
- basketid
- A cookie is set to store the items you add to your basket
- GGC.AuthenticationKey
- A cookie is set to keep your session authenticated after you have logged in
- GGC.Basket
- A cookie is set to keep your basket tied to your account after you have logged in
- GGC.QuickshopBasket
- A cookie is set to store the items you add to your quickshop basket
- GGC.BrowserPopup
- This cookie is used to indicate that a pop up has been acknowledged when a visitor is using an out of date browser
- GGC.Visited
- Set when you first visit the site to ensure your browser doesn't unnecessarily re-download assets such as font files
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 -->
- Pinterest – Pinterestevents.js and <!--Pinterest Pixel 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 01.09.2023