What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are sent to and stored on your computer, smartphone or other device you use for accessing the internet, whenever you visit a website. Each cookie is unique to your web browser. It will contain some anonymous information, such as a unique identifier and the site name, and some digits and numbers. Cookies are specific to the server that created them and cannot be accessed by other servers, which means that they cannot be used to track your movements elsewhere around the web.

Please note that passwords and credit card numbers are not stored in cookies.

For more information about cookies, please visit aboutcookies.org.

Your rights

You have the right to choose whether or not to accept cookies, and which cookies to accept. You can exercise this right by amending or setting the controls on your browser to reflect your cookie preferences. However, please note that if you choose to refuse cookies, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. For example, it won’t remember your details on forms between your visits, or it won’t remember your online forum login details.

Types of cookies

To fully understand cookies, here’s what you should know:

‘First party cookies’ and ‘third party cookies’

• First party cookies are cookies served directly by the website operator to your computer. They are often used to recognise your computer when it revisits that site, and to remember your preferences as you browse the site.

• Third party cookies are served by a service provider on behalf of the website operator, and the service provider can use them to recognise your computer when you visit other websites. Third party cookies are used most commonly for website analytics or advertising purposes. Examples of third party cookies include Google or Facebook.

‘Session cookies’ or ‘persistent cookies’

• Your computer, smartphone or other device automatically removes session cookies once you close your browser.

• Persistent cookies will survive on your computer until they reach an expiry date specified in the cookie itself.

Categories of cookies

Essential cookies:

• these are essential for the user to move around the website and to use its features, for example, to make donations. These will always be in place but they do not track your data.

Performance cookies:

• these collect information about how the user makes use of the site, for example, which pages the user visits most. These cookies do not collect information that identifies the user. We use Google Analytics to collect performance data.

Functionality cookies:

• these remember choices the user makes and enhance the features, for example, language or user’s location. This cookie also remembers a user’s preferences for a font size, or customisable parts of a web page.

Targeting or advertising cookies:

• these collect information about the user’s browsing habits. This may also include your use of social media sites, for example Facebook, or how you interact with our website, which it uses to show you relevant content elsewhere on the internet. Cookies may also use the info to remarket to you.

At Muscular Dystrophy UK, we use all these cookies types on our website.

What information do we collect?

Using cookies, we may collect some, or all, of the info below when you visit our website, depending on how you use it. We monitor how people use our website so we can improve it. If you visit our website, we may record information about your visit, including but not limited to:

• the areas of the website you visit
• the amount of time you spend on the site
• whether you are new to the site or have visited it before
• how you came to our website – for example, through an email link
• the type of device and browser you use

We use cookies to work out how donors come to our site. For example, we use codes in our URLs to show us where a donation has come from, which gives us insight into the effectiveness of our marketing materials.

Our website uses Google Analytics to make sense of this information.

Some of our cookies will remind you about our work, and how you can help, after you have left our website.

Cookies set by third parties

Some of our web pages contain embedded content, such as a YouTube video, Twitter feed, or social media share buttons. These sites may also set cookies when you visit them. We do not control the setting of these cookies, so we suggest you check the third party website for more information about their cookies, and how to manage them.

If you do not want cookies to be stored on your PC, smartphone or other device, you can disable this function without affecting your navigation around the site.

Changing your cookie preferences

The browsers of most computers, smartphones and other web-enabled devices are typically set up to accept cookies. The “Help” menu in the toolbar of most web browsers will tell you how to change your browser’s cookie settings, including how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, and how to disable cookies altogether. For more information about managing cookies on your devices, please visit aboutcookies.org.