Cookie Policy

This policy explains the cookies and similar technologies used on ywamships.org, what each one is for, and how you can change your choices at any time.

We apply one standard to every visitor, anywhere in the world. Rather than treating people differently by country, we follow the stricter UK and European approach (UK GDPR, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, and the EU GDPR/ePrivacy rules) for everyone: no optional cookies are set until you turn them on. Necessary cookies are the only ones that run before you choose.

A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store on your device. It lets the site remember things between pages and visits — such as the cookie choice you made here. Related technologies (local storage, pixels and tags) do a similar job, and this policy covers those too.

Cookies set by ywamships.org are called first-party cookies. Cookies set by a service we use, such as Google Analytics, are third-party cookies.

Necessary — always on

Required for the website to work: delivering pages, keeping the site secure, and remembering your cookie choice so you are not asked again on every page. These set no advertising or analytics identifiers and cannot be switched off.

Analytics — off until you allow it

Google Analytics 4, loaded through Google Tag Manager, tells us which pages people read and how they found us, so we can improve the site. We use it for aggregate reporting, not to identify you.

Advertising — off until you allow it

Google Ads and the Meta (Facebook/Instagram) pixel let us see whether our advertising reached the people it was meant for, so that donated funds are not wasted on ads nobody wanted.

Personalisation — off until you allow it

Allows the content and advertising you see on other websites to be tailored based on your visit here. Turning this off does not stop you seeing ads — it stops them being personalised using your visit.

Cookies in each category

Third-party expiry periods are set by those providers and may change. Exact names can vary slightly between Google products.

Every tag on this site is loaded through Google Tag Manager, so there is a single control point. Before you make a choice, the site tells Google that analytics, advertising and personalisation storage are all denied. Google's tags read that signal and operate in a restricted, cookieless way — they cannot write analytics or advertising cookies, and they cannot build a profile of you.

When you accept a category, we send an updated signal and the relevant tags switch on their normal behaviour. When you reject, the denied state simply stays in place. Your choice is remembered for 12 months and applies across every page you visit.

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings, and most browsers offer a "do not track" or tracking-protection option. Blocking all cookies will stop us remembering your choice here, so the banner will reappear; some other features may also stop working.

To opt out of Google Analytics in every website you visit, Google provides a browser opt-out add-on. You can review Google's own practices in the Google privacy and terms, and Meta's in the Meta Privacy Policy.

If you have a question about this policy, or you want to know what information we hold about you, contact us:

Email: registrar@ywamships.org
Call: 07 4771 2123
Mail: YWAM Townsville, PO Box 6221, Townsville QLD 4810, Australia

How we handle personal information more broadly is set out in our Privacy Policy. If you are in the UK or the EU and are unhappy with our response, you may complain to your national data protection authority; in Australia, to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

This policy was last updated on 13 August 2026.