It is not unusual for IWA members and other people to want to contact IWA officers and other volunteers. There are also instances where enquiries are made via the Chesham office and staff feel that someone else could provide the best answer.  To help people contact the right person, some volunteer contact details are available on IWA’s website and in IWA publications. The following guidance outlines how IWA deals with the publication of, and requests for, volunteer contact details.

Email Addresses

IWA uses email addresses in the format [email protected] for all employees and any volunteers likely to receive emails on IWA business. This is

(a) to promote a consistent corporate image, and
(b) to protect the recipient from excessive spam and malicious email traffic on their personal e-mail accounts.  In that event, the waterways.org.uk address can either be changed or moderated.

Volunteer Contact Details on IWA’s Website and in IWA Publications (excluding branch publications)

• IWA asks volunteers who edit pages on IWA’s website:
  • To list only volunteers’ waterways.org.uk addresses, and not personal email addresses.
  • To not list volunteers’ postal addresses on IWA’s website.
  • To check with volunteers that they are content to have their telephone contact details listed on IWA’s website and to respect volunteers’ wishes in relation to this.
• IWA asks volunteers who edit IWA Branch newsletters to check with volunteers that they are content to have their contact details published in the newsletter.
• IWA will only list telephone contact details where the relevant volunteer has given express approval for IWA to use them on its website and in its publications. This may be done by contacting individual volunteers or by asking committees to confirm which committee members are happy to have their telephone contact details listed. If a volunteer supplies contact details for use on IWA’s website or in an IWA publication (for example as part of a submission for IWA’s Bulletin), IWA will take this as permission for the contact details to appear on the website and in IWA publications.
• IWA will only list volunteers’ waterways.org.uk addresses, and not personal email addresses, on IWA’s website and in IWA publications, unless (a) there is a very good reason to do so and (b) IWA is specifically asked to do so by the volunteer.
• IWA will no longer list volunteers’ postal addresses on its website or in its publications, unless there is a very good reason to do so and IWA is specifically asked to do so by the volunteer.
• If a volunteer withdraws permission for their contact details to be listed on IWA’s website and/or in IWA publications, IWA will remove the contact details. Please note that contact details may still appear in IWA publications if the withdrawal request is received after a publication’s copy deadline. Any publications that have already been published will not be withdrawn from circulation and will remain available on IWA’s website.

Volunteer Contact Details in Other Publications

• IWA sometimes shares information that can include volunteer contact details, such as details of forthcoming branch work parties, to other publications or websites for their use. In these instances, IWA will only share volunteer contact details that have been supplied by the volunteer for this purpose, or a volunteer’s waterways.org.uk e-mail address.

Direct Requests for Volunteer Contact Details

• IWA will only give out telephone contact details where the relevant volunteer has given express approval for IWA staff to supply these contact details in response to direct requests. IWA staff will offer to pass a message on to a volunteer or ask the volunteer to get in touch with the enquirer where the volunteer’s telephone number cannot be supplied.
• IWA will only supply volunteers’ waterways.org.uk email address and not personal email addresses in response to direct requests. As the standard format for all IWA email addresses is [email protected], permission will not be sought before giving out alias email addresses as they will be obvious to many and in the public domain already.
• IWA will not supply volunteers’ postal addresses in response to direct requests, but will offer to forward any correspondence that is sent to the Chesham office for the attention of a specific volunteer.
• If a volunteer has supplied telephone contact details for use on IWA’s website or in recent publications, IWA will take this as permission for these contact details to be supplied in response to direct requests.
• Volunteers can specify whether they would like their telephone contact details to:
  • Never be supplied in response to direct requests.
  • Only be supplied in response to direct requests from other IWA committee members.
  • Be supplied in response to any direct request.  Direct requests include, but are not limited to, requests by email, telephone, post or in person for the contact details of a named volunteer, a specific volunteer role, or for an unspecified volunteer who may have specific information.

Trustees and National Committee Chairs

• All trustees and national committee chairs can be contacted via their waterways.org.uk e-mail address.
• Trustees and national committee chairs can be contacted directly (if they have given permission for their contact details to be shared) or via the Chesham Office, where staff will forward any post marked for their attention, pass on messages where telephone numbers cannot be shared and request trustees/national committee chairs to email or call an enquirer back.