Some charities have failed to access requests to stop communication, made by the public on the Fundraising Preference Service (FPS).
Why is this important?
The Data Protection Act 2018 gives a person the right to object at any time to use of their personal data for marketing purposes.
This right is also reflected in the Code of Fundraising Practice. If charities don’t action a request from the service within 28 days, they are in breach of section 5.7 of the Code of Fundraising Practice. This states:
‘Organisations MUST either cease within a reasonable period (meaning as soon as is practicable, but in any event not exceeding 28 days) or not begin to process an individual’s personal data for the purpose of direct marketing whether they receive notice from, or on behalf of any individual to do so. This may include a) notice from (or on behalf of) an individual submitted through the Fundraising Preference Service or notice from the Fundraising Preference Service that such a request has been made.’
The charity must access this information to comply with the Code. The Information Commissioner has confirmed that it may consider failure to act on an FPS request as a potential breach of the Data Protection Act 2018.
What are we doing about it?
We’ve tried working with the charities that haven’t accessed their requests, but haven’t had a good response. So we’ve decided to publish the names of the charities who haven’t logged on to the service to action their requests, and have therefore breached the Code. We’ve also referred them to the Information Commissioner and the Charity Commission.
All organisations in the list below have breached the Code. This list will be updated every month.
Read the full article by the Fundraising Regulator here.
