Fundraising Regulator names 59 charities in breach of FPS

For the first time, the Fundraising Regulator has named the charities it is taking action against for breaching the Fundraising Preference Service. It has named 59 charities, including Diabetes Research Association, Hope Africa, Meningitis Help, Art for Their Sake, and The Brentwood & District Age Concern.  The 59 charities are those that, as of 1 March 2019, had not logged on to the Fundraising Preference Service charity portal to access requests from the public to stop communication. Dates of first FPS requests range from 06 July 2017 to 12 December 2018. Charities are required to comply with the FPS under the Code of Fundraising Practice and the Data Protection Act 2018. All 59 charities have been referred to the Information Commissioner’s Office after ignoring requests made by members of the public not to receive direct marketing from them. Today (4 March) the Fundraising Regulator has issued regulatory notices against these charities for their failure to comply. Around 8,300 people have submitted over 25,000 requests since the 2017 launch of the FPS. When a request is made to stop communication from a charity, the service automatically emails each charity’s nominated contact. This will be a specific person listed on the Charity Commission’s register of charities. The email says that someone from the charity must log in to the FPS online charity portal to collect a ‘suppression request’. Charities have had 28 days to act on the request and stop contacting the individual. All of the organisations that have been named have failed to do so. However, as of 1 March, charities now need to act within 21 days. Repeated attempts have been made to contact each charity to explain why they had ignored requests from members of the public to stop contact, and the Chief Executives of each charity also received a final warning explaining that a failure to act on a suppression request made through the FPS may be a breach of the Data Protection Act 2018. Gerald Oppenheim, Chief Executive, Fundraising Regulator, said: “The FPS is an important tool in helping to rebuild trust between members of the public, particularly those who are vulnerable, and the charity sector. Charities that fail to respect requests made by the public to stop unwanted communication risk damaging the good work done by the rest of the sector. “Some charities may think they have valid reasons for not accessing the suppression request. Despite this, they are still in breach of the Code and possibly in breach of the Data Protection Act, because the request is an individual’s wish to stop receiving direct marketing.” Stephen Eckersley, ICO’s Director of Investigations, said: “Charities that ignore the Fundraising Preference Service run the real risk of causing distress and offence to people who just don’t want to receive their marketing communications. “The ICO has written to these charities to remind them they must act lawfully and responsibly in protecting people’s personal data, and in how they communicate with them. Our advice for charities is clear: they must not contact people registered on the FPS and, where we see this happening, we will investigate and take enforcement action where necessary.”    

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