Well, I’m sure you all know that fundraising is normally described as a specific type of marketing, which is a general term for communications that promote the aims and values of your organisation, and then invite a positive response.
But why mention it? Well, I had a recent question along the lines of ‘if someone opts into email marketing but opts out of fundraising asks, do I have to stop sending appeals to them?’
There is quite a lot to unpack here, and remember you can always book a free 25-minute insight call with the link below to discuss your particular situation, but here are a few points that may be useful:
- UK GDPR does not mention fundraising specifically, so normally we need to consider marketing as a whole.
- The lawful basis depends on the method (postal mail, phone, electronic mail, etc) and this may change with the upcoming charitable soft opt-in changes.
- If someone opts out of marketing, you must respect that.
- Within marketing, you might choose to provide preferences for people to choose from.
- Don’t forget MPS (mail preference service) and FPS (fundraising preference service).
Our advice is to always start with the supporter journey and experience you want to give, and then to look at how to deliver that whilst complying with data protection regulations and best practice.