The Fundraising Regulator runs the Fundraising Preference Service so that people can request to stop direct marketing communications from charities registered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
If a charity gets a notification informing them that a person has made an FPS request, they should act to respect their wishes. So far, over 2,959 charities have set themselves up on the secure FPS charity portal to make sure that they do not send direct marketing communications to people that have used the FPS.
However, some charities are breaching the Code of Fundraising Practice by failing to access these requests and suppress people on their marketing databases.
When are charities considered in breach of the code?
Data protection law 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, which sets the standards for UK fundraising.
If a charity does not take action to stop sending direct marketing communications within 21 days of receiving an FPS request, they are in breach of the FPS terms and conditions.
If they fail to act further, within 28 days of receiving an FPS request, we consider them in breach of section 3.2.5 of the code and we will take regulatory action.
What regulatory action will you take?
If a charity repeatedly ignores reminders to act on an FPS request, a final letter is sent to the charity’s Chief Executive and Chair of trustees from our Chief Executive. This letter clearly warns the charity that we
- consider them to be in breach of section 3.2.5 of the code and will name their organisation publicly on our website as non-compliant
- may notify the Information Commissioner's Office of a potential breach of the Data Protection Act 2018
- may notify the Charity Commission for England and Wales and/or Northern Ireland that we consider that the failure to act on the FPS request and respond to us, to be a potentially serious governance issue.
Which charities have breached the code in relation to FPS?
The charities named below are in breach of the code because they have not logged on to the FPS charity portal to access three or more requests to stop direct marketing communications. We have recently made some changes to when we list charities who have not logged on to the FPS charity portal to access their suppressions. You can find out more about this change here.
The list below displays the charity name, registered charity number and the date someone first made an FPS request.
- Clarity – Employment for Blind People. Registered charity no. 210794. Date of first FPS request: 26/02/2018.
- Hope Africa. Registered charity no. 1103478. Date of first FPS request: 24/08/2018.
- Insaaf. Registered charity no. 1182275. Date of first FPS request: 28/10/2022.
- National Cancer Research Institute. Registered charity no. 1160609. Date of first FPS request: 06/01/2023.
- The Little Way Association. Registered charity no. 235703. Date of first FPS request: 21/02/2018.
- The Owl Sanctuary. Registered charity no. 1184837. Date of first FPS request: 10/07/2020.
- The Truro Community Property Trust. Registered charity no. 1136731. Date of first FPS request 06/07/2017.