The Fundraising Regulator has identified a “significant number” of charities which are not acting on requests to stop direct marketing communications.
These charities are already set up on the Fundraising Preference Service (FPS) charity portal, yet are failing to stop the communication.
The FPS service allows people to stop direct marketing communications from fundraising organisations registered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
So far, the regulator notes more than 2,400 charities have set themselves up on the FPS charity portal.
Earlier this year, the Fundraising Regulator announced changes to the FPS and has identified this issue as part of this work.
The Fundraising Regulator has said it is in the process of engaging with the recently identified charities which are not accessing their FPS requests and intends to share more information about this data after the regulator’s new financial year, which begins on 1 September.
Number of charities acting on FPS requests 'continues to increase year on year'
A Fundraising Regulator spokesperson said: “The FPS is an important tool which helps to protect the public, particularly those people who may be in vulnerable circumstances.
“This means it is vital charities act on FPS requests when they receive them to comply with the Code of Fundraising Practice and data protection requirements. The number of charities accessing and acting on the FPS requests they receive continues to increase year on year.
“Some of the recent changes made to the FPS include making it easier for us to identify those charities which are not logging onto FPS when they need to.
“We are spending more time raising awareness of the FPS with charities so they know what to do when they receive an FPS request and can act on it quickly.”
The regulator has warned that those organisations that are not logging in could be non-compliant with the Code of Fundraising Practice, data protection law and the terms and conditions of the FPS.
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 the Fundraising Regulator’s chief executive.
The Fundraising Regulator may notify the Information Commissioner's Office of a potential breach of the Data Protection Act 2018 and it may notify the Charity Commission if it believes there is a potentially serious governance issue.
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