The number of charities in breach of the fundraising code by failing to access their Fundraising Preference Service (FPS) requests has fallen by 37 per cent since March.
According to the Fundraising Regulator, 37 charities, down from 59 in March, have broken the right given by the Data Protection Act 2018 and reflected in the Code of Fundraising Practice that anyone can object to marketing using personal data.
In line with the data protection laws and the code, charities are required to access the FPS within 21 days after a suppression request has been made by a member of the public.
The figures mean that 24 charities have acted on the FPS suppression requests since their failure to do so was published in March.
Some 14 of those charities acted on the offending request within a month of their names being published on the Fundraising Regulator's website.
A spokesperson for the Fundraising Regulator told Civil Society News: “The number of charities accessing their FPS requests has risen steadily.
“There are several reasons for this, including the decision to name charities not acting on their requests as well as greater awareness of FPS and charities’ obligations under data protection law and the Code of Fundraising Practice.
“The numbers will always be relative to the number of people using the service, and a spike in demand may mean the list of charities grows.”
Five months since regulator started publishing names
The Fundraising Regulator began publishing the names of charities that failed to access and action an FPS request in March.
Animal Aid and Advice (North London Group) and Combat Cancer are new on the list of charities which as of 1 August have not logged on to the FPS to access requests from the public to stop communication.
All of the charities on the list have been referred to the Information Commissioner's Office and the Charity Commission.
Almost half of the charities on the list have FPS requests dating back to July 2017 when the FPS was launched.
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