Why an ethical approach to data is the only way for charities to succeed

In December 2016, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) concluded that the RSPCA and the British Heart Foundation had contravened the Data Protection Act and fined the charities £25,000 and £18,000 respectively. With talk of fines in the millions for failing to adhere to the pending EU GDPR (which comes in to force on 25th May 2018) these imposed fines may appear small, but for a charity they are significant, and the reputational damage can be even more costly long-term. However, there is some positive news.

In an article published by Third Sector magazine it was reported that… ‘The ICO launched an investigation into the RSPCA and other charities in September 2015 after the Daily Mail newspaper ran a critical story about the case of Samuel Rae, an elderly man with dementia who was allegedly contacted more than 700 times by charities after filling in a survey in 1994.’

Almost simultaneously, The Fundraising Regulator announced on 1st December its plans for a Fundraising Preference Service (FPS), which will launch in the coming months. The intention is to protect the public by giving them greater control over the contact they receive from charities, by enabling them to select charities that they no longer want to receive any communications from.

In the announcement made by The Fundraising Regulator, Sir Stuart Etherington, Chair of the Cross-Party Review, is quoted as saying: “The FPS will also help charities clean their lists and better target their communications, ahead of the implementation of new data rules in the coming years. It is becoming ever more important that charities follow the highest standards in communicating with their donors, including by ensuring they have valid consent for how they are using personal details.”

The FPS is undoubtedly a welcome initiative, even though it does in the main replicate what already exists with the MPS, TPS and DPA 1998 S11. What’s more it does have the potential to get very confusing for the public with not only the MPS and TPS, but also the FPS (Facsimile Preference Service) and now the Fundraising Preference Service, which is also abbreviated to FPS! That said, as the ICO has taken on TPS, this could be the first step in them managing MPS and both FPS’s and ultimately a universal opt-out service.

As an aside, I am somewhat surprised that there is no provision for a postal opt-out, as many of the individuals for whom the FPS is aimed at may not be comfortable using the Internet or phone.

As an industry, we must also take the lead in protecting the likes of Samuel Rae and others. For example, last year we (DBS) launched a new 2.5 million record database of known charity donors in the UK. The objective of the new service was to provide charities with a way to better target people with the highest propensity to donate to their specific cause, resulting in lower yet more effective marketing spend and higher more profitable response rates.

However, whilst we knew that the demand for the database would be high we needed to put short-term commercial gain to one side and place safeguards on the data. We did this by limiting usage to one charity delivering one communication per month to each donor. The intention was to prevent households from being bombarded with donation request which not only can become a cause of distress, but also can lead to donor apathy and ultimately devalue the quality of the data and its effectiveness.

This approach to ethical data usage forms part of a much broader company-wide Ethical Data Policy that we have also introduced to complement our data collection, retention and suppression polices. It is all geared towards helping our clients and their customers to not only ensure they are compliant with all current and pending regulation, but operate in a way that is responsible. Put simply the terms of our Ethical Data Policy means that…

· Individuals aged 75+ are excluded.

· No offers that could be deemed as nuisance. Including but not limited to ppi, pension pot, time-share, loan decline/sub-prime, payday loan, hearing aid, smoking, gambling

· No SMS or Voice message activity.

· Creative copy approval ‎for EVERY campaign.

Regulatory compliance is important and failing to comply is a dangerous path to tread, but so is operating without a code of ethics that are sensitive to who you are targeting. When it comes to data-driven marketing compliance and ethics need to go hand in hand. Not only to protect the organisation, but to improve the success of campaigns and customer engagement for the long-term.

This article was published on the GMA website: https://www.the-gma.com/ethical