New EU Data Protection Rules

If implemented, the EU's proposals to reform data protection rules could have a serious impact on charity fundraising.

Under the current rules, charities may contact donors by direct mail or by telephone unless they opt out. For email and text fundraising, there is a 'soft opt in' whereby charities can: contact donors who have expressed interest; have been given an option to opt out; and are being contacted about similar opportunities. The new EU proposals would require people to give their explicit consent (eg, by ticking a box or some other positive action) before a charity could contact them for marketing purposes.

Under the proposed regime, profiling based on personal data would be prohibited without the explicit consent of the individual. As a result, charities' ability to build up prospective donor information would be hampered and charities would no longer by able to target direct marketing campaigns at specific donor profiles.