People working in our Liverpool offices who work in the charity sector are facing a number of challenges next year. Both the new data regulations (general data protection regulation) are coming into force in the spring, as well as the new fundraising preference service launching in the summer.
We have already touched on the GDPR, but here is a quick recap of what both mean for the coming year.
GDPR
The GDPR will mean all organisations registered with the data commissioner are responsible for protecting data according to the new directive. This means that a more granular approach will need to be taken with obtaining consent to send people marketing materials i.e. someone may be able to choose to receive news but opt out of receiving fundraising requests.
Charities will be responsible for storing this information, and abiding by it.
Fundraising preference service
This has been brought in by the Government following public opinion of charities being at a record low. This has been due to a number of scandals, including the Olive Cook controversy, where a woman was deemed to have been harassed by charities before she took her own life.
Despite this, charities, particularly larger ones, have been supportive of the new plans, saying that they are proud to be registered with a more stringent regulator.
However, some small charities are concerned they won’t be ready on time for the new rules, and as they weren’t guilty of the poor behaviour of larger charities which caused the decline in public opinion in the first place, they are being unfairly ‘punished’. Whichever way you look at it, 2018 is set to be an interesting year for fundraising.