This is where you give the visitor a brief introduction to both this blog and your company. Keep the intro pithy and punchy.
Reach new customers, just like your best ones. The place to look? Right in your own database. Use our Money Mapping report to get a picture of your existing customers and use it to reach new high-spending customers and cut out the waste in your marketing budget.
Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions
Blue Sheep is a part of BlueVenn
COPYRIGHT © 2019 BLUE SHEEP
Charities fined for leaving donors in the dark about personal data use
by Iain Lovatt, on 13/03/17 09:29
In the case of The Alzheimer’s Society, the organization needed to undertake remedial action to its data collection processes, as its volunteers were not storing sensitive personal data securely. Following an investigation by a national newspaper, British Red Cross had to revise its direct marketing policies and procedures, changing the opt-in consent practices of its call centres, the selling of data to third parties and how long it can hold personal data.
However, it was British Heart Foundation and the RSPCA who were judged to have made the most serious transgressions, receiving fines of £18,000 and £25,000 from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) respectively.
This is the process of screening charity supporters against a database, using indicators of wealth to reveal which donors have a greater capacity and likelihood to give money to a charitable cause.
Now, before you start to panic, it’s important to point out that the process of wealth screening is not against the law.
However, the current Data Protection Act is also concerned about the principles of ‘fair’ and transparent data use, and it was this that spurred the ICO into action. Speaking at the Fundraising and Regulatory Compliance Conference at the end of February, ICO Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said:
For the British Heart Foundation and the RSPCA, the issue was not that it conducted wealth screening, but that the charities, as ‘data controllers’, failed to disclose to donors but that they would be subject to wealth screening, and that their data would be passed onto a third party (i.e. a company that performs a wealth screening).
In order to ensure that charities maintain a diligent approach to their data protection obligations, the Fundraising Regulator recently published new guidance, called ‘Personal Information & Fundraising: Consent, Purpose and Transparency’. Later in March, the ICO plans to publish its own guidance at the Privacy Officers Conference.
Many of these data protection issues in the charity sector have been investigated after intense media scrutiny of fundraising practices. However, these revelations could very easily be just the tip of the iceberg for all industries that handle personal data.
With the General Data Protection Regulation coming into force is a little over 400 days’ time, there is even more incentive to assess the way you collect and use data, and a clear need to assess data quality and compliance. Not just to ensure that your organization is obtaining consent and ensuring the safety of personal data; but to restore the trust and respect that has been severely eroded by seemingly unsavoury marketing techniques.
Free Blue Sheep Data Quality Audit
Read more to learn about what we do and to request your free data quality audit
