It’s a legal requirement for all charities to have consent to contact their supporters about their activities by email, and we invite supporters to renew this consent every three years.
Therefore, under e-privacy regulations, once a person’s opt-in to receive emails from us has expired, we have to remove their email data from our databases.
What will the process be?
In the next few weeks, we'll be getting in touch with our group members listed on the Portal to ask them for their consent to be contacted by email.
We’ll be contacting an initial large batch of people whose consent is now due to be renewed.
These group members will receive a series of three emails asking if they would like to renew their email opt-in. It will be as simple as clicking on a button to say they’d still like to receive email communication from their local group. The member will receive the first opt-in email a month before their consent expiry date, with two follow up emails within that month.
What this means for groups
We sometimes get asked by groups why members’ contact details have been removed from the Portal. We’re not allowed to store inaccurate data, so there are a number of reasons why contact details get removed. For example, if we receive returned mail on three occasions, or if we learn that someone has passed away or moved house (and we don’t have the updated details), then the record will be removed from the Portal.
Lack of reconsent is another reason why information may now disappear from the Portal. Unless new consent is given, it becomes illegal for us to contact an individual by email, so their email address will be removed from our databases.
The reconsent is purely for email communication. This means that any members who have a postal address on the Portal will not be completely removed (only their email address will be removed) and they can still be contacted by post.
If a member has only ever had a postal address listed on the Portal, they won’t be affected and can still be communicated with by post.
If a person no longer wants to receive communication by post, they will need to contact us to let us know.
What can your group do to ensure members reconsent?
As your members will be receiving three email reminders to reconsent, you may wish to communicate this will be happening during your group social activities. You could also include this messaging in your newsletters so your members know to look out for the emails to reconsent.
What happens if someone doesn’t reconsent in time but they would like to still receive email communication?
They can fill in this form here and sign up to hear from their group directly by email.
Alternatively, they can call Supporter Care on 0300 500 8084 and the team will add the member’s email back onto the Portal.
If you have any questions, please contact the Volunteer Support Team at [email protected] or by calling 0300 500 8084 - option #3.
