Common sense prevails.
I have been advising charities on their marketing and advertising for many years.
There has always been one bug bear, which has prevented them from raising more money to fund their charitable aims: the inability to use the “soft opt-in” exemption when it comes to email marketing.
As you know, when it comes to sending marketing email to customers, the general rule is that you need consent, i.e.an opt-in.
However this isn’t the only way to gain permission to promote your products and services by email.
If certain conditions apply, you can use the “soft opt-in”.
The condition that is the problem for charities, is the fact that the email address has to be collected as part of a sale or negotiations for a product or service
Which is fine for their commercial activities, selling products in their shops and online.
But not when it comes to their fundraising activities, which means, according to figures from the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), they are missing out on £290 million a year.
There has been lobbying from 19 charities and the DMA, which has now led to the Data (Use and Access) Bill (DUA), currently making its way through Parliament, being amended.
A new section has been added which allows the “soft opt-in” to apply where the sole purpose of the direct marketing is to pursue the charity’s charitable purposes, and the email address is collected as a result of the individual expressing an interest in or offering/providing support for those purposes.
The bill is still being debated, so it will be some time before charities can take advantage of this.
But this gives them time to consider whether this is right for their organisation.
There are benefits from changing from opt-in consent, but certainly in the short term, juggling different permissions for existing supporters and new ones could be challenging.
And will their supporters be happy with the change?
I see a lot of discussions taking place where a mixture of expert legal advice and a good dose of real world knowledge will be needed.
So if you know of someone who would benefit from this, feel free to pass my name on!