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The voice of Scotland’s vibrant voluntary sector

Published by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

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Four major charities probed for data breach

This news post is over 8 years old
 

Four leading charities are being probed by England’s information commissioner for allegedly contacting vulnerable members of the public who were on an “opt out” database.

A newspaper, which used undercover investigators, alleges fundraising company GoGen contacted people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which bars unsolicited sales calls, on behalf of the NSPCC, British Red Cross, Oxfam and Macmillan Cancer Support.

A reporter claimed people with dementia were being treated as legitimate contacts as long as they agreed to the call and could answer a number of basic questions over the phone.

The reporter claimed charities were sometimes holding onto donor data for up to three years after they had stopped giving.

GoGen works for 40 of the country’s leading charities and is one of the UK’s biggest fundraisers of its type.

The information commissioner said it was investigating complaints.

“We’re aware of allegations raised against several charities, and will be investigating whether there have been any breaches of the Data Protection Act or Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations,” a spokesperson said.

We will be investigating whether there have been any breaches of the Data Protection Act - Information Commissioner's Office

A statement for the Red Cross said: “We put significant amounts of time into ensuring that people who fundraise on our behalf are appropriately trained to ensure they meet our very high standards and we expect them to be ambassadors for the Red Cross.

“We are committed to ensuring we treat all our supporters sensitively and respectfully at all times, taking special care to protect vulnerable people and we never knowingly ask for donations from someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s.”

Tim Hunter, director of fundraising at Oxfam, said: “Any potential supporters who are on the Telephone Preference Service are only contacted if they have given us their explicit consent.

“At this time there is no primary evidence to suggest this is not the case, however following these allegations we temporarily suspended all telephone fundraising activity to ensure companies who work on our behalf meet not only the regulatory standards but also our own high moral and ethical standards.”

A spokesman for NSPCC said: “We have clear contractual arrangements in place with those that fundraise on our behalf, including strict guidance on vulnerable people, and expect the highest standards of behaviour from everyone who operates under the NSPCC banner."

In a statement Macmillan Cancer Support said: “We do not wish to contact people if we are aware this is unwanted.

“We take the requests of our supporters very seriously and all supporters can choose to unsubscribe from communications at any time. We would not hesitate to take robust action if we found our agencies were not acting with utmost integrity on our behalf.

“Macmillan is a proud member of the Institute of Fundraising and robustly adheres to its code of practice. We take the claims made by the Daily Mail extremely seriously and are looking into these as a priority."

GoGen refuted the allegations, though said it had suspended two junior members of staff.

It has also agreed to an investigation to be conducted by the Fundraising Standards Board.

“We would like to state for the record that we refute many of the allegations made in the article and will be taking legal advice regarding our position as well as contacting the Independent Press Supervisory Organisation with a view to making a complaint,” a spokesperson said.

 

Comments

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Joanna
almost 8 years ago
Really have to question charities telephoning people - at all. It is a bit like being chugged in your own home. I support a local charity - in a variety of ways - have done for years now> I was called one morning by a person from a company that had been engaged to phone the said charity's supporters and try and get folk to sign up to give more. I explained to the caller that I already gave to this particular charity in a number of ways - not only monetary but periodic gifts of time and other support. Did he listen? No is the answer - he didn't. all he was interested in was getting me to sign up to give more - it was clear that I was just being seen by the company entrusted to do the fundraising as a big fat wallet. No acknowledgement to other ways of giving to this local charity. Needless to say the Fundraising Manager at the Charity got a blistering e mail from me - turns out the manager shared my views - it was a board member whose idea it was to engage a fundraising company. I felt that the local people who had been supporting this charity for decades had been very let down - as had the local community. I don't agree with charity cold calling - and guess what? I work for a charity which thank goodness abhors this new fangled take on the Victorian Model of can rattling.
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