The future of charitable fundraising has taken a new twist – and it’s good news.

There is a significant upcoming change to the future of fundraising and marketing for charities.

Currently, if commercial organisations wish to electronically market to individuals, they can rely on what’s known as Soft Opt-in, making an assumption that if someone spends some money with them or expresses an interest, they automatically would like to hear about similar goods and services via texts and emails, and therefore, they can send such communications without opt-in consent.

At present, charities don’t have this privilege under the current legislation, and must gain consent before marketing via texts or emails to individuals, even if they’ve donated or made a similar expression of interest.

The former Conservative government proposed a potential change to the rules and suggested an extension to the use of this Soft Opt-in for charities in the previous Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (the former Bill). However, the former Bill lapsed and therefore there was no change to the laws.

In September 2024, The Data Use and Access Bill was introduced by the Labour Party, initially without Soft Opt-in, but the extension is back on the cards, as an amendment to the Bill was made by the Labour Party on Friday 17th January 2025 extending the Soft Opt-in feature to charities. We believe this is excellent news for charities and will likely ensure more people that have expressed an interest in the charity can be contacted in the future without opt-in consent, potentially leading to more vital funds raised.

The events that could be covered under the Soft Opt-in are not clear yet, but from a charity’s perspective, this could be an individual that has made a donation in the past, engaged through an event, expressed an interest through volunteering, or any other activity that could amount to expressing an interest in the charity’s activities. The PECR would continue to apply to all organisations.

We will continue to monitor this over the coming months. If you have any questions or queries, please contact our Helpline of 0330 111 0013 or email info@hope-may.com.

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