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- Regulator's service allows people to bar specific charities from contacting them
- You can demand your full details are removed from charities' contact lists
- Olive Cooke was hounded by charity fundraisers before her death aged 92
you will be able to ban charities from pestering you to donate cash. The Mail has exposed how some charities have hounded elderly and vulnerable people with countless letters, calls, texts and emails. Now, the Fundraising Regulator has introduced a free service that allows members of the public to bar specific charities from contacting them.
Here, we explain how it works.
WHAT IS IT AND WHY WAS IT LAUNCHED?
The Fundraising Preference Service is a website that allows you to stop marketing calls, emails, texts and letters sent to you from a selected charity. It was launched by the fundraising watchdog in response to public fury over the aggressive cold-call tactics used by many charities. The Mail revealed that some were working with unscrupulous data firms to buy and sell huge contacts lists so that they could flood people with unsolicited marketing communication.
The new service is also a response to outrage over the case of Olive Cooke, a 92-year-old poppy seller who was hounded by charity fundraisers before her death. An inquest concluded Mrs Cooke, from Bristol, took her own life in 2015 after suffering from breast cancer and depression. But her death also shone a light on fundraising tactics after it emerged she had been bombarded with around 270 letters from charities every month, as well as phone calls.
HOW DOES THE NEW SCHEME WORK?
You can demand your name, address, telephone number and email address is removed from charities' contact lists. Log on to fundraisingpreference.org.uk and fill out your details. Charities will need your name and address as a minimum to find you on their lists.
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