24 November 2007 – New research has found that the public has strong views on mailings they receive from charities.
According to research carried out by the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB), people want to have a say about how often the charities they support contact them and have those wishes respected; they are concerned about the environmental issues surrounding unwanted mail and they are unhappy with gifts or incentives in direct mail.
According to the report, Signed, sealed and delivered, the need for respect of people's wishes and their privacy was strongly indicated with 77 per cent of regular givers saying they want some say in how often charities contact them. Nearly two thirds expected charities to respect their privacy and 76 per cent of the charity supporters involved in the research felt it was not acceptable for charities to swap names and addresses with other charities to gain more donors.
More charities are now including gifts and incentives like pens, shopping bags, gloves and umbrellas in mailings but the research shows that this doesn’t go down well with the both the public and regular donors. 90 per cent think that money spent on gifts might be better spent on the charity's cause and 70 per cent that charities put gifts in to make people feel guilty about getting something for nothing.
There appears to be little tolerance of over-statement in direct mail messages with 72 per cent feeling strongly that they don't think that charities should exaggerate when appealing for donations in direct mail. However, they are more equivocal about the use of shocking or distressing images, accepting that charities have to deal with difficult and upsetting issues.
Over 2000 members of the public and charity supporters were surveyed by the FRSB. These public views will feed into a new code of practice that is being developed by the Institute of Fundraising.
Jon Scourse, chief executive of the FRSB, said "Direct mail is a very important method of fundraising that involves a two way process with the general public. This is the first time that their views have been sought and it's important that their experiences and opinions are heard and taken account of as a new code of practice is developed.
"Members of the FRSB will have to abide by this code when it is developed, so it needs to be workable and have considered the views of the public who are recipients of this method of fundraising. The new code needs to give the public confidence to give to charities".
The Executive Summary of Signed, sealed and delivered can be downloaded from the FRSB website (65Kb).