Research by the Fundraising Standards Board has found the public has strong views on mailings from charities. In particular gifts and incentives enclosed with appeals do not go down well.

Its report, Signed, Dealed and Delivered, says that people want to have a say about how often the charities they support contact them and have those wishes respected; are concerned about the environmental issues surrounding unwanted mail; and are unhappy with gifts or incentives in direct mail.

The need to respect people's wishes and privacy was strongly indicated with 77% of regular givers saying they want a say in how often charities contact them. Nearly two thirds expect charities to respect their privacy and 76% feels it is unacceptable for charities to swap names and addresses with other charities to gain more donors.

Gift and incentives

Increasingly charities are enclosing gifts and incentives like pens and book marks in mailings. The research suggests that this doesn’t go down well with the both the general public and regular donors; 90% of respondents said money spent on gifts would be better spent on the charity's cause. Around 70% agrees that charities enclose gifts in mailings to make people feel guilty about getting something for nothing.

There also appears to be little tolerance of 'over-statement' in appeals, with 72% feeling strongly that they don't think that charities should exaggerate when soliciting donations. However, people are more equivocal about the use of shocking or distressing images, accepting that charities have to deal with difficult and upsetting issues.

Code of Practice

Over 2000 members of the public and charity supporters were surveyed by the Fundraising Standards Board. Their 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 Fundraising Standards Board 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).