Now you can block cold call charities
Service to curb phone sharks after Mail campaign
MEMBERS of the public will be able to ban all charities from contacting them with begging calls at the press of a button following a Daily Mail investigation that shamed rogue operators. Those who do not want to be hounded by fundraisers would be able to join a register called the Fundraising Preference Service (FPS) and name the charities from which they no longer want to hear.
They would also be able to log on to a website and press a ‘big red button’ to immediately block all charities from contacting them to ask for money.
People concerned about a vulnerable family member would be able to sign them up on their behalf to curb unwanted calls.
And in a further crackdown, the largest fundraising charities – those spending more than £50million annually on raising money – would have to pay a levy of £15,000 each year towards running costs.
The proposals were announced yesterday by the Fundraising Regulator, a watchdog set up after a Daily Mail investigation last summer found that charities were using ‘boiler room’ tactics to hound elderly people – including dementia sufferers – for money.
They followed consultation with focus groups whose members said they were ‘frustrated with door knocking, phone calls and “chuggers”’ – charity muggers who beg on the streets. One participant said: ‘Ban the lot. Nothing should come through your door unless you request it.’ A report for the regulator by a group of charity experts stated that the FPS would ‘play a valuable role for those individuals who do not want to receive fundraising communications, particularly those who might feel pressurised or overwhelmed’.
Under the proposals, which must be formally approved by the regulator, the FPS would apply to all charities spending £100,000 a year or more on fundraising.
People who sign up would be able to choose which organisations to block from contacting them for money – or use a ‘big red button’ to block contact from all charities. This would stop any communication from groups with the main purpose of raising money – including begging calls and leaflets in the post about lotteries and raffles.
People who sign up to the register would stay on it for two years. Three months before it expired, they would be contacted to check if they wanted to sign up again. And anyone with power of attorney over a vulnerable loved one would be able to sign them up.
Charities would be able to call people on the FPS if they had donated in the past two years – to make sure the donor really intended to block them. They would also be able to contact them for reasons other than fundraising.
The Mail’s investigation into charity fundraising followed the suicide of poppy seller Olive Cooke, 92, who had been hounded by charities. Reporters found fundraisers were ordered to be ‘brutal’ and ‘ferocious’ when asking for money.
John Mitchison, from trade body the Direct Marketing Association, said: ‘The creation of this new preference service for fundraising puts the supporter back in control.’