Red Cross to stop hounding elderly after Mail’s exposé
THE British Red Cross has promised to ditch its aggressive fundraising practices in a victory for the Daily Mail.
A Mail investigation last year found fundraisers working for the charity hounded elderly people for money using ‘boiler room’ tactics.
Yesterday the charity signed a written undertaking with the Information Commissioner’s Office, the country’s data protection watchdog.
The charity was the biggest customer of the disgraced GoGen call centre exposed by undercover reporters. They found callers representing the Red Cross were continuing to pester targets for up to three years after they had cancelled their donations. After the Red Cross pulled its business from GoGen, the firm shut down.
The charity has now committed to following ‘best practice around fundraising calls’, the ICO said. Bosses have agreed not to permit calls to supporters unless they have been given ‘ unambiguous and affirmative consent’. They promised to keep supporters’ data for two years and not to ring people after that date unless they have given their consent.
The charity also announced it stopped sharing data with other charities in May last year.
Red Cross chief executive Mike Adamson said: ‘We are pleased that the Information Commissioner’s Office review has found that British Red Cross fundraising practices are compliant with the law and current guidance. Signing this undertaking reiterates our commitment to best practice and putting supporters at the heart of our fundraising.’
The ICO said the British Red Cross was a good example of its work ‘with companies who want to get it right’.
The Mail Investigations Unit found GoGen call handlers representing the Red Cross were targeting people who were registered with the Telephone Preference Service. In a script for a Red Cross campaign, callers were told to tell donors that ‘popping an extra £1 on to your monthly gift’ will buy three foil blankets for those in Nepal.
Donors were told: ‘This means over a year we can give more than 30 people warmth and comfort in their hour of need.’ However, at the end of the call – after their donation had been accepted – fundraisers had to say that the call centre was being paid £150,000 for the appeal.
Before it collapsed GoGen was running four campaigns for the Red Cross for which the call centre was set to receive £ 434,100. Each campaign lasted only a few weeks.
Graham Pinder cancelled his monthly donation to the British Red Cross because he felt he was being pressurised into giving more, but the charity continued pestering him.
The 58-year-old was a loyal donor to the Red Cross for three years until he was called last year asking him to double what he was giving. Despite him repeatedly saying no, the fundraiser made three attempts to get him to increase his £11 monthly donation. Eventually, he agreed to up it to £12.
Two days later Mr Pinder, from Gravesend, Kent, decided it was wrong for a charity to keep asking a loyal donor for more, so cancelled his direct debit. A few days later he received a call on behalf of the charity, asking if he would consider donating again.
‘Pressurised into giving more’