CRUK announces plans to become an entirely ‘opt in’ charity

CRUK announces plans to become an entirely ‘opt in’ charity

Cancer Research UK has launched a marketing campaign to promote plans to become an entirely ‘opt in’ charity within four months.

The charity is to ask all exisiting supporters for “unambigious and explicit permission” for the charity to contact them for any marketing activity, including fundraising communications.

The marketing campaign called ‘Your Tick Beats Cancer Sooner’ will stress how important its supporters are to its work.

The campaign includes press adverts, social media promotion, YouTube advertising and PR.

This latest move will mean the charity will operate an entirely opt in policy in terms of the way it communicates with the public, having adopted the approach for new supporters from April last year.

Graham White, director of individual giving at Cancer Research UK, said: "Our supporters are at the heart of everything we do, so it’s really important that they understand what they’re opting in to, and actively choose to hear from us about all the things we are doing, the events we are running, our fundraising activities and how they can be involved."

The charity concedes that the move may result in a short term decrease in the number of people it is able to contact for fundraising promotion but hopes it will boost long term loyalty and engagement.

White added: “Whilst we are very aware that we may lose touch with some of our supporters through this change, which we know will affect our fundraising income in the short term, we believe putting our supporters first will help us protect the future income of Cancer Research UK and safeguard our ambition to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.”

This extension of CRUK’s opt in policy comes as charities look to ensure they are ready for the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation into UK law in May 2018.

This EU regulation aims to give the public more control over how charities and other organisations collect their data.

Last week the Information Commissioner’s Office issued draft guidance around GDPR, urging charities to ensure they offer “active opt in” methods when obtaining consent.