Cancer Research UK will seek “unambiguous and explicit permission” from all new supporters before it contacts them for future fundraising support, the charity has announced.

From April, CRUK will start to ask new supporters to opt-in to receive future fundraising communications.

The charity already uses opt-in for email and text communications but the new approach will extend to cover contact by letter or telephone, where supporters have, in the past, had to expressly ‘opt-out’ of receiving the charity’s new fundraising communications.

In a statement announcing the move, CRUK said it will use the coming year to gather evidence to understand what supporters think about opt-in and use this information to determine what works best.

Cancer Research UK executive director of fundraising and marketing Ed Aspel said the charity upholds the highest possible fundraising standards, “championing the principles of honesty, accountability and transparency”.

Aspel said it is essential for charities to improve trust and confidence in the sector following recent controversies.

“Our supporters are at the heart of everything we do and the move to an ‘opt-in’ approach for fundraising communications will give them the opportunity to decide the level of future fundraising communications they want from us. We always want people’s experience of donating to us to be a positive one and this move will help us to build more engaging and involved relationships with our supporters.”

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