The Fundraising Regulator has named 12 charities that have failed to act on requests from the public to stop sending fundraising material.

Charities must stop sending direct material to any member of the public who makes a request through the regulator’s Fundraising Preference Service (FPS) to a charity to curb their direct marketing mail outs.

Almost 2,500 charities have signed up to the Service’s online portal to ensure charity supporters’ views are adhered to.

However, according to the regulator 12 charities are in breach of its code because they have failed to log onto the FPS portal to access such requests from the public.

A total of 22 requests have been made to stop sending the material to the dozen charities.

Those named include the Truro Community Property Trust, which was contacted to stop sending material in July 2017.

Among the most recent is Respect for Animals Educational Trust, which has failed to respond to a request made in March this year.

Other charities to be criticised by the regulator include International Children’s Care, Meningitis Help and Hope Africa.

The regulator says that if a charity “repeatedly ignores reminders to act on an FPS request” a final warning letter is sent to the chief executive and chair. This warns that the regulator may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office regarding a possible breach of data protection legislation.

Similarly, the relevant UK charity regulator could be contacted amid potential governance concerns.

"By failing to access their FPS requests, these charities are not following the terms and conditions of the FPS or the code,” said FPS manager Subodh Patel.

“They are also potentially not complying with data protection law, which is a serious charity governance issue.”

Patel says that the pandemic has hindered attempts by charities to log in to the services, due to staff changes and members of their team on furlough.

“Now that much of this upheaval has ended, making sure you are accessing FPS requests when needed should be a priority,” he told charities.

“We are starting to write to the charities that we have found are no longer logging into the FPS charity portal to let them know that they need to act so they are FPS compliant,” he added.

Advice he gives include ensuring charities know who is responsible within the organisations for FPL requests.

Charities also need to check whether they have any outstanding requests to stop sending direct marketing.

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