Don’t call us, even for a good cause, say permission marketing experts Rosemary Smith and Jenny Moseley.

DMI Online readers will know that there is an interesting debate developing in the UK about the application of the Telephone Preference Service (our very own Do Not Call List)  to charity calling.

Taking up the cudgels on behalf of fundraisers, the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association has made the case that fundraising calls should be exempt. The PFRA quote the US precedent where charities are not covered by the requirements of the national registry (although the consumer may ask not to receive any more calls from, or on behalf of, a specific charity and if a third-party telemarketer calls again they may be subject to a fine of up to $16,000).

However, the European picture is different and new rules in both Spain and the Netherlands mean that the local Do Not Call lists will apply to fundraisers just as they do in the UK.

The Institute of Fundraising (IOF), meanwhile, is consulting with its members to see if there is an appetite to push for change. The chairman of the Institute’s Standards Board has yet to express an opinion – but then he may feel somewhat divided as he is also chairman of the TPS!

The arguments for change are that fundraising calls are not sales calls and that the public would be much more likely to welcome them; there is even talk of offering an opt back in specifically for fundraisers. It also seems that the failure to exclude charities may have been a Government oversight – or more likely a lobbying failure – when the legislation was under discussion.

Running against these arguments is the increasing sophistication of many fundraising operations which have become adept at using direct and sometimes quite ‘in your face’ methods of getting consumers to part with money. So much so that the IOF recently had to outlaw some of the more cynical methods used because they thought they were preying on vulnerable consumers.

There is another argument
The latest figures from the UK Information Commissioner reveal that 20 per cent of the 25,000 complaints he received last year were about telephone calls. That’s 15 per cent more than the complaints about email.

Consumers mostly sign up to Do Not Call lists because they are sick to death of getting calls. They are expressing a preference not to be solicited via the telephone. Surely it would be counter-productive for fundraisers to approach known objectors by the very channel they most hate?