A phone call made on behalf of Breast Cancer Campaign twice breached the Code of Fundraising Practice, and potentially breached the Data Protection Act, a Fundraising Standards Board adjudication has ruled.
The case has also been referred to the Information Commissioner's Office, which assesses breaches of the Data Protection Act.
The charity received a complaint following a fundraising call to an individual who was registered under the Telephone Preference Service, meaning that they had opted out of receiving unsolicited sales or marketing calls, a legal requirement that all organisations must follow.
The call was made in relation to Breast Cancer Campaign’s Pink Ribbon Lottery, and delivered by telephone fundraising agency Insight CCI.
The complainant raised concerns about the call, which was made to a TPS registered landline, saying that it had been used unlawfully for marketing purposes.
Today’s publication of the ruling, which was made on 11 March, follows weeks of concern after the telephone fundraising practices of charities were called into question following the suspected suicide of 92-year-old poppy seller Olive Cooke.
She had previously spoken of feeling overwhelmed by the number of fundraising calls and direct mail she had received, although her family has said that charities were not responsible for her death.
The contact details of the complainant had originally been provided by Dynaxon IT services, who are based in India, via the list broker PDV Limited. Dynaxon had compiled the list after carrying out a telephone lifestyle survey, with the purpose of creating “opt-in” leads for a variety of charities and companies, including Breast Cancer Campaign.
The complainant maintains that they never participated in the survey, or gave their permission to be contacted. Call records were checked and it was revealed that another individual participated in the survey, but the complainant maintains that there is no such individual at their address.
Referred to ICO
The FRSB listened to a partial call recording of the lifestyle survey provided by Dynaxon and identified potential breaches of the Data Protection Act and Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, all of which have been referred to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
These breaches included excluding all individuals from calls who had registered with TPS, “unless have notified the fundraising organisation they will consent to receiving calls from them”. It also included clauses that all “personal data shall be accurate and kept up to date”, and that data must be processed fairly, stating that the data subject can “neither be deceived nor misled regarding the purposes for which their data is to be processed”.
The FRSB also listened to a recording of the fundraising call that prompted the complaint, and identified breaches of the Institute of Fundraising's Code of Fundraising Practice.
During the call, the fundraiser had expressed a personal opinion that the current breast cancer survival rate of 85 per cent was “mainly due” to Breast Cancer Campaign’s breast tissue banks. This statement cannot be substantiated, therefore breaching a clause in the Code stating that “organisations ought not to exaggerate facts relating to the potential beneficiary”.
The fundraiser also breached another clause by neglecting to ask if the individual consented to being contacted at that time, breaching the section of the Code that states if “the telephone call is first contact with a donor, the caller ought to ask if the recipient consents to being contacted at that time”.
During the course of the complaint, the complainant was referred from Breast Cancer Campaign to Insight CCI, and on to PDV, before it was taken to the FRSB for resolution. The FRSB’s adjudication board noted that the charity should have taken ultimate responsibility for the campaign that was delivered in its name, and that it had failed to “appropriately demonstrate that responsibility in its responses to the complainant”.
Breast Cancer Campaign 'truly sorry'
Danielle Atkinson, assistant director of public fundraising at Breast Cancer Campaign, which is currently in the process of merging with Breakthrough Breast Cancer, apologised for the charity’s role in the phone call, and said it now took “ultimate responsibility”.
She said: “As an organisation we are firmly committed to meeting the best possible fundraising standards and we regret that these were not reached in full on this occasion. The fundraiser in question has been given refresher training and we will be doing our utmost to ensure that this does not happen again.”
“Ultimate responsibility for the delivery of this campaign was ours and we would like to extend our sincere apologies to the complainant for any inconvenience caused. Whilst we acted in good faith on the understanding that permission had been expressed, we are truly sorry about the way in which this particular situation unfolded.
“We take great pride in striving for fundraising excellence and will continue to work closely with the FRSB and our agencies to improve our processes and to ensure that best fundraising practices are met.”
Colin Lloyd, chair of the FRSB, said: “The chain of data collection, control, processing and usage in this case highlights the importance of ensuring that data used for telephone fundraising fully meets the requirements of the IoF Code, as well as Data Protection and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.
“The issue of unwanted direct marketing calls is now high up the political agenda with the recent Which? task force report calling for higher standards of corporate accountability in telemarketing. The ICO has also recently been granted greater flexibility to pursue cases of abuse.”
The FRSB said it has already met with the charity and Insight CCI to discuss the way forward, and it “welcomes the significant steps that both the charity and Insight CCI are taking not only to rectify matters, but also to improve ongoing processes”.
