Direct mail was the largest source of customer complaints for UK charities last year once again as the use of direct mail for fundraising plummeted by almost 30% – that’s the news from the latest annual report from the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB), the self-regulatory body for charity fundraising in the UK.

Some 18,442 fundraising complaints were recorded in 2010 with almost 9,500 of those in relation to addressed and unaddressed direct mail received by consumers from charities.

Direct mail, telephone and doorstep face-to-face fundraising accrued the highest number of complaints but, as a proportion of total fundraising volumes, complaint levels in each of these areas remained modest.  The use of direct mail in charity fundraising fell by 27% from 2009 to 2010 and yet the number of complaints increased by 86%.

Further analysis of the issues underlying those complaints has revealed that data protection and ‘poor’ data (where contacts are incorrectly addressed or deceased) together lead to around 3,000 complaints (one sixth of all complaints recorded).  Of the 1,200 recorded data protection complaints, the large majority related to direct mail (46%), email (29%) and telemarketing fundraising (23%).  Data protection complaints contributed more than three quarters (76%) of all email complaints, compared to just 6% of direct mail complaints.  A further 2,000 complaints were attributed to poor data used in direct mail and telephone fundraising campaigns.

Across all fundraising methods, 515 complaints related to legacy fundraising (donating via a will) (up from 156 in 2009). The majority of these complaints related to direct mail (80%), TV advertising (12%) and telephone fundraising (6%).

Alistair McLean, Chief Executive of the Fundraising Standards Board, said:  “Although fundraising complaints topped 18,000, this figure is a respectably low proportion of overall fundraising activity. 

“Complaints concerning charities’ use of data should ring a warning bell for all fundraisers.  Charities and suppliers alike must strive to source and maintain better data for donors and potential supporters, and to make timely and appropriate use of that data.

“What may be particularly surprising, is that such a high proportion of data protection complaints are fuelled by email fundraising – a medium that is not considered particularly intrusive and attracts relatively few complaints overall.  This suggests that supporters are more concerned about the use of their email addresses than fundraisers might expect. As a sector, charities need to ensure that the same care and attention is given to the use of email addresses as a donor’s telephone number or address.”