Almost 500 people access the Fundraising Preference Service hours after launch

According to the Fundraising Regulator, 484 suppression requests were made by 10.30am today, five and a half hours after the preference service began operating

Almost 500 requests to stop charities contacting people were made in the first few hours after the Fundraising Preference Service went live this morning.

At a reception this morning to mark the launch of the FPS and the first anniversary of the creation of the Fundraising Regulator, Jenny Williams, who sits on the board of the regulator, revealed that 484 suppression requests had already been made since it was launched at 5am today.

The FPS, which will be run by the regulator, will allow people to block all phone, email, direct mail and text contact from specific charities in groups of up to three at a time.

Speaking at 10.30 this morning, Williams said: “As of about an hour ago we already had 484 suppression requests since the website and system went live earlier on this morning, so the FPS is well and truly under way. This is a tremendous achievement on behalf of the team.”

People who want to block communications from a particular charity will be able to log on to the website or call the telephone number, then choose a charity and the communication channels they wish to block.

The charity will then receive a notification from the regulator and will log on to its own portal on the website to get the person’s information.

Williams said that 641 charities already had portals on the system and more would be joining shortly.

She said the regulator would carry out a formal review of the system in 12 to 18 months’ time.

“We’ve designed the FPS to be flexible,” she said. “If necessary we can increase its capacity, but we hope the wider efforts to improve fundraising standards and the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation will mean there’s much less demand for services over time.”

Stephen Dunmore, chief executive of the Fundraising Regulator, said the FPS set-up and running costs for its first year were likely to be significantly lower than predicted a year ago.

In August last year, the regulator predicted those costs would be £750,000, including £250,000 for set-up.

But Dunmore said today that the set-up costs had been £250,000 and the predicted first-year running costs would be £450,000. He said he expected the actual figure to be lower than that because the regulator was encouraging FPS users to use the website rather than the telephone line, which is more expensive to provide.

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Fundraising code amended as launch of preference service looms

The Fundraising Preference Service will be launched next week, and the Fundraising Regulator has adjusted the Code of Fundraising Practice to take this into account

The Fundraising Regulator has added new rules to the Code of Fundraising Practice to take into account the Fundraising Preference Service, which is due to launch next week.

The FPS, which will be launched officially on 6 July, will allow members of the public to block all contact from specific charities.

The new elements of the code, which come into effect from today, enforce the requirement that any charity receiving a notice from someone through the FPS will have to stop all contact with them within 28 days.

Charities will also be required to stop contact within 28 days if they receive any other kind of indication that the person does not wish to receive communications, the rules say.

The rules also call for charities to ensure that all third-party agencies inform them about and comply with any stop notice they receive.

Suzanne McCarthy, chair of the Fundraising Regulator’s standards committee, said: “It is important that members of the public have confidence that charities will respect their communication preferences.

“The changes made to the code today support the introduction of the new FPS and require all charities to stop sending direct marketing communications on receipt of a request made through the service.”

Stephen Dunmore, chief executive of the Fundraising Regulator, said the watchdog had written to the charities that do the most fundraising to ensure they were ready to receive FPS requests.

“While only these largest charities need to register at this stage, all charities need to make sure they know what the FPS is and are ready in the event that they receive a ‘stop’ notification,” he said.

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UNHCR and Google launch Searching for Syria website

The website answers the most commonly asked questions about the conflict in the country and gives opportunities for action

The refugee agency UNHCR and the technology company Google have collaborated to create a new website to give greater insight into the conflict in Syria.

Searching for Syria brings together data and stories from the UNHCR, Google search trends and other sources to provide answers to the five most commonly asked questions about the country’s refugee crisis that people ask:

  • What was Syria like before the war?

  • What is happening in Syria?

  • Who is a refugee?

  • Where are Syrian refugees going?

  • How can I help Syrian refugees?

Answers are provided through multimedia content generated by both UNHCR and Google, including a 360 degree view of a market in Damascus with voiceover or a working digital clock showing how long the civil war has been waged.

Users can browse the questions or dig deeper for further information. The website also offers options to share content via social networks, donate or sign up to UNHCR’s #WithRefugees global petition which asks world leaders to ensure education for refugee children, adequate shelter and livelihoods for refugee families.

“Searching for Syria aims to dispel myths and misconceptions about Syria and refugees and provide an entirely fresh look at the biggest humanitarian tragedy of today,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees. 

“This is a fantastic project with Google that allows us to pinpoint and answer the five key questions about Syrian refugees and displaced that audiences most want to know and help us rally much needed support and funding for our humanitarian effort.”

Jacquelline Fuller, vice president of Google.org, Google’s charitable arm, said. “The scale of the Syrian refugee crisis is difficult for most of us to fathom, but the questions on Searching for Syria are a reflection of many people’s desire to understand. Among the top searches in Germany, France, and the UK last year was: What is happening in Syria?”

Available in English, French, German and Spanish with an Arabic version to follow, the Searching for Syria website will also be featured on the Google home page.

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