Regional Institute of Fundraising group admits data protection error
Howard Lake | 23 April 2003 | News
One of the regional groups of the Institute of Fundraising has spotted that it has been breaking data protection legislation in each of its e-mail announcements.
The group – we’re not going to embarrass them – made the all-too-common mistake of sending their news announcements via e-mail and including all recipients’ e-mail addresses in the To: field. In this way, all recipients got to see everyone else’s e-mail address.
Of course, they should have used the Bcc: or blind copy field in which to place the recipients’ e-mail addresses.
It is alarming that in April 2003 fundraisers are still unaware of this basic method of using e-mail. UK Fundraising’s Howard Lake has included this tip in many of his online fundraising training courses since 1995.
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The next training course on using e-mail to fundraise takes place in London on 27 June 2003.
- Christian Aid Week promoted with microsite (23 April 2003)
- BT Click&buy launches new online fundraising campaign for ChildLine (24 April 2003)
- Two more data protection faux pas in a day (27 April 2003)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.