# 9 out of 10 charities uncertain they will comply with new EU data rules by deadline

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/06/06/9-10-charities-uncertain-will-comply-new-eu-data-rules-deadline/
- Published: 2017-06-06T09:21:32+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Nine out of ten charities (93%) are unsure whether they will be compliant with
the GDPR by the May 2018 deadline, according to the Transform Foundation.**

 

The [Transform Foundation](https://www.transformfoundation.org.uk/) surveyed almost
200 charities and not-for-profit groups and found that nearly half (46.36%) believe
their chances of implementing the new rules in time are 50/50 or lower, while 82.8%
say their knowledge of the new requirements is “patchy” or “weak”.

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Only 6.7% were certain they will be able to comply by next year’s deadline, according
to the research. 16.5% of respondents say they have already sought professional 
advice while 65.9% intend to.

 

91.3% felt they could limit the cost of complying with the changes to less than 
£5,000 each year, with fewer than 1% budgeting for a cost of more than £20,000 per
year. A total of 17.9% also said they might have to take on more staff to deal with
the changes with a further one in 20 (5%) saying they definitely expect to.

 

When charities were asked how they felt about how their organisation will handle
the changes, 15.6% were ‘a little anxious’, 7.8% were ‘very anxious’ and 44.7% felt‘
uncertain’. Only 5% were ‘completely confident’ while a further 26.8% were ‘fairly
confident’.

 

The Foundation has announced that it is to run a further free breakfast briefing
on GDPR, following a briefing in March and one on June 1st. It has also produced
a [GDPR White Paper](https://www.transformfoundation.org.uk/Event/white-paper-personal-data-changes-in-the-world-of-charities)
to help charities with the basics, authored by Nick Taylor, managing director of
[Accenture Strategy](http://www.accenture.com/Strategy‎), and Transform Foundation
chairman David Melville.

 

David Melville, chairman of the Transform Foundation, said:

 

> “Complying with the new rules presents a terrific challenge and those charities
> we spoke to clearly feel they face a race against time to comply by the May 2018
> deadline.
> “What is especially worrying, given the recent fines levied on some big name charities
> by the Information Commissioner, is the lack of confidence among small to medium
> sized charities that they will ready in time.
> “There is also a significant risk that putting the required changes and training
> in place will take far longer than people expect, even after the full scale of
> the challenge has been realised. This adds to the growing compliance burden already
> being faced by charities, but it’s encouraging that so many plan to seek expert
> help before it’s too late.”

 * **[DQM GRC launches free GDPR assessment tool](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/06/15/dqm-grc-launches-free-gdpr-assessment-tool/)**(
   15 June 2017)
 * **[Majority of charity data will be obsolete under GDPR says W8 Data study](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/09/18/majority-charity-data-will-obsolete-gdpr-says-w8-data-study/)**(
   18 September 2017)
 * **[Fundraising Regulator opens Code Consultation on Data Protection](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/10/05/fundraising-regulator-opens-code-consultation-data-protection/)**(
   5 October 2017)

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## Comments

### By: Straightahead

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/06/06/9-10-charities-uncertain-will-comply-new-eu-data-rules-deadline/#comment-3005
- Published: 2017-06-14T10:36:00+01:00

This is a huge problem across the board. We’ve known these changes were coming for
over a year, but it really hasn’t been talked about enough. (Wo)man power here is
a major issue. Data cleansing is a time consuming task, and it’s also vital that
it’s done in a way that creates the right paper trail to prove compliance.
 If there
are any charities, non-profits or other organisations who are worried that they 
won’t be compliant with the GDPR by next May, my team and I are clearing space to
conduct a campaign of your behalf. We’ll confirm that your contacts are happy to
stay in touch and make sure you have the paperwork to back it up. We can also educate
your contacts on the changes and demonstrate that you are proactive and fully compliant.
We’ll keep costs to a minimum and leave you free to carry on with your everyday 
priorities. To get in touch, call Straightahead UK on 01778 300071 or email [sarah@straightahead.co.uk](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/06/06/9-10-charities-uncertain-will-comply-new-eu-data-rules-deadline/sarah@straightahead.co.uk#comment-3005).
You can find out more about us at straightaheaduk.com