# GDPR and getting to grips with your database

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/06/14/gdpr-getting-grips-database/
- Published: 2017-06-14T14:04:26+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Charities everywhere are facing one universal concern right now. How to prepare
for the impact of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) when it comes into
force on 25th May 2018. **

 

Talking regularly to charities, we know one of the biggest challenges the majority
of fundraising departments face starts and ends with data. Because getting to grips
with GDPR isn’t just a matter of process, it means getting to grips with your database.

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It’s fast becoming a burning question on the lips of many a fundraiser: how do you
ensure your current data complies with the new regulations, as well as preparing
for compliance in the future?

 

First and foremost – you need to check the state of your database. And the most 
effective way to kick start any data health check is by focusing on your supporters.
Something Nick Daniel, Marketing Director at Dogs Trust, firmly agrees with: “Supporters
have always been and will always be at the heart of our fundraising strategy. With
the impending changes to the regulatory environment we sought to embrace the changes
to improve our ongoing relationships with supporters.”

 

## 5W framework

 

When looking at your current supporters, you might find it helpful to run what we
term the 5W framework. It’s a tool to establish:

 

• **WHAT** data has been collected.

 

• **WHY** it’s been collected and its purpose.

 

• **WHO** is using the data.

 

• **WHEN** the permission was granted.

 

• **WHERE** was the permission granted.

 

For fundraisers, the framework is particularly relevant when applied to donors. 
For instance, establishing the legal basis being used to ask supporters to give 
is an area of increasing scrutiny, as charities must only collect the information
that is needed to provide the service they are offering. It is this legal basis 
for collecting and processing information that is troubling many charities. Whichever
strategy is chosen it must be defendable if questioned by the public or the regulators.

 

Next, you need to start identifying risk and developing a data strategy in line 
with GDPR.

 

This can be achieved within a three-stage plan that includes:

 

 1. Consent Audit
 2. Income Analysis
 3. Donor priority

 

![Consent audit, income analysis and donor priority - chart from Wood for Trees 
Ltd](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2017/06/consent-audit.jpg)

 

### 1. Consent Audit

 

It’s crucial you identify levels of consent.

 

“[69% of senior marketers and fundraisers](https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/07/28/no-permission-no-fundraising-contact-prioritise/)
do not know the level of consent achieved by their current permission statement”.

 

Start with putting a number on how many supporters are on a fundraising database,
and then begin to understand how to segment them in to different groups. Properly
assess how you currently manage consent. And start to change your mindset from preferences
to permissions. Make sure you can answer:

 

• How many of your supporters do you have consent to contact by channel?

 

• When and how was the permission given?

 

• How has that changed over time?

 

• What data sources do you need to consider?

 

To start to understand consent, look through the statements that have been used 
to gather permission to contact. These might be on old direct mailing packs or in
recent appeals.

 

Collate these and then assess how legitimate that consent is and whether it has 
been given with explicit permission. Make your legal basis decision accordingly.
And always be aware: consent is not the same as a preference.

 

### 2. Income analysis

 

We know it’s one of the biggest concerns across fundraising departments: the impact
the new regulations will have on fundraising income. That’s why you should use your
consent audit to properly analyse the risk in the level of your fundraising pre 
and post GDPR. By analysing the impact on donor income, you can identify the income
that’s potentially at risk.

 

Consider how income that is currently being generated can be protected. And which
channels of communication, or fundraising products, are going to be the most resilient.

 

Develop a forecasting model that can assess lots of different variables, but will
include how many supporters are contacted each year, their response rates and attrition
rates.

 

If you have a good grasp of data as we’ve detailed above, you should also have a
good understanding of the current levels of consent. This means that reasonable 
assumptions can be made and scenarios can be worked up about the impact to fundraising.

 

### 3. Donor Priority

 

It’s vital you know who are your most important supporters. By prioritising your
most valuable donors, you’ll know whose consent you most need, in order to raise
funds more effectively.

 

Make sure to utilise data models that are designed to:

 

• get you to understand supporters and donors better

 

• accurately predict their future behaviour

 

• forecast fundraising more effectively

 

• spend effectively to yield the best return

 

These are three simple steps to get to grips with your database, for what can seem
like a complex process. Three simple steps that are not only about preparing for
risk-free compliance, but harnessing an opportunity to protect and generate income
by getting ready for the new future in data. They are three simple steps to ensure
charities can understand the real value of data, to transform fundraising strategy
and engage with supporters more meaningfully. To be GDPR-ready and beyond, in ways
that will grow support and improve outcomes.

 

 

 

![Andrew Sargent](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2017/06/andrew-sargent.jpg)

 

_**Andrew Sargent** is Consultant Analyst at [Wood for Trees Ltd](http://www.woodfortrees.net).
Wood for Trees makes things happen through data analytics and insight. We collaborate
with some of the world's best-known charities and not-for- profit organisations
to improve fundraising efficiency and performance._

 

_Wood for Trees is part of the MyLife Digital Group which operates in the Personal
Information Management Services (PIMS) sector, one of the fastest growing and most
dynamic sectors in the UK (and global) economy. Existing MyLife Digital Group companies,
Wood for Trees and PGIR already have an established, and growing, base of analytics
services clients and considerable data science and sector expertise._

 * **[Data concerns dominated consumer complaints in 2017, says DM Commission Annual Report](https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/01/29/data-concerns-dominated-consumer-complaints-2017-says-dm-commission-annual-report/)**(
   29 January 2018)
 * **[GDPR and data: one size does NOT fit all](https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/05/03/gdpr-data-one-size-not-fit/)**(
   3 May 2018)
 * **[GDPR strategy and the dangerous rise of data fundamentalism](https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/05/10/gdpr-strategy-dangerous-rise-data-fundamentalism/)**(
   10 May 2018)

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