# Majority of charity data will be obsolete under GDPR says W8 Data study

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/09/18/majority-charity-data-will-obsolete-gdpr-says-w8-data-study/
- Published: 2017-09-18T09:30:16+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Up to three quarters of the donor data held by charities will become unusable 
on 25^(th) May 2018, according to W8 Data.**

[W8 Data](http://www.w8data.com/) conducted an audit and found that only 25 per 
cent of existing donor data meets the requirements specified under GDPR.

Its audit also found that one in three charity marketing campaigns are now focused
around securing compliant consents, with donor acquisition, donor retention and 
brand building now taking a back seat. Additionally, the research found that only
35 per cent of organisations in general currently have a regular data cleansing 
process in place that includes suppression, deduplication and permission management.

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Dave Lee, Director, W8 Data said:

> “It’s unsurprising that re-permissioning campaigns are rocketing as charities 
> are waking up to the realisation that much of their data will be useless come 
> May 2018. However, what is crucial moving forwards is that the opted in data is
> quality checked and well maintained, otherwise it risks becoming uncompliant and
> unusable. The fact that two thirds of organisations are currently failing to regularly
> refresh their data speaks volumes and under GDPR is something that is going to
> have to change.”

 * **[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)
 * **[71% of marketers see creative opportunity in GDPR](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/11/16/71-marketers-see-creative-opportunity-gdpr/)**(
   16 November 2017)
 * **[Institute of Fundraising & Fundraising Regulator publish bite-size GDPR guidance](https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/03/02/institute-fundraising-fundraising-regulator-publish-bite-size-gdpr-guidance/)**(
   2 March 2018)

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## Comments

### By: MarketSmart

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/09/18/majority-charity-data-will-obsolete-gdpr-says-w8-data-study/#comment-3156
- Published: 2017-09-18T22:23:00+01:00

We’ve found that gaining permission is powerful. The open and click-thru rates increase
and so do the conversions (meetings or donations). So, although this is painful 
right now, I think many charities will benefit in the long run. Plus you can’t go
wrong when you treat donors right.
 I wrote about this here: [https://imarketsmart.com/3-questions-to-ask-before-you-spam-spray-and-pray/](https://imarketsmart.com/3-questions-to-ask-before-you-spam-spray-and-pray/)
And, also here (as it relates to major gifts): [https://imarketsmart.com/the-5-ps-of-engagement-fundraising/](https://imarketsmart.com/the-5-ps-of-engagement-fundraising/)