The new Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
John Green | 15 March 2023 | Blogs
The new Data Protection and Digital Information Bill offers some good news for supporter recruitment, email communications and website engagement.
The government introduced to Parliament this month the new Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI), first announced in 2017. This bill aims to clarify some of the confusion that surrounded the introduction of GDPR and make data handling for businesses and charities more straightforward. The Bill doesn’t require charities to make any changes but does clear up certain GDPR myths.
Trustees and charity managers will be particularly interested in three key points
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- Legitimate interest. A grey area under GDPR, the Bill will expand the scope of legitimate interest so that charities can use it as a lawful basis to recruit new supporters. Individuals still have the right to opt out, but charities can confidently approach new potential supporters on this basis.
- Charities will be able to contact existing supporters by email, using the so called ‘soft opt-in’ previously only specified in PECR for commercial organisations.
- Exemptions to have to ask for consent for cookies will help declutter charity websites and will remove unnecessary clicks for supporters, though for charity websites to be eligible they must not take advertising.
Overall, for charities this is a good Bill that will enable them to approach relevant potential supporters on a clear basis. It also brings email communication with supporters in line with print communications and on the same basis as for-profit organisations. It also takes a common-sense approach to cookie consent.
You can read the Bill here https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3430
- Catholics in Fundraising marks 15 years (14 June 2022)
- Data protection for supporter stewardship – six steps to getting it right (27 June 2019)
- Data protection: complaining – it’s so yesterday! (10 March 2017)
About John Green
John Green has worked in the voluntary sector for over 20 years. After 17 years at seafarers’ charity Stella Maris as their Director of Development, he is now fundraising manager at The Jesuits and has a Masters in Voluntary Administration from South Bank University. In 2012 he founded the networking forum ‘Catholics in Fundraising’ and has been a trustee at various charities including Field Lane and Aberdeen Seafarers’ Centre and has served on the grant making body of The Plater Trust. He also plays the bass trombone.