GDPrrrrr... panic!
On May 25th 2018 the new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) officially starts.
This is the biggest overhaul in 20 years. A lot has changed since the existing data protection laws and regulations were created in the 1990s. As a society, we're creating vast amounts of digital information each day and the laws that govern our personal info are no longer fit for purpose (read more here).
This is going to have a huge impact on charities which (I believe) will need to contact every single one of their current supporters and get them to sign up again, and I think the likelihood is that their donor lists will be deeply affected which will have a devastating effect on their fundraising.
I think a majority of donors and regular givers will not respond to email requests so they will have to be written to, which will be costly. They will need to tick the boxes and post back the consent form, which will be too much of a bother for many people - added incentives, multiple mailings, advertising and personal requests will probably have to be done which is all going to cost a lot.
I've just received my first GDPR request (on 22 March 2018) from English Heritage, it is well written and easy to respond to because it is all online.
I think the problems are going to come with getting off-line supporters to respond and will be looking out to see how it will be done!
Update: So far (4th May 2018) I've had some well written pleas, some bribes and many rather boring statements.
Innocent's subject line was the very strong: "This is the last email we'll ever send you." Youngs Pubs bribed me with a free drink which is great, Leeds Trinity shopping centre was plain and simple but very well written and Oxfam used a nice strong image.
