This Code aims to draw attention to those areas of the Data Protection Act 1998 and Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 that apply to fundraising activities.
Fundraisers should therefore consider all advice given in this Code to be mandatory requirements of law, unless ‘ought’ or ‘should’ are used.
The Information Commission provides further information on data protection issues. The Commission’s helpline number is 01625 545745 or see the Information Commission web site.
The Data Protection Act 1998 received royal assent in July 1998 and came into force on March 01 2000, nearly eighteen months behind schedule.
This delay was necessary to allow the UK to draft the subordinate legislation needed to comply with the Data Protection Directive. As European Law, the new Act supersedes that of 1984.
Fundraisers might find the following rules of thumb useful:
- Do not retain any information on a donor or a prospect that your organisation would not be comfortable sharing with that donor or prospect
- Do not use information in a manner that a donor would not wish
- Do not share data in a manner that a donor would not wish.
