UK charities losing out on £290m additional annual income without email marketing soft opt-in

UK charities will continue to miss out on £290m potential additional annual income unless email marketing soft opt-in for not-for-profit organisations is supported by the government and included in the Data (Use and Access) Bill, currently under review in the House of Lords. 

Clause 115 of the previous Data Protection and Digital Information Bill extended email marketing soft opt-in to charities, as well as commercial businesses. However, this clause has not carried over to the new DUA Bill. 

Charity data and systems agency, Wood for Trees, supported a letter from the Data & Marketing Association (DMA UK) to the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology issued 25 November 2024, which was also backed by several charities, urging for the clause to be reinstated. 

J Cromack, chief commercial officer at Wood for Trees, part of Salocin Group, says although the current bill offers huge opportunities for commercial growth and improvements for public services, the disparity leaves charities severely disadvantaged. 

“At Wood for Trees, we analyse, democratise and benchmark data for leading UK charities. Our analysis indicates charities could potentially earn significantly more revenue, around 3% additional income per year, equivalent to £252m for the sector, from the enablement of charity email marketing soft opt-in.” 

This analysis considers transactional data from 13.1m supporters and is based on the latest voluntary income figure across charities (England and Wales) at £28bn per annum. 

“However, without the soft opt-in, charities currently have a contactable file of around 20%,” he says. “We’d expect this to grow considerably for committed charity donors to around 50%, considering commercial businesses currently have between 30-70% of customers opted-in, depending on the sector, and with improved supporter journeys from enabled email communications. We anticipate this could lead to an additional annual gain of £840m in the next 10-15 years.” 

Including the voluntary income figure for Scotland and Northern Ireland increases the estimated figures by 15%, raising the total to £290m of potential additional UK charity income per annum. 

“Email marketing for charities is currently low in its maturity due to a lack of incentivisation and investment, but it’s clear it can be an extremely valuable tool in any charity’s fundraising model to improve supporter experience and increase long-term value. We’ve the chance to make a real difference and ensure charities don’t continue to lose out on £millions of additional revenue to fund their critical missions,” concludes Mr Cromack.