Mailings addressed to you

Best practice


Charities gain nothing by sending people mail they don’t want and are not likely to respond to. They invest in systems and databases to try to make sure they are sending the right mailings to the right people.

However, databases are not perfect, and charities are there to fulfil their objectives rather than to provide slick marketing systems. This means that their computer systems are often not the best, and you might occasionally get duplicated mailings, or mailings meant for a different audience.


All charities communicating with supporters and potential supporters through the mail must obey the relevant Data Protection legislation.

This means they should be able to correct mistakes like address errors and duplicated mailings, and that they should be able to stop mailings to you or reduce the number of times they send mailings to you each year.

They should also be able to stop certain types of communication (such as raffles) if you don't want them, and can stop passing on your name if you don’t want this to happen.

Charities should also make every effort to follow the rules of best practice laid down by organisations like the Advertising Standards Authority, the Direct Marketing Association and the Institute of Fundraising.

Most charities will feature a contact number or address on everything you receive, so that you can contact them and get them to alter what they send to you in future.