Fundraising charity Penny Appeal has been criticised by the Informational Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after sending just under half a million spam texts to people over a ten-day period during Ramadan.

The more than 460,000 unsolicited texts were sent to 52,000 people between April and May 2022. Those who were sent texts had not provided their consent to receive them or had opted out.

The timing of the texts coincided with Ramadan “encouraging people on a daily basis to donate to the charity’s appeals”.

Following the charity’s spam texting spree the ICO received 354 complaints.

“Complainants reported their requests to opt out were ignored and described the texts as ‘intrusive’, “unwanted,” and often received late at night,” said the ICO.

During its investigation the regulator found that the charity had created a new database that did not record requests to top out. This means messages were being sent out to anyone who had interacted with the charity over the last five years.

The ICO has ordered the charity to stop sending texts to people without their consent within 30 days.

The regulator first became concerned about Penny Appeal in 2020 after receiving complaints around a similar marketing campaign.

But despite the charity committing to improving its practices to comply with direct marketing law, more complaints were received about further illegal marketing texts being sent.

While under investigation further texts were sent by Penny Appeal over Ramadan in 2022 “which led to even more complaints”.

“Penny Appeal inundated people with text messages, with no regard for their consent or their right to opt out,” said ICO head of investigations Andy Curry.

“This is unacceptable, and we will act decisively to protect the public from unsolicited marketing texts. Despite providing advice and guidance to improve this charity’s compliance we were left with no choice but to take enforcement action in order to protect the public.

He added that while “small charities may need a helping hand when it comes to understanding the law” this is “not an excuse for breaking it”.

“All organisations sending direct marketing messages are responsible for ensuring they have valid consent to contact every recipient,” said Curry.

The Fundraising Regulator’s chief executive Gerald Oppenheim has backed the ICO’s action.

“While communicating with donors via text can be an effective tool for charities, it is vital that those charities abide by not only the law, but also the Code of Fundraising Practice – which stipulates that fundraising must be open, honest, legal, and respectful.”

The ICO is advising all charities:

• Only email or text someone if they have specifically consented to receiving emails or texts – for example, by ticking an opt-in box.

• People cannot provide consent as a condition of subscribing to a service – consent must be freely given and fully informed.

• Offer an opt-out option (by reply or unsubscribe link) and act on this promptly.

• Keep a clear ‘do not contact’ list of anyone who opts out or unsubscribes from your communications, and screen against this list every time you send an email or text.

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