You can’t/shouldn’t assume that donors are OK with having their names (and the amounts or ranges of their gifts) made known to anyone outside the NPO they are supporting. Donors have a right to assume that such information is confidential.
The Codes of Ethics of the various organizations of professional fundraising staff and/or counsel unequivocally state that a donor has the right to privacy, and only s/he can give permission for his/her name to be publicized.
There are three common ways this is accomplished:
• By asking the donor to check a box on the form they return with their gift
agreeing that their name may be used;
• By checking a box on the form they return with their gift denying
permission for their name to be used; and,
• By asking that donors check a box on the form they return with their gift
if they don’t wish their name published — if the box is not checked, the
assumption is made that permission has been given.
In the case of a gift/check submitted personally or through a solicitor, the donor should be asked his/her preference, and that preference should be recorded … and honored.
Since not every NPO is yet asking donors for such permission, and not every donor reads all those forms as carefully as they should, NPOs should make the extra effort — especially when contemplating publicizing donors’ names as broadly as does the internet — to adequately inform donors and to get specific permission.
It’s considerate, and it’s good donor relations.
Even publishing a donor’s name in an off-line annual report should engender the same kind/degree of consideration of the donor’s right to privacy.
Interestingly (and sadly) enough, most NPOs to which I’ve described this concept, and emphasized the ethics of complying with such rules of “consideration,” choose not to consider that concept to the degree they should.
It points up the need for everyone (board, staff, volunteers) to be educated about the ethics of fundraising – and, yes, there is a code of ethics for the practice of fundraising.
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Have a comment or a question about starting or expanding your fundraising program? Email me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll likely be able to answer your questions.
Hank Lewis with Development Consultant Associates has over thirty years as a fundraising consultant and is a specialist in Board and Leadership Development, Capital Campaign, Bequest Program and Major Gifts.