Mailings addressed to you

Why do charities share names?


Attracting new supporters is often expensive and charities are always looking for ways to reduce costs.

To reach potential supporters through addressed mail they have to rent lists of names and addresses from commercial list suppliers. They research the lists available to find those made up of people they think will be likely to give to their cause, so, for example, an animal welfare charity might choose to rent a list of people who have pet insurance, or a wildlife charity might rent a list of people who have been on a whale-watching holiday.


However, this is a fairly ‘hit and miss’ affair. An alternative is to exchange names with other charities. This means that they get the names at no charge, and they know the people they are mailing already donate to charity.

Every charity is obliged to give you the chance to opt out of this practice when you first start giving to them (or very soon after). You will usually find a box to tick on the donation form.

Recent years have seen an increase in mailings of this type. Some charities have found that it is a much more cost-effective way of finding new supporters.

Rather than lose money on new supporter communications some charities are able to achieve break even by sharing names in this way.