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Efficient way to stop charity requests via the mail?

I am managing my elderly parents' paperwork & admin now that they find it too much and all their mail is redirected to me.

I've received a lot of requests for money from various charities addressed to them. My own experience of charity mail is that they don't leave you alone! I'd like to get this mail stopped (I already am dealing with tons and tons of adminstration for them and am overloaded) and find ways for my parents to donate to their chosen charities without ending up being pestered by mail to donate more.

Is there a more efficient way to do this than to write to each charity individually?

Also, is there a way to donate to charity that allows you to take advantage of gift aid but doesn't let the charities use your info to start pestering you through the mail?

Comments

  • LittleVoice
    LittleVoice Posts: 8,974 Forumite
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    Write to those where you would like to make a donation and enclose a donation and say that you will send another donation if they do not write to you to make a request in the future but that if they do write then you will not send anything further.
  • cashferret
    cashferret Posts: 239 Forumite
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    Write to those where you would like to make a donation and enclose a donation and say that you will send another donation if they do not write to you to make a request in the future but that if they do write then you will not send anything further.

    Interesting idea! But I just want all the mail to stop without my parents being obliged to make another donation (and I wouldn't want to promise a charity a donation without it being true).

    I'm sure that each charity I write to will stop mailing my parents - I just wondered if there was maybe some central address I could write to. I don't think the the Mailing Preference Scheme would be of any help because I think my parents may have donated before to the charities who are writing to them (my parents are ill, which is why I'm not bothering them with question about any of this).
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 46,677 Forumite
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    cashferret wrote: »
    I'm sure that each charity I write to will stop mailing my parents - I just wondered if there was maybe some central address I could write to. I don't think the the Mailing Preference Scheme would be of any help because I think my parents may have donated before to the charities who are writing to them (my parents are ill, which is why I'm not bothering them with question about any of this).
    I would start with the MPS, and see if that helps, although it may take a while to filter through.

    Then I would continue by sending any recognisably charity mail back with 'Return to Sender' on it, and see if that gets the message across.

    Finally, I would use email rather than letters to make the request.

    A well-run charity SHOULD be able to set their systems up so that even if someone is Gift Aiding they don't continue to send requests.

    Do you have Power of Attorney, or are you doing this on an informal basis? If you don't have PofA it is possible that they won't feel able to accept instructions from you, so in that case I might be tempted to send any emails as if from them. ;)
    Signature removed for peace of mind
  • cashferret
    cashferret Posts: 239 Forumite
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    Hi Sue - I think the MPS only bats off mail that is unsolicited mail from organisations with whom you've had no previous dealings. Once you've donated/been a customer, you're legitimately on their database and the MPS won't help (am I wrong in my understanding?)

    I have POA but I'm not using those documents to stop the mail (seem like overkill and I don't think it should be necessary - I'm just writing "please remove me from your mailing list" on the letters they send and mailing them back, with a stamp on the envelope so the charity doesn't have to pay). My parents don't have email and my email has my name on it so I don't think I could use that.

    The "return to sender" method seems very slow to have an effect - I tried it with BT to stop them mailing me and it didn't work, despite using it repeatedly. I'd like them to stop immediately!

    I'm getting a bit of a "thing" about charities writing to the elderly. When elderly people start to get a bit frail and confused they can see a request for money as a bill, or an unavoidable obligation, and that state of affairs can come on gradually without relatives being aware that it's happening. I don't know what the solution is, really - perhaps charity mail ought to be opt-in rather than opt-out.
  • david39
    david39 Posts: 1,968 Forumite
    Don't email them or you'll start getting begging emails as well.
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 46,677 Forumite
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    cashferret wrote: »
    Hi Sue - I think the MPS only bats off mail that is unsolicited mail from organisations with whom you've had no previous dealings. Once you've donated/been a customer, you're legitimately on their database and the MPS won't help (am I wrong in my understanding?)
    I think you're right, BUT you can't be sure which charities your parents have and have not donated to, can you? The larger charities do sometimes 'buy' lists, I believe. Those are the ones you should 'lose' by using the MPS.
    cashferret wrote: »
    I have POA but I'm not using those documents to stop the mail (seem like overkill and I don't think it should be necessary - I'm just writing "please remove me from your mailing list" on the letters they send and mailing them back, with a stamp on the envelope so the charity doesn't have to pay). My parents don't have email and my email has my name on it so I don't think I could use that.
    Your approach with the letters seems sound. As for email, plenty of people do use a 'family' email address, or someone else's, so I'd think it was worth a try. Alternatively, set up a gmail account in their name and use that for these purposes?
    cashferret wrote: »
    The "return to sender" method seems very slow to have an effect - I tried it with BT to stop them mailing me and it didn't work, despite using it repeatedly. I'd like them to stop immediately!
    If you find an 'immediate stop' method, do share, many of us would pay good money for one! :rotfl: Some of the larger organisations say that their mailings may be prepared weeks in advance, and it's certainly no fun trawling through a huge pile of envelopes looking for any particular one!
    cashferret wrote: »
    I'm getting a bit of a "thing" about charities writing to the elderly. When elderly people start to get a bit frail and confused they can see a request for money as a bill, or an unavoidable obligation, and that state of affairs can come on gradually without relatives being aware that it's happening. I don't know what the solution is, really - perhaps charity mail ought to be opt-in rather than opt-out.
    I agree, and it drives me wild when, for example, I give a donation to a charity at a funeral, and I Gift Aid it, and I write in big letters NO RECEIPT REQUIRED, PLEASE DO NOT ADD ME TO YOUR MAILING LIST and they ignore that! I can just about cope with the almost inevitable receipt and thank you letter, but when I start getting magazines and requests for more money, I am NOT a happy bunny!

    BTW, all the larger charities (and some of the smaller ones) will belong to the Fundraising Standards Board. Although their site doesn't seem to have much information for the general public, their contacts page has an email address for complaints. ;) And you could even ask them if there an easy way for getting your parents off multiple charity lists!
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  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 46,677 Forumite
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    david39 wrote: »
    Don't email them or you'll start getting begging emails as well.
    With a gmail address you could filter them straight to the spam bin! ;)

    Also email contact IS opt-in only, as I continually remind my colleagues when they suggest abandoning letters for everyone who has an email address!
    Signature removed for peace of mind
  • oldtoolie
    oldtoolie Posts: 750 Forumite
    Most charities will follow your requests to cease contact.

    Where I work we tick box on our database; No Mail or No Appeals (you get the newsletter but no request for a gift.) We always comply with donor's requests.

    If the charity doesn't respect your request, you could followup with a letter to the chief executive and the Fundraising Standards Board. Or put the letters in the recycling bin.

    Quote: Also, is there a way to donate to charity that allows you to take advantage of gift aid but doesn't let the charities use your info to start pestering you through the mail?

    The Charities Aid Foundation has a charity account which can be used in this way. https://www.cafonline.org
  • You have the right to return these mailings unopened at no extra cost, and you can write a message on the outside:

    "return to sender. please remove these details from your mailing list."

    It may take a while to be processed, and you may need to do this more than once, but the mailings from ethical charities will stop.

    I too have updated thousands of database records over the years - from sackloads of such returned mail.
    Who having known the diamond will concern himself with glass?

    Rudyard Kipling


  • Haarlem
    Haarlem Posts: 345 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    They are sent out by companies who manage data bases for all sorts of businesses and organisations. They convince chaities that they can target those sympathetic to their cause and charge the appropriate fee.

    I know charities should have some control on who these send requests to, but they have no control on the lists.

    Data bases of names and addresses are made up from contacts you have with various organisations, have your address ligitimately, but you forgot to tick the box saying you did not want your details passed on to other organisations that might interest you. It is not easy to get off these data bases.
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