October 21, 1999 | Read Time: 3 minutes
President Clinton has signed into law a measure that many charity fund raisers fear will impede their efforts to get information about donors.
As of June 1, charities, businesses, and other organizations will no longer be easily able to obtain information that people provide to states when they apply for and renew driver’s licenses.
That information is widely regarded as the most reliable source in accurately determining people’s ages. Charities rely on it to figure out which donors or potential donors fall into a certain age group — and would therefore be likely to respond well to particular types of solicitations.
They also say the license and vehicle-registration records offer an accurate list of addresses that can be used to update mailing lists.
While a few states do not release driver’s-license records, most have treated the data as public information and made it available for a range of purposes, including commercial and charitable marketing.
Under the new federal law, such information will only be released when donors have explicitly given permission to the states. Now, most states are willing to suppress information about drivers — but drivers have to take the initiative to ask the state to do so. Starting in June, states will have to be sure to ask everyone whether they want their data released.
The new measure, designed to protect the privacy of drivers, was proposed by Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, as an amendment to a bill that provides federal appropriations for transportation programs. “States should not be able to sell your personal information to marketers without getting your permission, and no one should be able to turn a profit from your personal information without your consent,” said Senator Shelby in a statement.
The new law, he added, “merely requires states to have individuals’ consent before selling their information to third parties.”
But fund-raising experts said that few drivers would give their consent if they had the choice. They argued that existing procedures already give drivers the ability to keep their information confidential.
Charity fund raisers said they feared that, without the driver information, they would have to spend more to make their direct-mail and other appeals successful.
“You’ll have higher expenses from having to do more promotions to get the same results,” says Kelly Browning, executive vice-president of the American Institute for Cancer Research, in Washington.
Max Hart, manager of direct mail for Disabled American Veterans, in Cincinnati, said that he hopes direct-marketing groups will succeed in persuading Congress to pass another measure to nullify the new measure before it can take effect in June. “If this legislation is allowed to stand,” he said, “it will have serious implications for the non-profit sector. The more demographic and psychographic information you have, the smarter you can mail.”
Some Congressional staff members, however, seemed unmoved by such arguments.
“If direct marketers truly offer benefits to the public, which is what they tell us all the time, then they need to convince consumers and let them opt to receive information,” said one Congressional aide who asked not to be named. “We believe individuals should have more control over their own data.”
