Ask a charity about marketing to a gift recipient

Ask the charity how it uses the recipient details you supplied with a gift. Keep the question about that submission and your own donor record. The recipient decides their own postal preference, and the charity may direct questions about their record to them.

By Junk Mail Magic. Updated October 2, 2026.

From receipt to recipient

Check your gift confirmation for what you entered: the recipient's name, address and any message.
Contact the charity through its verified website, cite your gift date, and ask how it uses the recipient details submitted on that gift form. Do not request access to other information in the recipient’s record.
Ask how the recipient can set their own mailing preference if they choose to.
Pass the charity's name, the gift date and that answer to the recipient.

What the donor should not decide

Do not ask the charity to remove the recipient from mail, cancel a gifted membership or change any benefits attached to the gift. The recipient may want some of that mail. If the gift was recurring or included tickets or a membership, ask the charity about those separately, because a mail preference does not cancel them.

Sample donor question

Example for your own use. Replace the bracketed details and review what you share.

On [date] I made a gift in honor of [recipient name as entered], reference [receipt number]. How do you use the recipient details I supplied on this gift form, including for appeals? I am not requesting access to any other record about the recipient. How can the recipient set their own mailing preference? I am not asking you to change any membership or benefits attached to the gift.

Before your next gift

Ask the charity how it handles recipient details for honor or gift donations, and whether you can give without supplying a mailing address for the recipient. Use that answer when you fill in the next gift form.

Official source

FTC: How To Stop Junk Mail

Set paper preferences for a membership received as a gift Review donor mail that returns after another gift Ask about two donor records at one address Keep a gift recipient out of your mailing preferences Membership preferences All practical mail guides

Have an unwanted advertisement ready?

Photograph one piece you are authorized to handle, with the sender and full mailing label visible. Review the details before submitting. The first request is free; the sender controls the response.

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