Best Practices

October 9, 2026

Engaging Networks Options for Managing the Charitable Purposes Soft Opt-In

Corin Hartley-Pearce Account Success Director

The introduction of the charitable purposes “soft opt-in” offers a valuable opportunity for UK charities to grow their email lists and build lasting relationships with supporters. It allows qualifying charities to send electronic marketing to some supporters without obtaining prior consent, provided certain requirements are met.

For charities, this can make it easier to stay in touch with people who have expressed an interest in, or offered or provided support for, their charitable purposes — helping supporters stay involved, take further action and hear about the impact of their support.

Engaging Networks isn’t in a position to advise whether or how your organisation should rely on soft opt-in — that is something you should agree with your Data Protection Officer (DPO) or whoever is responsible for data protection within your organisation. However, the platform provides several options for implementing and managing your chosen approach.

Before You Start

This article covers how you can configure Engaging Networks to support a soft opt-in approach. It does not cover all the conditions that must be met to rely on the charitable purposes soft opt-in. Before making changes, review the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance and agree your organisation’s approach with your DPO or data protection lead and update any policies as required.

Platform Configurations to Discuss With Your Data Protection Lead

First, be clear about how you will manage your email marketing and opt-outs. Whether you use soft opt-in or another basis for sending emails, supporters should have a clear, easy way to opt out.

For soft opt-in, this should include an opportunity to decline emails when you collect their details. You might provide this on the page itself, for example using a visible checkbox or radio field. Supporters should also be able to opt out of future communications through the unsubscribe link included in your email broadcasts and automations.

If you are eligible to use a soft opt-in, it should include a clear explanation of the charitable purpose so the individual can make an informed decision about whether to opt out at that point.

Anyone who has previously opted out should remain opted out unless they subsequently make a clear choice to receive emails.

Before making any changes, decide on the approach and wording you want to use and have this approved by your Data Protection Officer (DPO) or whoever is responsible for data protection within your organisation. You may also want to link to your privacy policy rather than including lengthy privacy information directly on the page. You may need to update your policy if you implement a soft opt-in.

Managing the Charitable Purposes Soft Opt-In in Engaging Networks

There are various ways in which you can implement a soft opt-in — here are some examples. None of these is the best or only way to do this — your own implementation will depend on the advice you receive from your DPO.

Option 1: Use a “Soft” Opt-Out Question or Field

If you want a checkbox that, when ticked, opts the supporter out of communications, one way is to create a field or question that, when ticked, updates the opt-in on the page.

Because opt-ins cannot operate as opt-outs in Engaging Networks, this is one way to manage this mechanism.

The two screenshots below show how an opt-out field uses field updates to set opt-ins to the correct values. An opt-out of “Y” would set their opt-ins to “N,” and vice versa.

The example shows how the field updates can set an opt-in to N when the supporter opts out, and to Y otherwise. You will need to decide how your configuration protects existing opt-outs.

The opt-ins updated by the opt-out are the ones you would use in your reports and unsubscribe links. They can be hidden on the page via CSS so you only display the opt-out question.

Check what your existing opt-in values mean before using field updates. In this example, a value of Y may be recorded when a supporter does not select the opt-out; it does not mean they have given explicit consent. If you already use Y to record consent, consider how you will distinguish the two groups in your data and reports. Your setup must also preserve existing opt-outs, so a new page submission does not automatically change someone’s preference from N to Y. Agree how these values should work with your data protection lead before making the change.

Option 2: Edit Your Existing Opt-In

How you manage soft opt-in within your organisation is up to you, but you should already have an email opt-in that is used on your pages and linked to your unsubscribe process.

Another way to implement soft opt-in is to amend the existing opt-in so that it is pre-selected as Y, with wording that clearly explains that the supporter can deselect it if they do not want to receive email marketing.

Before using this option, confirm what Y means, how it is used elsewhere, and how you will distinguish historic consent from contact under soft opt-in.

As Engaging Networks opt-ins are designed as “tick to opt in” fields rather than “tick to opt out” fields, make sure your chosen presentation and wording provide the clear opportunity to refuse marketing required by your organisation’s approach.

To use this approach, go to Pages & Components > Components > Questions and Opt-ins, then find and edit your existing opt-in.

For example, if you currently use a Radio field type with Yes and No options, you could change it to a pre-checked Checkbox, as shown below:

Note that, as a shared component, any changes you make here will update the opt-in field wherever that component is used.

You can view the history of the opt-in wording used on a page by going to Edit form block > Questions > Manage opt-ins. Select the three-dots icon to see previous changes to the opt-in text, including when changes were made and by whom.

If your existing opt-in value of Y is currently used specifically to represent explicit consent, consider whether using the same opt-in for soft opt-in will make it harder to distinguish between the two approaches in your data.

Option 3: Create a Separate Soft Opt-In

Alternatively, you could create a separate opt-in specifically for soft opt-in, while keeping your existing opt-in for explicit consent.

This makes it easier to distinguish between supporters who have given explicit consent and those contacted under soft opt-in. The ICO’s guidance also recommends keeping these groups separate, which may make it easier to demonstrate and manage the basis for contacting supporters.

However, maintaining multiple opt-ins may also make your data and preference management more complex, so consider how the two opt-ins will interact before making the change.

Whichever approach you choose, make sure that a supporter’s latest preference is respected. For example, if they explicitly unsubscribe from all email marketing, your setup should ensure they are not subsequently included in communications because they recently qualified for soft opt-in.

A combination of these options may be suitable for your approach.

Email Campaign Compliance

Every email sent to supporters under soft opt-in must include a clear, simple and easy-to-use unsubscribe mechanism. This should already be the case for your existing emails, but it is worth reviewing your templates to confirm.

Link your unsubscribe link to an Email Subscriptions page to give supporters more choice over the communications they receive or capture additional preference information. Note that linking to an Email Subscriptions page must offer a simple way to stop the relevant marketing.

You should also ensure that any subsequent preference expressed by the supporter takes precedence over their soft opt-in status. For example, if a supporter explicitly unsubscribes from all marketing communications, your setup should ensure that they are no longer included in communications simply because they previously qualified for soft opt-in. Give supporters a clear, straightforward way to unsubscribe, without unnecessary steps or barriers. Choosing not to receive your emails is a preference to respect, rather than a negative outcome. Making it easy for supporters to manage their preferences helps maintain trust in your organisation.

Tracking

Create Segments to distinguish supporters acquired before and after you introduced soft opt-in, or if using two opt-ins — those acquired via your explicit opt-in and via your soft opt-in. You will want to manage these separately as recommended by the ICO.

Check how your existing opt-in records distinguish supporters who did not give consent from those who opted out of marketing, and ensure your new setup respects those records.

Creating separate Segments can also help you distinguish supporters contacted under soft opt-in from those who have provided explicit consent.

For example, you may want to compare opt-out rates, engagement levels, or the number of supporters who remain contactable over time.

Note

The change in the law does not allow clients to automatically add existing supporters who have not consented to emails to your mailing lists. A new interaction may create an opportunity to use the charitable purposes soft opt-in, provided you collect the person’s contact details again in connection with their interest in, or support for, your charitable purposes, and offer a clear opt-out at that point.

The charitable purposes soft opt-in applies only where the charity itself collected the contact details on or after 5 February 2026 in a qualifying interaction; it cannot be applied to an existing list solely because the rules changed.

Additional Tips and Tricks

Add an Alert If Someone Chooses to Opt Out on a Page

You can make the impact of opting out clearer by displaying a message when a supporter selects it.

For example, you could use CSS to reveal a text block explaining that they will no longer receive email marketing communications. Support can help you implement this if required. View this case study for more information.

Tailor Your Thank You Emails for New Supporters

Auto-responder (thank you) emails can have different versions depending on the supporter and the information they submitted. You could use this to give new supporters whose submission records an email opt-in of Y additional information about the communications they can expect to receive, which may help reduce confusion or complaints.

To do this, click the green plus tab to add a new version, then apply two filters:

New Supporter: If the supporter is new AND
Supporter field: If the submitted value of YOUR OPT-IN equals Y

Note: Choose a filter that identifies the group you intend to address, based on how they have configured their fields.

New supporters who meet both conditions will receive this version of the email. Supporters who are not new, or whose opt-in value is not Y, will receive the Default message instead.

Note that the New Supporter filter identifies whether the supporter is new to your Engaging Networks account. It does not, by itself, determine whether someone qualifies for soft opt-in. An existing supporter may also become eligible following a new qualifying interaction, depending on your organisation’s approach.

Soft opt-in may not be relevant to pages whose sole purpose is to sign up for email communications. Your organisation may decide that displaying a separate opt-in question is unnecessary if the page wording already makes it unambiguous that submitting the form means signing up to receive emails.

In Engaging Networks, the underlying opt-in can be hidden using CSS in a Code Block while still recording the appropriate value. Agree this approach and wording with your DPO or data protection lead before implementing it. Support can help with the technical setup.

Hide the Opt-In on Pages Reached From Emails

Engaging Networks can hide the opt-in question when a supporter reaches a page through a link in an Engaging Networks email. You can find this setting under Hello > Account settings > Account Preferences.

Before using it, check how the page handles the supporter’s existing email preference when the question is hidden. In particular, make sure submitting the page will not change a previous opt-out to Y. Following a link in an email does not, by itself, establish that the supporter has consented to future emails or qualifies for the charitable purposes soft opt-in.