How to Stop Unwanted Charity Mail

Send a complete removal request

1. Keep the mailing label. The printed spelling, address variation, and donor number help the charity find the right record.
2. Use the charity's official contact. Find the email, form, phone number, or postal address on its official website.
3. State both preferences. Ask the charity to stop postal fundraising appeals and to exclude your name from lists it rents, sells, or exchanges.
4. Include duplicate labels. If appeals arrive under several spellings, submit each version so the charity can suppress every record.

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance recommends writing directly to the charity, including the mailing label, and stating your list-sharing preference.

What to write to the charity

Send this wording through a contact route on the charity's official website. Replace the bracketed details with the exact mailing label.

Please stop sending fundraising mail to [name and mailing address]. Do not rent, sell, or exchange this record with other organizations. I have included the mailing label and any duplicate versions. Please confirm that both preferences have been recorded.

If you still donate, add that you want to keep donation receipts and necessary account notices, but not fundraising appeals. Include a donor number only if it appears on the label; do not attach bank statements or payment-card details.

Save the request date and response. A confirmation that the charity received your message is not confirmation that it changed both mailing preferences.

A published example: Green America mail

Green America's nonmember mail FAQ explains that it may receive names through exchanges with other organizations. For someone who is not a donor, it directs the request to its contact form: include your name and address, say you are not a donor, and ask for no more paper mailings.

Green America asks readers to allow eight weeks for that request to take full effect. That is its published guidance, not a deadline for every charity. It also recommends asking organizations you have supported not to exchange your information. For another charity, use that organization's own published preferences rather than Green America's form.

Find the postal route for your charity

These organizations publish different options. Match the name on your appeal, then choose the sender's own paper-mail preference rather than an email-only unsubscribe.

• ACLU: no paper mail, reduced schedules and separate sharing choices.
• ALS Association: published postal restriction, separate from fundraising and patient services.
• Alzheimer's Association: stop-all or reduced paper schedule, with an independent name-sharing checkbox.
• American Cancer Society: full postal form and a separate address-exchange choice.
• American Diabetes Association: dedicated privacy-team mailing contact; its reply estimate is not a last-delivery date.
• American Heart Association: preference center with phone and written-request alternatives.
• American Lung Association: paper frequency, complimentary items, acknowledgments and sharing choices.
• Amnesty International USA: Member Services, duplicate IDs and postal preferences.
• Arthritis Foundation list sharing: nonprofit-sharing contact, not a verified unsubscribe from its own paper appeals.
• ASPCA: duplicate-record corrections and a published 90-day window.
• Audubon: Supporter Care for national mail, magazine choices and future sharing.
• Boys Town: Donor Services, different published email routes and separate postal-address sharing.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of America: current national donor contacts and sharing preferences; local Clubs maintain separate records.
• CARE: communication-preferences topic, no home mail or reduced frequency.
• Carter Center: donor-mail removal and a separate inactive-donor rental preference.
• Catholic Relief Services: contact preferences and a distinct do-not-share list.
• ChildFund International USA: direct-mail contact and an independent cooperative-sharing opt-out.
• Covenant House International: explicit physical-mail contact and postal-address sharing.
• Cystic Fibrosis Foundation: Marketing Choices contact for postal mail, with administrative-message exceptions.
• DAV (Disabled American Veterans): postal, list-exchange, annual-appeal and promotional-item controls.
• Defenders of Wildlife: Membership Services for members and non-donors, with separate postal-address exchange choices.
• Doctors Without Borders USA: no appeals, quarterly or annual mail.
• Direct Relief: physical-mail checkbox separate from email and broader privacy-rights requests.
• Easterseals: separate national postal and list-rental routes; local affiliates may differ.
• Environmental Defense Fund (EDF): actual removal, less-mail and duplicate-record topics on its Member Services form.
• Feed the Children: postal frequency, prepared-mail allowance and cooperative exchanges.
• Feeding America: Donor Services, reduced schedules and a written removal address.
• Food For The Poor: actual donor-services email for the printed postal record.
• Guideposts: promotional opt-outs without changing paid subscriptions.
• Greenpeace USA: direct Supporter Care requests, not third-party submissions.
• Habitat for Humanity International: required reply-card ID and an independent name-sharing choice.
• Heifer International: last name and mailing code, with separate World Ark and email-only preferences.
• Humane World for Animals: membership mail frequency and postal-address exchange.
• International Rescue Committee (IRC): postal opt-out email, charitable sharing and privacy-form boundaries.
• IFCJ: U.S. Donor Relations for paper appeals and a separate donor-list rental or exchange choice.
• Judicial Watch list sharing: published sale opt-out contact; deletion can cancel recurring donations.
• March of Dimes: dedicated mail/phone section rather than email unsubscribe.
• MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association): specific postal restriction through the published Privacy Officer contact.
• Make-A-Wish: headquarters paper frequency and written list-rental or exchange requests.
• Mercy Corps and Prosper Global: current donor-services route for both names, with separate exchange and monthly-gift preferences.
• National Wildlife Federation: Member Services for appeals, distinct publication records and sharing.
• National Park Foundation: exact-label FAQ request and allowance for mail planned twelve weeks ahead.
• National Kidney Foundation: written no-contact policy, broader than a paper-only fundraising preference.
• National MS Society: no postal fundraising mail without assuming program or event contact should stop.
• NPCA (National Parks Conservation Association): Member Services, membership ID and separate Action Fund preferences.
• Nature Conservancy: invitation codes, duplicate memberships and magazine choices.
• NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council): Membership for paper preferences rather than an email profile or deletion request.
• Operation Smile: actual mailing-preference contact and a separate address-exchange choice.
• Oxfam America list sharing: the published charitable-sharing opt-out, not a universal postal unsubscribe.
• Paralyzed Veterans of America: exact-label postal request and outside-party sharing.
• Parkinson's Foundation: Donor Relations for duplicates and postal removal; address exchanges are a separate choice.
• PETA Global magazine: printed-magazine to digital, not a general appeal opt-out.
• Planned Parenthood Federation of America: national Donor Services for direct mail, not patient or affiliate records.
• Prison Fellowship: published contact for postal exclusion, separate from orders and program communications.
• Salvation Army USA: Donor Services for mailing removal, separate from gifts, pickups and local assistance.
• Samaritan's Purse: contact-form topic for mail, email or both, not account or donation changes.
• Save the Children U.S.: Supporter Care for paper marketing, distinct from Team Tomorrow gifts and browser choices.
• Shriners Children's: published fundraising opt-out, separate from care and gift changes.
• Smile Train: direct-marketing contact and region-specific third-party donor sharing.
• Special Olympics: removal, quarterly or annual paper mail through its current preference form.
• St. Joseph's Indian School: expandable postal removal, reduced schedules and name rental.
• St. Jude: paper preferences versus monthly gift statements.
• Tunnel to Towers: current donation-support email with an Opt-out subject, not automatic cancellation of gifts.
• USO: offline-contact opt-out and an independent future list-sharing request.
• VFW: national solicitation removal and token-gift preferences.
• World Wildlife Fund U.S.: mail types and frequency through Member Solutions.
• World Vision U.S.: narrow donor-service request without broad processing or sponsorship changes.
• Wounded Warrior Project: Donor Care, not a veteran-program enrollment contact.

Find the American Red Cross contact for your mail

The Red Cross mail guide separates financial-donor appeals, blood-donor communications and information-sharing preferences. It links to the organization's published contacts and explains why stopping appeals is different from changing a monthly donation.

If you still support the charity

You can keep donating while asking for fewer or no paper appeals. Tell the charity how often, if ever, you want postal contact. Keep the donation preference separate from payment details and account access.

If a national charity does not handle the request, use the BBB Wise Giving Alliance inquiry and complaint page. Describe the unresolved mailing request and the outcome you want. Keep your original request and the charity's reply. For local or regional charities, that page directs you to the Better Business Bureau serving your area.

Do not rely on Return to Sender alone

BBB Wise Giving Alliance notes that nonprofit mailing rates cover delivery to your home, not an unpaid trip back to the charity. Writing “delete my name” or “return to sender” on a charity appeal without adding postage may never put the request in the charity's hands.

Use the charity's published contact instead. If you choose to mail a written request, include a copy of the mailing label and use a properly addressed, stamped envelope. Keep the original appeal if it contains a donor number you may need for follow-up.

Verify an unfamiliar organization before donating

An opt-out request should not require a donation, bank information, gift card, or payment. If an appeal is unfamiliar, search the organization's legal name in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. The tool shows federal tax-exempt status, eligibility to receive tax-deductible contributions, and available filings.

A name missing from one IRS search result does not by itself prove fraud. Some organizations use a different legal name, and some eligible organizations may not appear in every data set. Confirm the address and contact information through the organization's official website before sharing personal details.

Reduce the wider stream

A request to one charity cannot remove records held by every other organization. DMAchoice may reduce prospect mail from participating organizations, but it does not cover promotional mail from an organization you donated to within the past two years. See its current coverage and exclusions.

For a charity you already support, request the mailing change directly even if you registered with DMAchoice. For unfamiliar senders and other mail types, compare the routes in our guide to stopping junk mail.