How to Exclude Do Not Solicit Constituents from Mailing Lists

Do Not Solicit means a constituent does not want fundraising appeals. Email lists keep those people out for you from the moment you open the list, and an email send enforces it a second time. Postal and text lists now open the same way, but there the switch above the list is the only thing keeping those people out. Here is exactly where each of those happens and how to check it.

Where Do Not Solicit Is Set

1. Open the constituent record.
2. Go to the Contact Info tab.
3. Turn on the Do Not Solicit switch in the row at the top of the page.
4. Click Save & Continue or Save & Exit.

Once it is set, a pink Do Not Solicit badge shows on the person's constituent card wherever their card appears.

Do Not Solicit, at the top of the Contact Info tab.

Where Each List Starts

Open a Mail Room list (Communication > Manage Mailing Lists, then Open List) and look just above the grid. All three list types have a switch labeled Include "No Solicit" Constituents In List, and it starts off on all three.

• Email lists open with it off. The members you see are the solicitable ones, and Do Not Solicit constituents are filtered out of the view and out of anything you select in bulk. Turn it on only when you want to see the full membership, including the people who opted out.
• Postal and text lists open with it off as well. They used to open with it on; that changed, so all three list types now behave the same way. What still differs is the send itself, below.

On text lists there is also a Solicit OK column, so you can see each person's status right in the grid.

A second switch sits directly below it, and it is not the same thing. Include Constituents Who Cannot Receive Email (or Mail, or Text Messages) shows members the page leaves out for a different reason: people marked deceased, and people turned off for that channel on their own record. It starts off as well. Turning it on does not pull in a single Do Not Solicit person, and turning on the No Solicit switch does not pull in anyone who cannot receive the message. Each switch answers only for itself.

Inside a list, the switch that pulls No Solicit people back into view, with the reachability switch directly below it.

The Send Itself Is Also Protected

The list view is one layer. The send is the second, and it is the one that really enforces the opt-out.

When a marketing email batch goes out, Argenta checks marketing consent for every recipient and drops anyone who has withdrawn it, whether they turned on Do Not Solicit or clicked unsubscribe in an earlier email. That check runs at send time, so it holds even if an opted-out person is sitting on the list.

It also holds when someone has a duplicate record. An unsubscribe is matched by email address as well as by flag, so a second record for the same person cannot slip an appeal through.

Transactional email is deliberately left alone. Receipts and confirmations still reach the person, because withdrawing marketing consent is not the same as asking for no email at all.

This second layer is email only. A text batch checks its own unsubscribe list, so anyone who replied STOP is dropped, and the whole batch is abandoned if that list cannot be read. It does not check the Do Not Solicit flag. On text, that flag is honored only by the switch above the list, so the switch is the whole of the protection.

Do Not Solicit Or Do Not Email?

• Do Not Solicit: no fundraising appeals. They still get receipts, confirmations, and other non-marketing email. This is what the unsubscribe link sets.
• Do Not Email: the broad stop. Use it when someone asks not to be emailed at all. See How to Prevent Email from Being Sent to a Constituent.
• Do Not Call and Do Not Text cover phone and SMS.

Check Before A Fundraising Send

1. Open the list and make sure the Include "No Solicit" Constituents In List switch is off. It starts off on all three, so this is a check rather than a change.
2. Note the member count you are working with.
3. Send. Your delivered count can come in lower than the list count, which is normal: unsubscribes, dead addresses, and deceased records are all removed along the way.

The list row shows who a send will actually reach.

See Who Has Opted Out

Run the Constituent Do Not Solicit Report at /reports/do-not-solicit for everyone carrying the flag, and the Unsubscribe Report at /reports/email-unsubscribes for people who opted out through an email link.