> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wegive.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Emailing Appended or Purchased Contact Lists

> WeGive Help Center article: Emailing Appended or Purchased Contact Lists

## Overview

Organizations sometimes want to email contacts they didn't collect
directly — for example, addresses found through a data-append service,
or a purchased list. This article explains what WeGive's platform does
and does not enforce when it comes to where a contact's email address
came from, and what to keep in mind before sending to a new list.

## What WeGive enforces

WeGive doesn't have a setting or system check that looks at *how* a
contact's email address was obtained. Contacts added through an import,
an integration, or manual entry are all treated the same way once
they're in your account — there's no separate "appended" or "purchased"
category that gets flagged or blocked.

What WeGive *does* enforce, for every contact regardless of source:

* **Opt-out status.** If a contact is marked Do Not Contact or Do Not
  Email (set manually, synced from your CRM, or set during import),
  marketing emails won't go to them.
* **Deliverability-based suppression.** If an address hard-bounces,
  reports your email as spam, or unsubscribes, WeGive automatically
  stops sending to it going forward. You can review these in
  **Settings → Email Settings → Email Health** (Bounces, Complaints,
  Unsubscribes).

Both of these are reactive — they take effect after a contact opts out
or an address shows a delivery problem, not before.

## What WeGive does not enforce

WeGive does not evaluate, verify, or restrict whether you have
permission to email a given contact — that's not a technical check the
platform performs. Whether it's appropriate to email a list you didn't
collect directly is a question of your own organization's policies and
applicable law (e.g., CAN-SPAM, GDPR, or your own acceptable-use
commitments to your supporters), not something WeGive can answer or
enforce for you.

## Before emailing a new or unfamiliar list

If you're planning to email contacts from an appended or purchased
source:

* **Confirm you have a legitimate basis to email them** under the laws
  that apply to your organization and the recipients' location.
* **Expect a higher bounce and complaint rate** than your existing list
  — addresses from third-party sources are more likely to be stale,
  mistyped, or unfamiliar with your organization, which increases spam
  complaints.
* **Ramp up volume gradually** rather than sending to the full list at
  once. A sudden spike in volume from a domain that hasn't recently sent
  at that level can trigger a temporary bulk-sender reputation throttle
  at the receiving mail provider (most commonly reported with Gmail) —
  this affects your own sending domain's reputation, separate from
  WeGive's infrastructure.
* **Watch your Email Health report closely** after the first few sends
  so you can catch and correct problems early.

## Tips

* A high bounce/complaint rate on a new list can affect your domain's
  sender reputation generally, including for your regular supporter
  communications — treat a new list as something to test carefully, not
  send to in full on day one.
* If you're unsure whether a specific list or practice is appropriate,
  that's a question for your own organization's leadership or legal
  counsel, not a WeGive platform setting.


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