Keeping Privacy Top of Mind
Keeping Privacy Top of Mind
Nov. 8, 2005
By Abny Santicola, FundRaising Success
Beth Givens, founder and director of San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer information and advocacy organization, says nonprofits should be very privacy conscious. Some things nonprofits should have in place to ensure donor privacy include:
- Background checks. Any individuals in the organization who have access to personal and financial data should have background checks done on them.
- Training. "I think staff members should receive training in privacy and security protection, and they should also sign a confidentiality clause," Givens says. "Something in which they promise that they will safeguard the data and not share it with anyone who does not have a legitimate right of access."
- Computer assistance. Work with computer-security professionals to make sure that any interface you build into your Web site is secure and your online payment system is water tight, Givens adds.
"There are so many online data breaches that we're reading about these days where it was simply a matter of improper installation of the software," she says. "So if an organization is establishing an online payment mechanism, it needs to work with computer professionals who know what they're doing."
Givens also stresses that organizations have privacy policies that touch on the major questions noted by Blackbaud's David Lamb in the Strategy Session below, as well as collection limitation, explaining that it only collects the minimum amount of information needed for its operations.
Beth Givens can be reached by visiting www.privacyrights.org.
