Data Security

Strong passwords are a critical first line of defense against would-be data thieves: One bad password from one staffer in your organization is all it takes to open the door to hackers. Yet, by and large, we're still pretty bad at the whole thing. Just take a look at this list of the 25 most popular passwords of 2015, from security-services firm SplashData. Brace yourselves...

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider this week whether to hear a potentially landmark First Amendment case on donations to nonprofit groups, marking a flashpoint in a battle over money and free speech increasingly taking place in courts instead of legislatures. At issue is a California regulation requiring all nonprofit groups that solicit donors in…

Timothy Sedlak, a private investigator in Florida, was charged Monday with trying to gain unauthorized access to a charity's computer system allegedly while doing research on whether some nonprofits are “unintentionally” providing financial support to Islamic jihadists. The charity wasn't identified in a complaint filed against the 42-year-old Sedlak in federal court in the Southern…

On July 27, in the wake of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach, The Daily Signal ran a story titled "How Obama’s Poor Judgment Led to the Chinese Hack of OPM." The Daily Signal, as it happens, is the multimedia news arm of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. And earlier this week, The Heritage Foundation was hacked...

The Daily Mail reports that Samuel Rae, who has dementia, lost £35,000 (about $54,000) after his information ended up with scammers. Information was passed to charities when Rae filled in a survey, but did not tick a box stating that he did not want his personal details shared. The watchdog will consider whether any breaches…

As more organizations leverage cloud-based solutions and services, cybersecurity for nonprofits has become increasingly complex. How can nonprofits face the challenges of the evolving threat landscape? By employing a holistic approach to cybersecurity that continually accounts for financial, human and physical resources, along with outreach/oversight and politics/standards...

View for a thorough primer on all of the laws, technologies and best practices you need to know to reach your supporters by email.

Data has long been at the heart of direct marketing. In the nonprofit world, data allowed us to rent lists of people who had shown a propensity toward giving to causes similar to ours. On the cultivation side, data permitted us to choose which donors to mail based upon previous history and tailor messages to their interests. This smart use of data let us provide donors what they wanted rather than cluttering up their mailboxes with irrelevant offers. And it allowed nonprofits to raise more dollars at a lower cost to more efficiently and effectively feed hungry children, cure life-threatening cancer and support our wounded veterans.

At a recent Wake Up Your Fundraising Breakfast Panel presented by FundRaising Success and sponsors Blackbaud and Listen Up Espanol, three fundraising professionals joined me in a discussion on maximizing your return on "big data" to enhance fundraising and relationships with donors.

Liz's worthy organization sought to be frugal for years. Not a bad thing. Gradually, but surely, this desire to be financially responsible morphed into a cost-cutting monster. That's when the need to keep faith with investors, donors — those who pay the bills — somehow got lost in the desire to maximize cash flow and reduce overhead to zero — if possible.