Keeping a nonprofit organization’s website secure is critical. Cyberattacks can cause significant damage to an organization and include threats such as operational disruptions, data breaches, financial loss, and damage to its reputation.

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For anyone who works at a nonprofit or civil society group, this guide can help protect the digital privacy of their clients and supporters in a number of ways. These principles should be helpful for thinking about how to move towards better privacy practices in an organization.

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A nonprofit’s focus is its mission. Whether they’re supporting humanitarian efforts, promoting animal welfare, fighting climate change, or working to improve health equity, they are focused squarely on providing critical services and support to their community. Social impact organizations are deeply engaged in delivering programs, coordinating, managing volunteers, processing donations, supporting fundraising efforts, and myriad other activities. With all these priorities on their plate, security might seem like something that can wait. Unfortunately, it can’t. Security is more critical than ever for nonprofits.

This e-book provides ways to strengthen a nonprofit’s digital security, including tips on gaining buy-in from leadership and your board, and building security awareness and skills throughout the organization.

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In May 2019, one of the biggest nonprofit agencies in western New York experienced a huge data breach. Medical data from both previous and current clients was released, most likely from an employee email, and it was estimated that the data of up to 1,000 clients were exposed during the leak. This information included names, addresses, and social security numbers among other pieces of personal information. This resource covers which kinds of data breaches can happen in the nonprofit sector, and how to use the following best practices to prevent them.

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Social engineering attacks account for a massive portion of all cyber attacks, and studies show that these attacks are on the rise. Social engineers are clever and use manipulative tactics to trick their victims into disclosing private or sensitive information. Once a social engineer has tricked their victim into providing this information, they can use it to further their attacks. This resource explores the six common types of social engineering attacks.

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Memorizing multiple passwords can be a challenge, but it is downright dangerous to use the same one for everything, and online privacy is not the place where anyone should be cutting corners. With many employees still working remotely, it’s never been more essential to make sure that their online presence is secure and safe from prying eyes.

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This podcast explores cybersecurity preparedness options, and highlights common scams directed at nonprofits.

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On a nearly weekly basis, reports of cyberattacks against private companies or government entities surface. Although news headlines may not be filled with the vulnerabilities nonprofit organizations face, nonprofits are not immune. By understanding what cybersecurity is, performing a risk assessment, and implementing simple strategies, nonprofit organizations can protect themselves from cyberattacks.

This guide provides an informative overview of cybersecurity, and offers a risk assessment along with simple strategies to help nonprofits protect themselves from cyberattacks.

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A wise person once said to only collect what you can protect. As nonprofit and social impact organizations, we often have sensitive data about the individuals we interact with. This includes financial information about our donors, personal information about the people we serve (who are often already in vulnerable situations), and data about the people we employ. We must ensure that in our desire to collect and use the information we are not increasing the vulnerability of those we work with. 

In this Guide

• How valuable is the data your organization holds
• Types of risks and adverse actors
• Best practices you can deploy today
• Resources for going deeper in data security

Conclusion

Your organization has been entrusted with sensitive and valuable data. It is your responsibility to protect that information. If you are investing in data collection and analytics, you also need to invest in protecting that information. Invest in your people. Invest in systems to help you identify and respond to threats. Invest in practices that help you limit the risks your organization faces.

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A data strategy lays out your approach to using data at your organization, including what data capabilities you want to have and how you’ll collect and manage your data. Executing your data strategy may involve building new data collection and management systems, as well as hiring new data talent. Importantly, your strategy will also help you identify where you need to make behavioral or cultural changes at your organization so that your staff is all thinking about and acting on data in ways that support your strategy.

In data.org’s Data Maturity Assessment (DMA), you’ll see three dimensions that define a strong data strategy: Purpose, Practice, and People. If you’re looking to improve your organization’s use of data, these three dimensions can be helpful for thinking about what you need to change. If you haven’t already taken the DMA, we encourage you to do so in order to get a sense of where you may have opportunities for improving your data capabilities. 

In this Guide

• Learn about getting started with data strategy and how to implement it in your organization.
• Read about the three dimensions that define a strong data strategy. 
• Assess your organization’s data journey through the Data Maturity Assessment.

Conclusion

We hope this guide helps you on your data journey, whether you’re just taking your first steps or lacing up for your next marathon. No matter what, remember that building your data strategy is an ever-evolving process that you’ll continue to nudge, mold, and tweak as you find what works for you. Don’t be deterred if you need to keep experimenting, since change is really the only constant when it comes to data. Keep going and good luck on your data journey! Please feel free to suggest any other guides you found helpful by contacting us and we may incorporate them. 

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In taking on urgent global challenges, organizations are faced with a critical hurdle: a lack of necessary data. There are many ongoing efforts to fill this data gap, including developing new technologies, sources, and collaborations. But promising data-sharing partnerships and data collaboratives (particularly between the private and public sectors) can struggle to overcome institutional and legal barriers.

This resource provides both an analytical framework and an online library of legal clauses that capture the key elements of sharing agreements for data collaboration, complete with links to several detailed guides. This resource addresses the lack of clarity around data sharing and data action issues that often result in high transaction costs and significant delays during the negotiation process.

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This resource provides an introduction to Data Impact Assessments (DIAs) in humanitarian action. DIAs can help maximize benefits and minimize risks in operational data management. DIAs can also serve as a compliance mechanism with applicable laws, regulations, and internal policies and provide other guidance to reduce risks in data management.

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