Data

, , , , , , ,

Cybersecurity – not just for our corporate counterparts

security logo

Cybersecurity is on the minds of Australians given the recent breaches of AHM, Medibank, and Optus data. In our sector, Blackbaud paid a ransom and faces lawsuits filed by multiple customers due to a data breach in May 2020.

According to a recent article published in UK Fundraising, 1 in 8 charities have been affected by cybercrime in the past 12 months.

How secure is your organisation? A UK Charity Commission survey suggested the most common types of attacks were phishing and impersonation, both of which can put personal data at risk.

The survey conducted by IFF Research in October 2022, showed 2,330 charities in England and Wales underreport incidents with only 34% of affected charities reporting breaches.

Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) White Paper

Every organisation has a duty to ensure cybersecurity. These and other actions can help ensure your organisation is as secure as possible. The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) published a white paper focused on cybersecurity, which suggests real potential issues for each of our organisations if we do not mitigate risk. Those issues include:

  • loss of crucial information
  • disruption to services
  • unauthorised changes to your charity’s information and systems
  • expensive costs to restore data and services
  • costs of notification and investigation (including legal costs)
  • costs arising from the attack itself (for example, extortion or ransomware)
  • regulatory action and penalties
  • loss of trust and reputation

According to the Identify Theft Resource Center, the information exposed in the Blackbaud breach included Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, personal health information (PHI), financial information, credit card information, telephone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, mailing addresses, phone numbers, student I.D. numbers, biographical information, donation dates, donation amounts and other donor profile information. Blackbaud is calling this a security incident.

The Charities Commission in the UK has suggested a stronger use of two-factor authentication, which is something most CRM suppliers are requiring of their customers. Further, the Commission suggests:

  • updating training and policies
  • backing up data using cloud services
  • ensuring the latest version of antivirus and other software is used

The ACNC recommends four steps to prevent cybersecurity:

  • identify and assess the risks
  • prevent incidents and mitigate risks
  • engage people in the charity, and even third parties, to help manage risks
  • take action when concerns, suspicion or complaints arise
What is your organisation doing to mitigate the risks of a cyberattack? Are your suppliers mitigating similar risks? Your organisation and its suppliers have responsibilities to your supporters. Together you can create a ring around your data and your systems.

 

, , , ,

Data cleansing is task #1 when preparing for your Christmas Appeal

coding computer data depth of field
Photo by Kevin Ku on Pexels.com

There has been a lot of talk about upcoming Christmas Appeal. How will your supporters respond given the current pandemic and the economic environment? It may be August, but smart non-profit organisations are already preparing their data files and copy for what becomes the second most important campaign of the year for most charities. As part of those tasks, it’s not too late for non-profits to conduct data cleansing. Data hygiene is task #1 when preparing your Christmas Appeal.

Some non-profit organisations take the important step to cleanse their data, while many others do not. Those non-profit organisations who perform data cleansing, perform this task at least one time per year.

Data cleansing activities include, but are not limited to:

  • National Change of Address (NCOA).
  • De-duplication of constituent records.
  • Data enrichment, including:
    • Deceasing flags for records
    • Do not mail flag.
    • Do not call flag.
  • Other important mass data management practices.

Dirty data gets you nowhere…except broke. Proper data cleaning prior to dropping the all-important tax and Christmas appeals is a non-negotiable. Do you put this in the “too hard” basket? Hire an expert like FundraisingForce who will guide you through the process, management of suppliers, and develop a process for you to follow for years to come.

Don’t assume someone else will do this task – whether you are assuming the mail house does it or someone else on your internal team. Develop a process to get this task done and to ensure the cleansed data makes it was back to your organisations CRM. To merely cleanse the file for the appeal and to not load the clean data back to the CRM (a common mistake made by charitable organisations) is like cleaning your child and putting them back on the playground.

Get ready. Christmas will be here before you know it!

, , , , , , ,

Data cleansing is everyone’s job in a non-profit organisation or university

MS QueenslandDo you think the dirty data in your CRM is the responsibility of one person or a team in your non-profit organisation or at your university? When there are data issues, it is easy to point the blame to a data manager or the supporter services team. Likewise, where there are data issues, you and your colleagues likely participated in created those issues. So, why not participate in fixing those data issues? In truth, data cleansing is everyone’s job in a non-profit organisation or university.

No one person or team is able to handle the volume of potential data issues across a non-profit organisation or university advancement office. In fact, each one of us touch records in our CRM each and every day. We ought to participate in the effort to clean them by taking the time to check the obvious in a record before we save or close out the record.

How to Participate

Each time you open a record in your CRM, you are in possession of that record. It might be for just a moment or it may be for an hour or more. Data elements such as contact details, email addresses, mobile phone numbers, and communication preferences can quickly be scanned and checked. If you are in contact with the individual or organisation, take the time to CEE (Confirm, Edit and Enhance) the record before you end the contact. Confirm their contact details are correct; if not, Edit the contact details; and, of course, see what is missing in the record, and Enhance the record by recording the missing items. Things like birthday, email address or mobile numbers are often times the most missed (and becoming the most important) data elements.

MS QueenslandMS Queensland

Recently, I received my annual survey from MS Queensland asking me my opinions about their Limited Edition Art Union. People love to be asked their opinions, which most non-profit organisations and universities would well understand and appreciate. After all, most non-profit organisations and universities conduct an annual survey in one way, shape, or form. However, MS Queensland is a unique organisation. MS Queensland not only seek opinions of their valued lottery ticket purchasers, but they also ask the supporter to CEE their own data. How do they get a high rate of responses? They offer a fantastic prize. This year – MS Queensland offered a brand new iPhone XS Max.

Offering a chance to win a luxury prize simply by giving your opinion makes a lot of sense for MS Queensland because the lottery is all about luxury prizes and the survey sought opinions about whether to expand the range of prizes offered. Offering such a prize may not be feasible and may also not be a good match for all non-profit organisations.

You have shared responsibilities for good data hygiene with your data manager/data team. Own it. Take the time to play your role and be a true partner to those who are ultimately responsible for the oversight of your CRM.

 

 

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Data cleansing is task #1 when preparing for your Christmas Appeal

Dirty DataThere has been a lot of talk about upcoming Christmas Appeal. It may be August, but non-profit organisations are already preparing their data files and copy for what becomes the second most important campaign of the year for most charities. As part of those tasks, it’s not too late for non-profits to conduct data cleansing. Data hygiene is task #1 when preparing your Christmas Appeal.

Some non-profit organisations take the important step to cleanse their data, while many others do not. Those non-profit organisations who perform data cleansing, perform this task at least one time per year.

Data cleansing includes, but is not limited to, high level activities such as:

  • National Change of Address (NCOA).
  • De-duplication of constituent records.
  • Data enrichment, including:
    • Deceasing flags for records
    • Do not mail flag.
    • Do not call flag.
  • Other important mass data management practices.

As suggested in prior FundraisingForce blog posts, dirty data gets you nowhere…except broke. Proper data cleaning prior to dropping the all-important tax and Christmas appeals is a non-negotiable. Do you put this in the “too hard” basket? Hire an expert like FundraisingForce who will guide you through the process, management of suppliers, and develop a process for you to follow for years to come.

Don’t assume someone else will do this task – whether you are assuming the mail house does it or someone else on your internal team. Develop a process to get this task done and to ensure the cleansed data makes it was back to your organisations CRM. To merely cleanse the file for the appeal and to not load the clean data back to the CRM (a common mistake made by charitable organisations) is like cleaning your child and putting them back on the playground.

, , , , , , , , , , ,

The first charity Christmas appeal received from….

It’s something I report on each year via the FundraisingForce blog. The first charity Christmas appeal was received from…The Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army has been the first for the past several years.

I’ve talked about the need for a charitable organisation to stand out in the letterbox in several past FundraisingForce blog posts. It’s really the key to successful direct mail. Your piece has to stand out amongst all the postal mail one receives. If the letter does not get opened, it is not going to get a response.

Salvation Army stood out in my letterbox because it arrived in early October and it was the first charitable organisation to send me their Christmas appeal! The organisation also stood out amongst my other mail because of the the art on the package.

As in the past, the appeal is a Christmas Wish catalogue, which is full of items I can purchase to change the lives of those Salvation Army supports. Once purchased, I will receive a gift card and envelope to give to a person on my list to share the joy of giving. A simple concept and something that stood out in my letterbox the beginning of October.

Many charitable organisations likely do not have their segmented direct marketing lists prepared and sent to their mailing house. Some may still be working on the letter copy, package content, and various approvals that go with the task. Where is your non-profit organisation in the process? Is the data pull and the segmentation all a little too hard in your CRM? It does not have to be. Hire experts like FundraisingForce to properly segment your data and to create that segmentation inside your CRM. Once set up, this segmentation may be tweaked and pulled for appeals in the future.

Don’t delay setting up your segmentation for your Christmas appeal because it is too difficult, too time consuming, or something you do not have knowledge to do. Let’s get the data ready so you can get the appeal in the mail and then you’ll be able to focus your time on other tasks – like assisting in the processing of the donations and the receipts!