With privacy legislation in place or pending in many jurisdictions, it is of critical importance for organizations to review their policies and procedures regarding the collection, retention, maintenance and protection of  prospect and donor information.

• Organizations should have a clear idea of what personal information they have in their  possession and where it is housed.
• They should ensure this information is secured and accessible only to those who need to use it.
• They should ensure that all information added to both electronic and hard copy files passes a simple test: ask yourself if you would feel comfortable having the donor read the information you are putting in the file.
• They should ensure that all staff members in your area are aware of the broad implications of privacy issues for the work that they do.
• At points of data collection there should be an opt out for constituents.
• Advancement offices should have a third party (for mailing or processing house) agreement that protects the use of personal information.
• Universities need to establish a process of how to handle requests from prospects/donors to see their file. The divisions and schools should not handle this on their own as personal information needs to be collected from a variety of sources and presented to the individual in its entirety. Universities should also be aware there is normally a time limit to gather and present this information.

Institutions normally have many privacy related policies and protocols but they can only work if each individual takes into account  the importance of privacy and confidentiality in his or her own work.

Audit Your Information Usage

The purpose of this privacy audit questionnaire is to help determine what personal information is collected, maintained and used by an institution.

Personal information means information about an identifiable individual, such as name, address, giving history, and other biographic information.

Personal information includes information about prospects, alumni, donors, volunteers, and any others.

The data that is collected can be used to assess compliance with institutional privacy policies and to help access the information needed to process requests received from individuals or legal authorities.