Liabilities and line items

A lot of work on responsible data practices in nonprofits has focused on staff skills to manage digital resources. This is great. Progress is being made.

Digital resources (data and infrastructure) are core parts of organizational capacity. We need to help board members understand and govern these resources in line with mission and in safe, ethical and responsible ways.

Digital data and infrastructure need to become part of the regular purview of boards in thinking about liabilities and line items.

• Ongoing budgeting for staff (and board) training on responsible data governance 
• Making sure practices are in place - and insurance purchased when practices fail - to protect the people the organization serves when something goes wrong 
• Understanding the security and privacy implications of communicating digitally with volunteer board members
• Horizon scanning on ethical digital practice and opportunities

Digital data governance is as much a part of running an effective organization as are financial controls and good human resource practices. We need to help board members lead.