FREE 10+ Charity Data Retention Policy Samples & Templates in MS Word | PDF

The Guardian states that data management is essential for charities despite it being a daunting task to accomplish. And indeed, collecting ample information about the donor, volunteer, sponsor, and charity partners is vital, especially when it comes to the purpose of connecting to them for future events and activities. Aside from that, the right set of data can also aid charities in receiving donations and financial support from anyone. But then again, gathering personal information should be done with utmost confidentiality and security, which is why charity data retention policies are important to establish.

FREE 10+ Charity Data Retention Policy Samples & Templates in MS Word | PDF

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3. Printable Charity Data Retention Policy

4. Charity Data Retention Policy Overview

5. Data Security & Data Retention Policy

6. Basic Charity Data Retention Policy

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How to Establish a Data Retention Policy in Your Charity

According to Wired.com, data keeps donors and givers to keep on giving. Why? Because nonprofits or charities can use the data to identify an individual’s preferences. For instance, charity organizations that focus on helping those in need outside the country will send out targeted emails to potential donors who have already expressed their interests in international charity events. On the one hand, animal shelters and charities can send facts and information about animals in the wild to their donors’ emails to entice them in supporting financially or by any other means. But, charities must not abuse anyone’s information, and they must ensure that the information will be used appropriately by the authorized charity personnel. And one way to remind anyone in the charity about that is by creating a data retention policy for your charity. Read on the tips below to guide you in establishing policy statements that are efficient in addressing confidentiality concerns:

1. Define Your Purpose and Reasoning Of Making the Policy

Defining your purpose will allow you to share with the rest of the organization the reason why data retention policies are essential and must be made immediately. You can back up your reasoning by presenting information about data privacy laws, including data distribution plan and record-keeping. Also, you will be able to focus more on meeting the purpose and reason as you begin creating your policy, and that makes it easier to establish rules that are relevant and effective for protecting the data of everyone involved in the charity.

2. Specify the Data to Protect

There are various sorts of data that your charity can collect and receive from your members, charity volunteers, sponsors, and anyone who’s involved in the organization. Therefore, you must specify which data that the policy protects. On the one hand, if you are making the policy for general data protection, then you should still indicate the data categories. Doing this helps in avoiding confusion and denial of the data to protect, keep in private, and distribute.

3. Choose Resources and Actions for Data Management

One of the mistakes that organizations make is simply keeping various documents in folders and put them in boxes or a room. This type of process leads to concerning data management methods, especially when it comes to the time when a piece of particular information needs to be acquired, either for verification or deletion. So, for your charity or nonprofit organization, state a plan on maintaining a protocol of how the authorized personnel in your organization will handle and store information and documents in the policy. Aside from that, you must also indicate how the data will be distributed or when it will be destroyed when its no longer relevant to be used in the organization.

4. Indicate in the Policy Who Are Permitted

Regardless of the number of people involved in your charity, you must indicate who the authorized ones are. This way, you’ll be able to limit who can have access to the data and information recorded in the organization.

5. Keep Your Policies Professional Looking

There are formats that you must consider if you want your policies to have a professional-looking aesthetic. Firstly, you should only use font styles that are easy on the eyes or readable, such as Arial and Times New Roman. Second, you must keep your list of policies organized and well categorized based on their relevance and connections. Lastly, you should include laws or rules of the state that regulates and supports your policies about data retention in your charity.

Establishing charity data retention policies are one of the most fundamental methods in protecting and ensuring that data collected in your charity organization will be used based on the need of the organization and the approval of the data owner. So, what are you waiting for? Download our sample forms and templates now!