Not-for-profit sector can lead on data privacy

The not-for-profit sector has an opportunity to lead from the front when it comes to data privacy.

Lucy Bernholz, senior research scholar and director of the digital civil society lab at Stanford University.

The not-for-profit sector has an opportunity to lead from the front when it comes to data privacy, as public awareness of the issue takes centre stage in Australia, according to the latest analysis into data governance from Perpetual and Stanford University.

According to Lucy Bernholz, senior research scholar and director of the digital civil society lab at Stanford, Australians are finally starting to take the use of their data seriously. “Public attitude and awareness on this issue has changed dramatically, especially compared to three years ago when the government announced the census was going to be put online.

“But you look at the conversation around My Health Record and the government has had to change the law and it could very well be an election issue.”

As the big tech companies and governments come under fire for abusing public trust, Ms Bernholz said NFPs were uniquely placed to shine a light on how public data could be used to deliver good outcomes.

“It’s a great opportunity for the NFP sector, who traffic in trust and the work we have been doing with Perpetual on the data governance over the last three years has been well timed.

“It now comes down to being able to resource the organisations well enough so that they can manage the data with the same integrity that they manage financial and human resources,” she said.

The funds manager has been working with Stanford University to test the waters on what a data-driven world might mean for the sector.

“We sensed a few years ago that digital data governance was going to be a key attribute for a healthy NFP organisation in the future,” according to Catriona Fay, national manager, philanthropy and non-profit services at Perpetual.

The latest study, she said, had highlighted that the NFP sector was still coming to grips with building the infrastructure required to manage public data.

According to the study, nearly 60 per cent of board members are not aware of the steps taken by their own organisation towards making a data governance plan and many have done little outside making privacy policies.

NFPs don’t feel confident about their management of digital data, yet they believed clever use of data gave them a competitive advantage.

“There’s also cultural change that needs to be supported so that staff involved in collecting the data can gain consent in the right way and engender trust,” Ms Fay added.

“The sector is at the cusp of designing the process around consent and use of data that could set the example for the technology companies and government agencies going forward.”