Not vendor-to-customer. Peer-to-peer. The person advising you has sat in your chair — managing IT and security for a $1.3B nonprofit operation with federal compliance obligations, donor PII, and board accountability.
Nation-state actors and ransomware gangs have discovered what vendors won't tell you: nonprofits hold high-value data with underfunded security teams. That asymmetry is what makes you attractive.
I spent years running IT and security for a $1.3 billion nonprofit operation. I've navigated federal grant security mandates, PCI-DSS audits for online donation processing, HIPAA requirements for health-focused programs, and board-level liability conversations. I know what it's like to protect donor data without a dedicated security team, justify a cybersecurity budget to a finance committee that doesn't speak the language, and keep a complex, grant-funded operation compliant across dozens of funding streams. That's the experience you're getting — not a consultant reading from a playbook.
Multiple frameworks, multiple funding streams, multiple stakeholders — each with their own requirements. Most security consultants have never touched nonprofit compliance. You need someone who has.
Every nonprofit that accepts credit cards online falls under PCI-DSS. Most don't know their scope — or that a misconfigured donation form creates board-level liability.
Community health centers, substance abuse programs, mental health services — if you touch health data, you carry HIPAA obligations whether or not you've acknowledged them.
Scholarship programs, after-school initiatives, and education-adjacent services that handle student records fall under FERPA's data protection requirements.
Federal grant agreements increasingly contain cybersecurity provisions. Non-compliance is a clawback risk. Most nonprofits don't discover this until audit time.
It's not just data. It's your donor relationships, your grant eligibility, your board's personal exposure, and your organization's reputation — often built over decades.
Names, addresses, giving history, and credit card data. A single breach erodes the trust that sustains your giving program.
Federal and foundation grantors are adding cybersecurity provisions. A documented breach or failed audit can trigger clawbacks and disqualify future applications.
Board members have fiduciary responsibility for organizational risk. A preventable breach with no documented security program is a personal liability event.
Client case files, beneficiary records, program participant data — often the most sensitive information your organization holds, and the least protected.
No bloated enterprise contracts. No retainer minimums designed for Fortune 500 legal teams. Security programs built around what nonprofits actually need.
8-question self-assessment mapped to NIST CSF. Get a scored readiness grade (A–F), your top security gaps, and a clear picture of where you stand — in under 5 minutes.
AI-customized NIST CSF security policies built for your nonprofit's specific programs, compliance obligations, and operating context. Not templates — actual policies.
Ongoing executive security leadership for nonprofits that need more than a policy document. Strategy, board presentations, grant compliance support, incident response planning.
If you're under $25M, you're probably not there yet. If you're over $100M, you likely have internal security staff. The organizations this practice is designed for sit in the middle — real compliance obligations, no CISO.
Start with a free 5-minute NIST readiness assessment. Get a grade, see your gaps, and decide if you need help — with zero pressure.